Episode 8 || Christian Meets Andrea

Vera was pacing back and forth, her heart was pounding inside her chest while staring at the giant closed gates of the Knight Mansion when the gates opened and a Mustang slid in. She walked out of the mansion hurriedly and hugged Chris as soon as he stepped out of the car.

“Are you alright? Hurt anywhere?” Vera asked.

“I am all fine, mom. Don’t worry.” Chris replied.

“You say don’t worry, but always make me worried about you,” Vera said, but Chris only showed his charming smile in response.

“Come, let’s go inside,” He said, holding Vera’s hand and they both walked inside the mansion while Danny followed them.

They heard loud chaos upon entering inside and Chris glanced towards the living area where he spotted some guests sitting, facing the opposite direction.

“Who is this new business partner I don’t know about?” Chris whispered to Danny, who appeared a little stressed about everything happening since morning.

“Hey, Chris! Come join us,” Luke call him and Chris smiled, walking in their direction. “Meet William Donovan, my new partner,” Luke introduced them. “And his gorgeous daughter, Andrea,” He further added and Christian’s eyes travelled to the woman sitting next to William.

Andrea stood up quickly, extending her right hand in his direction, and Chris politely accepted. “Have we met before?” He asked and Andrea smiled, nodding her head.

“I was your junior in college.” She said and Chris quickly recalled.

“Oh, yeah, Andrea Donovan! So nice to see you,” Chris said and settled on the settee opposite them.

Andrea couldn’t move her emerald green eyes away from him, until Vera cleared her throat, sitting beside Chris while the latter was busy listening to his father’s upcoming ventures.

Luke turned to Chris, “Chris, why don’t you give a house tour to Andrea, she must be getting bored here,” He said while Andrea shook her head in disapproval.

“Sure! Come,” He said and soon they both walked away while Danny decided to leave without disturbing them but Luke stopped him.

“Danny, can I have a word with you?” Luke said and Danny turned to him, biting his lips.

“Let’s go to my study. I wanted your opinion on our ongoing case.” Luke said, but Danny felt little indifference in his voice. He nodded and followed him upstairs while Vera watched them.

“I am sorry, I’ve to take this call,” William said while picking up his call and Vera smiled briefly.

***

“So Andrea, what’s going on in life?” Chris asked as they walked side by side into the garden area.

“Nothing exciting! I handle the marketing department of Dad’s company, rest you know,” Andrea smiled while Chris nodded.

“It is a stressful job,” He said, walking towards the water fountain and Andrea wished this journey never ends.

***

“Why Danny?” Luke asked as he settled behind the desk.

“I am sorry. What do you mean?” Danny furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and Luke chuckled while rubbing his stubble.

“Do you think I am naïve like your girlfriend and you can easily manipulate me, huh?” Luke asked, and Danny frowned. “I know, copying Christian’s proposal was not merely an innocent accident, it was your attempt to bring back his memories,” Luke said while Danny looked down, scratching his eyebrow with his index finger while the former gazed at him.

“I know you since you were a baby. Do you really think I won’t get your tricks? Do you have any idea how it could’ve turned out fatal for him? We could’ve lost him forever,” Luke almost shouted while saying the last part, and Danny appeared serious.

“Uncle Luke, I agree I tried to bring his memories back that could’ve turned out fatal for his life, but what you did? You permanently erased Mishka’s existence from his life. Now he won’t even try to recall his past because for him, he loved someone, and that woman is dead long ago.” Dany said, “You closed every door to bring Mishka back.”

“What do you mean?” Vera appeared at the door of the study and Danny turned to look at her. He pursed his lips in a straight line as he watched her walking further in. “What did you do Luke?” She asked Luke, but he kept his mouth mum.

“He told Chris that Mishka is dead and replaced her identity with Agatha,” Danny answered for Luke, and Vera’s eyes went wide.

“What?!?” She screeched loudly while Luke appeared calm.

“What should I do then? He reminded him about his past and he was asking about the woman, you know how much mental pressure he would’ve faced if I didn’t have killed his curiosity?” Luke argued but earned only Vera’s heated glare.

“What has gotten into you, Luke?” Vera spat. “You promised you would try to bring Mishka back one last time!!”

“Of course, I am trying to search for her. I’ve appointed a new team of detectives for her. Why do you guys think I hate her? I said this before and I am saying this now, I’ll be the happiest person if Mishka and Chris decided to reconcile. It’s just that I can’t see my son in pain. I am trying to protect him, so where did I go wrong?” Luke screeched and paused, “If he gets the slightest idea about Mishka, he will try to dig the past and that could prove fatal for his mental health. Something same Ken told you, Vera if you remember?” Luke said and Vera sighed.

“My point is, Mishka doesn’t want to be with Chris. If she wanted, then she would’ve tried to connect with us for once. Now, even if we find her, we can’t drag her back into Christian’s life. She clearly stated in the letter that she severe every tie with him.”

“No teams of detectives will ever find Mishka. Haven’t we hired the best team before?” Danny said, and both Vera and Luke listened to him patiently. “Mishka has a mind of hacker and lawyer, she is successfully hiding herself from the last seven years leaving no clue behind.”

“So what do you suggest in this situation? Christian should wait for Mishka his entire life,” Luke raised his voice while Danny appeared calm.

“I believe only Chris could find her, but you have already declared her dead. Now Chris won’t put pressure on himself to recollect his memories and I think Mishka’s chapter end here.” Danny stated, and Vera gave a heated gaze to Luke.

“Anyway, I am going home. Maya must be waiting for me.” Danny said and turn to leave, only to spot William on the door frame. He smiled briefly and walked past him while William walked inside the study room and Vera, and Luke quickly changed their facial expression.

***

“Wow!! What’s that there on the shelf?” Andrea said, her eyes were pinned on the decorated elephant-faced wax statue on the wooden shelf and she moved forward to look closely.

“This is so beautiful!!” She exclaimed and extended her hand forward to take it, but Chris held her wrist.

“Don’t touch it,” He said and Andrea quickly retrieved her hand back. “I am sorry… I just don’t like if anyone touches this.” He said and Andrea felt embarrassed.

“Where did you get this from? This is so pretty,” Andrea said and Chris looked back at the idol.

“I don’t know where did I get this from but… I just know I put this there. It may be merely a showpiece, but I feel a connection with this.” He said and Andrea turned to him.

“It's not just a showpiece. It’s a statue of an Indian deity. He is very famous in India, there is a big temple in India for him.” Andrea said and suddenly something clicked to Chris, and he knitted his brows while staring at the idol with his hands on either side of his pant pockets.

“Maybe your wif…” Andrea was about to mention his Indian wife but paused as she recalled he doesn’t have his memories. Chris glanced at her and Andrea gulped, looking at him with her doe-like eyes. “We should go downstairs now. Everyone must be waiting for us to join them for lunch,” She said, and they left Christian’s room.

The lunch went well and Andrea clicked a lot of pictures with Christian, posting them on her social media handles, unaware of the mess it was about to create. They all had a great time together while Leo excused himself and walked to his room after lunch.

***

Nikhil was finally relieved after weeks. He changed his clothes after taking a nice shower to relax and plopped down on his bed, closing his eyes. Mishka’s images flashed in the back of his mind, and the meeting with this lady seemed mysterious to him. He took out his mobile and searched for her on Google to find something more about her.

“Let’s see which modelling assignment she has done past,” She muttered while typing her name on Google but nothing appeared to associate with her. He tried searching different keywords, but there wasn’t even any social handle available for him to follow her.

“This is weird!” He muttered while searching for her when he got a call from Riya and he received it.

“I am sorry for walking out like that…” Riya tried to apologize, but Nikhil cut her off.

“It’s alright and thank you for pushing me to meet her. I went to see her and the case is solved now.” Nikhil said and Riya exclaimed in joy from the other side.

“What?? Really!! What did she exactly say?” She asked.

“She has some proofs. We are meeting tomorrow again. But something is weird about her,” Nikhil said.

“Weird?” Riya pointed.

“We were discussing the case, but she suddenly turned teary-eyed. She was trying hard to control her overwhelming emotions, but it was like she was about to burst into tears any moment.” Nikhil said. “She started behaving weirdly suddenly and yes, she refused to take my case,”

“Nikhil, I’ll call you back later, okay?” Riya said, and quickly disconnected the call without waiting for his reply. Nikhil looked at the screen and huffed, “Actually, you both are weird!!”

***

Sitting on his bed, Chris was working on his laptop when his eyes accidentally fell on the mirror and he saw a glimpse of the wax statue on the wooden shelf, his fingers stopped working momentarily as he gazed at the Ganesha idol through the mirror, and a series of questions started wandering in his mind.

“Something is still not completely out. Why they took seven years to tell me that the woman I loved before is dead? They saw me hallucinating about her so many times, but they kept their mouth shut. Something feels off track,” He thought and walked onto the balcony, lighting a cigarette.

“I feel pity about Agatha, but I don’t feel I’ve lost someone close, maybe because I don’t remember anything….. but I loved her, right, then why I don’t feel I’ve lost someone close.” He asked himself, taking a drag from his cigarette and trying his best to recall the past again.

***

Mishka continued to cry her eyes out, keeping her head down on the desk, when the door clicked open and Riya entered. “Mishka?” She said, crossing her desk and coming to her side.

“What happened?” She lightly shook her shoulder, and Mishka looked up at her through her bloodshot eyes.

“See,” She mumbled, moving the cursor and screen light up showing trending news. Riya’s eyes shifted from her to the screen and her eyes went wide while reading the content.

“A new entry in our heartthrob’s life!!! Is this a signal of the brewing romance,” the headline said and there was a picture of Christian with Andrea, sitting close to each other and the duo looked perfect. The lady was with hypnotic emerald eyes matched the heir of the Knight family perfectly and they looked happy together.