8.12.2020 - Sunday - At Chennai.

Shiva's P. O. V :

Think of the devil and the devil appeared before me.

Anjali would fry me alive for ignoring her call to meet, and I get caught with another girl, can things get worse?

After few seconds I remembered that Aparna is known to Anjali as Prerna. I looked at Aparna not knowing what to do.

Anjali dashed towards us and I was trying to come up with a plausible answer.

" Shiva, what are you doing here, wait a minute, this girl, Prerna? " Anjali turned towards Aparna.

" See, it is " I was stammering and Aparna intervened my words.

" No, I am not Prerna, I am Aparna. I am her sister. Are you close to Prerna? " Aparna asked Anjali with a completely different accent and body language, for a minute, she made me believe that this girl has never met Anjali.

Anjali looked back and forth between me and Aparna.

" Oh, so you are Prerna's younger sister! , nice to meet you. I am Anjali, Shiva's fiance. " Anjali said holding out her hand to Aparna.

" Nice to meet you! " Aparna said to Anjali.

" But, why are you here with Shiva? " Anjali asked Aparna with a death glare.

" Anjali, that " I started, but Aparna replied stopping me mid sentence.

" I am working in Shiva's firm, in a temporary position, I came here to help him. " Aparna said.

I was slightly taken aback by hearing the word temporary, I couldn't process why she used that word.

" Thank god, our family is getting enough trouble from one khatri already, we don't need another one. Is your sister doing okay? I heard that she came into this family with no gold!" Anjali said with a sly smile.

Aparna smirked at her and gave her a death glare.

" Yeah, she is fine. So where are you working, oops sorry, I heard that you are that jobless baggage that got engaged to this guy with nothing but a sack of gold jewels , it's such a pity that you need so much gold to explain your value. " Aparna gave back a savage reply.

If Anjali was at level 10 , Aparna was at level infinity. I had never seen this evil side of Aparna.

Anjali looked at me with red face and I could clearly see that her jaw was broken by the invisible punch from Aparna.

Anjali was staring at me to reply back to Aparna. While Aparna was challenging me to open my mouth to speak anything. Aparna was ready to throw hands at me if I do anything now.

For a moment I felt like, I was cursed in my previous life to be stuck between these two devils in disguise.

" How rude! " Anjali finally spoke back.

" Yes, I could have gone worse, but you ain't gonna survive that! " Aparna said back with a evil grin.

" Shiva, are you really letting her do this to me? " Anjali asked me.

I shook my head with no idea on how to stop this.

" By the way, you should be careful Anjali. You know, the boys in this house have a knack for falling for the girls in my house. You never know what will happen! " Aparna said and walked out of the shed.

Anjali was totally shocked and out of words.

" I'll walk back to my pg, thanks for the ride! "Aparna shouted at me before waving to me.

Thanks for fueling the fire.

" Let's clear this right now! " Anjali shouted at me.

" What? " I asked her.

" About what she said! How dare she! " Anjali said gritting her teeth.

" You provoked her! " I said honestly.

" So, you take her side? Who am I then? " Anjali asked.

" Don't you still know the answer? " I asked her.

" Ha, I get it. I am not going to let this slide. I am going to inform your parents. Do you even remember that we got engaged? " She asked me.

I walked back to my bike and started it. I sat on the seat and looked at Anjali.

" Stop right there! " Anjali shouted at me.

I wore my helmet and drove out of the street.

The ride to my house, was peaceful after a very long time.

I walked inside my house and found my parents watching the TV in the living room.

I slowly walked to them.

Amma and Appa looked at me confused.

" I have, I mean, my firm, we have got our first project worth one crore. I will clear off all my loans by next month. I will buy a car soon. " I said to them.

Appa turned off the TV and walked to me.

" Great news! " He said smiling. For the first time in years, I was seeing his genuine smile.

" Thank God, I am telling you, it's all because of the luck from Anjali! The minute you got engaged to her, your life is becoming perfect. " Amma said.

I just laughed off her comment. But I really knew who was responsible for my success.

" Shiva, it was never was thought to force you to work in my shop. I was nervous seeing the unstable income from your firm. If you are stable, I have no other worries. " Appa said and patted my shoulder.

" Let me call your uncle and tell this good news. " Amma said and walked to her bedroom.

I walked upstairs to my room and fell on my bed with a stupid smile plastered on my face.

After I changed into my night dress, I took my phone and called my brother.

" Shiva, What happened? " Rajiv asked in his sleepy voice.

" Thanks, Thank you for helping me at the right time! I have finally got my breakthrough! " I said to him with small tears in my eyes.

" Oh, wow, I knew that this would happen. I didn't know this would happen this soon. Miracle as she said. " Rajiv said.

" Who said? " I asked confused.

" One really good fortune teller! " Rajiv said laughing.

" Thanks again, I ll pay you back soon. " I said.

" It's okay, in fact I am planning to leave about 10 percent of shares in your firm. It does seem like a good investment. If the fortune teller was right, I would get good profits " Rajiv said.

" You cunning brat,you did all that for profit. But still I am thankful.Go sleep! " I said to him.

" Yeah! Talk to you later! " Rajiv said and cut the call.

I rolled over my bed, I changed my blankets but I couldn't sleep.

I picked up my phone again and I randomly called someone. The number that got picked was Aparna.

" Hello " She asked tensed.

" Hello " I said in my sleepy voice.

" Is everything okay? " She asked in a raspy tone.

" Were you sleeping? " I asked her.

" No, I was playing dead. " She said.

" Oops, are you still angry with Anjali issue? " I asked her.

" Why would I be? " She asked laughing.

" Thank god! " I said.

" What did your parents say? Did your Amma still force you to work in that shop? " She asked me.

And that's when I remembered that she knew everything about my family , I nearly forgot that she was a part of my family.

" Actually, they both were really happy, even I was surprised! " I said laughing.

" Wow, I wish I was there to see their reaction " She said.

" You know what, let's do this, even before I met you, you know, when I blabbered everything to you thinking that you were my sister in law, I had that freedom to talk to you. I wish I could at least have that relationship with you. " I said.

Aparna remained silent.

" I know, that this is insane to ask from you. But for the past few weeks, I really missed our conversations. Even after I get married, I want you to be a good friend. You are not temporary. " I said rolling to the other side of my bed.

" Wait, wait. What do you think of me? " She asked, with a sudden change in her tone.

" You know my situation. I tried very hard to explain to you. I sometimes just don't understand what's going on inside your mind! You were seeing everything, but still you decided to come here! But why do I end up feeling guilty? " I said.

" I am sorry Shiva, I really thought that this wouldn't happen. We both are broken glass, whatever we do, we end up breaking more. " She said sobbing.

I remained silent, not being able to gauge her thoughts.

" Listen, we both are not saints, let's accept that we both are ready to do anything even if it's a sin. That one day, still hasn't ended for us" I said.

Aparna didn't reply to my words.

" I know how much you value your self respect. I know that I am making it difficult for you. Let's not behave like a couple who decided to patch up after a huge fight. Let's stop this illusion of second choice when I don't have one! " I said frustrated.

" I would never be a second choice to anyone. If I need to compete with someone else for your love, I would gladly make it easier for you by taking myself out of the equation. But why am I here, ready to be your backup bride ? " She spilled out her words in a rage.

" I am asking the same! Why! Why are you doing this? " I asked.

" Because I still love you! I never stopped you idiot! " She nearly shouted at me.

I gulped hard hearing her words. For the first time ever, I felt a new fear, a scary tingling sensation in my spine, because I didn't know how I was going to take responsibility for everything I did.

( Hello my lovely readers!