Play In Darkness (Eng/END)

38. The Truth Untold

Devdas returned to his office accompanied by Sanjay. Sanjay has been his personal assistant for decades. Devdas sees a cream scarf and an access card to his private floor lying on the floor. The shawl seemed to give him the hope that the owner would come to that place again. But the gold access card that had been left just like that indicated that the woman was not interested in being in the room anymore. Devdas picked them up and took them with him to a swivel chair behind the desk. He was lost in thought for a moment.

"Sir, Miss Faatina Deol wants to see you. She has been on the waiting list long enough and ...." No need to listen to Sanjay further, Devdas has waved his hand so that Sanjay will change the subject. Devdas is bored with artists lining up to be his mistresses. Faatina Deol is one of them. He didn't know which woman she was. Obviously, Devdas not interested.

Sanjay knew he couldn't against his boss, but he was concerned to see his Master moping for the past few weeks. He doesn't even touch a woman since his Master met Marianne Webster, which his boss called Chandni. He could imagine his boss changing women, but if his mood was affected because of a woman he couldn't have, that was something new and never expected. Sanjay tries to please his boss. "But sir, Miss Faatina is very beautiful and young, she is also still a virgin ...."

Devdas glanced sharply at Sanjay. "Look, just do what you want to do with that woman. If you still want to be where you are now, don't bother me anymore with trivial things like that!" threatened Devdas with a bored expression.

Sanjay bowed respectfully. "Sorry, Mister!" He exclaimed deeply.

Devdas keeps his Chandni's shawl in the drawer. "Let go of Khan's Enterprise!" continued Devdas.

"Sir!?"

"I'm tired of them. Anyway, I want to see how Xin India will handle them."

Sanjay bowed his body respectfully. "Yes sir!"

"Call Aftab! There is an important task for him!" added Devdas, dropping his back against the chair. Sanjay immediately called Aftab Shivdasani to come upstairs to Devdas' room.

In a moment, the elegant young man came. "Greetings, boss! What should I do this time, boss?" asked Aftab happily. Devdas sat with a cold face and sharp eyes, while Sanjay stood near Devdas' table like a guardian dog ready to await his Master's signal.

Devdas rested his elbows on the table and his fingers gripped in front of his face. He spoke in a deep voice and his words filled Aftab with uncertainty. "Arrange for Marianne Webster to fall in love with me, no matter what!!"

Aftab laughed dryly, feeling like Devdas tricked him. He glanced at Sanjay. But that man didn't flinch. He looked at Devdas again. "Boss, didn't I hear you wrong, boss? Just hear your name, any woman will fall in love with you. Why bother, boss?"

Devdas hit the table and pointed his finger at Aftab. "Don't ever question what I command! You want your head to separate from your body ??"

Aftab immediately stuttered at the threat. "N-no, boss! F-fine, boss, I'll do it right away!" he replied and hurried out of Devdas' room with haste.

Devdas leaned back and twirled his chair. He smiled faintly almost grinning. "Chandni, you see, you will be mine, and so will Xin Corp," he muttered softly.

Seeing his Master getting excited, Sanjay was relieved and hoped that his Master would soon get what he wanted.

******

Meanwhile, Imdad and Delisha returned to the Xin India office.

What she experienced with Devdas, of course, Delisha would not tell Imdad just like that. The kiss happened because at that time she couldn't control her body and the flashback she saw made her unable to decide what to do with Devdas. The man did not scare her, even the man looked pathetic. She pities him. His enlarged black wings and confinement did not frighten her either. The black substance only envelops her body but does not attack her, hence she can take a handful of it. Once in her grasp, it seems that these substances become visible.

Fortunately, the discovery of a black substance was able to distract. She and Imdad are now in Xin India. They both looked closely at the bottle filled with the substance that Delisha had placed on Imdad's desk.

"You insist on approaching the man for this substance? What is this substance?" muttered Imdad.

Delisha took out her cellphone and put it on her back on the table. With the touch of his hand, the cellphone camera emits a bluish light to form a 4-dimensional hologram box with sides one inch long. Delisha put her little bottle in the hologram case and the glow fluctuated between white and blue as it was processing the substance that was put in it.

"Your phone can do this??" Imdad was amazed. He looked at Delisha who was watching the hologram box. The blue and white light from the hologram hit her serious face.

"This is a cell phone from 2034, Imdad, one of the things that the Xin Corp. technology lab has successfully developed," Delisha explained. "This camera phone sees what the ordinary eye cannot see. Detects and processes it, analyzes the composition and properties of the substance. If this substance is already in the database, it is easy for the tool to identify it. If not, the substance will be analyzed in more detail until it is broken down into the form of ions. "

Her cell phone emitted an incoming message sound and beside the hologram box, a hologram screen appeared with the results of the analysis. "Wow, Professor Sisilia is excellent!" exclaimed Delisha in awe. Professor Sicily is one of the researchers in Xin's genetics laboratory. Delisha met this woman often because she and her husband were business partners of Xin Corp. The couple is friendly enough, but make her disconcerted every time they meet because of their appearance in her eyes. Professor Sisilia looks like a cobra and her husband looks like a black bat with bright red eyes. If the two joined forces, what a deadly combination.

"Professor Sisilia?" Imdad repeated.

Delisha touched the hologram screen. Various pictures and text appeared. "Yes, Professor Sisilia, one of the researchers at Xin's genetics laboratory," she said while reading the results of the analysis. "In 2022 Professor Sicily succeeded in isolating this substance from the brain fluid of a man who tried to kill her. The nature of this substance is very unstable and depends on the host. If you cannot control it, you will become a monster full of ambition and very dangerous. Whether Devdas realizes it or not, he has become the host of these creatures and we don't know how many people have obtained this substance."

Delisha tilted her head at the holographic screen. The image of Devdas as an angel who often helped her in her previous life made her feel sorry for Devdas. Between believing it and not, she tried to string the pieces of her memory together. One thing she is sure of, basically, Devdas is not a bad person. Something changed him and he just did what he was used to, taking human lives. Ah, now killing someone sounds like a natural thing.

Imdad said to Delisha apprehensively, "If killing Devdas doesn't solve the problem and he is the victim of the situation, would you want to ... save Devdas?"

"Saving him is not the word," Delisha replied. She looked at Imdad and smiled sweetly showing her dimples. "Control it, that's what we have to do."

*****

1763, in the Rajputana Udai Singh Palace Gardens.

"Ha ha ha ha....!!" Zourdan who is standing near Chandni's body bursts into laughter after Devdas leaves with the ball of Chandni's life. He laughed so much that he leaned against a large banyan tree nearby. He stopped laughing when he saw an old man with dark skin, bald-headed, and an emaciated body wearing only a shabby cloth covering his crotch sitting on a tree branch. He knew the old man was a tree guard genie. The old man looked at him closely. "Hey, old man, why do you feel at home in this world? You don't want to see heaven? I can take you there," said Zourdan.

The old man shook his head. "I like it here. I see a lot of things. Many people call me if they need inspiration for their stories or paintings. So, I think I'm quite useful here," said the old man.

"Oh, so you possessed those artists? You know, they are considered crazy and devil worshipers for making their work, but that's great, hahah ..." Zourdan laughed out loud again. "... after they died their artwork became scrambled, even there was bloodshed because of it, ah ... my work just got more fun. One good excuse for mass murder. Art."

Suddenly a figure in a red robe with a big hood hiding the face appeared near Chandni's body. Zourdan and the old genie were silently watching the figure of the red robe. The red robe knelt beside Chandni's body and a soft hands caressed Chandni's swollen belly. Without hesitation, the red robe pulled out the knife that had stabbed Chandni's chest and used it to cut open the woman's stomach. Warmblood flowed from the cut he made and with a straightforward movement both hands reached into Chandni's stomach and pulled out the baby. The baby's cry was so loud it broke the silence. The placenta cord was cut with the same knife that had cut open the mother's stomach. The knife drops on Chandni's side. The red robe figure embraced the bloody baby and took a few steps back then disappeared like jumping into another dimension.

There was a sudden silence.

"What just happened?" Zourdan was flabbergasted for a moment then laughed again. "This is very interesting," he said, turning his head slowly to the old man in the tree. "Hey, old man! Don't tell anyone what happened earlier! If you dare to break it, I'll send you to heaven!" Zourdan threatened then burst out laughing and flew into the sky.