His Inconvenient Bride | ✔️

| ii: best buddies |

Being an undercover informer was the most unexpected thing that had happened in my life. It was like a ball thrown randomly at me. It was one day when I had helped Dad with a case, and he was very impressed with my work and asked me to be his undercover informer. My job was to collect information and leads and pass them to him. It was only an informer for some cases as he had his undercover informers spread everywhere.

Initially, I was only an informer. But later on, I started helping him with forensic work too. I was an expert in the field and was a great use for him. I did not work with him in the CBI; hence I had to carry out my tasks secretly because the pieces of evidence were confidential. It was a perilous task because Dad had to sneak it to Delhi, and I would test it in the lab of the hospital where I was working as a forensic expert.

Dad had been dropping hints that I should join their office part-time and help him out with the cases. I declined the offer as I was a fresh MSc graduate and wanted to practice what I had learned before joining him. But if there was a need and I felt my heart agreeing to it, I would join in a heartbeat.

After I finished my work, I went to the hospital. It was my last day there. I was leaving Delhi and moving back to Jaipur, to my in-laws' place. Mom had been pestering me to come back for a year now. I had completed my studies a year ago and was practicing here. I thought it was time I should return, and here I was, planning my return.

Home is where your heart is.

I mused over how everything had changed. Now my home was definitely Jaipur, where I had people who were waiting for me.

After that day, I never really tried to contact my parents, and neither did Anika Di try to convince me to do so. They still tried to call her sometimes, asking about how I was doing, but it felt like a pretence. If they had really loved me, they would have never thrown me into a loveless marriage. Di, after knowing that she had been used as bait to get me married, strained her relationship with Maa and Papa. She spoke to them occasionally, but their relationship was never the same. I somewhere felt responsible for it.

The pain was unbearable for me. Even if I tried to make up my mind that I didn't have any connection with them, my heart ached for them. My treacherous heart hoped that someday they would realise their mistakes and come to tell me that what they did was wrong. They didn't, and I lost my hope. I drowned myself in more studies and worked hard to achieve my goal.

Shoving all my thoughts away, I entered the hospital, ready to do my job. I had to file an autopsy report and submit other necessary paperwork in the hospital for my resignation.

It was evening by then, and I had packed all my stuff from the cabin. Just then, all my fellow colleagues entered the cabin with a big cake to give me a farewell.

I got a lot of hugs, and they also asked me to keep in touch with them. It was an amazing experience working with them. I was very overwhelmed by their gesture. Amidst all of this, I noticed my colleague, Rohit, standing at the corner of the cabin.

"Hey! Why are you sulking in the corner? Come join us!" I called out.

"We have been working together for a year now, and whenever I asked you out on a date, you flatly rejected me. Now that you are leaving, can you please give me a reason?" he requested.

I really felt bad for him. He had asked me out numerous times, but I always managed to reject his advances. He was a nice guy, and I didn't want to give him false hopes.

I smiled at his question. "I am married, Rohit," I confessed, which caught him off guard.

"Wh- What?" he was shocked. "But how? I have never seen you with your husband," he said.