30/12/2019 - At Hari's House,Chennai.

Shiva's P. O. V :

" I am not sure if this is a good idea, Aparna is saying right , she couldn't find a way! If she couldn't find anything for the past three months,what will we find in one night! " shwetha said as she sat down in the couch.

I was running through the rules and regulations of the association in my phone. I just wanted to find one blind spot.

" Shiva, what are you thinking? " Hari asked me.

" You know what, when someone does a bad thing, they have a glint of fear in their eyes, fear of being caught. But this Michael didn't have that at all! " I said scratching my hair.

" He must have cleaned up very well then! " Hari said.

" He couldn't have done that alone! Our office has cctv camera, so imagine how good the security should have been in their office! Inspite of that, we don't have any evidence! " I said.

" This is useless, we are not even in Bangalore to directly go to that fucked up office and find evidence! " Hari said shaking his head.

If I can't go there,Then, maybe someone there might help.

Shwetha stood up from the couch.

" Shiva, just because I let you sit here and talk, don't imagine that I have forgiven you! Aparna is sleeping, that's why I don't want to make a fuss! " She said.

I nodded my head slowly. That's when an idea came to my mind.

" Do you know anyone in Aparna's office? " I asked her.

" I do, there was a girl called Priya, she was very close to Aparna. But she too joined hands with others when this issue came up. " Shwetha said.

" Can you get her contact number? " I asked her.

" I ll find from Aparna's phone " Shwetha said and walked inside the guest room.

After few minutes she came out with Aparna's phone. We fixed the broken screen and turned it on.

" Even Aparna blocked this contact! This girl signed against Aparna, is it really any use to call her? " Shwetha asked me.

" I just want to try! " I said and dialled the number from my phone.

" Hello! " The girl voice said as soon as I picked up.

" Is this priya ? , I am Shiva, Aparna is currently working in my office. I hope you know very well what's going on with her" I said.

" Why are you calling me? " Priya said.

" Priya, I heard that you were a good friend to Aparna. You are right now working in that shades office. We are trying very hard to help Aparna. I would be really grateful if you could help us. " I said.

" Why do you think I would help her? " She said.

" You are the only one that can help her now. " I said.

" You know that I signed against Aparna right? Why am I the one to help her now? " She said laughing.

I took a deep breath in and tried to calm myself down.

" I thought you were her best friend. I am sorry to bother you. " I said and moved the phone away from my ear.

" Do you know the meaning of that term - best friend " Priya asked. I slowly placed the phone back on my ear.

" If you are here to waste my time, please stop now " I said.

" I am her best friend. You know what, People underestimate the strength of the friendship between girls. Yes, we can go days without talking for small issues. We bicker a lot. But we will never sit back and watch if someone else touches our best friend. We are very calculative, we know when to strike. " She said.

I listened to her words , and still couldn't understand anything. I couldn't judge anything.

" Priya, please, I am not here to judge your friendship, I just want Aparna out of this issue! " I said.

" Well, Maybe you didn't. But Michael did. He bloody underestimated me. He thought he won by blackmailing me to sign against Aparna. I did sign, because that was the start of the game. Now I know his entire master plan because I stayed on his side. " She said.

" Priya, Priya, we don't have any time, we have the meeting tomorrow afternoon. We need evidence before that! Something to prove that Michael harassed Aparna!" I said.

" Shiva, that story is only a small part . Michael knows well that he can't go far with that complaint. He has prepared a fresh feist for tomorrow. He is going to blame Aparna for the collapse of one of our projects. " She said.

I felt the ground below me breaking and swallowing me.

" What are you saying? Why are you saying this now? " I said nervously.

" Even if you didn't call me, I was going to go head on with Michael tomorrow. Since, you are here, I hope it's better to let you know." She said.

" Do you have any evidence with you? " I asked.

" The building that collapsed, was supposed to be a single storey one. But our office proceeded with the second storey even after the structural engineer disapproved. And Aparna left the office even before the second storey work started. All the drawings inside the office have been manipulated. I have one hard copy with Our chief Architect Snegha's approval sign. But even if I scan and send, the evidence won't be enough! I am leaving this Office tomorrow ,as soon as I send this scanned copy,I am done. I just want to bring down hell into this office before I leave. " She said.

I was quite scared and surprised on hearing her words. I was grateful that Priya was actually with Aparna from the beginning till now.

It is easy to change the soft copy of drawings in the office. They would have easily replaced the signatures.

But every drawing has two copies. One in the office and the other sent to the building.

" What about the drawings sent to the site? " I asked her.

" Well, they would have Snegha's approval sign. She and Michael signed them all. But I am not sure if the site engineers have the hard copy! " Priya said.

" Priya, listen to me. Site engineers will never want to take blame for any mistake in the construction, they would have definitely filed everything. Contact them and please get the copies first! " I said.

" Wow! I didn't think about that!!! I ll contact them right away. " Priya said and cut the call.

Hari and Shwetha looked at me with curious eyes.

" Shwetha, will you please forgive me? " I asked her.

" Why? " She asked confused.

" Just now I saw a trailer how evil girls can be when they want to be. If Priya is doing this much, then I am really scared of you. If you have any anger towards me for hurting Aparna, let's get it out verbally. Okay? " I asked her.

She folded her hands and looked at me.

" Will Priya be any help to us? " Hari asked me.

" It seems Michael had a Plan B. Thanks to Priya, we might be able to blast that. I am just worried about how to prove Aparna as innocent now. " I said.

Someone knocked at the door and Hari looked at me with concerned eyes.

" What ? " I asked him.

" I called in Karthik. " Hari said.

My hands started to shake and I was sweating a bit.

Shwetha opened the door and Karthik walked in directly to Hari. He completely ignored my existence.

" Were you able to get any evidence? " Karthik asked Hari. And Hari shook his head.

" Karthik, I know that you are angry. I know that Shiva deserves this. For the sake of Aparna, I want you all to work together. We don't have time. That girl went to sleep believing that we all will do something to save her. Fight all you want in between yourselves , but do it after tomorrow. " Shwetha said to Karthik.

" I am sorry " I said and walked to Karthik. He looked more depressed than me.

" I don't want any apology shit from you. Just let's focus on Aparna now! " Karthik said. He didn't smile at me, but he was there, and that's all I needed.

I nodded my head.

" Did you find any loop hole? " Karthik asked and sat down in the couch with us. All of us were running through the rules pdf.

" Look look, we need some video evidence! " Hari said.

" Well, wasn't there no cctv footage? " Karthik asked.

" Michael swept them clean. " I said.

" Where is that office in Bangalore? " Karthik asked.

" It is one of the we work office buildings. " Shwetha said.

" So, that building had many offices just like theirs, right? " Karthik said.

" Yes! " Shwetha said.

Karthik ran a search in phone and snapped his fingers.

" Guys, we work building is being serviced by new age technos! " Karthik said happily.

" What about that? " I asked confused.

" Are you stupid Shiva? " Karthik asked me.

" Why? " I asked.

" That's the office Vinoth is working in! They have special branch for cctv maintenance service! " Karthik said.

" Yeah yeah! I forgot! What about that? " I asked him.

" Since the entire building is being maintained under this same cctv service, we would defined be able to get the backup! " Karthik said.

We were searching for online helpline, but we couldn't find any. The time was past 2 at night. Everyone were busily walking here and there with their phone in hand.

" But is that legal? Will that cctv maintenance company help us? " Shwetha asked.

" We are asking to file a case on sexual harassment. They would definitely help. Does anyone know the exact date when that happened? " Karthik asked.

I shook my head, as I didn't know about the date.

" I don't know! " Shwetha said.

" I think I can find that out ! " Hari said.

" How? " I asked him.

Hari instantly opened his laptop and opened the mail box.

" This is Aparna's mail I'd . She was checking mails from our office. So it got linked to my laptop too. " Hari said and ran the mails in the screen.

" Aparna left the office within a month after that incident happened." Shwetha said.

"So maybe if we trace back to the date she sent her resignation letter. We can at least know the approximate week. " Hari said.

" Found it! Found it! " Shwetha shouted.

" 13 October, Karthik ask Vinoth to look for the entire backup of September month! " Hari said.

" Good good, I will take care of this video! " Karthik said and ran out quickly with his phone.

I rested my head on the couch and let out a long breath. I scrolled over the rules and a line caught my eyes. I internally cursed and sat up.

" We have a bigger problem. We need someone to stand as witness, some Architect Aparna worked with. So that we can save her from that building collapse blame! " I said and scratched my head.

" Aparna worked two years in that same office. She doesn't have any work experience else where. Where will we go and find Architects who will stand as witness to her work? " Shwetha said.

I buried my head on the couch and cursed loud into the pillow.

" Shiva, we still need a witness to support Aparna! Get up and work! " Hari said and nudged me.

" I am working, in my head! " I said and closed my eyes.

" Is this how you work? Our interns would work better than this! " Shwetha said to me.

I opened my eyes wide and looked at her.

" What did you say ? " I asked Shwetha.

" What? " She looked at me shocked.

" Intern? Aparna did internship in Chennai! She did it for an year! She worked under an Architect in some office here right? " I nearly shouted.

" Yes! I know that! But She was only a student then! How can we use that? She didn't hold a degree then! " Shwetha said.

" Right! But this bloody rule book, doesn't talk about the difference between interns and employees! We just need work experience under an Architect? " I said and took the page which mentioned it.

Shwetha scanned the page and instantly ran to pick up her phone.

" I know that office, The head architect was a old man. Found it. But it is written that it's closed! " Shwetha said and showed her phone to me.

The Architect had retired and he was living alone at a small house in the outskirts of the city.

Hari looked at the house picture and shook his head.

" What? " I asked him.

" I know this place! " He said.

" Where is it? Let's go ! " I said and picked up my phone and wallet.

" Shiva, it will take more than 3 hours!and you know about the traffic! " Hari said.

The time was nearly 4 in the morning. We may not make it back here within afternoon. It was a risk.

" Let's go! " I said.

" Shiva! " Shwetha said.

" I am willing to try anything at this moment! Let's not worry about the traffic right now! We shouldn't miss any small chance to save Aparna! " I said.

" Let's go in my car! " Hari said and picked up his car key.

" I will take care of Aparna. She needs me here. You guys, please come back on time. " Shwetha said.

Hari drove his car out of the parking and I got in hurriedly. He drove out as fast as he can.

My mind didn't have any space for The empty roads and the unknown destination, it was filled with thoughts of Aparna.

" Your eyes are red, take a nap " Hari said to me.

" I can't sleep. You know what, she was suffering so much right under my nose, yet I knew nothing. I was a real fool. She saved my ship from sinking and then I threw her into the sea. I don't think I ll ever loose this regret, unless I make sure that she is alright. " I said.

" Shiva, let's not focus on the regret, let's focus on just Aparna. " Hari said.

The sun came up and I really wished that the sun should freeze for the next few hours. I didn't want this day to start, just yet.

The time ran and we finally reached the house. Hari parked the car outside and I ran to the main gate.

The house was surrounded by groves and there was no house nearby.

The watchman walked towards us and looked at us annoyed.

" Do you have appointment to meet Sir? " The watchman asked us.

" No, but we are in an emergency. We need to meet him right now! " I said.

" If you do not have appointment , you can't meet him. " The watchman said and shooed us away.

" Fuck! " I said and kicked the sand below my feet.

" Shiva, we are not the good boys who would listen to a watchman and go home. Are we? " Hari asked me.

I smiled at him.

" You catch that old watchman! I ll go in! " I said.

Hari nodded and we walked back to the gate. The watchman came walking towards our direction scolding us.

Hari went forward and locked the watchman from behind. The watchman was shouting for help, thinking that we were thieves.

I instantly ran to the gate and jumped over it. As I landed inside, I rolled over and hit my shoulder.

I stood up and dusted off the sand. As I turned towards the house.

An old man was sitting in a wheel chair in the portico. He had a long beard and he was wearing huge spectacles.

He looked at me and laughed.

" I am very sorry Sir, I need to meet you right now. We need your help! " I said to him.

The watchman opened the main gate and walked in dragging the strong hold of Hari.

" Sir, go inside, they are thieves! Call the police! " The watchman shouted.

" Young man, please let my watchman go. I ll talk with you! " He said to Hari pointing his hand.

Hari released the watchman and stood beside me.

" We really need your help Sir. Aparna, she worked as an intern in your firm. She is stuck in a case in the Architect's association and she is in the risk of loosing her license. We need you as a witness, please help us! " I said.

The old man smiled at me.

" I don't think I can stand as the witness! " He said.

" Sir, please. You are the only option we have. You know her right, that clever, hard working and talented girl, who puts her soul into everything she does. Is it fair for her to loose her career over a wrong accusation? , if you have worked with her, you would know. I know that you are retired and this is tiring. But please help her. Please! " I said.

" What is your name? " The old man asked me and moved his wheel chair closer to me.

" Shiva " I said slowly.

" Shiva, I said I can't stand as the witness. But maybe if the association allows, I ll talk from my chair. I just need your help to take me there. " He said laughing.

I breathed out and looked at Hari. He patted my shoulders. And finally, I was relived. I rubbed away the small tears from my eyes.

I laughed together with the old Architect.

I just can't wait to meet Michael now. Wow, I wish I could give back more than what he gave to Aparna and me.