Chandni Bar - Updated 23rd Nov

Hello, lovely fellow Arjun forum members.

I'm Zarin and up until now, I've more or less been a silent reader but today, I bring you my own little contribution - a short story based on the show. I hope you all enjoy it and thanks for stopping by.

P.S. Bear with me while I dole out my mandatory lines (please read in a menacing voice ;) ):
I must admit that I am something akin to a protective Mother Hen and - if I may be vain enough to assume that I will actually have readers - I will not at all take kindly to any or all parts of my work being reproduced without my express permission. Plagiarism of this (or any) story is forbidden. I have neither a blog nor another currently active account so if anyone does happen to see my work posted through anything but this account, I will be extremely grateful if you let me know.

Also, I'd like to add that this story intentionally bears no resemblance to the movie of the same name.

Thank you once again :)

- Zarin

Chapter 1

Her abdominal muscles flexed with the beat and every eye in the field was fixed on her swaying hips. A fat man sitting on a charpai put a roll of paan in his mouth and the more rowdy members of the audience whistled as she began singing again.

"Haye...jisko sanam maan kar shab bhar mare
Woh kameena subah hote phurr ho gaya
Jisko mohabbat ka teacher kehte rahe
Woh phateecher ik lesson mein fail ho gaya..."

They hid behind the bushes, squabbling quietly and observing the crowd.

"Move further, Riya." He bit out.

"I have! Do you want me to go right into the audience, Sir?" He glared at her before Shree cut in with a 'shush'.

She watched as the woman danced to the cheers of the repulsive audience. Biting back her own revulsion, she turned away to see Arjun rolling his eyes at the paunchy old men.

They remained quiet for a few moments, scouring the crowd for anything suspicious, before moving away into the night.

* * *

"Raute!" Sameer barked. "Will you be standing out there all night or do you plan on gracing us with your presence too?"

Arjun gave him a disdainful look but didn't bother replying. He stepped into the small shack they had secured for themselves and sat down on a bale of hay.

"Alright team, I suppose we're all up to date now. The investigation will start early tomorrow morning. We'll meet the owner of the Chandni Bar first and then go from there. Any questions?" Sameer watched as everyone shook their heads and he nodded. "Good. Now get some sleep. We will head out at the first sign of daylight."

Riya moved to a corner of the shack and began arranging the hay into a makeshift bed. Shree and Chotu collapsed where they had been standing and fell asleep almost instantaneously while Sameer went to the other corner and lay down. Arjun remained where he was and watched the others.

Almost an hour went by before they fell asleep and Arjun stood up soundlessly. He opened the door slightly before slipping out into the cold night. Checking that nobody had awoken, he shut the door.

He didn't plan on waiting for daylight.

What an awesome start! Can't wait to read more! :)

Wow that was awesome. Please do continue.

Great start ...

intrestng ^_^ waitng for next part

Thanks for the lovely feedback :) I will try to have something ready for posting soon.

wow dear this is amazing .good start.

Chapter 2

She heard a sneeze in the distance and her eyes flew open. The feeling that something was amiss dawned upon her and she blinked rapidly to adjust to the darkness. Slowly, she lifted her head and took a cursory glance around the shack.

"Arrogant son of a..." she muttered and rolled her eyes. Of course he would go off on his own first. Why trust a team comprised of the best of the best when you were Arjun Sadu-kant Raute, right?

Sighing irritably, she flung her legs over her hay bed and stood up. A sharp breeze hit her and she almost crawled back into the bed, missing arrogant super cop be damned. But another quiet sneeze put her on alert and she eyed Chotu and Shree's sleeping bodies with jealousy before grudgingly weaving around them and out of the shack.

She found herself surrounded by a looming silence and cursed quietly as she realised that she had forgotten her sandals. Rousing the slumbering wrath of Sameer Rathod was too great a risk to take and she began walking forward briskly while grumbling about the thankless nature of Arjun Raute.

A third sneeze, louder than before, unnerved her, more so because she now knew which direction to head in. She briefly analysed the dangers of what could happen if the sneezer was not Arjun and her fingers fumbled as she located the Swiss army knife in her pocket.

So busy was she in finding said knife that she did not notice the large, jagged rock in her path. She stepped right onto its sharp point and tripped over the hulk of stone, landing face first onto the dry ground with a painful thump. She waited until the sand in the air cleared before opening her eyes, only to find herself looking down into what appeared to be a remarkably deep pit. An animal trap, she assumed. She lifted her head and looked about herself frantically, thanking every force on Earth when she realised that neck down, she was still lying safely on flat ground; it was only her head that lay on the crook of the pit.

Her relief was short-lived, however, when she heard a snide voice remark, "So are you planning on continuing to make a fool of yourself or are you going to help me up too?". She looked down at the voice in surprise to see none other than Arjun himself, sitting casually at the bottom of the pit while throwing and catching little pebbles in the air.

"You know, that's quite a risky choice of tone for a grown man stuck at the bottom of a pit with no one but myself to turn to."

"Don't pat yourself on the back just yet," he drawled sarcastically, "You'll be doing little more than exhibiting some of that wonderful teamwork you're always blabbering on about".

Her nostrils flared. "I have more than half a mind to leave you there to rot, ACP Arjun Raute. And frankly, the word 'teamwork' is quite the dirty slur coming from your lips. What the hell is the matter with you, anyway? Do you really believe yourself to be that much of a God that you cannot even rely on the rest of us - the most competent members of our respective fields, might I add - to solve a case that has been assigned to us all?" He opened his mouth to interrupt but she was on a roll. "Dear Lord, remind me to congratulate the entire ETF team on actually refraining from throttling you for constantly undermining us by going off and doing your own thing. I guess there really is a bit of a saint in everyone!"

Fuming, she ended her diatribe; her chest heaved with the exercise.

He looked up at her and stated simply, "You're right. Now, go away."

She blinked stupidly. "What?"

He rolled his eyes and continued in a flat tone, "I'm irritating and you're right, I don't give a damn about the opinions of the rest of the ETF. I also don't give a damn about your help. So once again, go away." He didn't seem angry in the slightest and she found herself at a complete loss on what to say.

"Better leave while on a high, Riya," she muttered to herself. Aloud, she announced, "Fine. I'll be on my way then".

He nodded nonchalantly, as if she had just announced that she was going to get some ice cream, and, a little hesitantly, she began walking away from him.

He watched her leave and didn't bother telling her that she was walking in the wrong direction. She could find that out for herself.