Raghav returned home and called Pallavi.
"Hello. Are you okay?" He asked her.
"Yes. What would happen to me?" She asked confused.
"I was asking about Amma's prank."
"Ohh. I am fine. Don't worry. How did you know it was a prank?" She asked suspiciously.
"Actually, when I got angry Amma winked at me and I understood."
"Okay."
They ended the call there .
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The next day, they couldn't meet in the morning as Raghav had an important meeting with a client. Pallavi missed him but she also understood his work.
They decided to meet in the lunch time. As decided Pallavi went to meet him in his office. He was still in the meeting. After a while, all of them dispersed and the receptionist informed Raghav that Pallavi had come to meet him. He immediately told her to send Pallavi in the conference room.
"I missed you." Raghav said and hugged her.
"I missed you too." Pallavi said and kept the tiffins on the table.
"I thought that we were ordering from outside." He said sitting on his chair.
"I had bought a tiffin for myself from home and when you called to tell me about lunch, I called Aunty and told her to give you lunch as well."
"Amma sent this for me?" He asked happily.
"Yes."
"Thank you so much. I love you a lot. You have made my life better. Earlier I had no one who would care for me and now I have everyone." He said happily.
"If you are done praising me, can we please eat?" She asked.
"Yes."
They finished their lunch telling each other about their day so far. It was now time for Pallavi to leave. She stood up and was about to leave when Raghav held her hand and pulled her closer.
"Itna jaldi jaa raha hai tum? Thoda der ruko na." He pleaded.
"Raghav abhi bohot kaam hai. Shaam ko milenge na." She said even though, she also wanted to be with him.
"Bye." He said with a puppy face.
"Bye."
As she left his conference room, she could see a lot of girls waiting outside. On asking the receptionist, she got to know that he had a meeting with models for the brand shoot. She went near the conference room just to see all the girls talking about how handsome and desirable Raghav was and how they were waiting to meet him. She stood there listening to them. One part of her felt happy that the man who was admired by everyone was hers but on the other side she felt insecure of them.
She went to the shop lost in these thoughts. In the shop also she couldn't focus on anything. Frustrated by this, she went and sat in the small cabin.
"All of those models are so perfect. Their height, body and everything is just amazing. They have worked a lot on themselves. Will they try to seduce Raghav?" She thought to herself.
"But you trust Raghav, right?" Her heart asked.
"Of course. I know that even if they try to seduce him, he won't give any attention to them." She said confidently.
"That's what matters, right?" Her heart asked.
"Yes."
"Then don't overthink about it." Her heart said. She decided to follow her heart's advice and focused on her work.
She thought of surprising Raghav and went to his office in the evening to meet him. Meeting him was the only thing that could cheer her up.
She parked her scooter in the parking slot and went upstairs. The receptionist told her that he was in the conference room and will soon go to his cabin so she can wait there.
Pallavi went and sat in his cabin. His cabin was transparent from one side and she could see the conference room from there. Around 5 minutes later the door of the conference room opened. The models were talking to Raghav while coming out. They were being a bit touchy which was not at all liked by Pallavi. They kept on talking while Raghav was smiling looking at them. One of the models dared to hug him and he also hugged her back. This was the last straw for Pallavi. She understands that it is his work and he had to interact with models but this model had the audacity to hug him, tightly. Even if it was a friendly hug she would have understood but, this was beyond her tolerance. She was fuming with jealousy. All the other models walked off while that particular model held his bicep and turned to his cabin. Pallavi immediately looked away. She heard the sound of door opening. She recognized it to be Raghav. As soon as Raghav saw her he turned towards her.
"Pallavi, you are here?" Raghav asked.
"Yes, I came to meet you." She said.
"Is this the Pallavi you were talking about?" The model asked him.
"Yes." He said.
Pallavi was confused as well as jealous. She scanned the girl from top to bottom. She was dressed in a formal white shirt and a navy blue pencil skirt.
"She's beautiful." Pallavi thought.
"But that doesn't give her the right to stick around to Raghav." She countered her own thought. Even after coming in the cabin she had not left Raghav's bicep.
"Hii, I am Prachi." The model said forwarding her hand.
"Hi, myself Pallavi." Pallavi said shaking her hand a bit.
"I've heard a lot about you." Prachi said.
"I hope you have heard good things." Pallavi joked giving a glare to Raghav.
"Don't give me that look. I have said good things only." He said defending himself.
"I don't trust you with that." Pallavi said.
"Will you guys stop fighting?" Prachi said laughing.
"Pallavi, on a serious note, he said good things about you except that you lecture him a lot." Prachi said and Raghav facepalmed himself.
"Accha??? So, I give lectures to you?"
"Ofcourse, you do. The whole day you keep preaching me about moral science." He said complaining.
"I say that because you need it. If you behave properly, there will be no need of me to say anything." Pallavi countered.
"I think I will get off from here otherwise, I will be the scapegoat in a couple's fight." Prachi said laughing.
"Prachi, we are not a couple. We are friends." Raghav said.
Pallavi who had become a little normal was back to the jealousy mode.
"Friend? Do you think of me as a fool? Me and Shekhar have done this same very 'friends' drama when we were dating. So, don't teach me." She said air quoting friends.
"Shekhar?" Pallavi asked confused.
"My husband." Prachi said smiling.
"You are married?" Pallavi asked surprised.
"Yes." She said .
Pallavi felt happy that she didn't have to worry anymore. Prachi went away.
"Were you jealous of Prachi?" Raghav asked.
"Nooo." Pallavi said.
"Accha? Then why were you so happy when she said that she was married?" Raghav asked.
"I wasn't happy. I mean she doesn't look married. So, I was surprised."
"Come on Saree Ka Dukaan, she was wearing a Mangalustra but you did not notice it because of your jealousy." Raghav said.
Pallavi was now tounge tied as what he was saying was right. When she remembered scanning her from head to toe she also remembered that she was wearing a tiny Mangalustra.
"I did not notice it but, that doesn't mean that I was jealous." Pallavi defended herself.
"Then why were you looking at her with fire in your eyes when she hugged me?" Raghav was ready with another question.
"When did she hug you?" Pallavi acted innocent.
"Saree Ka Dukaan, you are a pathetic liar. I saw you looking at us through this transparent glass." Raghav smirked.
"Listen, I am not understanding a word of what you are saying." Pallavi said looking down.
"If you weren't jealous then should I go and talk to the models. They will anyways be waiting to get a glimpse of me." Raghav asked smirking.
"Go to them. I don't care." She said with an angry pout.
"You look cute with that pout." He complimented.
"Don't try to manao(pacify) me now." She said.
"That means you are angry."
"When did I say that?" She was confused.
"You said that 'don't pacify me', it means that you were angry." He said.
"What rubbish!! Do you enjoy teasing me?"
"Ofcourse I do." He said.
"Tell me, you were jealous, right?" He asked again.
"Fine. I was jealous. Happy?"
"Yes. Why were you jealous btw?"
"Because, I love you and I don't like sharing you with anybody." She said.
He gave her a kiss on her cheeks in response.
"You are mine and I am yours, Ardhamainda?"
"Samajhla." She said and smiled.
"Can we go now?" He asked.
"Where?" She asked.
"Charminar, this time." He said and took her hand in his. They walked out of his cabin just to see all the models outside it looking at both of them with questioning eyes.
"What??" He asked rudely to the models.
"Nothing sir." They said and walked towards the exit.
"Everyone, in my cabin. Now." He said eyeing the models.
The models followed him towards the cabin.
"Don't you guys understand the meaning of privacy? How fucking dare you look what is happening in my cabin? I pay y'all to work for my brand. We are associated professionally. Keep that in your mind. Don't you dare cross your line. If I find anyone trying to invade my privacy, I swear I will replace that model." Raghav said furiously.
"It's okay, Raghav. Let it go." Pallavi said slowly.
"It's not okay!! I am leaving you guys this time as mistakes happen but next time, I won't be so kind. Remember that." Raghav said walking out of the cabin with Pallavi.
Author's Note - All of us wanted to see a jealous Pallavi on the show but she being the Mahan Atma, never got jealous. So, here I made a small attempt to show Pallavi's jealous side.
Date - 22nd May 2022.
