IPKKND FF: JALEBI by Jalebi Jane Thread 1: EPISODE 001-042 - Page 45

Arnav was trying to nurse his bruised heart by instructing Aman to do his dirty work for him of firing khushi but had it back fired fabulously with the shocking news of khushi's impending marriage. More than Aman, he was trying to reassure himself that the idea of courting and marrying khushi was an overkill. It was a blow for his ego that after kissing him, khushi still went ahead to say yes to another man for marriage.

Oh, now that Shyam has removed his mask, I expect Arnav to don his soon! How he is confused and how uncomfortable he must be in such a knowledge. Or, for better words, the lack of them. Everything seems to be as it should whenever Shyam is there.

I love your writing...Makes me want to watch IPKKND all over again. But then I am going to be disappointed all over again...

wonder what will happen next.. loved the update.

Originally posted by: devsum

I love your writing...Makes me want to watch IPKKND all over again. But then I am going to be disappointed all over again...

I've missed your writing! Read all of Jalebi over again today, it's one of my favorite stories! Can't wait to read more :)

JALEBI by Jalebi Jane (EPISODE 020)

THE GUPTA GIRLS RETREATED TO THEIR BEDROOM with tumblers of haldi milk and sinking hearts. Lucky thing that Payal had kept those blue tablets which their Lucknow doctor had pressed into her hand the evening Abhishek abandoned her. They had a strong sedative effect and Khushi had crushed two into the milk they forced down Buaji's throat.

Perhaps they ought to have given her one. But they needed to silence her so they could think sensibly and plan rationally. For from the moment Shyam left the house, Buaji had been impossible to keep still. Weeping, wailing, beating her chest---the girls afraid for her, but even more afraid that the neighbours would come knocking.

At one point, Buaji had grabbed a kitchen knife threatening to end herself. And then decided against it, she determined to end Shyam instead. She would have run out of the house to the garden room wielding the knife like a machete had Khushi not pointed out to her that Shyam had not returned to his room. He had headed off in the opposite direction, into town.

But now Buaji was finally in bed, snoring. Not delicately, Nandekishore-Knows.

Her last words had been, "it's all Khushi's fault. If she had only not refused Shyam then none of this would be happening. It's not too late. Tell her, Payal! Oh, make that obstinate girl understand!"

"No!" Payal had immediately remonstrated. "You brought this all on yourself, Buaji. Because of your greed. Your avarice. One more word about my sister and she and I will return to Lucknow and leave you to sort out your own mess---"

Alas, Buaji was asleep before half of this was heard.

"Can you believe that he's not even a lawyer?" Khushi shook her head disbelievingly, settling against the headboard to sip from the tumbler.

"What a trickster!"

"Did you see his face?! It was the face of a different man."

"A man without heart or conscience."

"A designing, cold-blooded being."

"Remember all those times when he spoke of Buaji as a second mother---!"

"Where was that love when he stole her home?"

"And in this home we have lived with him! Sat at the same table!"

"Oh! He is black at heart; hollow and black!"*

And thus they examined and evaluated, speaking on top of each other, recalling moments of their history with the man they knew as Shyam Jha. Every incident was looked at again with now clear eyes. Every action reviewed. Every word doubted.

At one point, Payal gasped and turned to Khushi with horror. And something akin to pity! She began to speak but silenced herself.

"Kya?!" Khushi asked.

And only when Khushi pressed her again, did Payal reveal her thoughts. "Oh, Khushi---I cannot bear the idea that you kissed him!"

Khushi's counter-gasp and exclamation was so loud, it might have undone the effects of both blue tablets. "No-no-no-no! I did not kiss him!"

"But you said---"

"---I misunderstood and then you misunderstood! It was Mr Raizada that I kissed!"

"You kissed Arnav Singh Raizada?" Payal gulped, her eyes expressing even more astonishment.

Khushi hurriedly said that it had been an accident. Which must have left Payal imagining that her ever-clumsy sister had been coming around the corner, tripped over a box, and somehow fallen on Mr Raizada's face.

This theory could not be substantiated because Khushi diverted Payal---and fortunately-unfortunately there was a rather significant diversion available. "Leave that, Jiji---what in Devi Maiyya's name do we do with this Shyam-fiend?" Khushi asked, placing her tumbler on the side table, and rising to her knees.

"There's only one thing to be done," sighed Payal, with resignation. "We must go to the police and tell them everything."

"No," protested Khushi, "for they will want to know why Buaji would sign the house over to him. They'll discover that she wanted to protect it from confiscation, which will lead to an investigation!" She shook her head to stress that that was not the answer.

"Then let there be an investigation. Buaji must pay for her sins. As we all must," was Payal's proclamation, as she flicked away a tear which rolled down her cheek.

Khushi did not see the tear. She had slipped off the bed and gone to the window to latch it and draw the curtains. She then went to the armoire and removed from it her nightsuit. Her movements were mechanical yet her mind was active.

Even creative.

Clutching the suit to her chest, she suddenly whirled towards her sister, and said, "but what of his sins! If he reports Buaji's fraudulent conduct, then we have no reason to remain quiet about his dealings. You heard him. He boasted of his power. That he knew how to make the weaknesses of others profitable to himself."

Payal sat up. "True! He's not new to this game. He cannot risk being investigated either. For that will reveal his other crimes---"

"---Numerous, no doubt! There are probably a dozen Buajis in his past," Khushi cried, running to catch Payal's hands.

Life once again flowed in their veins as they clutched to this fresh hope.

"If only we had some evidence of one of past misdemeanours. Something of equal worth to what he has on Buaji," Payal said.

The words were barely out of her mouth before Khushi tossed the nightsuit aside and ran out of the bedroom. Payal followed her and found her in Buaji's room, with her head deep in the cupboard. She saw that Khushi was rummaging through the box where Buaji hid all important things.

Payal whispered, (though Buaji was entirely dead to the world) "what are you looking---?"

Khushi gave a triumphant cry and emerged from the cupboard. She had in her hand the pouch where the extra keys were kept.

Payal understood immediately.

Khushi intended to look for evidence in Shyam's room. Something to counteract his threat against Buaji!

They soon found the second key which belonged t---o the garden room, and grabbing a torch, they ran out of the kitchen, through the back door, dodging the washing lines---Khushi trained the torchlight on the lock and Payal inserted the key---!

And it---it did not work!

She removed it and tried again. Tried it the other way! It refused to turn. Aagh!

Khushi impatiently grabbed the key out of Payal's fingers and tried it herself. The key would not work. It was the wrong key.

"That snake! He's gone and changed the lock," Payal despaired, falling against the door with disappointment.

But Khushi glowed with excitement. "That proves he has something inside which he's desperate to protect. Let's break this door!"

"Let's try that window first---!" Payal pointed.

Scrambling around, they managed to make a tottery ladder of crates and boxes. And Khushi, being the more athletic, more plucky of the two, climbed through the window.

Her descent on the other side was cushioned, for she landed on Shyam's bed. (I promise you, Sisters, that this will be the first-last-only time I ever put Our Heroine in Shyam's bed!) But the impact was such that she did not remain on the bed, but rolled off it to land on the floor.

But this too was a DMM. A Devi-Maiyya-Miracle. Because had she not found herself prostate on the floor, she would not have noticed that taped to one of the blades of the ceiling fan was an envelope.

*Adapted from Jane Austen's -Persuasion-.

by Jalebi Jane

JALEBI by Jalebi Jane (EPISODE 021)

IT HAD BECOME NECESSARY NOW FOR HIM to conquer this woman. If for no other reason than to save himself from being the object of her scorn. He had entered a game this afternoon; he had allowed her to believe that she had captured his heart; if he could not make her completely his---if he could not steal her from this other man---then she would move through the rest of her life with the triumphant belief that she had made Arnav Singh Raizada her subject without becoming subjugated herself.

To what lengths, Sisters, would this man be driven by suppressed desire?*

What narratives would he spin, what explicantia would he furnish---when all he needed to do was admit this one thing: I want Khushi Kumari Gupta.

The world would have understood him. We would have understood him. Aman would have understood him too. Indeed, Aman, who supported his employer's every wish, would especially support this, for he understood what it was to be bewitched.

But Arnav would admit nothing.

Instead he barked out instructions ASR-style: "Call the airfield. Delay the jet. Find a jeweller. I've not yet seen a ring on her finger, but she will wear mine before I depart for Dubai tonight."

Aman could not pretend to misunderstand his serious intentions. He exclaimed, "you cannot propose to her, Sir! It's too great a risk! What if she breaks off her engagement and accepts your proposal believing it to be sincere?"

But Arnav was already heading towards the winding staircase, which led from the rooftop directly to his bedroom suite below. "That's the whole intention," Arnav replied, as he descended the stairs, taking two-three at a time.

The energy, the fire, which had deserted him this afternoon for a few hours now once again pulsed through his veins.

"Just minutes ago you declared you would not pursue this false courtship," said Aman, as he followed Arnav into the bedroom without waiting for an invitation. "That you wanted me to dismiss her, that you wanted her away from your sight---yet, the moment you learn that she is poised to marry another, you resurrect your plan. Are you jealous?"

"f**k off, Aman!"

"Then why interfere? Let her be. Let her marry the man she has chosen."

Arnav removed a jacket from a hanger, and as he slipped it on, he met Aman's eyes in the mirror. "I'll let Miss Gupta be," Arnav said, "once I'm done teaching her a few life lessons."

"We're back to that!"

"Yes," Arnav replied, "I had doubts earlier, but after what you have told me about this other man in her life, I know exactly how to proceed. To strike where the impact will be the greatest. She will remember me for the rest of her life."

"So to kiss one man while engaged to another carries the penalty of a life sentence, does it?" Only Aman could speak in this way to Arnav and live to continue.

Arnav turned to fac---e Aman, "whether it becomes a life sentence or not, will depend upon her. I simply intend to show her that her high principles are a sham. That she is a hypocrite. She lectures on my worship of commerce, yet she is as mercenary as I am."

"Mercenary? How so? Fickle, perhaps. But mercenary?"

"There is only one reason why she kissed me. Aman. Because I'm a better catch than the man she is already engaged to."

"So what?" Aman shrugged. "From what I gather, her aunt is the driving force behind this alliance. If it is an arranged marriage, why should she not choose the candidate who can offer her the best life?" Here Aman's voice escalated as his argument gathered strength. "Do not forget, Sir, she did not pursue you. You offered yourself. And now you intend to judge her if she makes a pragmatic choice."

"I respect all those who choose money over sentiment, including Miss Gupta," Arnav stated, selecting a tie from the drawer. "But I want her to openly acknowledge that that is what she is choosing. I want her to know that her smug superiority is a veneer. She is as motivated by material concerns as the rest of us. She is nothing special. Nothing extraordinary."

Aman threw his hands up in the air.

When Arnav Singh Raizada decided how things were to be, nothing could move him. Not even the good advice of a most-loyal, most-intelligent employee. "And what do you intend to do once she accepts your ring?" he asked Arnav. "An engagement of a few weeks? Long enough to ensure that her fiance has left the maidan before you inform her that this was all a game. An education you deemed necessary for her to receive."

Arnav broke eye contact. He reached for his wristwatch and remained silent as he fastened it. When he lifted his eyes again, Aman saw they held something new.

He felt a creeping suspicion. He pressed, "Have you returned to your original plan? Do you intend to marry her before you break it off?"

"No," replied Arnav, "to marry her would be to give her what she wants. She will receive nothing from me except a painful education. The only wedding in Miss Gupta's future will be to her aunt's lodger. But before that blessed event occurs, I will have made her mine. Heart. Mind. Body."

*Adapted from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' -Les Liaisons Dangereuses-

by Jalebi Jane

Really, he is ready to go so far. So basically trying to satisfy his ego and to break hers.
I love how u made Aman speak up his mind and show Arnav his true itentions

asr is so heartless poor kushi amazing update waiting for arshi scenes