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“Today I’ve bought cooked food from home. You should eat with us.”

Vikrant looks at her, and then Jhankar also turns to her mother and says,

“He won’t be able to eat your food unless he has a whole bottle of honey on the side. He likes bland continental food—with certain variations specifically tailored to him.”

Vikrant gazes at Jhankar, who then turns her attention back to feeding soup to her father while still silently glaring at him. He clearly notices that she’s observed his food preferences, but he replies to Chitrali,

“I’d definitely like to eat your food. I have no problem with any cuisine.”

Chitrali smiles at Jhankar, who finishes her task and starts serving food for the three of them. Vikrant sees clearly that Chitrali has brought rice with lentils, roti, and spicy mixed vegetables—and he begins feeling a bit uncomfortable because he never eats such items. But he has already accepted, so now he can’t back out. Jhankar goes to wash her hands while Chitrali serves Vikrant and smiles.

“Take this, son.”

Vikrant suddenly looks at her. Chitrali realizes the impact of her words and starts to speak, but Vikrant interrupts by holding the plate and smiling lightly. He looks carefully at the food but says nothing. Chitrali tells him gently,

“If you don’t want to eat this food, it’s okay—I don’t mind. This is Jhankar's favorite food, so I prepared it and brought it for everyone. Don’t trouble yourself. I only asked.”

“No, nothing like that. I’ve eaten Indian food for a long time. At home, everyone eats Indian food. Continental is made separately for me. I was just looking at the food.”

Jhankar quickly comes in, sits with her plate, mixes the lentils into the rice, and gulps a spoonful down eagerly. She immediately tells Chitrali,

“Ummmm... Wow! Raghunath’s queen, what a dish you’ve made! Muah! I love it.”

Vikrant watches Jhankar. Her family has become more comfortable with him, and that’s made him more at ease too. He finds her way of eating rice quite unappealing, but he doesn’t say anything—it’s her choice. He takes a small spoonful of rice with lentils and eats it. To his surprise, it tastes delicious. He breaks a piece of bread and folds it properly around the mixed vegetables—loaded with spices. He takes a tiny bite, which is very spicy but tolerable in small quantities.

Jhankar picks up a pakora and, feeling completely satisfied with the taste, gestures to her mom by forming a big circle with her index finger and thumb. Vikrant watches her enjoying her food. He tries it, but the next moment he starts coughing.

“What happened?”

Jhankar shouts, looking at him. As she sees the pakora in his hand, she yells,

“He ate the green chili!”

Vikrant continues coughing. Chitrali immediately pours a glass of water and gives it to him, gently caressing his head. He begins sweating profusely—his body reacting strongly to the chili, since he never eats such spicy food. Chitrali alternates between patting his back and massaging his head while giving himwater slowly to prevent any further discomfort. Seeing Vikrant’s condition, Raghunath and Jhankar burst into laughter. While laughing, Jhankar starts searching her bag, catching Vikrant’s attention. She quickly pulls out a chocolate bar, hands it to him, and says,

“Eat this—it’ll give you relief. Mom didn’t know you couldn’t handle such spice. Leave these; if you want something else, I’ll serve you food from home.”

Vikrant shakes his head in refusal but starts eating the chocolate. Raghunath and Chitrali exchange glances and turn to look at Vikrant and Jhankar, who are silently communicating through gestures. After a while, Vikrant begins to feel better and resumes eating slowly, avoiding the chili, of course. The sight brings a soft smile to Chitrali’s face. After the meal, Chitrali leaves since Jhankar will be staying tonight. Jhankar sees her father sleeping deeply under the effect of medicine and knows he won’t wake easily. She glances at Vikrant and says softly,

“You don’t need to stay. You should leave. Anyway, you didn’t go to the office even for a little while today. You can go tomorrow. Papa’s condition is much better. I spoke to the doctor, and he said, "If his condition keeps improving, he’ll be discharged this Sunday.”

Vikrant looks at her, then at his watch, and silently turns and leaves. As he walks away, Jhankar looks at her father and whispers,

“I wish I could tell you that you’re going to become a grandfather. You would be so happy.”

~~~~

Vikrant is sitting very quietly. Ravindra is sitting next to him, reading all the files very carefully. A man, whose hands arecompletely broken, is kneeling in front of Ravindra. Apart from Viren Chandel, all the well-known people of the mafia are present there. One of them speaks to Vikrant:

“We have no idea how much information he might have given to the police or what we're going to do with him now. This man has been among us for eight months, and we didn't even realize that he was a policeman.”

Vikrant abruptly glances at the man kneeling in front of him, gets up, opens his jacket, and begins walking towards him. A man comes and stands in front of him, holding a sword in both hands. Vikrant takes the sword and, without any delay, attacks the man. Everyone watches, holding their breath, because everything happens so quickly that no one has a chance to think or understand what is going on. They start looking at the man sitting in front of Vikrant, but suddenly his head falls backwards. Then one of his hands gets separated from the body and falls to the left, and the torso collapses forward, breaking into pieces. The man’s body initially falls backwards before fragmenting and falling forwards. After witnessing this, Viren smiles, claps, and addresses Vikrant:

“This quality of yours makes you worthy of praise. Right now, we big mafias are sitting here, and even we got scared after seeing what you did. So just imagine the police department after seeing his body parts. This man was a major informant for the police and was leaking all our information to them. Now that you’ve killed him, the police department will be scared for years.”

Vikrant, soaked in blood, silently wipes his hands with his handkerchief while his men collect the body parts and take them away. Vikrant gives the order for everyone to leave, and they all begin to depart with smiles on their faces, pleased withtheir mafia leader’s decisiveness and accuracy. As Viren starts to depart, he speaks to Vikrant:

“Vikrant, why are you saving Sonakshi and Vyom?”