Page 34 of Substitute Bride

THEIR RESTLESSNESS

Jhankar quietly goes out after having breakfast. Yesterday, despite Vikrant's refusal, she left from there without any guard or driver. When she starts going out of the mansion, the guard stops her immediately.

“Maam, Sir has absolutely forbidden you to go out alone.”

Jhankar turns back, very frustrated, and sees Vikrant standing behind her. Seeing him, she immediately says.

“Now what is this?”

Vikrant sits on his car's bonnet and starts looking at her very comfortably. Jhankar, looking at him, comes and stands close to him, and he just keeps looking at her.

“I have to go to the office, and you know it, and your guards are not letting me go.”

“From today onwards, I will drop you off at the library; if I am busy, then someone else will do it, and someone will also pick you up from there.”

"What is going on in your mind?"

"Nothing is going on; come inside. I have just come from the gym; after having breakfast, I will drop you off; it is not going to take much time."

“Why are you acting like a loving husband?”

“It does not matter how you are feeling; I had told you clearly that day that from now on you will not go anywhere so easily; either you will go with the guards or you will not go at all. I let you go yesterday; that doesn't mean it is allowed every day.”

"What has suddenly happened to you? I was also going before this, and I am comfortable like this; I did not hear anything you said."

"Okay, you try and see, because I too did not hear anything you said; I am going inside."

When Jhankar sees Vikrant leaving, she immediately begins to head towards the mansion's gate, but the guards have locked it, making it impossible to open under any circumstances.

Jhankar starts looking at all of them angrily, but her looks are not relevant to anyone because Vikrant has ordered them not to let her go out; otherwise, she would not know.

Jhankar turns back and looks angrily towards her room, where she clearly sees Vikrant standing at the window, smoking a cigarette.

The smile on his face exacerbates Jhankar's frustration, and she retreats inside, stamping her feet.

As soon as Jhankar enters the room, she notices Ravindra sitting there, reading the newspaper. Upon seeing Jhankar return, Ravindra begins to stare at her. Then Sharda also comes out of her room to go to the garden; both of them look at her angrily and ask her together.

“What happened? You did not go to the office today."

“Your son is not letting me go; he is saying that he will drop me himself.”

Jhankar angrily climbs the stairs and starts going to her room, while Ravindra keeps watching her go from there. Ravindra's gaze shifts to Sharda, who is smiling and observing Jhankar's departure, before he speaks to her.

“What is all this happening here”…

“Nothing, husband and wife cute banters…”

Ravindra's gaze stops at Sharda's smile, which in itself expresses her happiness. He turns his gaze towards the chime that has already entered the room, takes a deep breath, and starts drinking his tea quietly.

~~~~

Jhankar is properly organizing her file and glances at the time on her wristwatch; it's almost 8:00 pm.

With a strange smile, she starts collecting all her notes.

After gathering her belongings, she steps outside and walks toward a lane that is very isolated.

She looks ahead—just like every day, Vikrant is already present in the car.

On seeing him, a slight smile appears on her face, but she mumbles,

“Once he makes a commitment, he won't listen to anyone.”

He is checking something on his mobile, but suddenly he looks at her. She immediately wipes away her smile and, very comfortably, walks over and sits in the car. As soon as she sits down, the driver starts the engine. Vikrant looks at her and says,

“Because of you, Sharda Maa scolds me, saying that you are not able to eat anything in the afternoon. Can’t you make a system that allows you to eat well during the day too?”

"I eat much more at breakfast than you, and at dinner, I eat both lunch and dinner together.

You must have noticed that in all these days.

Now, I cannot waste half an hour just for lunch…

I try to do whatever I can online during that time, because even at night I am unable to complete many things online, so I have to manage everything efficiently. "

“As far as I know, you must be earning quite well from this job.”

“That’s what you think, not me. I have to earn a lot of money, which you won't understand.”

Vikrant begins observing her cautiously, because as far as he knows, she is not a gold digger at all.

But the way she is talking now doesn’t match with what she shows in front of him every day.

Either what she does daily is a pretended good-girl act, or what he is seeing right now is the truth. He says,

“You are a little weird…”

“Don’t think about me as a little weird; you are completely weird, but I never complained.”

“Thank you…”

“Mention not…”

Jhankar immediately replies, looks outside, suppresses her laughter, and quietly enjoys the lights outside, which twinkle more beautifully in the fast-moving car.

Vikrant, engrossed in his work on his MacBook, often catches glimpses of her.

But every time, she is looking out the window.

He clears his throat loudly to get her attention back.

“Your father called…”

After hearing this, Jhankar immediately starts checking her phone, then closes her eyes and mumbles while fiddling with the device.

“Today again it’s dead… Its battery isn't working properly. It switched off again. This is a daily problem with it.”

Vikrant begins to carefully examine her phone, which is in very poor condition, and says,

“Your father was saying it has been 15 days since he met you, and he hasn’t had any time due to office work. So, he thought he could come to the mansion to see you. He wants to meet you.”

While trying to restart her phone, Jhankar replies,

“Yes, I know. But what can I do? I don’t have time these days.”

“If you want, we can go to your house right now.”

Jhankar suddenly looks at Vikrant, and he is already looking at her. He then says, watching her very closely,

“Can I stay there for a week?”

“A week…”

Vikrant speaks abruptly, prompting her to blink twice before responding quickly.

“I will talk to Sharda Maa daily… Look, I haven’t been with my parents for a long time. You can keep a very good eye on me there too. I can’t do any harm to you anyway. But I want to spend some days with my parents. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Vikrant is not scared of anything, and they cannot even try to run away because he knows very well that directly and indirectly, everything is under his control, so he does not see any kind of risk in this situation.

“Fine…”

Jhankar slowly turns her neck and looks at him with a strange expression. Vikrant, watching her like this while working on his MacBook again, says,

“If you react like this, I will take you straight to the mansion… I understand that every girl wants to live with her parents, but my mother enjoys your company a lot. That’s why I want to keep you with her as much as possible.

But now that her health is a little better, you can stay at your parents’ house.

But if you behave with me like this again, I’ll take you straight back to my home. ”

“No, Mr. Dhanraj, you are very kind. Drop me at my parents’ house… You are a very sweet type of kidnapper.”

Listening to her, Vikrant gazes at her.

“Sweet? That’s your misunderstanding.”

“Tell me one thing: do you have any problem maintaining that expression you always wear on your face? Do you go somewhere specific to get it fixed?”

“What machine do you have in your tongue that it just doesn’t stop?”

“No, it’s inbuilt. It’s been with me since birth.”

“Good to know. Then you’ll never have a problem maintaining it. Just try to be a little quiet too.”

Jhankar smiles at him and then quietly sits down, gazing ahead with a finger on her lips.

Then Vikrant resumes his work, glancing at her from the corner of his eye with a faint smile.

Soon, both of them arrive at Raghunath’s house.

Raghunath becomes very happy seeing Jhankar, and watching her this happy brings a small smile to Vikrant’s face, which he immediately hides behind a serious expression. He tells Raghunath,

“Jhankar wanted to stay here with you, so she’s here with you for a few days. A car will come every day to bring her and drop her off at her office. Guards are already here for your safety, but I will send the rest of the security in a few minutes.”

Raghunath knows very well why there is a need to assign additional guards, so he doesn’t say anything, he simply nods his head.

Jhankar is extremely happy that she will be able to stay with her parents for a few days, and the joy is clearly visible on her face.

With his gaze fixed on her, Vikrant speaks to Raghunath.

“Okay, I am going.”

When Vikrant starts leaving from there, his and Jhankar’s eyes meet for a second.

He sits in his car, keeping his gaze fixed on her, while Jhankar smiles and engages in conversation with her father.

She looks at Vikrant while talking, but she neither waves her hand nor says goodbye or bids him farewell properly.

As soon as the car moves forward, Jhankar immediately turns and goes inside, something Vikrant notices very carefully, as if she suddenly gained her freedom.

When Vikrant arrives home, Sharda greets him with a smile, but when she doesn’t see Jhankar with him, she immediately questions him.

“Where is Jhankar? Did you not go to pick her up today?”

“Actually, she has gone to her parents’ house. She said she wants to stay there for a week. It's okay if she stays there for a week.”

Sharda smiles lightly after listening to him, and then, while going inside, she tells him,