Chapter 5

Aryan stared at the journalists that were shivering due to Imlie. One of them looked ready to faint. And in all honesty, he would too, if someone pointed a gun at him threatening to empty the bullets in it. On a normal day, he would empathise with them and try to save them. But today was nowhere a normal day and these men weren't his best of buddies. In fact they might just be the reason why his so called wedding with Imlie is national spectacle.

"So tell me", Imlie's voice ran through the room, "Who's going first ? You ?" She pointed her gun at the shorter of the two. The man jerked in his place, shivering more than he already was and pushed his friend to the front.

"Wha-" the new man stood in front of Imlie's gun, still in shock from his no-longer-friend's betrayal. "Brutus is apparently a very common species", Aryan thought sniggering at the freshly decimated friendship.

"Oh, so you're going to be the lucky person", she gritted through her teeth, "Pandey !!!" she yelled.

"Yes Madam ?"

"What looks better as an encounter ?" Imlie questioned, acting as if in thought. 

"One shot point blank" she said placing the gun on the journalist's head, "or in different places and then the killer. I don't want the NHRC running behind me"

"Different places madam", Pandey answered, sincerity dripping out of his voice, "but it'll look suspicious if we're not injured"

Aryan facepalmed at the idiocy of the man. Pandey clearly underestimated the thin ice he was standing on and giving the officer her just forced into a marriage would not be the best person to suggest that one of their own needs to be injured as well.

"Oh Pandey", Aryan sighed in faux pity, "it was not nice knowing you and you will not be missed"

"You're right !!" Imlie shrieked in glee, making Aryan fear for her sanity. She had a gun in her hand damn it !!

"We need one of us injured, how about you volunteer Pandey? We'll just beat you up a little, a fracture here and a concussion there. After all, you are the reason behind this whole mess"

"M-Ma-dd-am" Pandey stuttered.

"Nah, don't worry" Imlie spoke as if soothing his mind, 'We'll deal with you later. I'm going to deal with these two idiots now."  

She turned her gun back towards the media men and this time, Aryan could visibly hear their teeth chattering and he knew what they were thinking. If this woman could hurt her own, they were of no consequence.

"MADAM !!!" the man at the end of the gun shrieked and fell on the ground, trying to get a hold of Imlie's legs.

"Please don't kill me", he begged, "I still have so much to see in life. I wanted to see Taj Mahal and take a picture there with my wife. And I'm not even married to anyone to do that. Please save me and, and ..and ..."

He got up and walked closer to Imlie, trying to whisper.

"I'm a virgin too." he spoke and immediately brought his voice back to normal pitch, "Kill my friend instead". He pushed his relatively shorter friend to the front, who stared at him in absolute betrayal. As if he hadn't done the same minutes ago.

"Alright then", Imlie said, "We're back to you. Good."

Aryan chuckled silently at the man who stared at Imlie, his jaw slacking. Words clearly ditched him in the face of death. 

"NO !!" the shorter man yelled dramatically and turned around. Taking a hold of the taller man's collar, he punched square in the jaw, making the man groan in pain. The taller man gladly repeated the action and within seconds the silent room was filled with punches and painful groans.

"Pathetic punches" Aryan thought, as another weak punch landed.

"ENOUGH !!!" Imlie ordered and both the men stilled, both sporting black eyes and bruises. One man's fist was still in air and his collar was held by the other one.

"This is not your "Country wants to know" debate room that you throw punches", she warned both of them, "I'll let you go, but I shouldn't see you in Delhi for the next 1 year. And you'll be at my disposal whenever I need you"

Both the men let go of each other and eagerly nodded their heads, thankful that their lives weren't at risk.

"Leave your camera, ID cards here and scram !!" she yelled and both the men ran like headless chickens, nearly falling onto their faces.

Aryan saw Imlie take a deep breath and sit in the chair facing him. She leaned back for a few seconds, finally letting the happenings dawn upon her, making him realise that she's victim too. And she might face more repercussions than him. He was about speak when she beat him to it.

"We'll be leaving in the next half an hour to Intelligence headquarters. Your family and close quarters have already been taken there, so please don't worry about them. And Mr. Rathore, don't worry, we'll find a solution as soon as the media hype dies down."

"What about your family?" he asked, surprised at only his family being there. And regretted it the next minute when her face hardened.

"I have none" she snapped and walked out.

Intelligence Head Quarters

A stoic faced Amaan watched the news of Imlie's wedding and confrontation being played without a break. It did not help that out of all people, Aryan Singh Rathore had to be the one that she got married to. There were debates, conspiracy theories about some weird name called 'Arylie', some were predicting Imlie's pregnancy. But what worried him more were the growing whispers of Imlie insulting religious traditions of the majority. The ruling party was conservative and something ticked him off about Imlie's future.

"Why is this happening Amaan ?", Kabir Iqbal, the intelligence boss thundered, "Imlie is extremely careful about all missions. How did she let this happen ? Do you know what'll happen to her career if the ruling party agrees with the growing narrative?? Imlie's career will be benched and I'm not prepared to lose one of my best agents !!! SO, SOMEONE GODDAMN FIND A SOLUTION. FAST."

"I believe there's been a mistake with the identification of the target sir.", Amaan answered morosely, equally worried for his best friend's career.

"Since when is this organisation working on mistakes Amaan ?", Kabir grunted out, "I can't believe someone would do something foolish. And to involve a very well known industrialist ?? It's like we're asking for this. Anyways, what all steps did you take ?"

"My team rounded up Mr. Rathore's family and close friends about 10 minutes ago. They'll be here very soon and they'll be briefed about what to say in front of the media. The brother-in-law was adamant about involving their lawyer and PR but I turned them down. We cannot appear as a company covering up their mistakes."

"Good work and text me when they'll be here. I have a call-" Kabir's words were interrupted by the shrill cries of what appeared to be babies. Amaan stared as the door banged open revealing 3 women and a man and twin baby stroller. With shrieking babies in it.

Kabir glared at the roof, wishing to be vanished into thin air. Crying babies simply cannot be added to his troubles.

"Ms. Rathore and sir ?", Amaan interrupted the frustrated parents trying to calm the babies, "We have something very important to discuss. How soon do you think the babies can be calmed."

The parents tried speaking before an angry voice interrupted them, standing up in front of Amaan.

"They would have been silent, Mr. whomever you are", Komal gritted, poking Amaan on the shoulder,"Your brilliant personnel decided that it'll be good to separate the babies from their parents while coming in. Now, look at them. Will you pacify them ?"

Amaan stared at the woman standing in front of him and kind of manhandling in a way. Her brown eyes shone in anger and frustration, her nose flaring.And for some reason, Amaan found it very endearing, a silly smile creeping on his face.

"Excuse me ??", the woman shook his shoulder, "I'm asking you something. If you think the babies need to be silent, go pacify them. Or shut up until they can be. Let me remind you, unlike us, they don't listen to commands and rude officers"

"I'm sorry, Ms..." Amaan trailed, a questioning look on his face.

"Ahluwalia. Komal Ahluwalia", she introduced herself, "not very nice meeting you"

"Yes, Ms. Ahluwalia, I wish we met under better circumstances too. But firstly, I apologise for my personnel's mistake. It wasn't our intention to trouble the babies" Amaan explained himself, something in him warning not to be in the bad books of the woman in front of him.

"Ofcourse, Mistake", Komal scoffed, "You seem to be making a lot of those. And what is this about marrying off Aryan because of a mistake ??? I mean the guy has no interest in dating life whatsoever but that doesn't mean he needs to be married off in such a way. With guns ??? Of all things ?"

Amaan began speaking only to be shut up by his boss' voice.

"Enough...!!" Kabir's voice filled the room, making both Komal and Amaan realise that the babies have calmed down, calmly rocking on their parents' shoulders.

"Amaan, if you're done fighting, settle down. The adults might have questions", Kabir ordered, glaring at Komal.

"Excuse Me, How dare you ?" Komal stepped forward.

"Komal !!!", Narmada's voice rang, "not now. We have important things to discuss. Like why my son had to marry your officer at gun point ?"

"That Mrs Rathore was an accident", Kabir tried to defend his men,"Your son's clothes matched with our target and our men mistook Aryan to be him. The media spectacle was totally unintended though."

Arpita and Komal gasped at the same time, Arvind paling next to them. The whole room turned its attention towards the three of them, questioning look on their faces. Narmada sighed in resignation, realising that these three might have something to do with her son's interesting wardrobe choices.

"Ignore them, officers", she spokes, "What is our next plan of action ?"

"That, Mrs. Rathore, depends on the evolving situations. One shall be to quickly annul the marriage in front of the court citing the mistake, get rap on the wrist and putting the incident behind all of us. For good" Kabir stopped, gauging their reactions.

"That's good right ?" Arvind spoke for the first time, "What else could happen ?"

"I'm coming to the point sir.", Kabir continued, "There is a growing opinion that the forces have made a mockery of the local customs and the sentiments of a religion. We have a conservative government. So if it looks to them that the opinion is strong enough to affect the voter's mindset, the government would intervene. Then we'll have to take a different route"

"What route ?" Arpita spoke this time.

"These two will have to stay married like a normal couple..."

"WHAT ???" Imlie and Aryan's voices from the door rang through the room, shocking everyone. All of them turned towards the bride and her groom.

"As I was saying, these two",  Kabir pointed at the newly weds, "will have to stay married until they can get a divorce. That is if they want."

"But-" Imlie began speaking.

"No Imlie", Kabir interrupted her, "This is not up for discussion. We'll be discussing why you decided to plan a mission on such vague details later. But for now, we shall wait and see the reactions."

Imlie huffed and walked out of the room, leaving an extremely perplexed Aryan behind. Komal walked up to Aryan, with a grin on her face.

"You know...", she drawled, "when I said you'd find a girl, I didn't mean it this way Rathore."

"Really, Komal ?? This is partly your mistake, you know that right ?" Aryan turned the blame towards his friend.

"So ???? You could have refused. Who asked you to marry ?"

"What do you mean by "you could have refused" ?? They had guns !!" Aryan screamed, making his best friend stifle her laughter.

"Amaan, show the Rathores their temporary residence for the next week. And make sure it's close to Imlie and you" Kabir ordered and Amaan followed, guiding the Rathore family out.

"Oh and Amaan, get the damn lock on my door fixed. I cannot have anymore people barging in today".

Amaan chuckled lightly and walked out, closing the door behind him and Kabir leaned back into his chair, closing his eyes in search of a plan.