The Royal Match Making

Sheesh Mahal

Pratap woke up alarmed, frowning, at the knock on his door. At 8 AM he checked the clock. "Come in" made Shakti peep in with urgency.

"Dadabhai '' he looked scared "Where is... Ajabdeh?"

"Matlab?" he looked at his brother rather clueless as sudden flashes of last night came to his mind, and scared him. What did he mean, where was she...

"She is not in her room, or anywhere around, her luggage is here, but Brownie is missing... "He reached for his phone on an impulse, making Shakti add "Heer has already tried that."

"What the..." Pratap looked a little pale. "Shit."

Shakti promptly closed the door behind him and sat down beside his brother with a scared "What happened yesterday?"

"So?" Jalal offered Ajabdeh a cup of tea, but she refused. "Why did you tell me to send a car and tell anyone? That too at dawn!"

Ruqaiya stared at the duo, Brownie curled up in her lap.

"I.... I can't stay there" She frowned at Jalal. Then looked away at the paperweight she was spinning. In a casual pair of jeans and a tee shirt, Ajabdeh looked sleepless.

"Why not?" Ruqaiya asked with a reflex.

"I... I ... have said and done things I shouldn't have. I can't go back!" She blurted, shaking her head.

Jalal smiled amused "What happened yesterday?"

"Nothing happened yaar" Shakti was taken aback by Pratap's irking tone. " I... did you call Jalal?" His tone was hopeful.

"No, I asked you first..." Shakti spoke "Heer was trying her since last night, she asked me to check on her like two hours back, I went to look, and came back and..."

"I ... really like him?!" Ajabdeh looked at Jalal like she was admitting to a murder. "Ahh! Finally." Ruqs looked relieved as his phone rang.

"Kika" Jalal was about to pick it up as Ajabdeh panicked.

"Just don't tell him I'm here." Ignoring her completely Jalal picked up the call "Don't worry she is here." He spoke, making her frown.

"What the hell." Ajabdeh frowned.

"I called her for some wedding plans," Jalal added, making Ajabdeh smile. "Now let's go before your sister calls the police" he smiled amused. "He said he will meet us at the site, come on."

Pratap frowned at the phone as Shakti asked "What is it?"

"Jalal... lied to me." He frowned "For Ajabdeh!" Shakti could sense the displeasure. He needed to call Heer, but before he could dial a car stopped frantically at the porch.

Heer had had enough. She had waited the whole night since her sister had informed her that she was going to party with Jalal and Kunwar Pratap. Knowing her impulsive sister, made Heer worry. What worried her more was the phone going unanswered. Shakti had arrived back tired so she had been patient till dawn to call him up, and to her dismay, it's been two hours since and he too was not answering.

Worst-case scenarios shrouded her mind as for the first time in her life Heer did

something impulsive. She grabbed the keys to the car and told a clueless Hansa "Come with me". If anything happened to her sister it was Kunwar Pratap who would answer her. She knew what was at stake, but nothing was more important than her sister. She kept calling both phones in vain.

"Hansa?" Jaivanta's smile changed to worry as she saw a rather serious mother-daughter duo on the porch "What happened?"

"Heer was saying..." Hansa stopped clueless at Heer's "Khamma Ghani Ranisa, where is Jija?"