They broke the hug.
"Btw, why did you come here at this hour?" She questioned.
"I knew that you are jealous so, I came to tease you." He answered laughing.
"Accha ji? I thought you came to pacify me for already teasing me."
"Haan ji. I came to pacify you only."
"How did you get inside?"
"By climbing the water pipe." He answered casually.
"Whattt?" She shouted.
"Babes, I am Raghav Rao. I can do anything. Don't worry, I am fine."
"Stop with this 'I am Raghav Rao' drama of yours."
"Why should I stop when that is what you like about me?"
"Who told you that?"
"I know that sweetheart."
"You know everything, huh?"
"Yes." He said and hugged her again.
After a few moments he broke the hug.
"Pallavi, actually I wanted to say something." Raghav spoke.
"Why are you hesitant to speak?"
"Pallavi do you love me? I mean I know you like me, but love is a different thing. We need to be in love to be in a relationship. I do like you but I don't know if I am in love with you. You have always been special but love is a later stage. I feel we still need to understand each other to be in a relationship and take things forward." He said clearing his stance.
"I thought that we would date but whatever you spoke actually made me think. I mean you are right. We will take things slow. Whenever both of us are ready we will date." Pallavi assured him.
"Thank you for understanding me."
"My pleasure. Btw are you planning to be here the whole night? Don't you want to go home?"
"I don't mind being here the whole night with you." He said and winked at her. She blushed and hid her face in her hands.
"Are you blushing, Saree Ka Dukaan? Don't hide your face. I need to see you blushing." Raghav said smiling.
"Shut up!!" She said still hiding her face.
"What?? Can't I even see your face? Not fair, Saree Ka Dukaan. You can allow me that atleast, if not bear hugs or kisses." He said pouting.
"Okay.. fine. I was just having fun."
"Do you want to have fun? If you want I can show you what real fun is." He said smirking. He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around waist and whispered in her ears, "Do you want to know what real fun is?"
"Uhm.." She was nervous now.
"It's okay Pallavi if you are not comfortable with our proximity. I won't force you." He said leaving her as he thought that he made her uncomfortable.
"It's nothing like that. All of this is new for me. I have never been this close to a man before. So, I became a little nervous. Also, I will never be uncomfortable around you." She told him the truth.
"Thank you. I am honored that I did not make you uncomfortable." He said bending his head down .
"Btw I'll get going. It's pretty late. If someone sees us, then they'll have a wrong impression." He said leaving.
"If you want you can stay here tonight. I mean like we stayed when Aaji asked us to share a room. Also, the door is locked. Noone will see us." She stopped him from leaving.
"Are you kind of inviting me to do something?" He asked in a flirty tone.
"No, what I meant was, if you want. I am okay even if you want to go back home." She said covering up.
"You can tell me that you want me to stay here because you missed me. I'll be more than happy to wait." He said.
'Fine. I wanted you to wait. Happy?"
"Very Happy."
"Now, can we sleep?"
"I don't want to sleep."
"See Raghav, you will have to go tomorrow early before anyone gets up so, please sleep now." She pleaded.
"Okay, I will sleep. Can you give me a kiss before sleeping?" He asked making a puppy face.
She got up and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Pallavi set an alarm for 4 in the morning.
"Saree Ka Dukaan, you're mad or what? Who will get up at 4am?" He asked shocked.
"Us. I have purposely set the alarm at 4. Aai-Baba get up at 5. We should atleast have one hour in our hand. What if you won't be able to climb down the pipe? What if someone hears us? What if someone is near this room or outside the house? We should have time for Plan B. Samjhla?"
"Haan, Haan. Ardhamaindi. Can we sleep?"
"Yes. Good Night."
They slept peacefully in each other's arms unaware of the storm that was waiting for them the next day.
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They were sleeping peacefully when the morning rays hit Pallavi. She looked besides her to see Raghav sleep. He looked so innocent and baby like when he slept, she thought to herself. She soon realized that it was morning and Raghav was still here in her room. She checked the time and it was 6.30 in the morning. The time when almost everyone in the house wakes up. She checked her phone and realized that she had decreased the volume so low that the sound of the alarm couldn't be heard.
Panic rose into her. What if someone catches them together?
"Ghamandi Rao, wake up. Fast.. Raghav please get up." She shouted.
"Saree Ka Dukaan we still have one hour left. We will manage, don't worry. I am The Raghav Rao. I can do anything." He kept blabbering.
"Shut up you idiot. It's 06.30 in the morning. Please get up fast. Aai Baba can come anytime from their morning walk. Usually they come between 06.30 to 06.45. So, we have maximum 15 minutes time."
He got up within blink of an eye.
"How will I escape now? and What happened to that alarm?"
"I had put it on but the volume was low. Let it go now. I will check if someone's there downstairs. If no one's there you can go from there itself."
"Okay."
She opened the door and saw if there was someone. Unfortunately for her, today Sulochana had woken up early. She cursed her fate in mind and went back to her room.
"Sulochana Kaku is there down. You have to climb down the pipe or else we will have to distract her and then let you go."
"I think we will go with the second option because climbing down is difficult. I may loose some of my bones in the process. You go and distract her. I'll manage. Don't worry. "
She was still skeptical about the plan.
"Trust me we will be fine. Go... We have another 10 to 12 minutes maximum otherwise then it will be difficult."
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Pallavi went downstairs with the mission to distract Sulochana.
"Hi Kaku. Good Morning!!!" Pallavi greeted her.
"Haan, Haan Good morning."
"Actually Kaku, I wanted to say something if you won't get angry on me." Pallavi said in a serious tone.
"Speak."
"Actually Kaku the saree that you wore for Mansi's wedding was very nice but.."
"What but?" Sulochana asked her in between.
"Smriti Kaku wore the same kind of Saree and she was saying that she got it for a much cheaper price."
"Are you sure?" Sulochana asked her.
"Yes. If you want you can ask Krishna. She told this to Krishna and also told her from where did she get it. We can call Krishna if you want."
"Of course we will call her."
"Actually Kaku my phone is getting charged so can we call from your phone?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"We will go inside and talk to her as the range is not good here."
"Okay."
They went inside Kaku's room which was just below Pallavi's balcony and at the backside of the house.
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Raghav was annoyed as hell because his Saree Ka Dukaan was taking hell lot of time to distract that Bada Bindi. He decided to not wait for her and started climbing down the water pipe. As he was bulky, he could be easily seen through the window. Kaku who was busy calling Krishna failed to notice him but Pallavi saw him and started taking Kaku towards the hall. Raghav misplaced his step and almost fell down but balanced himself. Kaku heard the voice and went near the window only to see a man trying to run away.
"Pallavi someone had entered our house."
"Who?" She acted surprised.
"How will I know? Come let's catch him."
"But what if he kills us?" Pallavi said acting to be scared.
"I don't think he will do that. Come." Saying this Kaku grabbed her hand and started running.
Pallavi had no option left but to run. She mentally prayed to Bappa to help her out.
By the time they reached out Raghav was far away from them but he decreased his speed when he saw that he was considerably far away. Unaware of the fact that these 2 ladies were following him.
He was just about to go forward when he heard Kaku screaming. He understood that he had been caught and again started running without looking back. He ran as far as possible and only stopped when he was on a busy road so that Kaku can't spot him in the crowd. He cursed his fate and realized that he had left his car in the lane adjacent to Pallavi's house. He went back to where his car was parked not before confirming that he was not seen. He went to his car and changed his clothes for safety measures if in case Bada Bindi sees him. He had a spare shirt in his bag if he wants to go somewhere. He took his car and rode off towards his mansion taking another route.
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Here, Sulochana and Pallavi were panting for their breaths.
"Kaku, koi chor wor nahi tha. Hum faltu mein bhaag rahe the."
"Nahi Pallavi mene dekha ki koi toh girte girte bach gaya aur woh daud bhi raha tha."
"Kaku, fir mujhe kaise nahi dikha woh?"
"Mujhe nahi pata."
"Kaku woh sab chodiye. Aai Baba gharpe aa gaye honge, hum chalte hai." Pallavi insisted.
"Theek hai. Chal."
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They went back home. Aai and Baba were there. They were shocked to see Pallavi and Sulochana together.
"How did this magic happen? Both of you together?" Baba asked shocked.
Before, Pallavi could answer Sulochana told them everything.
"Thank God Pallavi took me near the window otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see him."
"Kaku, I am still saying there was no one."
"Pallavi, I saw him. He was wearing a white color shirt and black pant."
"Okay.. we will check everything in the house. If something is missing we will know it." Aai said.
"Haan. This is a good idea." Baba and Pallavi agreed.
"Oh God!!! I had bought all the jewelry from locker for Mansi's wedding. I hope it's not stolen."
"But Kaku there was no one. At least I didn't see him."
"Even we were coming from the same road Sulochana. We also did not see a man in white shirt running. It might be your hallucination." Aai said agreeing with Pallavi.
"No vahini, I saw him."
"Okay. Let us check everything for safety measures." Baba concluded.
Everyone checked their belongings and everything was in place.
When they met at the dining table for breakfast everyone confirmed that everything in their room was in place.
Sulochana was still not satisfied and decided to investigate in this matter.
Author's Note - So, Raghav and Pallavi were very close to getting caught but were saved. Sulochana is definitely not sitting quite. She will surely give a tough time to Raghvi.
Hope you all like this chapter. Do give me your honest feedbacks.
Date - 8th May 2022.
