Enemy Within

Chapter 8

Swara was sitting on the bed, nervous, anxious, twisting her fingers waiting for him to enter their room. When she saw him, she jumped up and rushed towards him "Did you find out anything?"

Sanskar shook his head adding "Kunal is still searching. He wont let me down. Don't worry, we will find her" he said squeezing her shoulder

"Why don't we tell Ragini that what she is asking for is...."

"It wont help"

"But.." she tried to counter

"Trust me on this"

"What are we going to do?"

"Agree to do what she wants" seeing Swara trying to cut in, he quickly added "for now. Kunal will come through in meantime"

Swara's current plight was thanks to Ragini who had thrown a curve ball at her. Leveraging an upcoming pooja, she had convinced the Maheshwari family to get Swara and Sanskar to do the pooja and precede it with a small marriage ceremony in front of just the family. Taking advantage of the fact that her father was away on business, she had improved her stakes on the day of the function, by hiding their Maa as an incentive to help Swara and Sanskar come clean about their fake marriage in front of the family.

As they made their way downstairs, Ragini caught hold of them "I want to talk to you Swara" glancing at Sanskar she added "Alone"

"What ever you say isn't going to remain hidden from me. Why don't you save us all some time and blurt out what you want to say?" Sanskar retorted. He had grown tired of Ragini's antics.

"Swara" Ragini added in a warning tone. Swara sighed and agreed to go with her, nodding at Sanskar once.

She returned a few minutes later. Sanskar was by the railing, looking down at the small mandap that had been set up for them. "What does she want now?" he asked as she came over and stood next to him

"She wants us to get married now, instead of talking to the family"

"You didn't reveal...." He started asking, but she shook her head before he finished

"I still don't understand why you ......"

"I have my reasons. I will explain later"

She nodded "Anything from Kunal?" she asked

"He had shortlisted it down to three locations. He was also working out a mobile trace. It wont be long"

"What do we do in meantime?"

"We play along with what she wants" Sanskar said looking at her. She met his glance, before slowly nodding.

They were in the mandap, when Laksh walked in there. He had been missing most part of the last two days since Ragini had made this suggestion.

"I guess now we know why Ragini wanted us to go through with the marriage" Sanskar whispered to Swara, nodding towards Laksh. That was when he noticed she was shaking "Swara" he called out to her, taking her hands in his. They had gone cold. "You are shaking. What is wrong?"

"I am worried about Maa. Is she going to be alright?"

"She is going to be alright. We will find her; I promise"

"I don't trust Ragini with this. She tried to kill me once. She could really hurt Maa"

"You are right in not trusting Ragini, but don't give her too much credit. She is more opportunistic rather than sinister, immoral rather than murderer. Have faith. I wont let anything happen to your Maa" he said squeezing her now cold hand with his warm one. She nodded quietly, as the panditji started the rituals.