"Morning Sunshine!"
"Morning Arjun!" Annu beamed.
"Someone is happy?"
"Oh yeah! I figured out that- I-I just figured out something. A puzzle was driving me crazy! "
"Did you find that missing piece Ananya?"
"The first piece of that puzzle rather."
"You are really strange Ananya. Fancy telling me how can someone solve the puzzle when they don't know what is the final picture and main problem?"
"Mr. Arjun Shah, it's called bottom-up processing in psychology, where we don't focus on the bigger picture of the puzzle but we focus on small clues to reach the goal."
"Best of luck with your puzzle Ananya. I am always with you"
"I wish," she mumbled inaudibly.
" Well, I am making sprouts," Arjun muttered completely clueless that the hotchpotch cooking in Anu's mind is far more interesting than the bland sprouts that Arjun was making.
"Way to ruin my mood!", she muttered.
"I don't want to have the same issue again! It's healthy!"
"Bland food makes bland mood!" Annu huffed.
"Unfortunately too much spicy food cause heartburn at the worst Too much sweet will cause cavity at the best." Arjun gave his sermon.
"I don't suffer from any ailment as of now."
"You DID suffer from a severe case of the cavity and you probably have more crown in your mouth than those in English museum and more canals than in a water irrigation system."
"Arjun! I regret sharing with you my dental treatment experience with you and Nirmal."
"It was funny though. Anyway, any update on our Nirmal the dumbo?"
Annu sighed and shook her head in negative.
Arjun sensed Annu's bad mood and joked.
"Well, focus on perfection, success will come running after you! I am focusing on perfection in brushing. I brush two times per day!"
"Which is your delusion" Arjun whispered.
"Did you say something?"
"No no! Well, I got to go make delicious sprouts."
"Ajju! Please!"
And our Annu just used a disarming spell and disarmed our Arjun with a cute nickname. He simply blushed and went straight for the kitchen, hitting the door midway, and for a change, Arjun's lips met the floor and he muffled with his lips still kissing the floor and doing a thumbs up---
"Y am fime!"
Annu chuckled at his cute antiques but didn't show it.
.
.
.
"Nirmal has been giving me cold shoulder since the marriage."
Annu said fiddling the sprouts with her spoon.
"Perhaps he is miffed about being excluded or maybe he is upset about missing such a dramatic wedding or maybe about missing free wedding food. Nirmal is unpredictable and we can never know what is really going on in his mind."
"Look who is talking! Mr cryptic calling others unpredictable."
"Annu I thought we got past that."
"What? ohh, you mean our blackmailed marriage right?"
Arjun winced.
"Can't you forgive me?"
"First of all you didn't apologize in the first place so you can't expect me to be the bigger person and always initiate and 2nd thing, apologies are given only when you give me the reason to commit the sin in the 1st place and 3rs point, at some point I may forgive but never forget."
Annu stood up from the dining table leaving miserable sprouts and her miserable spouse behind.
Therefore bland food = bland mood indeed.
. . .
"Hey, Ramesh! Statistics done?" Annu said while entering the hall.
"Look who's back!"Ramesh roared.
"Enchante Madamoiselle!" Kanan roared and gave a flying kiss to Ananya.
"We heard that you had a honeymoon?" Kanan continued.
"Honeymoon? What? NO!"
"Oh yes!"
"NO!"
Nirmal scowled while everyone was keenly interested in Annu. After all, whatever Annu does, wherever she goes, she always gets herself to be the center of attention without even trying.
"Hey, Nirmal!"
Nirmal just glared at her.
"Oh come on! Don't be such a killjoy!"
"Annu, just leave it, we are never going to be like we were. SO just leave me!"
"I heard you got engaged."
"As a matter of fact, I did. . She knows many languages- Hindi, English, Ahmedabadi Gujarati, Kathiyawari gujarati, Surati Gujarati...."
"Wait.wait.wait. Are you sure, you are narrating her bio-data and not a gujarati hotel's menu card?"
"How dare you Anu! I belong to a very coveted social class and I belong to a girl belonging to the same social class."
Anu smiled ruefully and shook her head.
"What?" Nirmal frowned.
"Nothing, it's just that you spoke belonging in a sentence so many times. It seems your alliance is more of belongings and benefits than longings."
"Practice before you preach missy and don't lecture me on longings and belongings. At least I am marrying for society and family unlike you and your so-called husband whose wedding ceremony was not of 7 pheras but 21 - gun salute."
Nirmal ranted out and stopped expecting a sassy comeback from Anu.
Anu didn't utter a word nor smirked like she usually would. Comebacks are for the ones whose feelings don't matter to us and we give explanations to those who are willing to listen to them.
Nirmal was none of the above as she still cared for him but he didn't return the favor, she chose to remain silent and do what any familiar stranger i.e. acquaintance would say.
"Well, congratulations on your engagement! I want to give you a gift!"
"What?"
"Yeah!" She handed a box wrapped in wrapping paper containing cartoons of Shinchan.
Unwillingly, a smile emerged on Nirmal's face, he tried to hide it, but our Annu sensed him like a remote sensor. He didn't open the gift right away but did it just as Annu left.
She saw him through the glass window and saw him opening the wrapping paper and shoving it beside after folding it, as he would use it afterwards. He saw the bracelet and smiled. it was the same bracelet, that he had gifted her four years ago on her Birthday, just with a minor change. The inscription read 'My best bud-Nirmal' instead of 'My Best Bud-Annu'.
He wore it instantly. Although he was not willing to accept her friendship, he couldn't just resist the token of his once-his-best-friend After all, they were 'best buds'.
Nirmal was feeling remorse for not thanking Annu by performing his Nirmal-special Buri-buri dance but "it was not me, it's her". Chanting that mantra, he shrugged off his thoughts.
After the office, she completed her work and departed, for she had to put her plan into execution.
Every day she used to come back home with her Groom Broomstick, but today as she had to leave early, she took the BRTS bus and boarded the station- Maniapur Crossroad. She had to wait till the bus came, and she rummaged into her mind for solutions and conclusions. Since she had discovered the most coveted hint, it made her even more restless and hungry.
She just wanted to see everything before her eyes, but the sad reality hit an iron-clad punch in the face. She had to discover it all. Dumbledore had left the task of finding all the Horcruxes and destroying Voldemort to Harry. In our case, Arjun, unknowingly, had pushed Annu to find all the Horcruxes needed to destroy the Voldemort who had wrought the Dark times in their lives and she even had to punish the death eaters...
Her thought came to a halt as she heard the bus horns making their way into her ear, which was followed by a reflex, her hand covering them. The bus came near the door, and she got in as the doors opened after the driver's command. She found herself a decent seat and established her presence on it. Everyone around her was covered with a technological variety of appliances- wire of earphones, charging power bank in one hand, and a phone in another hand.
With head on the window and eyes narrow closed, everyone around seemed to be escaping the world in which they lived.
The ride reignited the old memories of hers. How she used to board the trains, how she used to be so eager to see outside the windows, how she was herself then... Which made her realize how she had given up her own self and never looked at it again after that incident...
But her mind got back on track on the train of thought that nagged her all night. The task of finding the one behind all of it... She had to somehow see what was going on in Nirmal's life since the whole bhul bhulaiya or maze started from him. She suspected Nirmal's 'perfect in Gujarati girl whom he boasted so much about, she couldn't help it.
She even wondered if Nirmal really gets hitched to that girl, will he write the languages she mastered in their wedding invitation, but then won't it look like a menu card instead of a wedding card?
Smiling on her private joke, she wondered about his fiancée.
She needed to find out about the girl, and the mystery behind Nirmal's newly found "Perfect bride". So she set about to dig out the details of that girl from the depths of the mine to check if she is really gold to compliment his diamond-like dumbo.
But how was it to be done? Well after 2 years she realized that she changed for a good cause, her old self was too bubbly making noises and too sparkly always attracting several eyes but this present Anu was aware of camouflage technique to blend in the background and in her detective adventure, these may come handy. After all, her New yet original identity was her invisibility cloak, and she just had to find the Resurrection stone to bring out the dead truths and the elder wand to win the battle...
[Special mention for Harry Potter and Potter heads :D]
She deboarded the bus with contentment and a newfound determination.
All she had to do was to find a way into people's minds to make them wonder about them but not in their brains to make them sense her true motives.
. . .
A woman walked on a sidewalk, unconscious about someone following her. Someone followed her. And she didn't have a clue.
She entered a café and walked towards the order desk.
"You know my order"
"Sure ma'am!" The respondent beamed as he saw her.
She walked towards a table and established her presence on it.
She fished out her phone and checked the messages. Meanwhile, the spy just sat on the table behind and kept checking the girl ahead.
Soon, a cup was put on the order desk containing the name-"Aadhya"
"Aadhya mam! Your order!"
Aadhya got up and took her order. And sat back again where she had taken temporary homage at. She was about to drink her usual latte when the mobile rang.
Tring Tring!
"Hello?" Aadhya spoke in her usual tone.
"Hey its Nirmal!" the other end of the mobile spoke.
"Oh yea! Where are you? Come fast! I am waiting!"
"I know! I miss you too! But I can't come today!"
"Why not! Why are you not coming right now?"
The spy smirked as her plan had worked successfully up till now.
"My boss gave me extra work again! Some nerd told me off! Boss gave me extra work when he came to know I had not completed my work! He didn't even receive my half-leave letter! It's as if someone wanted me to stay!"
"Oh no!"
"I know darling! I am sorry!"
"No problem, it's ok. I will read a book!"
"Which one are you on?"
"Bhagavata Gita."
"Again?"
"Whenever I read it, I find something or the other new in it! It's addictive!"
"Well then! Enjoy! Good evening, babe! Miss ya!"
"Miss you too Darling Muahh!" Giving her phone a flying kiss, she cut the call.
The spy walked up to her and twisted the remaining chair around in her direction and sat like a boss, who owned the chair.
But the spy made a boo-boo and fell down.
"Hey! Who are you?!" Aadhya yelled at the fallen stranger.
The spy stood up and regained her position on the chair.
"Hey Aadhya. I am Ananya Seksariya."
She shook hands with her.
"So you are the b**ch."
"Which b**ch?"
"The b**ch who broke my Nimmy's heart."
"Nimmy? What are you? A kid? He has a real name- Nirmal which is far more appealing than 'Nimmy'!"
"I love him and I will call him whatever I want to! He is my fiancé."
"You are right about the latter one, but are you sure about the first statement?"
"yes. I love him with all my heart!"
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure he isn't just a tool of yours to regain your position in society?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is- this."
With that Annu showed a picture on her phone to the raged woman in front of her.
But soon the expression metamorphosed to dumbstruck.
"How do you know about this! Please don't tell anyone!"
"Only on one condition."
.
.
.
A woman, satisfied with the pleasure of winning the battle, made her way towards the lonely house in the whole area, as far as she could see.
She rang the bell and her beloved Arjun came And opened the door.
"yes ma'am?"
"You Doofus! I am Annu!"
"Annu?" He scanned her from head to toe.
"Come on! Let me inside! I-"
As she walked in, Arjun secured her in his arms and the door closed with a bang.
"Hey! Leave me!"
But he kept hugging her as if time had come to an end.
"Ajju?"
But Arjun didn't answer. he kept hugging her and soon Annu felt her shoulder become wet.
"Ajju? Are you ok?"
He said no, but it came merely as a whisper. He kept crying and Annu could feel the sobs.
She took him to the balcony, which was his favourite place and made him sit on the bench on the balcony.
"Shhh! It is going to be ok...Shhh"
Annu kept patting him on the back and kissed him on the forehead from time to time. After some moments, he became composed. Annu offered him water, and he drank it as if he had been athirst for so long.
"What happened?"
"This." He showed his mobile screen to her.
It was Meera's Instagram page. She had posted a picture containing a tall muscular man, looking very similar to Arjun itself, with an elegant woman,with eyes similar to that to Arjun, in his embrace and a slender girl behind them, wearing a Shinchan sweatshirt, hugging them from behind. AA
Annu understood It was the family picture of Shah's family with Arjun's father, his mother, and his baby sister. Technically incomplete family photo in Arjun's absence.
The post contained the following caption-
#Singlechild #FamilyMatters #mainekmeredo
Triangle is said to be the strongest shape of the world.
~Our family of Three
makes us strong and fear-free~
Annu saw the post and stood there in awe. Meera? Cutting Arjun out like this? Something didn't add up. She felt somewhat guilty for this. She somewhere in her heart, felt guilty, somewhere in her mind, she believed that Arjun had to pay such cost only to save her. Save her from the ridiculous sinister monster in society.
But she had a more pressing matter right now. She simply went towards Arjun, took him to the balcony and made him sit. She rested his head on her shoulder and hugged him dearly.
He kept on crying, there was no need to say anything...
"Ajju, We will get out of this. Just handle a little bit more. I will bring you the justice you deserve. And punishment to the one who did this injustice. Just hang in there."
And she kissed his forehead.
She knew she was just close to the end, the solution was ready for her she just had to show the real, hidden face of the monster to everyone.
just a little bit more
Just a lil more... I am coming... to unravel your secrets... to unravel your ugly rotten beliefs which you proudly wear...
Just a lil bit more...
Yolo guys,
So long!
1st thing- we are now a team of 1000 readers !!!! Thank you guys for keeping up with the extremely irregular updated and incomplete book. You are amazing. Thank you!!!
-Sumo and Muso.