Chapter 5 – Entrapment

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Adni FF

Adni FF, IPK3, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, Entrapment, Advay Singh Raizada, Chandini Yash Narayan Vashisht.

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Advay stood before the mirror in the bedroom next to Chandini”s, buttoning his waistcoat. 

It had been his study in his previous life. Both the rooms had belonged to him, hence why both the rooms shared a common terrace. It was a smaller room as compared to Chandini”s, with a double bed that rested against the common wall, with the room next door. 

He was practically sleeping on the other side from Chandini. 

Smirking, he glanced around. A modest dresser with a full-length mirror adorned the wall opposite to his bed. 

He liked the décor, it was a simply white room with hints of blue. It was airy and warm, but most importantly it opened out on the terrace, with an incredible view of the temple to one side, the courtyard with the banyan tree to the other, and the Ganges gushing in the distance.

And it had his girl just on the other side of the wall from him.

_

It was almost eleven in the morning as he walked out on the terrace sipping on his coffee, it was a busy day… he had quite a few things to work upon, before his team joined him later in the day. 

Chandini had looked lost all morning. 

Maybe it was because this PP was meant to be coming today. He shook his head. 

“Haan Murli,” He answered the phone. 

“What?… Where? …Are you sure…. Okay I”ll be there in ten minutes…. Just wait and watch her till I reach.” Advay barked as he sprinted down the stairs and towards his car. 

“Chandini…… You stupid girl,” He cursed under his breath as he put his foot down on the pedal and drove towards the market at a dangerous speed. 

Chandini cowered to herself, clutching a bag in her hand as she walked from shop to shop trying to find a good price for what she had in her possession. It was a hot day and the pawn shopkeepers were the most vulgar, indecent men she had ever met. 

Their comments were laced with sleazy suggestions, and Chandini didn’t grasp what they were hinting at. She wanted a good price, but the shops were not willing to give her the price she was looking for. 

She got out of the last shop and decided to make her way home, when three burly looking men approached her. 

“Arey madamji, come into my shop. I will give you as much money as you need.”

The hulk tried to grab her hand. Chandini took a step back trying to get away from him, fear seething from her eyes, only for him and his two men to move closer to her. 

“Arey stop playing up. Just come with me… I”ll offer you a price that you won’t be able to resist.” He leaned to grab her hand again…

 “Nahi…Stop. Don”t tou……,”A slap landed across the goon”s face even before she had shrieked. 

“Don’t you dare touch her?” Advay hissed as he wedged himself between the man and Chandini, shielding her from everyone. The burly, tall man now looked puny in comparison to Advay. 

“Tu kaun hai bey?” 

Another powerful slap landed across the goon”s face. 

“I am her husband……Get lost, or I’ll hack you to death,” He thundered. Chandini noticed how the goon and his men staggered back with their head held low, unable to hold Advay”s deadly gaze. 

“Chalo,” He hissed grabbing her hand, dragging her towards his car.

He put his foot to the pedal as the car screeched, before roaring to life and sprinting off, away from the pawn brokers. 

Chandini twisted her dupatta in silence, watching him fuming to himself from the corner of the eye. He had not said a word since they had hit the road. She could tell, he was mad to the point, that he could hurt her. 

He finally hit his foot on the brakes and the vehicle screeched to a halt on a lonely street with the Ganges flowing on one side. 

“Are you out of your mind?” He yelled, rage replacing the anger that flooded his eyes, “What on earth were you doing at the pawn shops?” Do you realise what kind of a place that is? Are you sure you are from Allahabad?”

“Kya hua,” She whispered innocently, “I just needed to sell something.”

“It’s right next to the red-light area …Dammit,” He thundered, grabbing her arm, something darker than rage taking over his eyes. “What would I have done if something had happened to you?” 

 “I am sorry… I didn’t”t know,” She muttered under her breath, squirming in his hold, as tears glistened in her eyes, like diamonds against the sun that shone across her face. 

Advay closed his eyes and loosed his grip, the moment he realised he was hurting her. 

“Are you okay?” He asked calming himself. 

She nodded, finally allowing her tears to roll down her cheeks. 

“Don’t cry,” He brushed his thumb against her cheek. 

“I didn’t know,” She whispered with her head held low. 

He let out a long sigh.

“Gol gappa kahaogi,” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gazed at her. 

“Ji?”

“Gol gappa khaogi?”

She nodded wiping away her tears with the edge of her dupatta, and waited for Advay to start his car and drive them towards the Ganga Ghat. 

“Here,” He handed a plate of Gol Gappas as they sat side by side on the Ganga ghat. 

“So, what were you trying to sell and why?” 

She put a gol gappa in her mouth and chose to remain silent. 

“Chandini….  tell me.” His voice was solemn. “Maybe I can help you.”

“It’s the Maha pooja tomorrow,” She finally found her voice, “As the Mahants we need to give Dakshina to the brahmins who attend the pooja. But …” Her voice cracked as she choked on her tears at her inability to help her mother. 

“But..” He nudged her along. 

“We don’t have the money. So, I thought I could sell my bangles and raise the cash.”

“Why didn’t your Maa do it herself, or get your uncles to go to the shop.” Advay asked as anger coursed through his veins, the goon had been inches away from grabbing Chandini”s hand. 

“Maa doesn’t know… these bangles don’t belong to her,” She choked on her tears again, “They belong to my mother… they are all I have of hers.”

“Why didn’t you ask me? I would have given you the money.”

“Nahi.” She shrieked, but looked away when he raised his brow. “I…mean…I …I can’t take money from you and besides why would you give me money for no reason.”

“How much do you need?” 

She remained silent and continued eating the gol gappas on her plate. 

“Okay.” He let out a sigh, “I”ll buy the bangles from you. How much do you need?” 

Choking on the hot spiced snack, she shot her wide eyes at him.

“How much?”

“You…you want to buy them?” This time she frowned. “What are you going to do with a pair of bangles?” 

“Well..” He shrugged. “I can give them to my wife….I am going to marry someday.” 

Flashing her hundred-watt smile, Chandini wiped her tears, and dug her hand in her bag. “Of course.” She smiled as she handed him the velvet jewellery box. “I’ll pray that you may find the most beautiful bride ever…..the girl of your dreams.”

“The girl of my dreams?” he rasped, while his gaze roamed over her. 

“Of course.” Lost to her moment of relief, she opened the box and held the bangles in her hand. “Mark my words, you will have the woman of your dreams.”

“I know I will.” He kept his gaze on her.

As he held his hand out, she placed the delicate bangles into the palm of his hand and gazed at it with longing, one last time. 

“I am not sure how much, we might need two or three lakhs for the dakshina,” she choked. “The pawn shops were willing to one and half lakhs, but I am sure they are worth at least two lakhs.” 

 “Murli will bring you the money later.” He leaned closer to wipe the single tear that slipped down her delicate face.

“Thanks.”

He glanced at the pretty bangles and smiled.“I must say they are beautiful.”

“They belong to my mother,” she choked again. “My…my mother….not my Maa.”

“Hmm.” The tears glistening in her eyes, clutched his heart again, forcing tears to his eyes. And he couldn’t help think of his little eight-year-old Chandu, and how her tears had always bothered him. 

Despite whatever she’d done, he was surprised at how strong his need to see her smile was. She was his Chandu after all. The only girl he’d loved all his life….although anger was all he had for her now.

Or perhaps not.

In a bid to make her smile, he pushed the bangle around his fingers, and frowned. “They are so tiny, Chandini. You’ve tricked me into buying something for dolls….not grown ups?”

As he struggled to fit less then three fingers into them, she burst into a laugh, and he sighed. 

As he continued watching her laugh in awe, she chuckled. “They are meant for women. Not for you fit your gigantic hands.” 

“Are you sure….They are so tiny.” He mused with the bangles, “Do they fit you?” 

She nodded 

“I don’t believe you.”

“They do.” She chuckled.

“Let see.” He placed it on the palm of her hand. 

“See,” Once she slipped the bangle around her wrist, she rotated her hand, so the bangle dance around her wrists.

Gazing at her with warmth, Advay reached for the other hand, and slowly slipped the other bangle too, and admired at how the bangles complimented the gold of her skin.

His eyes pricked at the memory of similar bangles around his mother’s hand. When he brushed the insides of her wrists with his thumb, Chandini pulled her hand out of his and looked away.

Advay pulled out his phone, and smiled. “One last time with these bangles”

Her eyes instantly lit up, and he sighed at how pretty she was. And at how much he had missed her in over sixteen years.

And the moment she posed with her hands framing her face and smiled, Advay looked away and blinked his tears.

He was transported in time. To when he was a teenager, and when she was a child. 

How many times he had begged his mother for money, so he could buy her bangles?

He was back in time….to how things used to be, only that things could never be the same.

As she clinked the bangles and laughed, he clicked a few more pictures other.

 “I”ll forward you the picture,” he murmured as he clicked a few shots of her happy face, glowing in the afternoon Sun. 

But the moment she reached for the bangles and began removing it, he held her hand. 

“Keep it on,” he whispered “Give it to me once we reach home.”

And sighed when she held her hand to her heart and smiled with longing.

“Oh, Chandini.” As he waited for her to get up to her feet, he smiled. “What’s your phone number?” 

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Later that afternoon, Chandini sat on her bed with a book, admiring the pictures Advay had forwarded her, when there was a soft knock at her door. 

As she glanced up, she smiled to see it was Murli with a packet in his hands. 

“Bha…Didi, Advay Bhaiyya asked me to give this to you.” He handed her the packet. “It’s three lakhs.”

“How much?” She gasped. “He said he’d give two lakhs.” 

“I am not sure Didi,” Murli shrugged. “This is how much he asked me to give you.”

And as she sat dumfounded, with her gaze locked on the packet in her hand, he strode out of the room.

After several minutes, Chandini finally reached for her phone, and typed. “Thanks.”

“What for?” He replied in a flash. 

“Murli gave me the money…. But…”

“But …?”

“It’s way more than the value of those bangles.”

“Those bangles are priceless.” She smiled at his reply. They were priceless. They had belonged to her mother after all. 

“Do think about me when you gift them to your wife?” She was surprised at that unfamiliar dark pang she felt in her belly at the thought of him marrying the girl of his dreams. Yet, couldn’t help lean back and frown at what kind of girl did a man like him dreamt of? 

Modern perhaps, she thought, tall, slim, beautiful, and ruefully smiled at her simple blue cotton saree, and her awkward self.

When her phone didn’t buzz, she turned to her side, and smiled at how this stranger had stormed into her life, somehow filling the hole that Dev had left behind in her heart.

She had only just been eight then. But Dev and her had been so close, and not having him anymore in her life hadn’t just been like a hole, but like a void that could never be fulfilled by anyone.

Until now.

Her hand clicked her phone again, and she pouted to see he still hadn’t replied. She had hoped for their conversation to continue. He was intriguing, intelligent, and he evoked an array of emotions within her she had never felt before.

No man had left her perplexed like this. Never. 

Her phone buzzed, and she sat up with a jolt. 

But her heart collapsed, her mouth dried, her body went numb and tingly, and her breath hitched at his reply.

“YOU ARE MY WIFE.”

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Author’s note

This is loosely based on a scene from the show. The makers made a mess of the one in the show. This one is my take , of him buying it, but for her. 

This is also the first time he clicks a picture of hers. Her first picture he has as an adult, given the only one he has is the one in his locket. 

It is also a great way to take her number, which he does. HA! 

The chapter has a lot of heart to it, it also gives us an indication of how Advay adores her despite his anger. 

Tell me  what you thought of this chapters.

Love Chitra

PS: Typos please forgive. I will go back and re-edit these early chapters once I find a minute.