Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

"Finally! I thought that he wouldn't let go of her today. Only if he had shown this much determination in building his relationship, humph... And why the hell were you stopping me? I wanted to wipe that poor me, innocent look from his face just now. He has no idea that his to-be wife has already spilled the entire truth to us. I hate such cowards," Ishani fumed.     

Vandit smiled at the spitfire standing next to him. With short hair and heated cheeks, she resembled a cute doll at the moment. He leaned in to hug her only to be pushed back ruthlessly.     

"What are you trying to do? Do you think that this is the time to cuddle up?" she snarled at him.     

"I, uh.. was only trying to calm you down before you went in. It would be embarrassing for Mriga to realise that you witnessed her conversation just now. So, it is better to pretend otherwise. Also, I won't be seeing you after this for the next two months and just wanted to have you in my arms for a few moments," he said plaintively.     

Ishani felt immediately contrite and impulsively hugged him to make up for her behavior from a minute ago. Before he could bring around his arms though, she let go and ran in with a shy laughter. He stood there smilingly foolishly till there was a tap on his shoulder.     

"Have you finally lost your marbles?" Abhirath's dry voice brought him out of the stupor.     

"Huh… err, what are you doing here? Ah, no no… don't say. I know what are you here for. Actually, I haven't seen you in a couple of days now, have I? Is it possible that you have been giving her the much-needed consolation recently?" Vandit asked mischievously.     

Abhirath looked at him in confusion and asked immediately, "What are you talking about? Who needs consoling?"     

Oh shit! Vandit cursed his slip of tongue. Had he not been flustered at being caught staring at Ishani, he would have not said this out loud. He had been under strict instructions to not say this to anyone till Mriga was ready to share it with others. Now, Ishani will kill him.     

"Uh… that is, I must have been mistaken," he tried to extract himself from the hole which he had dug for himself, just now.     

But the person standing in front of him immediately showed his cold and arrogant self.     

"If you dare think even for a moment that you can get away by lying to me, I promise to make your life miserable during your internship. I know where you are headed," he threatened menacingly.     

Vandit shrank back involuntarily. The guy was a bully.     

"Mriga was going through some rough times with Yash in the past few days and has finally broken off with him today. She is mighty upset and has just gone in to the dorm. I don't think it is a good time for you to meet her," he said sullenly.     

Abhirath didn't pay attention to his tone and stared at the dorm's door, lost in thought.     

After a minute, he instructed, "Go and look for Chiranjeev and Nirbhay. Tell them that I want to treat them to a meal this afternoon."     

"Huh? And why do I have to be your minion for this?" he asked with a bad face.     

"Because I am going to invite your girlfriend as well to join in, unless you are not interested," Abhirath said with an indifferent shrug.     

Vandit immediately perked up and replied, "I am going now. You are the best. Will see you outside the Gurukul gate at 12."     

"Wait!! It is your duty to bring the girls alongwith at that time. I will meet you at the eatery with the guys," he said.     

Vandit nodded and ran off happily. He had sacrificed his time with Ishani because she wanted to spend time with her BFF but now luck was shining on him and he would get to spend some more precious moments with her, unexpectedly. Abhirath was truly the best!     

"You can do it. C'mmon Mrignayani. You CAN do it," Mriga whispered to herself.     

She stood in front of the the long brass plate which acted as the mirror in the girls' bathroom and stared hard at her eyes which held only pain at the moment. It had taken everything in her to hold back from throwing herself into Yash's arms and cry at the unfairness of the situation. When she returned from meeting him the previous night, she had been mighty upset. But when Ishani told her about Vindhya spending her vacation at Yash's, her heart just broke. Everything changed in that moment.     

Stepping out, she went to the dorm and immersed herself in the duties.     

Admin Building     

"By now, they would be panicking after not discovering Shaurya's body. I will be very surprised if the dancer is still there at the brothel," Ramanujam said.     

"Speak to the moles whom Shaurya had placed in the businessman's house and shop. Retrieve whatever information you can from them asap. I am going in tonight," Prithvi said.     

Ramanujam looked at his boss in surprise. Did he mean that he would be going undercover himself?     

When was the last time that happened? Since early on, Ramanujam had learnt to place complete trust in his senior's judgement and never questioned his decisions. But why would he risk exposure for an operation which wasn't anything close to being critical to National security. It was just drugs at the end of the day.     

His face didn't show any of these thoughts, though and he took his leave from there. Saraswati climbed up the staircase and came into Prithvi's room as Ramanujam was exiting from there.     

"Uh… so for Shaurya, I was wondering if I should send him to the Northern zilla for the time being to recuperate and stay?" she asked both the men who were present.