Azure here with the next chapter in the story. I hope you like it. Thanks so much for your support so far.
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Ria Khanna – Ragini
Shiv Kapoor – Sanskar
Lav Khanna – Laksh
Shikha Lav Khanna – Swara
Sharad Khanna – Shekhar
Jaya Khanna – Janki
Deepak Kapoor – DP
Aarti Kapoor – AP
Arun Kapoor – Adarsh
Preeti Kapoor – Parineeta
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“He did it all! He is responsible!” Ria quickly blurted, angry and annoyed at Shiv
“Hello! I haven’t done anything” Shiv shot back at her before turning to the constable “Hawaldar (constable) sahib, don’t listen to her. She is a mental case” he whispered softly
Constable looked at him suspiciously before glancing at Ria skeptically
“What are you talking about?” Ria questioned “If you say anything about me, I swear!” she continued, only to be cut off by Shiv.
“You are not some queen for us to talk about you” Shiv threw at her, before signaling the constable to watch her
“Is that why you wanted to stab me, just a while back?” Ria asked, emphasizing the word ‘stab’
Constable narrowed his eyes at both “Are you trying to pull a fast one over me? What do you think I am? Some movie or TV police that is stupid?” he asked them firmly
“No! Of course not! I wouldn’t dare think of you like that. I cannot comment about her though!” Shiv quick added in a sweet voice
Ria humphered looking at him “Don’t trust him!” she told the constable “He is the one responsible”
“I will judge that” Constable told Ria firmly before throwing a stern look at Shiv as well.
“I am telling you, she belongs in the mental hospital” Shiv whispered to the constable as he made the way towards the drivers
“I will decide who is mental and who needs to go to the hospital” constable told him firmly
“Take him away” Ria added quickly “The world will thank you for putting him away”
“Quiet! If I hear one more word from you, I send both of you to that same mental hospital and put you in the same room.” the constable warned them
“I could have gotten a heart attack because of these two cars and drivers” The driver of the small car exclaimed as the constable reached him “Put them all in jail”
“Jail is not a cheap hotel for us to take anyone and everyone in” Constable to him “Besides, we don’t like to voluntarily take on headaches” he murmured to himself, as he glanced at Ria and Shiv, before turning to the drivers.
“What happened here?” he asked them
“I signaled their car” Gopal started explaining, pointing to Shiv’s driver “to overtake them from the side. Just as I was passing them, he swirled the car towards ours. I had to make a sharp turn to avoid being hit. I couldn’t turn the car back around, to avoid hitting into the tree” he explained
“Tell me your version” constable ordered Shiv’s driver Raghu
“Sahib, it is not our fault. When he signaled, I let him pass us, but just then a man, riding a cycle, cut in on to the road, out of nowhere and fell down on the ground losing his balance. I had to steer the car away to avoid running over him. Just as I did that, this other car” he said pointing to the driver of the smaller car “came at us full speed. To avoid hitting the car, I steered the car quickly, but couldn’t avoid hitting the tree”
“Where is the man on the cycle?” constable asked
“I think he fell down back there” Raghu said pointing to the crowd that Ria remembered seeing behind them.
Shiv rushed along with the constable to check on the man. Ria made to follow, but Gopal stopped her “Choti malkin (young mistress), you don’t go there. It could be dangerous. Some of these village people can get violent” he told her, looking concerned
“But we need to check on the man. See if he is okay” Ria tried to reason with him
“I will go and check” Gopal assured her “You go and sit in the car”
“But” Ria tried to counter
“Please choti malkin. Sahib and memsahib (sir and madam) will get really angry at me if I let you go there”
Ria reluctantly nodded and walked towards the car. She stood outside, determined to see what was going on.
After a few minutes, constable returned back, along with Gopal and Shiv. She walked towards them.
“Clear out your cars and leave now” constable told them “There is enough traffic blockage caused here”
Gopal nodded and made his way towards the car. Shiv stopped to talk to the constable a bit longer.
“What happened?” Ria asked Gopal as soon as he came to her
“That man is okay. He was a bit shaken. Shiv sahib” Gopal started saying, but Ria shot him an angry look at the mention of Shiv. Gopal stood back a bit and tentatively added “He…..He offered to take the man to the hospital, but there were some local villages who knew the man and said that they will take him home”
Ria nodded at him. Shiv had offered to take him to hospital? Hmmm. May be he wanted to cover his own ass, she thought as she looked back at Shiv critically.
Shiv was still talking to the constable. Constable glanced at her for a second, before turning back to Shiv.
“What are you talking about? Don’t trust what he says” Ria said as she made her way towards them
“Memsahib, you should not take your domestic fights outside in public” the constable told her
“Domestic fights!” Ria screaked
“There is nothing domestic about it” Shiv added it before she could complete her words “Domestic and Ria Khanna will never come together when it concerns me”
“You fight like old married couple” constable stated before walking off to talk to the traffic police who had arrived there to clear the traffic
“I would die before marrying him!” Ria shot at the constable even as he was walking off
“May be I should propose marriage, just to see you die! The world will thank me for reducing the burden from their shoulders” Shiv quipped
“I will kill you before I die” Ria warned him
“Threatening me! In front of police!” Shiv said with a smirk “May be I should file a complaint. I won’t even need to produce witness. I have a constable already here witnessing it”
“You were the one plotting my death first. By that token, I should be the one to complain” Ria threw at him narrowing her eyes
“Your threat was explicit” Shiv countered “Right, hawaldar sahib?” he asked looking at the constable who was observing them closely
“Are you both trying to get arrested?” Constable asked them throwing them a stern look. Constable Bhaleram Patil knew that if arrested these two, they would fight continuously even in the prison cell. And the only person who would bear the brunt for if would be him. His inspector as already in bad mood the past few days thanks to fight with his wife. Seeing these two fight, would end up all his anger being taken out of Bhaleram.
“Do you want to spend the entire night in jail? Together in the same cell? Jail cell is not like in movies. Do not irritate me so much that I am forced to arrest you. You are giving me a lot of reasons to” he warned “You rich kids don’t know the true meaning of jail. Go and sit in your cars and leave. Now!” he ordered them firmly.
Properly chastised, both went back to their cars.
As Ria sat in the car and then drove a short distance, the car started to beep and a signal flashed on the car dashboard.
“What is happening?” Ria asked worried
“I think there is some problem because of the impact. There is a service center close by” Gopal told her looking at his mobile “We will need to take the car there”
Ria nodded in agreement. They found the service center some 15 minutes ahead. Ria sat in the waiting room as the technicians looked at the car. About half an hour later, the service in-charge, Girish, walked over to her.
“Some of the parts have been damaged because of the impact. The radiator is also not functioning properly” Girish told her
“What does that mean?” Ria asked confused. She had never been an expert in cars
“We have ordered the parts that we didn’t have. But it might take till tomorrow end of the day for the car to get repaired” He told her in simple language.
“Oh!” was all Ria could say. Her mind was evaluating all the options. This was the first deal she had been put in charge of. If the deal was messed up, Lav would use it to keep her out of the other deals in future. She wasn’t okay with that.
“Is there something I can help with?” Girish asked her breaking into her thoughts
“Hmmmm. May be” Ria said, as she continued to ponder over the situation. “Do you think you can get me a taxi to drive me to Chiplun?” she asked after a few minutes. Her parents would definitely not be entirely okay with this. She would have to figure out a way to make them comfortable.
“I will try. There is a person I know. He is reliable and very decent. I am just not sure if he can drive you today though” Girish admitted “There is a lot of traffic on the road today because of the diversion on national highway. Let me talk to him now and check his availability” he told her, before leaving her alone
Ria weighted her options and the argument she was going to present to her parents, even as Girish was checking on the car. This taxi seemed like her best option right now. That is, if she could convince her parents of it.
Girish returned a few minutes later “He can drive you tomorrow morning. Would that be okay with you?” he asked
“If there is no other option, it will need to be” Ria admitted to him
There was another problem that she needed to deal with now. Where was she going to stay the night?
“Is there a hotel close by?” Ria asked him
“There is a small hotel nearby. It is clean and very good. Golden Heritage Hotel” Girish informed her
“Can you arrange for a taxi that hotel for me?” Ria asked him
“I can drop you there, Madam” Girish offered
“There is not need for that. A taxi will do” Ria assured him. Girish has been really helpful already with the taxi for the next day.
“It is no problem, Madam. I am already going that way” he assured her.
“Okay then” she said
She collected her bag from the car. Girish took it away to be out in his car, even as she stopped to give a small amount to Gopal for his food and accommodation that Girish again had been kind to arrange.
As she went to the car, she saw the someone was already sitting in the front seat with Girish. The person turned and saw her.
“You!” they both screamed at each other.
Her day had just not been going well!
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Links to previous chapters
https://www.tellyupdates.com/?s=pride+vs+prejudice+%28RagSan%29