Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

The Fallibility of Plans

Heavy awkwardness followed Arnav's departure. Not knowing where to look, Khushi mumbled that she was going to go see Aarav and left.

Akash shook his head. "What was all that about? Di, do you know? Please tell us."

"Basically, Khushi brought up marriage to Arnav and he flat out refused."

"Refused?" Payal said. "How can he refuse? Was he just playing games with her this whole time?"

"It's not like that, Payal," Akash defended. "But Bhai has a lot of reservations about marriage--that's always been the case."

"But he really liked Khushi, didn't he?" NK asked. "He wasn't willing to change his mind for her?"

Anjali nodded slowly. "Here's what I think. I think if Khushi Ji hadn't brought it up, he would have come round to it eventually. I remember once he overheard Mamiji bring it up in the passing--his marriage with Khushi, I mean--and he didn't seem to mind. But I think directly approaching him was a mistake--he felt pressured and his insecurities got the better of him.

"Mind you, I'm not saying that Khushi was wrong. She was absolutely right to bring it up, and it was reasonable of her to expect a positive answer from Chote. But Chote...I don't know. I don't know how to help him. I just hope he doesn't end up regretting his decision later."

***

As Khushi and Buaji said goodbye, Manorama noticed how despondent Payal looked. "Bahu," she said. "Why don't you go with your Buaji today?"

Payal immediately brightened. "Really?"

"Hello, hi, bye-bye, do you think I will make jokes with you? Honeymoon period is over--bye-bye, nice saas-o-maa, and hello, hi, strict saas-o-maa. Go home with your Buaji. Akash bitwa, you can go too if you want."

"Thank you, Ma, but I think Payal wants to spend some alone time with her family."

Payal nodded, grateful that her in-laws and husband understood her needs without her saying anything.

"Thank you, Ma Ji. I'm just going to get my bag."

As she dashed off, Buaji thanked Manorama again, who waved it away. It was little gestures like this that she had craved in her relationship with Devyani, and she was determined that her Bahu wouldn't yearn for them like she had.

***

"What do you mean the records are missing? How can the name of a prisoner just disappear?"

Lavanya listened impassively as her supervisor screamed into the phone. While she understood that this was serious, she didn't understand why he was yelling. Clearly, it wasn't getting them anywhere--it had been three days since the tenth prisoner had escaped and they still didn't have an identity.

Her supervisor was demanding answers from the prison warden, but the latter either didn't have them or didn't want to give them.

As her supervisor furiously hung up, she got to her feet.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"My shift is over."

His eyes bulged out. "We need to get this under control--"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," she said and strode out as he opened his mouth to protest again.

What an idiot. She'd wanted to take care of getting answers herself--after all, someone was obviously working from the inside to help them orchestrate this, but her supervisor was insistent that they'd do this by the book.

Her phone buzzed with a text as she got into her car.

Want to come over for dinner?

NK. Her finger hovered over the keyboard.