The second Khushi opened her eyes she knew something was wrong, not only was the room pitch black; she could not hear the Namaaz being read in the nearby Mosque. "hey devi maiyya" She immediately sat up in her bed and reached on her left for her jiji, her breathing and sound asleep form calmed her. This was when the events of the past three days came crashing back, her sister had almost married the monster-in-laws, for the husband was definitely not man enough to tie the knot anyway. She knew, the taunts of her family members, relatives and acquaintances would stay with her forever, but the fact that her father understood and accepted her actions was more than enough for her. She knew her Amma would forgive her in time.
She had to thank the ungrateful man "Laad Governor" who had locked her up in that room for his arrogant beliefs, for unknowingly he had given her sister the boon of this new life in Delhi. After the unfortunate events of that night, the Barat had returned and her family had been talked about mercilessly in the neighbourhood. This had affected her jiji more than the broken marriage, on seeing this; her father had shipped her and jiji to Delhi to live with her Buaji. One day away from all the evil voices had seemed to do miracles on her jiji, she had actually cracked a smile at her antics and repeatedly calling that arrogant man "Laad Governor". Her jiji had kept her secret about the happenings of that night and fortunately other than one or two odd clips of her landing on his lap, nothing had made an entry in the media as she had feared. Money did really talk, she was sure the Laad Governor had made sure nothing got out. Well for whatever happened she was grateful to him for two things, one saving her jiji from those monsters, albeit unknowingly and two, making sure the happenings of that night remain a secret. At that time she had been furious at him, but with the kind of last 72 hours she had had, she forgave him for all his arrogance.
On the other side of Delhi, Anjali had not missed those clips and was now intently looking at the beautiful girl in her chote's arms. Suddenly her husband, Shyam grunted in sleep and turned over, she looked fondly at the man, who tomorrow would be dragged into submission for her latest scheme with tools only women of experience recognize, she smiled like a cat and placed the photograph on her nightstand and slipped next to the clueless man, spooned him and drew dreamless and peaceful sleep.
Two floors above the couple was the enigma who prowled the terrace of his mansion, replaying the disaster of his show in his mind again and again. He had realized that the chit of a girl had nothing to do with his rivals but she had ruined his grant event and walked unscathed. Unfinished business always left him restless and he needed closure. But how was the question, his Di had dragged him back to Delhi as soon as she smelled a rat in his intentions with the clips of that girl. He never had a mind to make those clips public and had managed to pull out all the still pictures of the mishap almost as soon as possible, but his Di had seen something in his eyes, which he himself had not realized.
Dammit! It was almost 4:30 in the morning and he had not got any sleep as of yet. This matter needed closure asap!
He banged the door of the terrace as he made his way to his room; he had a private entrance to his room from the main gate. The pool attached to the veranda to his room opened directly to the garage, which gave him the privacy to come and go as he pleased, not that it did him any good, for his Di checked on him on ever odd hour.
He reached his room and made a beeline to his bed and fell face first on the pillow on the right side of the bed, he punched the pillow in a more comfortable position and shut his eyes, as soon as the lids hit home he saw the beautiful face of that impudent chit and he snapped open his eyes. He groaned out loud and turned on his bed to lie on his back; he stared at the ceiling and sighed, all the while awaiting sleep.
Two doors away Aakash jerked out off his sleep when he hear something bang and automatically grimaced, for he knew his bhai too well , not to know that it was him. He grimaced again for he realized that he had been dreaming about the horrible scene again, he had never before witnessed a more intense crying jag in his life. On the night of the fashion show, he had been returning to his hotel when he saw a decked up bride on the road, that was a sight you rarely witness for the reality of runaway brides is actually pretty less than it is ever imagined. He stopped his car and approached the bride or runaway bride, he hadn't been sure back then. She had run her make-up muck and was sobbing uncontrollably, but amazingly enough her rambling was about her baby sister being missing and nothing to with all the scenarios one would imagine seeing a decked up bride on the road-side, sobbing her heart out. He smiled at the memory of the picture she had made, man she must have been a beautiful bride or bride-to-be or whatever. While she had sobbed her story about the missing sister all he had been able to do was stare at the poor girl like a leech! But, a guy will remain a guy and his first instinct on seeing her were all male, virile male!
Payal tried to even her breathing to fake sleep as she realized Khushi was awake, she was in no mood of heart-to-heart, while she loved her sister, she was not ready to over analyze everything that had happened that night. She waited for Khushi to fall back to sleep, but Khushi kept on sitting there occasionally uttering "hey devi maiyya" and "Laad Governor", she smiled to herself and thought how brave her tiny sister was, she really was thin and fragile, but what she lacked in size she made up in sheer determination. She knew her sister would face all evils for her without complaint, sometimes she wondered who really was the big, protective sister in the relation. Khushi had the take charge personality, always had and she never deterred from her path too, occasionally taking it a bit too far.
She must have dozed as the next moment she realized, Khushi was no longer sitting next to her on the bed and she had been thinking or dreaming about the guy with specks from the night. He had been so kind to her, a stranger, probably a near lunatic at that point- sobbing uncontrollably, dressed up as a bride. He had listened to her rambling and taken her to the police station, when she was asked about her sister's identification, particulars and photograph the stranger had automatically named her sister a disaster. Well, she could be one! He had requested her to withdraw the complaint and offered to drive her to Khushi's whereabouts; then she had gone and exploded as a banshee on him for his brother's faults. She blushed on remembering her reaction and prayed she be given a chance to rectify her actions from the night.
Shyam felt his wife's long thin fingers on his chest and he sighed; God he was lucky to have her. But today he had his cousin sister on his mind. His Chacha(Paternal-uncle) had married Garima Chachi(Paternal-uncle's wife- aunt) when he had been about 6, then their family had been blessed with and angel 'payal. But paradise didn't really exist for long , hell broke loose and his chacha expired in a freak car accident. His family got Garima Chachi married off and his sister was also taken away from him. He had stayed in touch with Garima for a while, but his Dadi had found out and severed all contact, for she did not want Garima to carry baggage of her old life to this new boon presented to her by fate. But he had received a card for his angel's wedding, he had hid it out of practice and remembered notions and never mentioned it to Anjali as well, but today he had received a call from Garima Chachi informing him about the cancelling of the marriage and whereabouts of Payal along with her younger sister in Delhi. She had been very worried about the duo with their Buaji and had wanted him to check on them, if it was convenient. Yes, it has been convenient! He had been free all day and he had yet to even mention all this to his wife. He sighed again and turned to nuzzle his wife, inhale her intoxicating smell. He squeezed her waist with his right hand that rested comfortable on her belly and inserted his right thigh between her warm ones and instantly fell asleep.
Sleep had left Khushi the moment her thoughts had landed on that "Laad Governor", but it was the prickly sensation in the pit of her stomach when she thought of him, that scared her. She closed her eyes and could instantly smell his woody, heady, masculine fragrance'fragrance? What fragrance! "Hey devi maiyya" what in the hell was going on with her, even during the day when she had been helping her jiji to clean the house, she had grazed the back of the sofa in the hall and had been reminded of the broad shoulders she had held less than 72hrs. It was like the man had imprinted on her brain, all she could think was him. She leaned into the window spotting her mother in the sky; she twinkled back at her, as if smiling at her greater knowledge, she smiled back without even realizing and took in the fresh night's air. Tomorrow would be a new day and she was determined to put the past behind her.
But little did they knew what fate had in store for them, each has a plan and for obvious reasons too'stalk the thread for their fates to unfold.
Ciao!
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