Charade (IPKKND AU)

Interlude: Ambush

Arnav

He was weak.

The knowledge should not have surprised him, not after he'd agreed to marry Khushi and defied every person in his family to keep her by his side, but somehow it did every time he was reminded anew.

Arnav turned to the sleeping form of his wife on the bed. She'd embraced his suggested exercise with enthusiasm, entertaining him with stories for at least an hour before exhaustion had overwhelmed her.

He sighed, recalling how powerless he'd felt at the poolside that afternoon. There was something in the way she'd looked up at him, her bottom lip trembling and her fingers twisting into her clothes, that made it impossible to think. His body reacted instantly, almost violently, whenever she was near.

She ensnared his senses like nothing else.

Arnav's pulse stuttered as he remembered waking with her fingers gentle on his skin. She'd been ready to protest her innocence yet again when his sister had appeared at the top of the stairs leading to the terrace, clearly drawn by their raised voices, and he'd instantly changed tact, putting on yet another staged edition of Arnav-aur-Khushi-hamesha for her benefit.

It had been freeing, cathartic in a way, to allow himself a few moments of pretend — where he was just Arnav and she was his Khushi and his only concern had been ensuring that she ate something. But the way she'd reacted when he'd mentioned Di, her smile disappearing and the sheen of tears returning to her eyes, had compelled him to give her something real. 

Something true.

And even spreadsheets and contracts had not been enough to distract him from the way she slipped past his defences.

**********

Aman appeared in the doorway not five minutes after he'd stepped into his cabin.

"Sir?"

"Come in."

Arnav settled behind his desk as his manager sat opposite him, a collection of files in his hands.

"How is everything?" Aman asked tentatively.

"Fine," he said shortly, "report."

"The Aggarwals have sent over a proposal, and a project team has been selected. The timelines seem reasonable."

Arnav took the file his manager offered, nodding.

"The new seasonal line is almost ready," Aman continued, "I've arranged an inspection downstairs in the usual room."

"I'll do it once we're done here."

"And ... the personal matter ..."

Arnav pressed a button on the underside of his desk, temporarily turning off all surveillance inside his office.

"Go on," he steepled his fingers.

"The background check showed nothing you didn't already know. Shyam Manohar Jha was relatively blemish-free before the marriage, though the question of his family history remains. There is no surviving family besides the distant aunt who attended the wedding. Nothing suspicious in the deaths of his parents."

Aman handed over another file, "Sir, you didn't miss anything four years ago."

"I must have," Arnav gritted his teeth, "I must have missed something. All these years ... and all the while he was ..."

"Knowing what we know now, it seems that his first meeting with Anjali-ji at the temple was carefully engineered. But there was no way you could have known or suspected at the time."