Chapter 4: She Analyses

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When Anjali was a child, she loved listening to songs on the radio. One fine day, the radio had stopped working. In a state of utter confusion, little Anjali tried banging the radio with her hands in a feeble attempt to get it to work, but to no avail. Without much choice left, she tore the radio apart and tried repairing it all by herself, but the sound of her favourite songs still seemed to be lost in a faraway land.

When her mother finally returned home, she shared her woes exhaustingly.  Anjali's mother started examining the radio a little and then proceeded to laugh. With an amused smile, she asked her daughter,

"My dear Anjali, how would the radio work when it doesn't even have batteries?"

Anjali was shocked, to say the least, so she argued, "But, there's always batteries in it!"

"Yes, maybe, but you can never assume anything. Listen closely, beta, whenever you're faced with a problem, you should never ever jump to conclusions. Instead, you should analyse the matter before concluding the reason for the problem. If not, you'll only end up hurting yourself or the others around you, just like you did to the poor radio. Do you understand?"

"Yes, mumma, I understand!"

Little Anjali was definitely not lying because, at the moment, adult Anjali was sitting in her room, analysing everything that happened.

After instructing Aman to focus the investigation on Shyam, who might be hiding more than they think, she now shifted her attention to Arnav and Khushi.

A brief timeline of events would be the best way to start, she determined.

   1. Shyam saves Khushi from the goons

2. Shyam tells the Guptas that he's an  orphan and enters their house as a paying guest

  3. Shyam gets engaged to Khushi

  4. Khushi finds out the truth and breaks off the engagement

5. Unidentified event

6. Khushi stays silent on the matter

7. Payal and Akash get married

8. Unidentified event

9. Arnav misunderstood Khushi

10. Arnav and Khushi get married unannounced

The gaps in the timeline are crystal clear.

Think, Anjali, think! Why did Khushi-ji not tell any of us about Shyam?

She went to the closet and carefully pulled out the Private Investigator's report hidden underneath her pile of old kurtis. Settling in the lounge chair, she read, 'The engagement happened on October 1st 2011, and Ms Gupta broke it off on October 18th, 2011.'

October 18th? Wasn't that the day of the Satyanarayan Puja? Oh my god. No wonder Khushi-ji looked off that day. She must have seen his photo in Shantivan and must have figured out everything, but then again, why did she not say a word about any of it?

Right.

Her mangalsutra broke, and she panicked, right in front of Khushi. She put two and two together and theorised that the poor girl must have simply been scared. If Anjali lamented so much over the mangalsutra breaking, how would she have believed Khushi? But then again, she could not assume; she had to find out more.

The irony of it all brought a bitter smile out of her. The kind that gives no glow, no sparkle, and certainly no joy. The man she loved was now an animal she loathed.

The smile stayed on for mere seconds before disappearing into an expressionless face, as there were more pressing issues at hand. She did not want to waste time feeling sorry for herself.

Why should I choose to be miserable when I have the power to right the wrongs and make him miserable instead?

Shyam's words echoed in her mind.

"And the funny part is, that idiot Arnav thought that Khushi-ji was at fault and went on to marry her!" 

She desperately needed to uncover the misunderstanding between Arnav and Khushi, but how? She couldn't just ask them what happened on the day of the wedding, could she?

Tapping her fingers on her knee, alternating steadily between her pointer and middle finger, she looked around the room, hoping and praying that an idea would come up.

Her gaze landed on the celebrity magazine on the side table, with the front page reading 'Bollywood Diva Deeksha Sharma's Wedding Photos Leaked!'

That's it! The wedding tapes.

Though she couldn't ask them what happened, she could most definitely see what happened.

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Hi everyone! Hope you enjoyed this one, I tried to make it a little longer than the usual chapters, so let me know if I should continue that. I've always found it intriguing to read stories about supporting characters as there is so much unexplored, and that's why I started writing this. If you can, drop some recommendations below of similar stories focussing on side characters, I'd really love to check them out! Anyways, thanks a lot for reading and as always feel free to leave comments 🤍🤍🤍

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