One Step Closer (IPKKND FF | Complete)

Chapter Twenty-One

By all accounts, Arnav Singh Raizada was having a great Saturday morning. An almost decent night's sleep, a particularly long jog along his favourite route, a steaming hot shower afterwards. Now it was time to go downstairs and finally have that first coffee of the day. And check on his sister.

Still towel-drying his hair, he stepped out of his bedroom and immediately tripped, falling headlong into several black garbage bags, full of... something.

"OM PRAKASH!!!" Arnav's voice boomed down the corridor and echoed against the high ceilings of Shantivan.

"Sir?" OP's face emerged from a nearby doorway.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Arnav scrambled to his feet, his eyes dark. If a glare could eviscerate someone on the spot, there'd be nothing left of the servant but a smoking pile of dust.

"Sorry sir, I was just cleaning out, sir, Anjali-ji told me, sir..."

"Wait, what? Di? Why are you in her room? Where is she?"

Before Om Prakash could stammer out a proper response, Arnav was already in the room Anjali had abandoned three months ago.

"Di, are you--"

The room was empty. Very empty, in fact. Every surface was spotless, every photograph from her married life, every memento, all the trinkets Anjali kept around - gone. The wardrobe doors were slid open, revealing the empty shelves and hangers. Even the bed was stripped, and OP had clearly been in the middle of taking down the curtains.

"WHAT THE...?"

"Chhote, you're going to lose your voice if you keep shouting so much," Arnav's grandmother materialised in the doorway. "You should be glad your aunt and uncle are away for the weekend, or you would have ruined their morning, too."

"Nani, what's going on? Why is Di's room being cleaned out!?"

"She wants a fresh start," Devyani smiled. "This was always her favourite room in Shantivan, but she wants to redecorate, to clean out all the memories. I think it's a great idea!"

"She's throwing everything out?"

"Of course not! Her sari collection is in the upstairs guestroom, and those," Nani waved in the direction of the black garbage bags, "those are his clothes."

"Anjali-ji told me to... to burn them, sir," OP piped up, emboldened by Nani's presence.

Arnav's heart jumped, skirting the very edge of cautious joy. After all these months of wallowing, his Di was finally taking charge of her life again.

"I should go see her," he mumbled and rushed for the stairs.

"Chhote, wait! She's not at home."

"What? Did she go to the temple?"

"Airport. Anjali-bitiya went to Lucknow," Nani said, cheerfully.

"Lucknow!? WHY?"

"I think she wants to visit a certain embroidery shop," Nani's smile grew even wider.

"What the...! She went ALONE? AND YOU LET HER!?"

"She's a grown woman, Chhote," Devyani pouted, adjusting her ghoonghat with mock indignation in her voice.

Arnav wasn't listening any more, his fingers busy dialling Anjali's number. He dumbly stared at his phone when the call didn't connect.

"She might already be on the plane, bitwa."

"Dammit!" He pulled up Aman's number and hit the dial.

***

Hands in her sides, Khushi Kumari Gupta took a few steps back to admire her work. The shop's bangle display looked magnificent, a dazzling rainbow array organised by size.