Preet ended her phone call and walked into the shed, dropping her phone in shock when she saw a bloodied figure lying sprawled across the hay-covered ground. "Who are you?" she asked, her eyes widening as she got a good look at the man's face. "Rajveer Ji?!"
"Soniyo..." he rasped, barely lifting his head as he blindly reached out to her. "I told you to call me Raj."
'Is this why Tekbir Babu sent me here?' Preet asked herself as she opened her bag which contained bottles of ointment. "Who did this to you?"
Raj snorted, followed by coughing. "A friend," he managed to say, gasping for air.
"Okay, okay, take it easy," she said, grabbing the bottles and some conveniently placed cotton wool. "What kind of friend does this?" She knelt down next to him, shaking her head as she poured some ointment onto cotton wool and then proceeded to dab his wounds.
"A traitor," he simply replied, breaking into more coughs.
"Hold on"-she went to get some water from the corner of the shed-"did this friend beat you up himself?"
"No," he said, before drinking from the glass she placed against his lips. "Some hired goons did."
"How do you know he betrayed you then?" she implored, putting the glass down and picking the cotton wool up again. "You could be misunderstanding him. Did you even talk to him about this?" He stayed silent and looked away. She rolled her eyes.
"I don't need or want to talk to him," he commented in a bitter tone. He turned his gaze back to her. "By the way, what's your name? You didn't tell me the last time, or the time before that."
"What's the point?" she countered, "You can't even be bothered to talk to your friend and understand the situation. If we become friends and then there's a misunderstanding between us, you won't even look my way and then our friendship will be over."
Preet moved to stand up but Raj grabbed her dupatta and stopped her. He sat up and slowly rose to a stand just as she did.
"The traitor did me a favour," he stated. "If he hadn't done this to me, we wouldn't be together right now." She ripped her dupatta away from him.
"Is this friend Manu Shah Ji, by any chance?" She laughed after seeing the shocked expression on his face. "Don't look so shocked. I do some jobs for him sometimes, and I know that you are - or were - planning his sister's wedding. Is that what you two fell out over?"
"Well, kind of."
"Don't worry. He'll pay you for your time. He's a good person. He'd never do something untoward to someone who doesn't deserve it."
"But he did, didn't he?" Raj spoke up, his voice sounding eerily dead. "He killed the Bajwa's eldest son for no reason."
"Well, I wasn't settled here when it happened but-"
"Ahah!" he broke in, limping towards. "That's one thing I know about you now; you weren't born here!"
Preet smiled, before continuing, "but I heard about his friendship with the youngest Bajwa's son. They were really close. I'm sure their friendship was cursed as a result of their family enmity. It's sad, really. He's a good friend. I don't believe for a second that he murdered the Bajwa's son in cold blood."
"Wait, you're just friends, right?" Raj asked, standing up straighter. "If he turns out to be something more, I'll have an even bigger problem with him."
"Hold on, we're not even that close!" Preet exclaimed. "We're definitely just friends!"
"He's a damn fool. If you were my friend-" he reached out and pushed some of her hair out of her face-"I would have taken you by now."
She blushed, pushing him away when he leant in for a kiss. "Not so fast, city boy! You'll go back to Delhi in a few days and where will that leave me?"
"I won't agree to any of you psychos!" Mr Pahuja yelled, eyes darting crazily between Mohini and Jagan.
Manu entered the room, carrying a bottle of kerosene. "Gunjan Didi and Pammi will not burn today. Aman is the root of all problems, right? I'll douse him with kerosene and then light him on fire. Then it'll all be over, right?"
Collective gasps were heard coming from all directions of the room. Amba glared at her son, and even Gunjan looked displeased. Manu ignored them all.
"Where is he today?" he continued, scanning the room. "Is he hiding?" Mr Pahuja looked affronted. "No matter, I'll just send my men after him."
As Manu proceeded to dial a number on his phone, Mr Pahuja turned to Jagan. "What is this, Jagan Babu?" he demanded. "Will you and your nephew continue to do whatever you please? Even we have power, and we're not afraid to use it, but we didn't come here today to lose our son's life!"
"Pammi, do something! Do some drama!" Mohini hissed, prodding her frozen daughter into action. She cleared her throat and raised her voice. "Pammi, do you want to say something?"
Pammi began to cry and turned to Manu who was in the middle of a phone conversation. "Manu, don't do anything to Aman!" Manu raised an eyebrow and told the person on the other end to hold on before silently gesturing for Pammi to continue. She blundered before managing to speak, "I'm ready to back off"-she turned to Gunjan-"go on, Gunjan, live your life and marry Aman."
Gunjan gave Manu a desperately pleading look as Jagan spoke up. "Look, Mr Pahuja. The Lord makes pairing so there's no need to argue. Congratulations, Aman and Gunjan will get married."
"Pammi is talking nonsense," Harjeet interjected, an awkward smile on his face.
"Pammi truly loves Aman!" Mohini proclaimed. "She's backing off because she can't watch the man she loves die! That's the difference between us and the Pawanias! We don't make relations at gunpoint! Their Shah is ready to take Aman's life! That's the value of relations for them."
Manu yawned and then turned to his cousin. "Veer Ji, take Didi home."
"Manu! You can't do this!" Gunjan cried out as Sukhi's eyes darted between his two cousins.
"Veer Ji!" Manu repeated, not even throwing a glance towards his sister. Sukhi finally approached Gunjan and gently led her out of the room despite her protests.
After Gunjan's voice died down and finally disappeared, Manu ordered his men to stand down and then hung up. He turned to the Pahujas. "Aman was never in danger. I didn't even send my men after him."
"Well, would you look at that!" Jagan exclaimed jovially. "It's all settled now. Just tell us when you're bringing the baraat."
"Enough!" Mrs Pahuja screeched. "Aman won't marry Gunjan. No one can love him more than Pammi, and Aman will marry only her if the Bajwas agree. This is my final decision!"
"Of course we agree," Harjeet said before he and Mohini smirked at Jagan and Amba.
"Jagan Babu, I'm going to have to ask you and your family to leave," Mr Pahuja said. Jagan sighed and exchanged an exasperated look with Amba before they headed for the door. He stopped when he reached Manu.
"Great going," he muttered to his nephew, "You should've had Aman captured so we could force his father's hand..."
Amba shook her head at the exchange and walked out. Jagan followed her out of the room as Manu looked on. 'Sorry, Mummy, but I can't be so underhanded. I just can't.'
"Manu!" Mohini's shrill voice pulled Manu out of his thoughts. "Have some sweets."
Manu politely declined. "You don't understand," he told Mohini. "I wanted the Pahujas to reject us." The corners of her lips dropped as her smile almost vanished. "But that doesn't mean I'll let you have them either."
"My life is over," Gunjan complained to Babli who was trying to do her homework. "I don't want to be alive anymore!"
"Didi, what are you talking about?!" Manu demanded as he entered his sister's bedroom. "Do you think it's all a joke? You can't stay stuff like that!"
"What else do you want me to do?!" she snapped, standing up and walking right up to him. "You've ruined my life! You blackmailed Aman into agreeing to marry me!"
He shook his head and began, "Didi, I did no such thing. I didn't even look for him."
"Oh, don't lie!" she retorted. "You got Sukhi to take me away so that you could fix my marriage behind my back. After all, you are Mummy's blind follower."
"Didi, how could you say that? I've always been on your side!"
"Oh really? Then why did you and Rajveer try to make me fall for Aman when you know that I don't want him?!"
"I thought that if you fell for Aman, everyone would be happy," he replied gently.
Gunjan repaid his consideration by yelling, "You can't just force people to fall in love! It doesn't work like that!"
Manu looked embarrassed and started, "I understand, Didi, but-"
She laughed humourlessly, cutting him off. "You don't understand love, and you never will. If you did, you wouldn't have thrown Tanu away like trash!"
His eyes widened at the low blow delivered by his sister. He looked at Babli who appeared to be immersed in her studies before looking back at his sister.
"Well, Didi, I was going to tell you that I called the wedding off and that Aman is marrying Pammi now," he stated calmly, "but I can now see that you neither appreciate nor deserve it."
Gunjan's mouth dropped open in shock and before she could even begin to apologise, her brother said, "Now I'll make sure you marry Aman Jijaji. I promise you, Didi."
"Manu, wait!" she called after him as he left her room. He didn't even turn to look back as he made his way downstairs.
"Marriage is going to suck," Ratan complained to Preet who was sitting on the former's bed with her, a rather bored expression on her face. "I'm going to be stuck with some inexperienced milksop. He's not going to know how to please me. I'm going to have to look for pleasure elsewhere..."
"Didi!" Preet yelled, a scandalised look on her face. "If you're talking about what I think you're talking about then you need to stop! You should remain faithful to your husband."
"Just because you've only ever been with the guy you hope to marry doesn't mean I'm going to-"
"Who? What guy?"
"Tekbir Sangwan, of course," Ratan replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Aren't you with him?"
"What do you mean with?" Preet asked carefully.
"Aren't you servicing him?"
"WHAT?!" Preet exclaimed, her face going red. "Where did you get that idea?"
"Doesn't he pay you?"
"Yes, for working!"
"And your work involves going to bed with him, right?"
"No, it doesn't!"
"But don't you meet up with him in warehouses?" Ratan questioned, sounding genuinely confused. "And you were with him last night. What else do a man and a woman do when they're alone together in a secluded place?"
"Don't you know that I help plan parties and stuff?"
"I do but I thought that was a cover. I thought your main job was sleeping with him. If not, then what were you doing last night?"
Preet's eyes widened as she thought, 'I can't let Didi know that I was with Raj. If she thinks I'm Tekbir Babu's wh**e, what will she think of my relationship with Raj?' She shook her head and cleared her throat before saying, "That's none of your business."
"You don't have to hide it," Ratan chided. "It's great! Fuffar Ji, Papa, and Mummy all think you're working on marrying Tekbir Babu one day." Preet blinked in surprise. "Do you love him?"
"Love?"
"Yeah," Ratan responded in a voice that screamed 'duh'. "Do you think about him all the time? Do you find yourself wishing he were there with you? Does the thought of him bring an instant smile to your face?"
Preet looked as if she was going to think about it when her cousin came out with, "When you're in bed, do you feel like cuddling up to him after you two-"
"Okay, that's enough, Didi!" she cut her off swiftly and firmly. She sighed. "God give me the strength to get through this madwoman's wedding."
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