Chapter 9: A step forward

A step forward

For the whole of last week, Richa and Tarun had acted out their part as a well-oiled machine in complete synchronization with each other. However, after their discussion last night, both of them were out of sync today. Richa was increasingly worried and annoyed due to Tarun’s non-committal stance about grabbing hold of Priti’s diary. On the other hand, Tarun did not appreciate Richa’s lack of faith in his suspicion of Priti’s substitute badminton coach. As a result, unlike every other day, they avoided exchanging any glances towards each other during the school. When Priti went to the restroom in between the second and third periods, Richa hopefully looked in the direction of Tarun expecting him to try to reach out for Priti’s bag. But Tarun did no such thing. He seemed lost in some thought with his gaze fixed on the blackboard in front. Richa wanted to go shout at him right that instant. But she did no such thing and muttered under her breath. “Such an idiot”.

Although Tarun had not outright rejected Richa’s long pressed idea, he had no intention of putting it in action. Instead, he was restlessly waiting for the school to get over and then Priti’s badminton class to get over. It was a long day for both Richa and Tarun. But it finally ended, Richa was feeling dejected and wanted to just go home and cry. Their mathematics tuition was earlier than usual so she was supposed to go their directly from school following Priti at a safe unnoticeable distance, which she did. Tarun whose spying duties generally ended at this point had other plans today. He had to wait a little longer. When Priti had left school followed closely by Richa, the substitute instructor came out of the school building with a big purse hanging on her left shoulder. Tarun followed quietly. He knew that chances of his finding anything out was not very high and Richa will be furious with him later tonight when he meets her empty-handed. But he had to give it a try, so he followed. His suspect walked first to a grocery store and bought some eggs, from there she moved onward towards the city’s market place. Market place had a circular park in the middle with shops of various merchandise around it. It was a typical habitat for both families and young people for shopping and evening strolls. As expected it was quite crowded at this time of the day and he was being careful so that he doesn’t lose sight of his target. Besides that, he was being extra vigilant in order to not get spotted by some friend or acquaintances. That could lead to some difficult explaining to do at home. Cautious and alert, he kept following. The suspect entered a very crowded shop of gift items. As it is customary with most Indian shops, this shop had also extended its legal boundary by encroaching on the land in front of them with the help of some tables and cots and laying down their merchandise on them very close to the main road where people walked. By doing so, they hoped to entice the ongoers into stopping by their shop and hopefully buying something. But it came with a risk that Tarun found out a little later. Tarun did not get too close to the shop and watched from the outside, he could see several gift items such as idols of several gods and deities, small decorative musical fountains and clocks. He could not make what his suspect was doing as she had blended in with all the onlookers and buyers who were watching the various merchandise outside. Few people went inside the shop with the merchandise they wanted to buy, paid for it and came out with their merchandise in a gift bag. Because he could not see her very well, he kept his eyes glued to the entrance of the shop, if she buys something she will surely go inside. Nothing of that sort happened. In few minutes, she came out of the crowd and walked briskly towards his direction. He quickly moved into a shop to avoid any confrontation. After a few moments, when he came outside to follow her again he realized she had gained some ground. So he quickened his pace to close the distance.
There were around 9 students in the math tuition three from Tarun’s school including Richa and Priti, and others were from different schools. The math tutor had just finished teaching for the day. Everyone was leaving the room, but the teacher was still talking to Priti explaining an obvious mistake she had made. Suddenly an idea stuck into an almost defeated Richa and she sprung into action. She walked out of the room quickly to the front room. As Richa and Priti had arrived directly from the school they had their school bags with them that they had left in the front hall where they took their shoes off before entering the tutor’s living room area cum teaching hall. Instead of picking up her own bag, she picked Priti’s bag opened it and pretended to put her notebook into it while she searched for Priti’s diary. She had seen Priti’s diary so knew its size, her hands were busy while her gaze was on the door and ears listening to the teacher’s voice. Finally, her unguided hands succeeded and swiftly she left Priti’s bag to its original position while grabbing her own bag and running out of the house as quickly as she could. As she rode her bike towards her home, her heart was pounding, her mind was cluttered with fear and doubts. What if Priti finds out her missing diary tonight? What if somebody noticed her? But above all, she was eager to know and she pedaled harder.
After another 10 minutes of following, Tarun was becoming increasingly despondent. There was nothing suspicious yet. He had told his dad that he will go to Richa’s house directly from school and have dinner with her family, so he was not too worried about his parents. But how long can he keep following? Is she going to her house? How far does she live? He was seeing the futility of what he was doing and contemplating quitting and going to Richa’s house. Just when he started to dread the thought of seeing Richa today, his suspect moved into a narrow street. Maybe she lives around here. Let me follow her to the end, he thought as he stepped forward. However, she stopped at a shop. What he could make out from a distance, it looked like a run-down small shop. He cautiously stepped closer so he could see the sign on the board. It said ‘Rajkamal second hard store’ followed by ‘quality products at affordable prices’ written in smaller letters. He stopped there and observed what was happening. The instructor was talking to a man, probably the owner of the shop. Then she took out something from her bag and handed it to the man. Tarun could not see properly. Was the risk of going closer worth it? he thought. He decided it was, so he walked closer, but still could not see. The man was done inspecting the object by now and put his hands in pocket, took out some money, counted them and gave a portion of it to the suspect. She then left swiftly, fortunately not in Tarun’s direction. Tarun moved swiftly and approached the store. The man was just done keeping the object in his store and Tarun recognized it the moment his eyes could see it clearly. It did not any time for him to connect the dots. "So, it must mean this is what she does, I was not wrong", he thought. The long day had finally paid off, brimming with confidence, he started running. He wanted to share his discovery with Richa. This is big.

When he reached Richa’s house, her mom opened the door and ushered him in. ‘Richa is in her room, you can go see her there, Also, have dinner with us today’. He quickly made way towards Richa’s room while thanking her mom. He knocked on Richa’s door but heard no response. He did not want to wait. He pushed the door open and was about to speak when he saw tears rolling down Richa’s cheeks while an open diary rested on her lap. His excitement turned into concern as he shut the door behind him and sat next to Richa.