The Royal Fling - Part 10

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Chapter 10


Shantivan

“Arnav?” Angad barges in the groom’s room. “Have you increased the security all of a sudden? Why do I see guards outside Khushi’s room?”

Arnav is dressed in a Sherwani. The wedding rituals are going to begin in some time. He picks the note from the table, the same note which he had snatched from Khushi earlier.

“Because of this” he shows Angad the note and then waits until he finishes reading.

‘I am ending my life because there is no one left in my life to live with. The Royals have made me suffer enough and I pray they suffer some day too. Arnav Singh Raizada is responsible for my decision of suicide. He has pushed me to the extremes where I don’t see any exit apart from death.  I want him to be punished. He deserves no mercy. No mercy!! – Avni Sen’



Angad’s eyes darken in shock. He raises his gaze upon Arnav.

“This is Avni’s suicide note. Why are you showing this to me?”
“Because Khushi Gupta read it”
“What?” Angad’s surprise is unmeasurable. He can understand Arnav’s sudden necessity to tighten the security around.
“This was in my closet Angad. Locked!! Safe!! And someone managed to still sneak on and keep this in Khushi’s room” he exclaims.
“Someone who knew where you kept it”
“No one knew it so far. Yet, its out and leaked” he adds.

Angad is confused how to react further.

“What did Khushi say? I mean.. she must be mad… and totally confused just like I am at the moment”
“I have handled her” Arnav turns back to the mirror to check his attire.
“What do you want me to do? Check the CCTV cameras to find who sneaked in your room?”
“I did that already. Found nothing. We don’t even know when this note was taken out from my closet. Definitely not today because there was nothing in the CCTV footage.”

Angad tries to think something else.

“Someone wants to break this marriage and I don’t see anyone eligible to do this than your cousin, Shyam Singh Raizada and his wife”

Arnav doesn’t react to that. He is lost in some other thoughts.

“What do you think?” Angad asks him again.
“It can’t be them. Shyam has no clue about my Safe’s password”
“Oh yes, your safe has a password. But wait. You had kept in the Safe then its impossible for anyone to unlock it and steal”
“Except one”

When Arnav turns back to see Angad, he finds his friend deathly shocked by the unsaid revelation

“No ways” Angad mutters. “I know you.. .you still find it hard to believe but… he is .. he is dead Arnav. And its high time you get that fact straight in your head”

Arnav grips the phone tight in his hand. No, he still doesn’t want to believe that. He never could.

“Right now, you got to think about this marriage and save what can be saved..” Angad continues. “Not mourn on what you couldn’t protect”

He is right. This marriage is going to be a turning point of their lives. He has a lot of hopes from it and he wouldn’t let it fail.

“I am worried of Khushi though. What if she calls the wedding off?” Angad asks curiously to his best friend, Arnav Singh Raizada who is currently all decked up to sit for the wedding.
“She wouldn’t. If she had to do so, she would have done it by now”

“Arnav..” the door opens with Daadi rushing inside in a troubled voice. Arnav and Angad both get alert by the sudden panic on her face. “Khushi… she..”

Arnav strides to her.

“Khushi what?” he grips Daadi’s forearms to stop her from shivering.
“She. She is not in her room.. She . she fled”

Arnav’s jaw clench while Angad rushes to them.
“I will go check with Suhani. She must know where Khushi is. And even if she has fled, she wouldn’t have gone far. We will find her”

Giving that hope to the Royals, Angad slips out of the room.

“Arnav.. she is . she is our last hope” Daadi pleads. “Please get her back”

Arnav lets out an exasperated sigh. This is his fault. He thought threatening her using Payal would stop her from calling off the wedding. He didn’t expect her to flee neither he will let her succeed.

*****************

An hour Later 


It had to be kept a secret that the would-be Royal bride has fled on her wedding day. It is hard to believe for the Royals that she is missing despite of the tight security at this place. Anjali and Shyam Singh Raizada couldn’t be happier than this. Daadi tried her best to keep calm and believe in her grandson’s abilities to find his bride before the Mahurat of the wedding expires.

“If this marriage had been with my sister Anjum, nothing would go wrong” Anjali pin points to Daadi who is desperately waiting to get the good news of Khushi’s comeback.

Shyam nods at his wife’s mention of Anjum.

“I agree Rani Saheba. Only people within a family can understand and maintain the reputation of it. I was always suspicious of these Guptas. I won’t be surprised to know that this was all that Shashi Gupta’s mastermind. Who knows if he himself got his daughter flee?”

Daadi turns around to look at him.

“We all know how much he is against us from all these years. I think he did it all for ruining our reputation” he adds.
“Enough SHyam” Daadi shouts back. “Will you both just zip your mouths and let me be at peace for some time? I am already worried how to handle this situation and you both are not helping at all”

Shyam grins. It’s cool to see the old lady so pissed and out of control.

“Daadi” Anjali reaches her and sits next, faking to show some concern. “What else we can do now that Khushi is eloped? I have an idea. You can say, a proposal to sort this matter”

Daadi meets her eyes though she knows whatever Anjali proposes her won’t be any good for the family.

“Let us change the bride” Anjali continues. “My Sister Anjum is still ready to marry Arnav if you all agree”
“How nice of her” Shyam adds. “Don’t worry about people Daadi” he comes ahead. “We can tell them that we cancelled the wedding with Guptas at the end moment and picked the best bride. Who cares what happens to the Guptas then?”
“Shut up you both” Daadi gets up from the couch frustrated at their ideas. “Your baseless talks and suggestions are hurting my head”

Shyam rolls his eyes.

“Do you have a better idea? Tell us. We will follow” he interrupts.
“Go out and keep the guests entertained. If anyone else apart from us gets to know Khushi has eloped, I will cancel every luxury allowance you all are enjoying”

Giving them a strict warning, Daadi slips out of the room. Anjali groans in frustration.

“This is pure blackmailing”
“It’s okay Anjali” Shyam pats her back. “She is doing what the best she can and we have no other choice but to accept it. Don’t worry. As Khushi won’t be coming back, this marriage has to be called off. Let’s see how Daadi and Arnav handles that. All we have to do is wait and watch and then when things settle down, we will find a way to bring Anjum in this family”

Anjali’s smile is back. She hugs her husband for his brilliant idea and then walks out with him to keep the guests entertained.

******************

“Don’t lie to me” Arnav scowls at Shashi Gupta behind the walls of the closed room. Ever since Khushi Gupta is missing, he has not let Shashi Gupta go away from his sight. “Tell me where she is, Gupta. If I find out you have done this purposely to hurt our reputation then.”
“I haven’t done anything” Shashi snaps. “And you are talking about your reputation? Nothing will happen to it because my daughter has eloped. People will point a finger at me, not you” he adds.

Arnav steps back letting the man complete his words.

“God knows what sins I have done that both of my daughters ditched me? First Payal and now… Khushi”

Arnav swallows hard at the mention of Payal’s name.

“For once.. .Once I see Khushi again.. I swear… I swear I will not leave her. I am going to punish her for stamping my image before the society” Shashi hits his fist on the wall.
“Don’t hurt yourself” Garima stops him from hurting his hand further. “It is not your fault. I …  I am sorry” Garima cries.

That captures Arnav’s attention on the woman.

“I am sorry ..” her sobs continues..

Arnav reaches her and turns her around.

“What did you do to apologize?” he snaps “Did you… did you help her flee?”

Garima falls weak. She doesn’t know if she is completely responsible for this action from her daughter today or not. But she decides to tell them what she knows. It’s hard to see the Royals blaming her husband for everything when he had no clue about it.

“I .. I didn’t help her” she murmurs.. “She never wanted this marriage to happen. Her father was forcing her to do it. So..”
“So what?” Shashi groans coming to his wife “You helped her flee? Where is she? Where did you send her?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t help her either. I had suggested her she runs away from this if she is unhappy but I didn’t know she would actually do it.. I am sorry”

Arnav groans in frustration. Again, a dead end. Shashi shouts back at his wife for being so reckless. Arnav doesn’t wait in that room any longer. If he stays here, he can’t find Khushi’s whereabouts. Angad and his men are already looking for her and only because his presence is needed in the house, to show people that everything is fine, he didn’t leave to look for his bride. But guess now its high time he does something to find her and get her back. He has already taken few measures to do this and is waiting for the update. He checks his phone as it rings in his pocket and answers the call.

“Sir, we have traced her phone location. It’s not very far from the Palace. We will send a team to check” his source informs.
“Message me the location. I don’t want any team to go and look for her.. I will get her myself. Just inform me if that location changes”
“It hasn’t changed for the last few minutes. She must be still there”
“Good”

He hangs up and walks out to drive there.

****************

It’s an old railway station of the town which is hardly used for commutation anymore ever since the Royals built a new Railway hub with better facilities. This old one has only two trains doing the roundups every day connecting the town to the two metro cities nearby. In next two years this station is going to be completely demolished and the land will be utilized for other government offices. Khushi must have purposely chosen this place to flee from because no one would ever think of searching her here. That’s true in one way. He has blocked every road exit for now. None of the vehicles are allowed to leave the town without a thorough check at the border. So, this was her last hope to elope the town. He looks around to see if he can find her. There are hardly 20 – 30 people around, waiting for the next train to arrive which is due in 3 minutes. None of them really familiar enough to match Khushi’s personality, except a lady who has covered her head with her Saree, her hands shivering. She looks totally out of place. Can she be Khushi?

“Found anything?” Angad joins him there.

“I think its her” Arnav points out.
“Who? That old lady? The one with her head covered?”
“Hmm”
“No.. she looks old by her actions..”
“Exactly” Arnav nods. “That’s why I am suspicious.. An old woman like her don’t travel alone.. She has no bags… nothing that can prove otherwise”
“The train comes” Angad says turning back at the noise of the train slowly reaching the station. “According to our source, the location of Khushi’s phone is still this same place. She has to be here”

As the train stations, people start getting out and head to the exit. Others wait for getting inside. The old lady gets up too, her head is still covered and she slowly starts walking towards the train. She makes no unusual move which can make them suspicious. She is leaning ahead to balance her body, her arms are covered by the saree neatly and not even an inch of her skin is visible. She gets in the train. The moment she gets in, the train engine commences and it starts moving away.

“Shit” Arnav curses himself and runs to the compartment where the lady just boarded. Angad has no clue why he is running to catch that train? Did he get the right clue that the old woman is indeed Khushi? Arnav boards the compartment of the train before it could speed up and finally gets down again in few seconds dragging Khushi Gupta down. So, the old lady was indeed her and Arnav could trace that by the Sandals she was wearing. Such heeled sandals are not something which an old woman can carry well!!


To be Continued


NEXT PART


To Read THE ROYAL FLING from start. Click HERE
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