Chapter 26
Dressed in a beautifully embroidered yellow suit, Sanchi moved out of the Bundela mansion to leave for the CBI bureau. Her eyes fell on Vihaan near the garage, who was trying to fix something into his Royal Enfield. She stood behind him, staring at him for a long time in a stretch.
He turned towards her when he realized her presence. "What are you waiting for? Where is your driver?"
"Ex-cuse me?" Sanchi was awestruck.
"You heard me right. I don't expect you to be waiting for me to fetch you to your workplace. You may have your own priorities," Vihaan said, working with the steel wrench to fix the wheel of his motorbike.
Crossing her arms across her chest and enlarging her eye muscles, she uttered in a gruff voice, "Sorry to bo-ther you by my pre-sence but I am not here to ask for a lift, espe-cially from you. I am capa--ble enough to go to the bur-eau by myself. I am just here to..."
"For what?" Vihaan crossed his arms too. "To tell me about your new companions in life?"
Plastering a smirk on her face, Sanchi knitted her eyebrows together. "To settle some scores with an old com-panion."
"As if?"
"I am here to rem-ind you for one last time not to in-trude in my pers-onal space again. I have tried to ab-ide by our terms as fair-ly as poss-ible but you are not. I just don't wa-nt to come back each time to warn you aga-in and again." The rage on Sanchi's face was clearly visible.
"I have not tried intruding in your personal space ever." Vihaan gritted his teeth.
"Sorry? I did-n't get you." Sanchi raised her eyebrows. "Isn't it you who got his hands on my mobile secr-etly, dele-ted an impo-rtant message from my belo-ved bro-ther and didn't even bother to info-rm me? Like seri-ously, Vihaan? I am not a crim-inal that you have to secr-etly collect inform-ation agai-nst me!"
"But..."
"Wait arro-gant jerk, can you ple-ase?" Sanchi raised her palm to prevent him from speaking. "Isn't it just the previ-ous day you were lectu-ring me on dece-ncy and isn't it the same 'decent' you who drag-ged me out in the mid-dle of a conver-sation with a collea-gue, who dele-ted my pers-onal text with-out consent and who wat-ches me in sleep for the who-le night?"
Vihaan's mouth was gaping wide when Sanchi yelled, "How does it feel wh-en I come to know from my bro-ther that he had rea-lly sent me a concer-ned text and I just miss-ed seeing it? How does it feel when you are drag-ged out of a conver-sation in front of your collea-gues? How does it feel when you have a man watch-ing you in sleep? Can you just exp-lain?"
Fresh tears trickled down Sanchi's cheeks as her accusations were smacking Vihaan right into his chest. As much as he wanted to spread out his comforting arms to her, he couldn't. He knew he was at fault and a little apologize wouldn't help much. His anger had just begun to melt when there was a horn outside the main entrance.
Dheeraj was waiting for Sanchi in his own car outside the gate and she nodded at him from afar. Before leaving for the bureau, she reminded Vihaan one more time. "You have been a jerk to me so far and you will alw-ays be. But remem-ber that from now on, I am going to main-tain a safe dist-ance from you for the next twenty days minus five mon-ths time period."
Hopping into the passenger seat, Sanchi smiled at Dheeraj. He asked, "Will Vihaan be going out of the city today as well?"
"I don't know but I thi-nk he'll be late to the bur-eau. So I request-ed you to drop me at the offi-ce today." Sanchi smiled back and Dheeraj restarted the engine.
As Dheeraj's car pulled out of the driveway, Sanchi gave a victorious smirk at an astounded Vihaan and averted her gaze from him eventually.
*****
Sanchi spent the whole day at the bureau working on different files and sometimes assisted by Arjun for providing various information. She also took out some free time during the lunch break to discuss with her plans for uniting Vidya and Dheeraj.
"Arjun, you aren't goi-ng to have your lunch at the can-teen from now onw-ards. I know you stay all alone at the police quar-ters and don't get to have home coo-ked food. So I'll fetch you lunch from home mo-st of the time." Sanchi offered him an extra lunch box she was carrying with her.
Arjun accepted the box smiling brightly. "I've found a great friend in you. I had nearly forgotten how home cooked food tasted like. My mother is a great cook, you know."
"You are your-self a great fri-end and help-ful in need. Thank you for drop-ping me home last night," Sanchi said, thrusting a morsel in her mouth.
"Calling me a friend and thanking me don't go hand in hand, girl!" Arjun laughed. "By the way, you were pretty late last night. How was your husband's mood?"
Sanchi's face slumped at the mention of Vihaan. Pressing her lips tightly, she uttered, "He did-n't say a thing."
"Oh I thought... I mean the way he behaved last day.." Arjun fumbled, taking a morsel from the lunch box given to him.
"I'm sorry Arjun, for his beha-viour last day. He was actu-ally...unhappy with me. My ana-lysis wasn't up to the mark and..." Sanchi lied.
"Please Sanchi, I know you are lying to me. You shouldn't be because I know him. This is normal actually. He's your husband and any husband may feel jealous to see his wife with someone else." Arjun laughed. "By the way, you are also an awesome cook. Vihaan Sir must be appreciating the tasty dishes cooked by you daily."
Sanchi nodded, not knowing exactly what to respond to him. "He does-n't like spi-cy foods at all."
As they continued enjoying their lunch together and giggling on humorous stories narrated by Arjun, Vihaan came out of his cabin to take a stroll in the common room. His careful gaze caught Sanchi's jolly face again and a sharp pang of utmost jealousy cut across his chest.
His limbs faltered to make a movement ahead and Sanchi's warnings solidified it. He also noticed the lunch box in Arjun's hand and his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten anything for lunch and Durga hadn't even packed his lunch that particular day. Durga was under the impression that Sanchi was taking care of these things for her own husband.
"Arjun had never brought lunch boxes for himself for the number of days I've been seeing him here. Just to use the opportunity to share lunch with her, he has started carrying lunch boxes!"
As Vihaan pondered, more shock was on his way when he saw Sanchi taking the empty lunch box from Arjun's hand and fishing it inside her own Tiffin bag, zipping the opening together. Vihaan stiffened in rage. "She fetched her own hand cooked food for him and here I'm starving without a lunch!"
Vihaan made a rapid exit from the common room and locked himself inside his own cabin.
*
The lunch time was getting over and Arjun prepared to leave for his own work. "I'll meet you later, Sanchi."
"It's al-right and remem-ber our plans. We'll exe-cute it tomo-rrow," Sanchi reminded him.
As Arjun left the room, Sanchi reached for her Tiffin bag again. Carefully taking out two different lunch boxes, she knocked at Dheeraj's door. When he allowed her, she entered and smiled at him.
"Do you need something?" Dheeraj asked casually.
Placing the different boxes on the table, she uttered, "This lun-ch box is for you and this.... I me-an the less spi-cy one for..."
"For Vihaan!" Dheeraj laughed. "Why are you fumbling Sanchi? It's alright if you've got him lunch. You can give it to him yourself."
"No bro, I don't wa-nt to. I want you to gi-ve him and say..."
"Say what?" He frowned.
"That maa has sent it for him." Sanchi gulped nervously.
"Mom never sends lunch boxes to us in this way. She directly keeps them in our office baggage." Dheeraj clicked his tongue. "Why don't you tell me what's the matter? It's not difficult to understand that the foods are cooked by you."
"I'm sorry bro, but I am for-cing you to tell a lit-tle lie for the good. If one lie can imp-rove things for the mo-ther and son." Sanchi lowered her eyes.
"It basically means I'll tell a lie for mom and Vihaan, but suppress the truth of how sweet and caring you could be. I can't betray the goodness in you." Dheeraj nodded slightly.
"Ple-ase bro, you have my swear. I know even you des-perately want every-thing to be alright bet-ween them," Sanchi pleaded and Dheeraj agreed finally.
Before leaving the room, Sanchi turned to him again. "Bro, I've a news for you. Maa order-ed me to pass the inform-ation to you. You are supp-osed to reach Ringers' Park tomo-rrow by six o'clock in the eve-ning."
"Why?" Dheeraj was confused.
"I don't kn-ow, it's just maa's or-der." Sanchi suppressed a laugh.
"But the park is meant for couples. Why will mom order such a thing for me?"
"May-be she wants to sur-prise you with some-thing. You can't ref-use her or-ders now." Sanchi continued blackmailing him.
"I will go. Thank you for informing," Dheeraj confirmed and Sanchi moved out of the room quickly. Her plans of uniting the two lovers were almost on the verge of getting successful very soon.
*****
Observing the lunchbox that Dheeraj had given him closely, Vihaan muttered to himself, "Why didn't mom give us the boxes at home? Brother said she had given both the boxes to him. Also, the food didn't taste the same cooked by mom, it tasted better. Is it because hickory...."
Resting against the chair, he said again, "I don't think hickory will do it. She herself has demanded a safe distance from me. There's no chance that she'll spare some time to cook for me because she also has Arjun to cook for. She might have assisted mom in the cooking so it tasted different or might be the maids have done it. Mom mustn't have made it to the kitchen today leaving her silly prayers behind."
The office hours came to a close and Vihaan moved out of his cabin. The staff members paved their way quickly to take the exit and Vihaan reached for his Royal Enfield. His eyes instantly caught the glimpse of Sanchi standing with Arjun next to his car. "So he's again going to give her a lift back home! Where the hell is Dheeraj bro?"
The crowd of the lobby was so tight that Vihaan's standing very near them wasn't visible to them at all. Vihaan became a silent listener to their conversation again.
"Arjun, ple-ase can you drop me at the shop-ping mall? I am in need of buy-ing some urg-ent things," Sanchi requested him.
Arjun's shoulders slumped. "I wish I could but I'm not returning home now. I am going out on a secret mission with Shiva and Pari, it'll take me time to reach home tonight. Otherwise I could have easily gone for shopping with you and then dropped you safely at home."
"It's al-right, duty comes first. I'll see where Dhee-raj bro is," Sanchi said in a low voice.
"Is it that urgent or we could have gone tomorrow?" Arjun asked again.
"Not that urg-ent but I'm forget-ting it lately. I need to buy some flip flops for my-self. I can't cont-inue wear-ing these slip-pers of my mother-in-law daily. I also have to re-fill my long await-ed empty stock of cup-cakes. I can wait for one more day, no wor-ries."
"I promise we'll go tomorrow. But why don't you wear heels? I'm sure you will look great in heels instead of the flat slippers." Arjun laughed and Sanchi puffed her cheeks.
Vihaan was already in a fit of rage, teeth gritted and fists clenched again. Listening to their conversation had become his part time duty every now and then.
"No, I can't wear heels sim-ply, as much as I love th-em," Sanchi said sadly.
"Why?"
"It's noth-ing, Arjun. Don't for-get about the sur-prise tomo-rrow and also we'll go shop-ping tomorrow it-self." Sanchi waved at him as Shiva and Pari joined him in the car.
As Arjun drove away, Sanchi rotated her eyes around looking for Dheeraj's car. His car was yet in the parking lot but there wasn't any sign of him. She reached for her phone to dial his number when she felt a strong arm caging her wrist.
"I asked you to main-tain a safe dist-ance from me," Sanchi said gritting her teeth.
"I wish I could but I have certain responsibilities. The evening is here and it'll get dark anytime soon. You can't go home alone and fall in trouble in the new city. I wouldn't like to get my limbs splintered by your insane brother." Vihaan had a visible smirk playing on his lips.
"One, I was-n't going alone. I was look-ing for Dheeraj bro. Two, my bro-ther is not insane. If he rea-lly was, he would have dis-located your limbs by now. Third and most impor-tant, I'm not interest-ed to go with you."
"But you are leaving with me right now unless you want to create a scene in the public." Vihaan hopped on to his motorbike.
Sanchi rotated her eyes around and Dheeraj was nowhere to be seen. Fidgeting to decide whether she would melt her emotions for Vihaan and surrender to his demands, she uttered slowly, "I don't do... bike rid-ing."
"Who said you'll be riding it? You just have to hop behind me and I'll be riding it. I'm not a reckless driver that you would fall off." Vihaan grinned, scaring Sanchi to some extent.
Exercising her palms into opening and closing it for a number of times before she landed both of them on either of his strong shoulders. Grabbing his sleeves as carefully as she could, she hopped behind him. He passed the helmet to her and she clasped it as quickly as she could.
As Vihaan ignited the engine and traced the curved path of the driveway swiftly, Sanchi grabbed his shoulders tightly again. A victorious smile played on Vihaan's lips as he took off with the ride.
A happy Dheeraj stood far away next to the window of his cabin, watching Vihaan with Sanchi. "How beautiful they both look together! Vihaan giving a bike ride to a girl is unimaginable but impressive enough."
*****
"I thou-ght we were going home. Why did you fool me by bring-ing me to the shop-ping mall?" Sanchi yelled as they walked down the stairs to the exit of the city mall. Both her hands were preoccupied by packets of cupcakes and Vihaan was carrying some paper bags of brand new flip flops.
"I took you for shopping and instead of thanking me, you are howling on the top of your voice. We will be going home now," Vihaan responded, snorting his nose.
"I did-n't ask you for your fav-our at all." Sanchi was walking much ahead of Vihaan.
"You are in the habit of asking for favours from outsiders and I know that. But I do have a responsibility towards you and you know it," Vihaan reminded her.
"Were you eaves-dropping my conver-sation with Arjun? How many times will I rem-ind you to stay away from my perso-nal mat-ters?" Sanchi seethed. "By the way, you are an out-sider and not Arjun. He's my fri-end now, a very good friend who does-n't hurt me with his words. He under-stands what my likes are ins-tead of refrain-ing me from it."
Vihaan tried hard to control his anger. "He basically doesn't know that heels might suit you to some extent but you are not suitable enough to handle it. You always trip and fall in those gaudy footwear of yours."
"What-ever it is, don't make fun of my favour-ite heels." Sanchi gritted her teeth as they reached the parking lot. Not her single day would end without quarreling with Vihaan.
"Couples in love do quarrel but they don't create a havoc in public."
Dheeraj's words played in her mind as she climbed on the bike behind Vihaan. "Lov-ing this arro-gant jerk? My foot!"
*****
Sanchi hadn't spoken to Vihaan again after reaching home. She was completely pissed with the way he always behaved with her. She was lying down on the bed at night and Vihaan was again in the workroom.
Her phone rang with a call from Vidya. She received it quickly. "Hey, pal."
"What about the plan, gal? Did you talk to Dheeraj?"
"I inform-ed Dhee-raj bro to reach the Ringers' park in time tomo-rrow."
"Do you think we'll be successful this time?" Vidya seemed extremely worried.
Vihaan walked across the corridor to reach his room but his legs got rooted in place outside the door to the room when he heard Sanchi speaking over the phone.
"Don't wo-rry at all, Vidya. He'll be confess-ing his love tomo-rrow and there's no denial. I've work-ed so hard on my plans and I can't fail at the last mom-ent." Sanchi chirped merrily.
"I hope he does or else I don't know." Vidya inhaled deeply. "Have you informed Arjun about it? You said he'll be doing the decorations."
Sanchi nodded, laughing aloud. "Of course yes. I remind-ed Arjun of the sur-prise today and he promi-sed me he'll be there at the Ringers' park in time tomo-rrow."
Vidya smiled a little. "I wish everything goes as planned. I can't bear more pains again."
"The confe-ssion will take place tomo-rrow itself and I know my plans can't fail. The Ringers' park will rem-ain a wit-ness to one of the best love confe-ssions in the world," Sanchi assured her.
"So Ringers' it is. I'll be there in time," Vidya promised her.
"Yes Ring-ers' it is and I'll also be the-re in time. Love you, pal. Good ni-ght." Sanchi disconnected the call and murmured a short prayer. "Hope every-thing turns out to be on expect-ed lines tomo-rrow."
Before Vihaan could enter the room, he saw Sanchi dialing a number again.
"Hello Arjun," Sanchi murmured over phone after some pause.
"Hey Sanchi, anything urgent now?"
"Nope, just to give you a remin-der. Ple-ase be there at Ringers' in time tomo-rrow. You can't let me down."
"I'm a cop and I'm known for my punctuality and great service." Arjun laughed on the other end of the receiver.
"Stop boast-ing about your-self. Cops are most of the time kno-wn for their non-punctuality. Be seri-ous now, I didn't call you for a bed-time joke, al-right." Sanchi grinned and her face arched into a beautiful smile.
"I know I know, this is a serious issue involving my best friend. I'll be there. But what is your plan exactly? You just requested me for the decorations."
"It's a sur-prise plan-ned by me. You'll come to know tomo-rrow." Sanchi winked, even though she knew Arjun couldn't see it.
"Are you scared that I'll disclose it to Dheeraj? I won't you know," Arjun said playfully.
"Be-fore you try extract-ing it from my mouth, I think I sho-uld go to sleep." Sanchi laughed victoriously before disconnecting the call.
As Sanchi closed her eyes to sleep, Vihaan entered the room noiselessly. Lying down on the sofa, he wondered, "Ringers' park is meant for couples. What is she planning to do? She was speaking of some love confession with Vidya and she's specifically reminding Arjun to be there. I know we have applied for divorce but couldn't she wait for a few months more before deciding to move on in life? How could she?"
Vihaan closed his eyes, trying hard to put himself to sleep. "So this is the reason why she demanded a safe distance from me! Whatever it is, I'll now do exactly what she demands. She'll get a distance from me and a considerable distance this time!"
To be continued...
A/N: OMG😱!! What happened again?😭 Why can't my SANVI stop fighting?
What will happen next? 🤔
I can't wait to tell you 😉!!
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