Somewhere in Between

Knowing Someone Too Well

(after ep. 315)

It's Sunday night and HM is relieved to be back home.

Granted, she has barely been gone for a few days but for some reason, it felt longer than any other work trip she has ever taken.

The department had sent her to Mumbai to assist on a robbery case and while it was fun working with fancy IPS officers for a day, HM wasn't interested in staying there any longer than necessary. She wanted to do her job well of course, but also wrap things up quickly if possible.

If asked, she'd say it's because she didn't want to leave MPT without an SHO for very long. But the truth is that this was her first trip away from KS since they had confessed their feelings for each other. And as cool as she tried to be, HM couldn't bear a single moment away from her now that they were officially together.

Not only was she beyond smitten with her lovely Kashi, but she also realized how long she had loved her and HM didn't want to waste any more time not treating her with all the love and care she deserved.

Which is why, as soon as she signed the last bit of paperwork this morning, she had booked the first ticket back home to see KS.

Except, here she is, back in Lucknow, staring at her phone as she unlocks her front door, hesitating to text KS and inform her. Of course, they had been texting and talking the whole time, but due to the sudden change of plans, HM had come home a day earlier than expected, and hadn't gotten a chance to tell KS.

Okay, fine. She had a chance, she just didn't tell her because she wanted to surprise her Kashi.

She had, after all, called in every possible favor to be able to get a same day flight ticket at the very last minute.

If it were up to her, HM would've taken a taxi to KS's house directly from the airport. But then Ammi would have disowned her on the spot and thrown her out on the streets without wasting a second. And HM didn't think PJ would agree to marry her daughter to someone who was homeless.

Besides, the only reason Ammi probably wanted her home first was so she could tag along with her to visit KS and PJ. Also to make sure HM looked presentable.

Apparently, she feared that if HM looked like a tired mess in front of her future in laws, they'd end the rishta or something. And if HM did anything to jeopardize her relationship with KS, forget disowning, they both knew that Ammi would go full on Mother India and shoot HM with her own service revolver.

Sometimes, HM wonders if Ammi is more excited about having KS as a daughter-in-law than she is about getting her own daughter married. And she tells Ammi that it's ridiculous because she's been waiting for HM's marriage since her Academy days and has only met KS less than two years ago. Obviously HM should rank higher.

But then Ammi laughs in her face and confirms that KS is in fact more important to her. And poor HM can't even bring herself to be fake offended by it.

HM shakes her head at the idea and checks the time.

Sadly, it's probably too late to go over to KS's house now. And she doesn't want to ruin the point of the surprise by texting her. It would be better to just wait till morning.

Even if she was itching to see her as soon as possible, HM wanted her KS to be rested, especially since she had been overseeing everything at MPT in her absence. But that didn't mean she liked waiting any longer to for their reunion.

Patience was a virtue that SHO Haseena Mallik prided herself upon. But since all her patience went out the window whenever KS was concerned, she was pretty much helpless right now.