The lock on the storage room door began to turn slowly.
Tick… tick… tick…
The sound moved so slowly, so coldly, that Mehrin felt as if someone was not just opening the door—
but unlocking the last safe place left inside her chest.
Rashed stood in front of her.
Unknown footsteps waited beyond the door.
Her father's old voice recorder was still in her hand.
And from the recorder, that voice had just said—
"The first person whose name you will want to trust… is the very first one you should suspect."
Mehrin's eyes slowly lifted and stopped on Rashed's face.
His expression had gone rigid.
But beneath that rigid mask, there was something else.
Discomfort.
Fear.
A hidden truth.
Something inside Mehrin's chest thudded hard.
"You…" her lips went dry. "You still haven't told me everything, have you?"
Rashed looked at her immediately.
"This is not the time for that," he said in a low voice.
"This is exactly the time!" Mehrin hissed. "Everyone has been playing with my life for years. No one gets to hide anything from me anymore."
BANG!
Another heavy blow hit the door.
This time, the metal part of the lock shook.
Rashed clenched his jaw.
"If we stand here and argue, they'll be inside in five seconds."
Mehrin was about to speak again when the recorder crackled with static—and then her father's voice returned.
**"If you are hearing this part, then it means you are not alone.
And if that boy is still beside you… then listen carefully—
do not throw him away yet.
His hands carry sin, but the rope has not tightened around his neck yet."**
A strange silence fell over the room.
The color drained from Rashed's face.
Inside Mehrin, conflict spread like fire.
Her father—
the man she had never truly known—
knew something about Rashed that even she didn't.
"What does that mean?" Mehrin whispered. "His hands carry sin… but the rope hasn't tightened yet?"
Rashed lowered his eyes.
That was her answer.
Cold realization spread through her.
"You were working for someone," she said very slowly. "But you weren't alone. Someone was above you."
Rashed said nothing.
And this time, his silence said everything.
Just then—
CLANG!
The handle on the outside of the door jerked violently.
Once.
Twice.
Then a rough male voice came from outside—
"Come out and hand over the girl. Your punishment may be lighter, Rashed."
Mehrin's entire body went still.
She slowly turned to look at him.
"So they know you by name," she said.
Rashed's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"And you still expect me to trust you?"
This time, Rashed looked directly into her eyes.
There was guilt in them.
But for the first time today, one thing was painfully clear—
he was not lying right now.
"No," he said. "I don't want you to trust me. I just want you to stay alive."
Something inside Mehrin trembled.
This man had betrayed her.
Used her.
Entered her life with a mission.
And yet—
there was something real in his voice now.
A desperation that didn't feel fake.
But Mehrin was no longer the woman who could fall into trust so easily.
And she never would be again.
Rashed quickly looked around the room.
At the back wall of the storage room, beneath a rusted ventilation shaft, there was a small service door half-hidden by dust and old shelving.
"There," Rashed said.
"Can we get through that?"
"I don't know. But it's better than staying here."
"And the recorder?" Mehrin asked immediately.
"Take everything."
Mehrin opened her bag and shoved the envelope, the letter, the photograph, and the recorder inside.
But just then, her eyes landed once more on the final lines of the letter—
**"It began with the name of a child.
And that name—was never yours."**
Her mind shook again.
Then… Mehrin wasn't really her name?
Who was she?
Which child's name had started all of this?
And why had her identity been changed?
The mountain of questions inside her only grew heavier.
Then the recorder crackled again, and her father's voice returned once more—
**"If you want to reach 'the name,' remember this—
the truth is not in your birth documents.
It is not in your first school form.
It is not even fully in your mother's words.
The truth is hidden in the place…
where you were first called by another name."**
Mehrin's breath stopped.
"Another name…" she whispered.
And then—
a blurred memory flashed violently through her mind.
A dark room.
Someone lifting her into their arms.
Distant shouting.
And then a woman's faint voice—
"Ariba… close your eyes."
Mehrin's entire body jolted.
The recorder nearly slipped from her hand.
"No…" she stepped back. "No, I—"
Rashed turned to her immediately.
"What happened?"
Mehrin's lips trembled.
"I… I heard a name."
"What name?"
Her throat had gone dry.
She answered very softly—
"Ariba."
The color vanished from Rashed's face in an instant.
And the moment she saw his reaction, everything inside her froze.
She stared at him with cold eyes.
"You know that name."
Rashed did not answer immediately.
This time, Mehrin didn't scream.
Instead, she became terrifyingly calm.
"You know that name," she said again. "And if you lie to me now… I swear I will never listen to you again."
Another violent blow struck the door.
BANG!
From outside, the man shouted—
"Rashed! Time's up!"
Rashed closed his eyes for one second.
Then, very slowly, he said—
"Yes. I know that name."
Something inside Mehrin shattered.
"Who is she?"
Rashed lifted his eyes to hers and said—
"You."
The room fell into absolute silence.
Mehrin felt as if the world had tilted sideways beneath her feet.
"No," she whispered. "No… no, you're lying…"
"I wish I were," Rashed said. "But 'Ariba' was the first name I was given. Not 'Mehrin.'"
A low buzzing filled Mehrin's ears.
"How… how do you know that?"
Rashed bit down on his lip.
"Because when I was first sent to watch you… I was given an old profile. It said—
Target linked to missing child: Ariba."
The ground seemed to disappear beneath her.
Target.
They had not seen her as a person.
They had seen her as a target.
As a missing child.
As a name connected to a file.
Hatred, fear, pain—everything exploded together inside her.
"So all this time…" her voice broke, "you knew I wasn't even me?"
"No," Rashed said quickly. "I only knew the name. Not the full truth. Later, when I got close to you… I realized you didn't know either."
"And you still didn't tell me."
"I couldn't."
"Or you wouldn't—because it would ruin your mission?"
The words cut straight through him.
And he had no answer.
Because the truth was painfully obvious.
Yes—
once, he really had been a man on a mission.
But was that still who he was now?
Or had he truly changed?
Mehrin didn't know.
And that uncertainty was breaking her even more.
Then—
CRACK!
The lock on the storage room door snapped.
A thin blade of light pushed in through the metal gap.
Rashed immediately grabbed Mehrin's hand and pulled her toward the service door.
"Now!"
This time, Mehrin didn't pull away.
Because survival mattered more than questions right now.
Rashed slammed his shoulder against the rusted service door.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
BAM!
The door burst open.
Inside was a narrow, dark maintenance tunnel.
Pipes below.
Metal grates above.
Nothing ahead but darkness.
The moment they rushed inside, the storage room door behind them burst open.
Someone shouted—
"They went this way!"
Rashed yanked the service door partly shut behind them, though it didn't close completely.
"Move!" he whispered.
Mehrin stumbled forward, breathing hard.
The tunnel was so narrow they couldn't walk side by side. Rashed in front. Mehrin behind. Their breathing, the distant pursuit, and the metallic tremors echoing through the walls made the place feel like a living trap.
And still, inside her mind, only one name kept echoing—
Ariba.
Ariba.
Ariba.
Ariba.
The name felt like it was pounding against a locked door buried deep inside her.
Then another flash hit her—
a blue teddy bear.
Someone crying and saying—
"Ariba, stay hidden!"
And then—
blood.
Mehrin suddenly stopped.
Her breath shook.
"Mehrin?" Rashed looked back.
"I… I'm seeing things…" she whispered, one hand pressed to the wall.
"What are you seeing?"
"A teddy bear… and…" she clutched her forehead, "blood…"
Fear flashed across Rashed's face.
"Your memory is coming back."
"I don't want it to!" Mehrin nearly broke. "Not like this—"
"Quiet," Rashed said suddenly.
Both of them froze.
At the far end of the tunnel, there was a faint light.
And standing in that light—
was the silhouette of a person.
Mehrin's heart slammed against her ribs.
The figure did not move.
It simply stood there.
Rashed slowly stepped in front of Mehrin, shielding her.
"Who's there?" he asked in a low voice.
A few seconds of silence.
Then from the shadow came a calm, chillingly familiar female voice—
"So… you've finally started remembering the name."
Mehrin's breath caught.
She knew that voice.
She knew it very well.
It was—
the woman from Dhanmondi.
The shadow slowly stepped forward.
Under the weak emergency glow, her face came into view.
Composed.
Elegant.
Cold.
A faint smile curved across her lips.
As if she had been waiting for this exact moment all along.
"You…" Mehrin whispered.
The woman tilted her head.
"I thought it would take you longer to remember," she said. "But you've moved a little faster than I expected."
Rashed growled—
"Stay back."
The woman looked at him and gave a soft, mocking smile.
"You still want to save her?" she said. "How tragic. A used pawn trying to protect another lost child."
A cold shiver spread through Mehrin's chest.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling.
This time, the woman looked directly into her eyes.
And very slowly, very clearly, she said—
"I am the one who gave you the name 'Mehrin.'"
The world tilted.
Mehrin's legs almost gave out beneath her.
"What…?"
The woman stepped one pace closer.
"And you," she whispered, "were never Mehrin."
The air vanished from Mehrin's lungs.
Rashed said immediately,
"Don't listen to her."
But the woman spoke again—
and what she said next froze every drop of blood inside Mehrin's body.
**"Your father did not run away to save you, Ariba.
He ran away with you."**
Mehrin's eyes widened in shock.
No.
No—what was she saying?
Ran away with her?
Did that mean—
her father had been saving her?
Or—
had he kidnapped her?
Everything in her mind collapsed into chaos.
Who was telling the truth?
Who was lying?
Who was the victim?
Who was the criminal?
Her entire inner world began to crack again.
And just then—
the sound of the men chasing them grew closer from behind.
The woman stood in front.
The hunters were behind.
And in the middle stood Mehrin—
a ruin built from the ashes of a stolen name.
The woman slowly raised one hand.
Between her fingers hung a small silver pendant.
The moment Mehrin saw it, her entire body froze.
Because from somewhere deep inside her chest, a lost memory rose up on instinct—
a tiny hand.
A child's voice.
"That's mine…"
Mehrin's lips trembled.
"That…" she whispered. "That's mine…"
The woman smiled.
"Yes," she said. "Because the man you've been trying to call your father didn't just take your name from you—
he took much more."
Then she closed her fingers around the pendant and said—
**"If you truly want to know who you are…
follow me.
And if you don't—
then tonight, you will remain 'Mehrin' forever."**
Mehrin stopped breathing.
Rashed said immediately—
"No! You're not going with her!"
But at that exact moment—
the flashlights of the men behind them splashed against the tunnel walls.
They were here.
And the woman, stepping backward into a side passage, said one final thing—
"If you want your real name, don't be late, Ariba."
Then she disappeared into the darkness.
Mehrin stood frozen.
The hunters behind.
The lost truth ahead.
And in the middle of it all—
one impossible question.
**Would she run with Rashed?
Or follow that woman to find the truth of her real name?**
At that exact moment—
Rashed grabbed her hand tightly and shouted—
"Mehrin—no, Ariba—decide now!"