"No worries, we can kick him out too," Vijay smirked.
Maya was listening to the entire conversation. Vijay never considered Maya as a threat to him because he knew that she loved him and would never put him in danger. But, Maya was at a cross-path and was confused. She knew which one was the right and which one was the wrong path, but didn't dare to choose yet.
"Zen! Go! Run, go away! He will kill you..." said Meena while tears flowed endlessly from her eyes. She used all her might to push Zen away from the darkness and into the light.
"Meena! You're here... you're alive?! Oh, my love, I missed you. You have no idea how hard it has been without you," Zen was in tears too and ran towards her to hug her, but before he could hug her she disappeared.
"Meena! No! Don't leave me again..."
"Meena!" he jerked up. He was sweating. His eyes were wide and his heart was racing.
Then he felt as if someone just hit his chest hard as he realized it was just a dream. Meena was not here. Meena was dead. He could not hug her and she had already disappeared from his life.
There were still 2 hours left until sunrise at six, but Zen was having the worst time waiting. Depression, anxiety, panic and loneliness; all had hit him at once and there was nothing no one could ever do to help him. He had it for his entire life to go through. Time and again such dreams would appear and remind him of the hole he was left in, forever.
The next morning, all gathered for breakfast, but no one was talking. They all had a blank expression and sleepless eyes.
"The night was rough for me, but why do all of you look like you saw a ghost?" asked Jake while looking at nothing in a particular. Everyone except Zen replied in unison,
"I had a dream... You guys did?!" everyone was suddenly awake and surprised then. Their faces expressed their thoughts,
'Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?'
"About Meena," again they spoke in unison, even Zen.
"Ok wait, did all of us get a dream in which Meena told Zen to run or else 'he' will kill Zen?" asked Sam and everyone nodded their heads and then they sighed again.
"She told me that, but I couldn't believe she was in front of me, like actually. I ran to hug her but she disappeared and I woke up," Zen told them.
"I saw her, she told me that and before I could react she was gone," Stefan spoke and everyone else agreed on that.
"What is happening right now?" David got up from his seat and paced back and forth with his head in his hand.
"I woke up at four and it still was two hours until sunrise, but I couldn't sleep," said Jake with a sigh.
"No f***ing way! Don't tell me all of us woke up right at four because I did too!" said Sam and they kept staring at each other with wide eyes. They didn't speak but their eyes told that,
'Yes, that's exactly what happened!'
They were silent for a minute or more as they tried to process all of that.
"What is this? Paranormal?" asked Stefan.
"Is Meena watching us right now as well?" asked Sam.
"Maybe her soul is with us; protecting us," said Jake and they looked around the room as if,
*pang*
and Meena will appear, but of course, that was not so.
"What we should focus on is that all our dreams implicated that Zen could be in danger," Mike spoke.
"Right. But who? She said 'he' will kill him who's that 'he'?" asked Stefan.
"Who else would it be other than Vijay. He has been the mastermind behind all that has been going on," said David.
"Why would he kill Zen?" asked Sam.
"We'll find out. But guys, relax. Nothing will happen to me. I am not stopping this investigation until Meena gets justice and Vijay is punished by the law," said Zen firmly and everyone nodded because they knew there was no convincing Zen.
They all left the hotel and went to the location of the car they found to be of the fake Zen. They ended up at a narrow lane. Lucky them, there was only one house present there, supposedly his. They rang the bell and after a minute or so they heard footsteps running and approaching the door. The door opened and they saw a little girl, half-hidden behind the door with one rugged stuff toy tightly secured in between her armpit. Her fingers played with the hem of her skirt. Her eyes were wide and looked astonishingly at them as if she was counting the heads to know how many people were the guests. But then her eyes landed on Zen and her face lit up. She jumped and hugged Zen's legs with a squeak.
"Papa!" she exclaimed with a smile.
"Papa? Since when do you have a daughter Zen?" David asked as he laughed while holding his stomach.
"Shut up Hyung!" Zen gritted, "Stefan, handle."
"Excuse me? What do you mean by 'handle'? I don't work for you-"
"Just do it!" Zen stopped Stefan mid-sentence.
Then Stefan told the girl to call an elder. A woman came out wearing that same red dress. She yelled profanities at Zen and then slapped him across the face.
"Why?!" Zen gritted again.
"Calm down Zen. She thinks you're the other guy, her husband, who apparently left her recently and went away," Stefan told Zen. Then Stefan explained to her who they were and why they were there. It took some time to make her believe, but she eventually did. She mentioned the striking similarity Zen had to her husband.
Stefan asked her where her husband was. She told them that her husband, Aahan, came back a few months back. She had asked him where he had been all along but he just said it was some work. Since he came back they had no financial problem and she let go of all the questions for she was happy thinking he was having success at his work. But since he came back he totally changed, like he didn't care and love like he used to. So, one day she said that it was ok even if he doesn't earn a lot of money but she needed his love and care more. But for some reason, he got angry and left home.
He came back with a dress as a 'farewell' present, he said so. He told her that she needed to understand that they were over. He added that he felt sorry and so gifted a dress and left some money for her and their daughter and would keep giving money. He left to live in his native village.
The boys came out of the house while the daughter wailed thinking Zen was her father and was leaving again.
"What a douchebag! Who leaves his wife and daughter like this?" David spoke.
"Zen and Aahan look the same, but their personalities are polar apart," said Jake.
"Well, right now we need to go to his native village," said Zen.
"Yes, but the village is somewhere in the mountains. It'll be hard to find it," Stefan said.
"Then what should we do?" asked Sam.
"We can probably ask help from a local," Mike suggested and everyone nodded.
Meanwhile, back in Mumbai.
"Yes Sir, do you have any orders for me?" asked the gang leader.
"Yes. You need to kill Zen. You'll receive half of the money by an hour and the rest when the work's done," Vijay said and hung up the call.
"Don't you think that someone would get suspicious about us or your phone calls could get tapped," Maya said.
"You don't need to worry about that. I am rich, I can shut it off by money," Vijay told her.
"Vijay, what am I supposed to do? You don't let me work, so should I just sit at home?" she asked.
"Bear my son who will grow to be like me," he told her.
"What if we get a daughter?" she asked.
"You will have to keep trying," he replied coldly and went away to answer a call. He didn't come home the entire night.
Maya spent the night crying in the bathroom. At times under the shower, as she held onto a pregnancy kit in her hand which showed positive.
The next day, the boys found a local who was ready to lead them to the village with some payment offered. The local told that it would take them two days to reach and he was ready to offer them to stay at his home in between the journey for one night which came with extra payment.
The entire way was hilly, muddy and rough.
But the boys finally reached the village, but now they didn't know which house to visit exactly. So, Stefan asked someone if they knew where Aahan lived and they easily found the house in the small hilly village.
They walked to the house and knocked. An older woman opened the door. Stefan inquired about Aahan and she told him that he was working in the fields. The boys walked up to the fields and spotted Aahan.
"Hey, Zen!"