FF: PALLAVI by Jalebi Jane SEE NOTE PAGE 117 - Page 16

Awesome.. please update soon

Bravo 👏

Wow raghav know how to treat guests😊

Lets see if farhad will join them,poor pallu 😆

Originally posted by: NESRIA

Bravo 👏

Wow raghav know how to treat guests😊

Lets see if farhad will join them,poor pallu 😆

Farhad might be surprised to learn he has a cousin in Lucknow . . .

hehe

Dear JJ!! I always fall short of words to describe what I feel when I read your FF......And the adjectives I want to use do not do justice to your writing. I will instead just use the heart emoji... as it sums it all.

❤️

Originally posted by: Vibrant_Ana

Dear JJ!! I always fall short of words to describe what I feel when I read your FF......And the adjectives I want to use do not do justice to your writing. I will instead just use the heart emoji... as it sums it all.

❤️

Thank you, Sister. You made my day because you used the word 'feel' in your comment.

My favourite books are treasured because of how they made me feel while I read them. And I reach for them again and again because I want to feel those feelings again and again.

Originally posted by: JalebiJane

Thank you, Sister.

I never expected this story to become one of masks-facades-disguises but I'm thoroughly enjoying writing it.

The author knows the story best 😊

Trust you to give us a fitting story 🤗

Keep writing. Stay blessed. Happy New Year 👍🏼

APRIL 12, 2021

EPISODE 10

Farhad tapped on the office door and entered to find Raghav standing with his palms resting on the edge of the desk. He was examining a set of blueprints. As Farhad drew nearer, he saw the prints were of the Palace grounds.

Raghav’s dark brows lifted in silent question.

Farhad gave a dejected shake of his head. “I’m sorry, Annah—she seems to have disappeared without a trace. We now suspect she has left the city. We can resume the search tomorrow. Show her photo at the airport and train station—”

Raghav interrupted, “—No. Let it go. If she has left town, it’s over. We can’t chase her all over the country for a ring.”

Farhad concurred—though he was surprised Raghav had reached so sanguine an understanding. It was not like him to give up on a principle.

For a principle Raghav Rao would have a haystack pulled apart to find a needle.

He seemed quite a different man from the one he had met with earlier that day.

“Look at this,” Raghav said—“See the stable block—?” he indicated the structure on the blueprint.

Farhad drew closer. “—Yes?”

“What do you think about using that space to launch an academy for jewellery design?”

“A school? That’s a brilliant idea,” Farhad said. “Students can study from actual artifacts.”

“I agree. It is brilliant.” Raghav gave a mysterious smile, adding, “It’s your cousin’s idea.”

Farhad was taken aback. He asked, “My couson? Which cousin?”

“The one from Lucknow.”

That Raghav remembered he had a cousin in Lucknow was astonishing. That he should have spoken with her was—well, it was incredible.

“You spoke with her?” he asked.

“I met her,” Raghav replied.

“You met her? When?”

“This evening. She came to see you. I showed her the museum model and she made the suggestion about the school. She’s bright. She asked insightful questions about our plans—”

Farhad was still stuck on the idea that his cousin was in Hyderabad.

“Fatema is in Hyderabad?!” Farhad asked.

“Sana,” Raghav corrected.

“Sana?”

“I invited her to wait for you but she had plans.”

Farhad was processing everything he had heard since he entered the room. His silence was ominous.

Raghav’s attention returned to the blueprints.

Farhad finally spoke in measured tones: “Annah, I don’t know whom you met with this evening but it was no cousin of mine.”

Raghav looked up sharply.

Farhad continued: “I don’t have a cousin named Sana. I don’t know any woman by that name. My Lucknow cousin is called Fatema. And I am certain she is not in Hyderabad because my mother spoke to her last week. Fatema’s seven months pregnant and is confined to bed on doctor’s orders.”

The two men stared at each other for a wild moment.

Raghav moved first.

He was out of the office, down the corridor, and in the reception area within seconds. Farhad didn’t know what destination Raghav had in mind but he was right behind him.

Raghav tore open the parcel that rested on the side table.

And from it spilled his blue pin-striped jacket.

***

The next hour at the Palace was one of search without discovery. The security footage was checked. And indeed, there was footage of a burqa-clad lady arriving on a scooter and then leaving twenty-eight minutes later. But the registration plate was obscured.

The household staff made a thorough check and reported that it did not appear as though anything was missing.

“Nothing about her suggested to you that this was the same woman from the casino?” Farhad asked.

Raghav snapped, “For f**k’s sake, Farhad—do you think I would have invited her into my office and shared our plans for our jewellery museum if I suspected she was a jewel thief?”

Drawing in a deep breath and exhaling slowly, he dropped into the chair behind his desk and said, “Perhaps there was a moment when I first met her eyes that I sensed something—no, not recognition!—that is too strong a word. But I dismissed the sensation.”

“You dismissed it? Why?” Farhad pushed.

Again, this was unlike Raghav. He dismissed nothing.

Raghav shrugged. “I dismissed the sensation as nothing more than basic male response.”

Farhad asked, “Why would she risk coming here to drop off a jacket?”

Raghav gave a humourless laugh. “The jacket was a mere prop. To tell me that she had been here. I suspect she didn’t expect to find me at home.”

Farhad wondered, “But why come at all? Unless she did come to steal something and your appearance prevented her.”

“I think she’s more a thrill-seeker than a thief. She’s a brazen hussy who wants to play games.”

“Then you should oblige her, Annah,” said Farhad. “But by your rules.”

Raghav tilted his head back, shut his eyes, and said, “I intend to. But first I have to find her.”

He had not completed his sentence when his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the name of the caller. Connecting the call, he asked, “Hello?”

There was an extended silence, so he repeated himself. “Hello?!”

“Mr Rao?” came the voice.

It was her.

He said, “How uncanny. I was just thinking about you.”

He was surprised at the equanimity in his own voice. He ought to be furious. But he wasn’t.

“Congratulations on your second victory,” he said.

“Victory?” she repeated.

“Do these games fire you up?” he asked.

Farhad rose from his seat at these words.

There was silence but he knew she had not disconnected the line.

He continued, “Tell me—which turned you on more? Pretending to be a whore or pretending to be demure?”

Finally she spoke, her voice enraged: “I can see why you believe you have the right to speak to me in this disrespectful manner—but you are mistaken about me.”

“Then account for your behaviour,” he offered.

She ignored his invitation and said, “I’ve left you something. It’s—it’s where the Nizam housed his polo ponies.”

The call ended.

He immediately redialled the number. A man answered. He confirmed what Raghav suspected. A young woman had asked to borrow his phone.

Farhad spoke, his voice betraying excitement, “What did she want?”

Raghav met his eyes, but it was clear that his attention was inward. He murmured, “Where the Nizam housed his polo ponies.”

He strode to the Palace model, lifted the roof of the stable block and there he found his ring.

Wow.. I’m usually a silent reader but this fanfiction has forced me to comment. You update everyday but I’m still left wanting for more, thanks to the ending of the chapters. I look forward to reading your updates everyday. I can’t wait for what happens next.. it almost feels like torture. The suspense is killing me! Right now I’m too blown away to write something more specific about the story. But please do keep writing, these chapters make my day(especially the double update ones).

Originally posted by: hapc

Wow.. I’m usually a silent reader but this fanfiction has forced me to comment. You update everyday but I’m still left wanting for more, thanks to the ending of the chapters. I look forward to reading your updates everyday. I can’t wait for what happens next.. it almost feels like torture. The suspense is killing me! Right now I’m too blown away to write something more specific about the story. But please do keep writing, these chapters make my day(especially the double update ones).

It's a honour to have any reader---silent or active---so I thank you, Sister. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. I'm really enjoying writing it---the characters are smart and sexy and I want to do justice to them.

Damn .. I'm loving this ❤️❤️❤️