Arc Rocks

Close Apart Chapter -25 “The Other Side of Me” “Let’s go on a picnic!!” Komal said. “That’s a negative. Neither of us is going to have that much of leave.” “Who said we’ll have to go away from the town for a picnic? We can have a nice joyous picnic just here…” “Here where?” “Say… on the roof of your apartment!! Wouldn’t that be great?” “That would be crazy! No one has gone up there in like a million years!” “That would make it even more exiting! Then it’s done, tomorrow at 10:30am we are going up!” So the roof was cleaned, and Aditya’s “rugged old stove” was pumped for one last time. And just when they were all done with spreading mat, and arranging breakfast, it happened almost then. The daylight went dim… and before Aditya could say “crap!” raindrops started falling from nowhere. “And I was thinking that the weather was nice!!” No doubt Komal’s plan had been wasted. Seeing Komal standing in the rain with a childish expression of despise on her f

Close Apart Chapter-24 “A step ahead” Receiving a bunch of roses in office was not the usual way to start a normal day for Komal! And when the note read “Got you another surprise, meet me after work- Aditya” Komal knew that there’s something really unusual about that day! All day long, she kept on thinking, what may be the surprise! “Is it the movie that I mentioned that day and he reacted like… Ice Age! Aren’t you too grown up for those movies!! Or is it that keychain that I loved in the Archie’s gallery and he winked away!! Oh god! I am too much stressed out! I hate surprises!” “Madam!” Komal was so much sunk in her confusions that she almost forgot that she was still in the office! “Yes?” “Sir asked if you’ve completed proof-reading for your article or not…” “Ah… tell him that I’ll hand it to him within 10 minutes. And again she sank in her trivia hunt!! Basically Komal is a “constant demanding” type girl. Need clarification? Well let’s put it in

Close Apart Chapter-23 “New Beginning” It was a fine evening; Aditya & Komal were in the same old spot which they’ve chosen quite a number of times now in quick successions. Having bites from their favorite cakes. When suddenly this topic came up. “Aditya!” “mm hm…” “Where are you?” “Right here! In front of you! Why did you ask?” “You seemed lost…” “Yeah you guessed right, nothing important, past stuff.” “Thinking about Amrita, aren’t you?” Aditya’s sigh gave Komal the answer she was looking for. “Do you know Aditya, why I often ask you to meet here instead of Pizza Hut?” “Why?” “Because that was the place where it all started, because that place is full of her memories. And I thought that may be changing the surroundings may help you to recover fast. Come-on Aditya, for how long will you bear this pain within you?” “Komal, tell me that even you’ve believed that she’s dead.” “You tell me Aditya, you enquired in each a

Close Apart Chapter-22 “Moment of truth” “Only one question… how?” Aditya said only these words as he took his seat in the van. “This could only be an act of God!” was Komal’s reply. Aditya tried hard to solve the riddle but he failed to come up with any answers. But then, Aditya was always a little weak in riddles. “Remember? There was a time when God called you…” “Yes! I do remember… is that??... But…” Manish came into the rescue “Let me explain. The time when I heard that the security guard was going to call Mr. Bakshi, I quickly analyzed the voice extract that Komal recorded in her recorder the day when she was taking his interview, from that I prepared a duplicate voice track which would imitate exactly Mr. Bakshi’s voice, though some flaws were there, but I was sure that it won’t matter over a phone line. But the main problem was how to insert this voice over the phone line that the guard will use! The trick includes hacking phone lines and would have take

Close Apart Chapter-21 “Night Out” “Are you sure you are going to do this?” “I have to! This is my last hope!” Aditya & Komal were still arguing on whether Aditya should take the risk or not “Don’t worry; I’ll be on the wireless terminal all the time.” Manish said in an assuring tone. “All you have to do is transmit the data. The rest will be taken care of.” “Why can’t I go in there? Even I can do the job!” “No Komal, the job is very tricky! Only I have a fighting chance to finish it before the time runs out!!” And so there Aditya was! In the middle of the night, standing outside the British council Building. His only link to the “safer world” was a Bluetooth headset through which he was in call with Manish. “O.K here we go!” An eerie voice spoke from the headset & Aditya approached the Security Guard. The Security Guard was certainly not prepared to see a well suited person at that time with a briefcase full of stuffs! “Excuse Me!” “Yes, I woul

Close Apart Chapter -20 “Crack Down” <<“ Of course I am! But we take frequent trainings about the latest upgrades; as for example, I have just returned from training in the states and will go to receive training about these new rack servers.”>> Aditya was listening to the recorded conversations that Komal has brought with her. <<“Well thank you Mr. Bakshi, we are very much impressed from the view we saw here! Thanks a lot for the walkthrough!”>> As Aditya finished listening the interview, his face got lighted up! “What happened?” Asked Komal, “Did you get anything useful?” “I don’t know yet, but wait, let me hear it once again. Would you guys please leave alone for sometime?” As Aditya got busy with the tape and his laptop, Komal & Manish hung out in the balcony. “Thanks a lot Komal!” “You need not say that! Pulling out Aditya from this case is really important, plus …” “I wasn’t referring to that topic.” “Then

Close Apart Chapter-19 “The British Council Mystery (Part-II)” “Komal you don’t have to do this!” “Trust me, I’ll have to. “ “O.K. listen, try to find out as much information as you can about the server they are using & about its network administrator Mr. Bakshi.” “Why him?” “Because only he has got the power to insert any virus or Trojan in the server & I had this feeling before that he’s up to something.” “O.K and I’ll see you in 2hrs or so…” “Right, note everything, take pictures if necessary and…” “and?” “Don’t run into unnecessary troubles!” “I won’t.” “Manish will drop you on his way…” “No, I’d prefer to take my Press car with me…” Watching Komal going away, Aditya had this strange feeling. He realized that she was going to risk her job to find out something for his defense; Aditya realized that something has creped into his self silently. So silently that he never even realized that it rested there. Rested just to remind his of its exist

Close Apart Chapter-18 “Behind Bars” “It’s all my fault!” Aditya was kept in the police lockup for the entire night before Manish went there and bailed him out. “No Aditya!” Komal was right there, “You didn’t hack their server. Someone’s setting you up!” “There is no way I can prove this! They have infected their server with the same Trojan that I used to chat with Amrita! I even performed a port scan on their network; they must be having a backup of that too. I’ve ruined my own life! And only mine but your dad’s too. He’ll be charged too for not controlling unusual activities.” Aditya had hit the rock bottom. Komal went near him, took Aditya’s hand in hers and said “You’re not going to give up so soon” Aditya looked up. He felt the assuring touch on his hands, he said. “I know what I’ve to do. I’ll take all the charges on my account. That’ll take the heat off the company.” “What are you saying!” Manish almost yelled at Aditya. “Do you have any idea what thi

Close Apart Chapter17 “Difficult Times Lie Ahead…” Aditya somehow started being regular to his work once again, Manish & Komal were trying all the time to make him feel normal, if not happy. “Boss calling!” Mr. Mehta signaled Aditya as he wheezed out of Mr. Arora’s cabin. “Sir you called me.” “Yes Aditya. There is something important in the British Council, and they’ve called us.” “You mean you and me?” “Well that’s pretty much the same thing” “Sir it’s not my specialization and I am not even the British Council team so…” “Aditya! For how long do you think that you’ll avoid the fact? Don’t look surprised, Komal told me everything the other day. Look Aditya, I can realize through what situation you are going right now. But why are you forgetting one thing? That life waits for no one! And if you are not moving with it, then you’ll be left behind! Gather yourself up Aditya; don’t let any thing come between you and your life! Now get ready and get going!” “Whe