Page 29 of Substitute Bride

“Look who’s talking! The one who loves all the delicious food in the world so much that she could eat it all without stopping until it’s finished.”

“Of course! I’m a die-hard foodie, and I have no problem admitting it. Is there an issue? If I love food, then I do.”

“I passed this trait on to you, and yet you’re serving me this bland soup.”

Jhankar glares at Raghunath, who briefly comments, prompting Chitrali to laugh even more. Vikrant, quietly observing them, chuckles softly at her expression. Chitrali notices him and softly says,

“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 him water 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 are completely 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 with their mafia leader’s decisiveness and accuracy.

As Viren starts to depart, he speaks to Vikrant:

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

Vikrant begins to look at him, while Ravindra, who had been sitting quietly, also starts to look at Viren. His eyes are fixed on his son, so Ravindra speaks first:

"Sonakshi likes another boy. Did she tell you this?"

"Look, Ravindra..."

"Yes or no?"

“This boy used to work in my office. They met there and liked each other. She told me. The boy even came and met me… On the same day, I wanted to kill him, but Sonakshi made me promise that she would never meet him again. It was clear from the beginning that Sonakshi would be Vikrant’s bride.

This is a question about my daughter's life.”

“Is it really a question of your daughter’s life? Or was it more important to you that your son-in-law hold a high position in the mafia? You forced her to marry me. In the end, when she got a chance to escape, she ran away with him because she didn’t love me and wasn’t happy with this marriage.”

Vikrant asks him this with anger, causing Viren to look at him in shock and say,

“Love happens after marriage. And the most important thing I know is that you are perfect for her. Look, this is all useless talk. If you don’t interfere, I can bring Sonakshi to your feet today.

But I respect you a lot. That’s why I’m telling you she’s no longer worthy of you.

I’m still telling you, my younger daughter is very good… ”

On hearing this, Vikrant immediately raises his blood-soaked hand in front of him, and Viren falls silent.

Vikrant slowly moves his finger from left to right without saying a word, staring into his eyes, completely forbidding him from uttering another word.

The warning is so intense that Viren is genuinely unable to speak.

Vikrant turns and leaves, followed by Ravindra.

Viren takes a deep breath and looks toward the door.

Gazing at the blood left behind, he remarks:

“I’ve understood that I cannot get what I want, but I won’t spare the family of the man for whom all this happened, especially the girl you married.

Today, you broke this man into pieces. I will cut that girl into many more pieces, and I’ll do it while she’s alive, watching death come closer with every moment. ”

Vikrant is completely soaked in blood and, as per his habit, will first go to his room and take a bath because he doesn’t like to use any other washroom.

So he quickly heads toward his room. Without any delay, as soon as he opens the door, Jhankar is standing in front of him.

She turns around and looks at Vikrant. Seeing him covered in blood, she screams:

“Ahhhh…”