INSEPARABLE II

XXX

The first thing Kabir did as soon as he left the Queen's company was sprint over to his cousin and update him of the developments. He explained everything from the position he found Zora and Noor in to the dread he experienced while extracting Zora out of there and making up his identity.

Prem was at disbelief. He had envisioned many scenarios about the first time Noor would meet their son but the way it unfolded was completely unthought of. It had now become more important than ever that their entire family was aware of Zora's presence and on the same page before Noor. That was going to be a difficult task given that his family now comprised of a person like Chand.

After spending some time thinking about the situation, Prem decided the best way to move forward would be to send Chand away for a few days. Hakam had come to him a few days beforehand about a business proposal by some women on the western border of Kurral wanting to start their own cotton mill. They had requested support from the Chief and he had sent it, both financially and resource-wise. It occurred to him that it would the perfect opportunity to get Chand to travel on the pretext of helping the women set up their business. She was the last person to care about female empowerment but as the wife of the Chief, she was expected to perform certain duties for their subjects whether or not she liked it. Not wanting to leave Prem alone with Noor, Chand expectedly made excuses and tried to delay the trip but ultimately refusing Prem was not something she could do. Making the trip and her mission appear urgent, Prem arranged to send her away that very evening.

With Chand out of the way, Prem quickly gathered the rest of his family and with the support of his parents and cousins spilled out the news to them all. Shock, tears, and then uncontainable happiness took turns showing on each of their faces. He told them he would bring Zora to their shared spaces, but they were to ease themselves into mixing with him. They all agreed to do whatever it took protect the health of both Noor and little Zora in the process of getting them accustomed to one another. Over the next day or so, Zora and the Dhaliwal family spent small fractions of time together getting familiarized with each other.

"We should still keep the family as far from Zora as possible in bhabi's presence." Kabir stated taking a seat between Prem and Veer in the courtyard outside of Zora's chambers.

Prem's heart fluttered at the word 'bhabi' in reference to Noor by Kabir. He inhaled to keep his smile from showing. It did not escape Veer's eyes though.

"Look at this fool blushing." He laughed, leaning in to get a better look at Prem.

"Fuck off." Prem shook his head unable to erase the embarrassed smile.

"Awhh!!" Kabir sarcastically exclaimed, reaching forward to squeeze Prem's right cheek. His hand was quickly caught by Prem and twisted until he winced in pain. "OW!"

"Behave!" Prem warned him, releasing his wrist.

Kabir moved his hand in a circle before picking up their conversation again, "anyways, as I was saying...we should probably keep Zora away from the family for the most part because the way he refers to everyone will give it away."

"What do you mean?" Veer asked.

"I mean...if he's Ajooni bhenji's son, as the Queen has been told, he should be calling our parents Nana Nani as opposed to Dada Dadi if he's Prem Bhaji's son. Same with us, he should call all of us Mama as opposed to Taya and Chacha, which is what he needs to be taught eventually. We also can't confuse the kid by asking him to call us one thing today for the sake of the story we told the Queen and change it to another tomorrow." Kabir explained.

"Well...shit." Prem admitted.

"Yeah, that hadn't even occurred to me." Veer agreed. "This whole thing is getting unnecessarily complicated. I still think it might be worth the try to tell Noor straight up. I know it's not easy and it's going to take a lot courage to not just reveal the truth to her but to be faced with her reaction, and her state afterwards but we don't have many options here."