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Hello Forumwasis. This is my third OS in the forum - my take on an Alternate Marriage sequence where Ansh's human and Davaansh side collaborate to wrench Pia out of Naman' s grasp.
A little treat for the weekend for all my readers. Thank you all so much for your encouragement.
Cheers!
Niki
"Make sure there are no mistakes."
The girl smiled lazily. "You don't have to worry sir, it is already taken care of. No one will find out about the switch till it is all done and over with."
"Good," Ansh remarked.
The soft glaze of the freshness of early October mornings had faded into the sunny rays of the day. Ansh, quickly checked the time on his wristwatch and swiftly walked out of the cafe. With fast strides, he reached the parking lot and settled into his car. Closing the door firmly, he tugged on the seatbelt and relaxed, leaning his head on the seat.
'And here I thought you were a fool and you instead went on to surprise me. I am impressed.'
Ansh sighed. "I told you to leave me alone for sometime," he muttered as he plugged the key into ignition and the car whirred into life.
'The idea is fantastic. That Worm won't know what hit him. And finally Pia will be out of his clutches...permanently.'
Ansh suppressed a smile at the enthusiasm. "True that. By the way thanks. I got this idea from your suggestion."
'Which one? I gave so many,' the voice pondered. 'Oh, the one to do a groom swap and put us in that Worm's place? That was a good one.'
"Yeah, that one," Ansh answered as he swerved into a by-lane. " However that one would not have worked because--"
'You are too short to impersonate him.'
"Because I am married," Ansh finished ignoring the voice. "So anyway, Pia needs to be kept safe and away from Naman and he wants to get married. So, let's get him married but to another woman."
'Bride swapping,' the voice gleefully commented. 'Here I was getting worried about your weird preference for that Devdas boy who continued crying buckets and flooding my intellect. Honestly how does your sister even like that film? Its torture...honestly, if he wanted Paro, he should have gone and gotten her, not cried buckets. I was seriously getting scared that you might want to impersonate him in heartbreak. I am so glad you are taking a page out of EK's book on ways of nefarious marriage complications.'
"EK?" Ansh asked confused as the car slowed down to wait for the signal.
'You don't know her? It's Ekta Kapoor. Now that woman has brains. All her heroes end up getting engaged to one and getting married to another. Swap everywhere.'
Laughter bubbled inside him and his lips quirked. "So, it appears that you have decided on us being hero huh, not villain?"
'Eh, I am bored of villainy. They are just simple minded bigots. We can be heroes instead. Heroes have much more shades of characters. Complex, just like us. In fact I am partial to those Anti-heroes. They sound just like us. The plus is of course this that the heroes always get Sanskari heroines like Pia. So we have to be heroes...get it?'
Ansh shook his head. "No comments."
The signal turned green and the car sped off.
'So,' the voice began, 'I was thinking--'
"Yes?"
'That fellow is a nuisance but is an intelligent nuisance.'
Ansh frowned. "What are you getting at?"
'See, he knows that we want to stop this marriage. So of course he will expect us to do something dramatic. We did that last time.'
"You mean you did that."
'Arghh...that's not important. What is important is that we need to hide our plan from everyone. No one can know that we are planning to kidnap Pia and replace her with a con-artist. And to hide that, we need to do something so that Mr Awful-Pig does not get suspicious that we haven't tried anything.'
The car swerved to a stop.
Ansh bit his lip. "You are right. I didn't think about that."
'Luckily for you, I did.'
"So what are we going to do?"
The voice gave off a smug vibe. 'How do you feel about enacting a Devdas?'
"Wait...what?"
'But you see I am a bit original. So you will do that heartbreaking act and walk on fire. Yeah...that would work for drama', it mused clearly ignoring him.
Ansh spluttered. "Hey, I am not walking on fire. What's wrong with you?"
'Of course you will,' the voice said in a patented tone. 'And once that required drama is done, do a bit of throwing things, yell and rush away. We will go to Pia then, put her in the car and go away while that Chirkoot can get married for as long as he wants.'
Ansh laid his head on the steering wheel with a Thud.
'Don't guy dare get second thoughts!'
Ansh sighed.
'Well, I can take over if you want. I have been watching lots of daily soaps recently. I can do drama well.'
Ansh took a deep breathe. "I will tell you when to."
'Awesome. This is what I call partnership.'
#Some hours later#
"Pia," Ansh shouted. "Stop. You cannot get married to him."
'Oy...are you threatening her? Be a Devdas, put some pain into your voice.'
Hands puled him back, and as planned, he struggled violently. He wrenched out of their hold and raced ahead. As decided a stream of fire rushed at him and he walked ahead through it with teary eyes; his healing powers continuously at work.
'Good, you are doing good,' the voice muttered. 'Just let the round tradition start, then you can start the next phase.'
"Round tradition?" Ansh muttered as sweat dripped down from his brows due to the heat of the fire. Behind him screams alighted from his family, his mother's being the loudest.
Something stabbed at his heart, something that felt similar to guilt. It left a bad taste in his mouth but he went on.
'Its okay. What we are doing is for the best. These all will make her happy later,' the voice consoled him. 'And round tradition means going round and round that pot of fire.'
Ansh winced. "Its not a pot of fire...ughh...just leave it."
Hands grabbed him and dragged him from the fire. He could feel his father and uncle shouting at him but nothing managed to make sense. A peculiar feeling of guilt and shame enveloped him as his eyes feel on his crying mother and than on his wife. And as that emotion arose, he could feel the entity inside him rise at his unspoken call for aid and it swiftly cut off all his guilt as he took a backseat.
What happened next was instantaneous.
His body shook off his restraints and a yell of pain and anger left his mouth. All he could think of was losing Pia and it strangled his heart, making him feel like a man in his last throes of life. All he knew was pain and hate, worry and anger, betrayal and loss. The feelings overpowered him and guttural roars echoed out from his mouth which both terrified and awed him as he felt it throw themselves on the decorated pillars and shattering them into pieces.
The people backed away in fear and wonder as his family stared at him bewildered. His rage was stupendous and unearthly as it burnt and erupted. With a last scornful glare, with his golden eyes, at the people, he stormed away.
As he left and the distance grew, he could feel the entity seep back into a minute consciousness, as he regained control of his body. Both were silent for sometime as they tried to adapt to the powerful emotions that had raged down.
"So," Ansh huffed as he ran to the place he had hidden Pia, "that was...wow."
'Uhmmm,' the voice began, something strange coloring its tones. 'I do drama well.'
Ansh nearly tripped. "Wait...are you embarrassed?"
The voice blew a raspberry. 'Shut up.'
"Oh. You are. Now that's something," Ansh teased.
The voice huffed and ignored him. They worked in silence as they climbed down the building with an unconscious Pia tied on their back and quickly put her in the car.
Ansh gunned the engine and as the car raced down the roads towards the outskirts of the city, he finally spoke.
"That emotion was pretty real."
The entity inside him stayed quiet.
Ansh sighed. "You love Pia." It was a statement.
The entity shifted and a tired voice answered him.
'Forever and always.'
And that was enough.
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