Chronicles Of My Darling Husband

15. Lochan (Part 5)

"Namaste..." Nishita's father entered the scene as introductions were underway. "Did I interrupt anything?"

Devika, taking her usual spot, smoothly gathered her long brown locks into a ponytail with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Guess what, Papa," she chimed with a playful smile, punctuating her words with a satisfying lip smack. "Your dear Jagdish Ji was just going on and on about how hardworking he is, right, Nishu?"

Sitting silently on the sofa beside Mrs. Singh, Nishita narrowed her eyes. "And why exactly do you require my validation?" she retorted, her annoyance evident in her tone.

Her father chuckled warmly at the banter between the two. "You girls never fail to entertain," he commented, shooting a friendly glance at Mrs. Singh. "I'll be back in just a moment, please excuse me," he said, making a swift exit towards his room.

Mrs. Singh nodded in affirmation.

"You initiated the conversation about them, Nishi. It's only polite to introduce yourself as well," her mother gently reminded. "I thought your entire group was coming today. Where are the others?"

With a rueful shake of her head, Devika responded, "They might arrive later. Shravan went to the Police Station," she explained. "We had a bit of a spat with that fu— I mean, Pranav... Today, we narrowly missed him by this..." she gestured, indicating a small gap between her fingers like a hair's breadth, "...much. Tsk... Nishu and I missed out on a good boxing session."

Unni was taken aback. "You two are learning boxing?"

Devika let out a short laugh. "With real human bodies, particularly of the opposite gender. It's satisfying to see a bit of blood and black eyes on the faces of men who think they can mess with us."

"Yes, we've witnessed your skills near the cafe," Mr. Baggy remarked, clicking his tongue in amusement. "Quite adept in both colorful language and combat maneuvers."

Devika raised her eyebrows, looking curiously at him. "Are you stalking us?"

Mrs. Singh, surprised by the revelation, turned to Chandrakant. "Beta, you've already met them?"

"Not us, but the entire Pune witnessed her pitching her bag at that guy and calling him a La— something you wouldn't want to know," After a prolonged silence, Jagdish finally broke his quiet spell. "Your choice is quite the drama queen, nonetheless..." he remarked, his eyes drilling into Nishita's.

Furiously flushing, she demanded, "What?"

"Nishi, that's enough arguing," her mother interjected.

Wearing a scowl of frustration, she retorted, "I'm far from being a drama queen, those men were just plain nuisance!" Then, addressing Mrs. Singh, she posed a pointed question, "Would you tolerate being called inappropriate names or whistled at? How would you react?"

"I would try to handle the situation," Mrs. Singh responded after a pause of silence, her face a picture of wonderment. "As a last resort, I might resort to physical confrontation."

Jagdish scoffed disapprovingly, "Violence for violence is not the answer, it only exacerbates the issue," he remarked, shaking his head in disapproval. "We should aim for a peaceful resolution. It's more prudent to report such incidents to the police rather than resorting to vigilantism."

What!?

Nishita was utterly astounded by the nerve of this man, sitting so nonchalantly in her home and daring to suggest that women shouldn't get upset about harassment from men. His lack of empathy was shocking. To add insult to injury, his own mother seemed to support Nishita's stance, yet he dismissed her concerns as unreasonable.

"Fine, next time I'll wait to get myself slapped before I take a leisure stroll to the police station to file a complaint, okay?" she seethed.

His eyes narrowed momentarily, a glint of intensity sparking within them. His plain boring eyes turned into a fire of inexplicable emotion, it made Nishita uneasy to sit in front of him and she tried to tear her eyes from him.

Realizing her uncomfortable stance, he regarded her with a mixture of surprise and incredulity, as if his behavior had just shattered something within her. However, he soon sighed, his demeanor softening as he uttered, "I apologize if I've offended you.", his eyes holding beautiful patience.

"Who offended whom?" Mohini's sweet voice pierced the tension, interrupting the conversation. Observing the group gathered in the living room, clearly engrossed in discussion, she sought refuge behind her mother, apologizing, "Sorry, I thought it was someone else."

Her aunt smiled warmly at Mrs. Singh with a welcoming nod.

Mr. Baggy snapped his head sharply toward Mohini. "Well, hello to you too. It seems like you're the only one capable of showing a bit of politeness around here," he said, flashing a warm smile at her. "How about you introduce yourself so your sister and her friend can learn manners from you?"

"I... I..." Mohini stuttered.

Devika seized the moment. "I'm Devika Mishra, Nishita's best friend," she declared with a playful grin, "so close of a friend that I'll come as part of the wedding package, just in case it happens." She bit her lower lip teasingly. "People call me Devi or Viki, whichever you prefer," she added, shooting a glance at Mr. Baggy.

He couldn't resist. "Devi, such a fitting name for a goddess like you," he remarked with a spark in his eyes.

Mrs. Singh chuckled. "Jagdish, Beta, why don't you and Nishita step outside for a moment and have a chat?"

Nishita immediately sprung from her seat, as if she had been waiting for those words to be spilled, while Mr. Baggy chuckled, muttering something incomprehensible to Jagdish.

Well, isn't that the whole point of this meeting, to have a conversation with each other?

"Sure." she heard him drawl.

--

A/N

"Sawaar Loon" is such cutie-pie song tbh. It has a sweet yet mischievous tone to it, I found that it would suit this chapter.

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