A sulking Nitin was sitting in the driver's seat, while Aishwarya was busy gifting the constables guarding their house from last night.
"No, you have to take this and tell me honestly if you need anything to eat or drink."
An annoyed Aishwarya forced some biscuits, some Namkeen, and drinks on the constables. Seeing as they had to take Aishwarya's small gifts, they appeared defeated.
"I know you have refused to eat inside, but the offer always stands, okay?" She reminded them once more to come inside to eat or if they needed anything.
Before leaving, she turned around and whispered to them, "If you need guys' alcohol, I can bring that; just don't bring a girl here without permission."
Aishwarya saluted them as she left, leaving two stunned constables wondering to themselves.
"So that's how rich people live." A constable whispered to his companion as they thought about the lady's openness.
While Aishwarya was busy teasing the constables, Nitin frowned, excited for her to regain the ability to play around with strangers but strangely jealous that she was not smiling at him.
Sophie was staring at her, shocked that she could have such a comfortable conversation with strangers, while he was caught between jealousy and happiness.
Upon entering the car, she heard Nitin complaining, "If you had so much free time, you should have let me get dressed."
Aishwarya, who had left the car locked before leaving, smiled at Nitin and explained, "You look so much prettier unkempt."
Nitin, a blind man in motherly love, smiled as he believed her nonsense, and Sophie, an open-eyed bystander, tried to control her laughter at Aishwarya's bullshit. After donning their seatbelts, Nitin glared at Aishwarya. But contrary to his expectations, the ladies looked at him expectantly.
He attempted to retreat but was unable to do so since he felt pressured by their demands. The expectations of his prospective sister-in-law were the biggest weight he had to bear. Mustering up his bravery, he posed a question that seemed absurd or out of place to the women.
"For your general knowledge, I am telling you once you should call me handsome instead of 'pretty,' right, Sophie?" Nitin stared at his future sister-in-law with expectant eyes.
Sophie nodded in support of Nitin's question, but he felt that she was hiding her faint disappointment. As for Aishwarya, she showcased her disappointment openly by sighing at his face. At that moment, the lady's eyes matched for a moment, and in that split moment, they both could feel each other's disappointment.
"My poor child, why are you so innocent (?) in these matters?" Aishwarya sighed as she ruffled his already messy hair. Nitin could only pout in discontent as there was an important guest with them today. But seeing him behave like that angered her further, and she retaliated by openly tsking at him.
' My son, why is your friend being an idiot and coward right now? If he continues to behave like that, who will I tease, your ex-girlfriend whom we met for the first time today?' Aishwarya complained to herself after seeing him continue to behave like a good boy.
Sophie was curious about Nitin's strange and abrupt change in behavior but held it in as she had more important things at hand than fulfilling her curiosity.
" Auntie, Can I ask something? I hope you won't be offended by my question." She asked for Aishwarya's permission, as she knew the question might offend her. Even though she knows that asking any potentially offending questions is wrong, she has to satisfy her curiosity.
"Then don't ask, Pretty simple," Aishwarya answered indifferently. Through the rearview mirror, she peeked at a disappointed Sophie smiling at her and decided to stop teasing her.
' Kawai, she is really cute.' Aishwarya thought and smiled. "Ask away; I won't be offended, hopefully."
"Um, I hope. No, it looks like you are doing great, but how are you so calm after getting attacked like that?" Sophie's confident tone transformed into mutters as an expressionless Aishwarya glared at her silently.
An awkward silence ensued in the car, with the driver, Nitin, being the most uneasy due to their confrontation.
'Why is she suddenly acting mad, and why did she ask that?" The driver thought to himself as he looked disapprovingly at the ladies, sneakily.
' Sophie, great! This blabbermouth of mine has ruined everything again. Argh! ' Sophie thought as the lively Aishwarya continued to glare at her expressionlessly.
"Calm do..." " Silence!" Nitin tried to diffuse the situation but went silent after getting interrupted. He smiled at Aishwarya and patted her thighs, telling her to relax a little.
This attempt went down the drain, as she targeted her empty eyes at him instead. She thought she had lost it and was genuinely angry this time.
As Nitin's resentment toward Sophie started to bud, he changed her category from a good girl to a bad girl, angering his lively Aishwarya. The situation inside the car changes again as Sophie tries to make a sincere apology.
' Great! This blabbermouth of mine has ruined everything again. Damn, this curiosity.' Sophie lamented as she resolved to make a sincere apology.
She grabbed her ear, bowed a little to appear more sincere, and apologized, "I am sorry. It was thoughtless of me to ask you a senseless question that could potentially hurt your feelings. Please find it in your heart to forgive a fool like me."
"Ha, ha ha, hehe." Aishwarya's laughter couldn't be contained anymore, and she laughed out loud, shocking her companions.
Looking at Sophie's frozen face, she giggled. "Sorry for teasing you so strongly." She wiped her tears and glanced at the map, which displayed that they would reach their destination in 3 minutes.
'It wouldn't harm anyone if I told her a little."
She thought to herself.
"I am not in shock because I was watching TV at that time. The attackers only met our boy Nitin and fled before I could come out." She explained to Sophie that she believed in Nitin's abilities, and that wasn't the first time something like that happened. She was thus not very rattled.
Nitin, who had relaxed too much, blurted without thinking As if she were the..." Before any more damage could be done, Aishwarya hit Nitin's shin.
Fortunately, the car had stopped; otherwise, with the way he turned the steering wheel in pain, they might have had their car overturned.
Nitin looked at Ojha Square, their favorite shopping mall, while rubbing his sore shin. The mall windows were made entirely of tempered glass, and it was the most luxurious mall in Rajasthan. The mall was made by legendary interior designer Waqar Khan, and it was a famous tourist spot too.
"Nitin, you can wander around yourself. We girls will go around shopping."" Nitin, dressed in silk pajamas, looked at her with betrayed eyes.
Feeling annoyed and betrayed by her, he growled, "I don't see any girls. I only see an aunt and a girl here. You, Old Hag." He looked smugly at Aishwarya, content with his great comeback.
However, that smugness was short-lived as his head was slapped upside-down by an annoyed Aishwarya. Cracking her knuckles in annoyance, she smiled gently at her driver and caretaker, "Do you have a death wish?"
Although her smile and tone might feel gentle to a stranger, to Nitin, it felt like a Grim Reaper was smiling down at him.
"Where's the aunt you saw? Hmm, I can't seem to see one." Aishwarya dug her fingers into her caretaker's collarbone and growled at him ferociously.
"You misunderstood, Mom; I was not talking about you. The person I talked about had already entered the mall." His caretaker groveled. He pretended to be in great pain to satisfy Aishwarya's dominance.
"So, you were talking about someone else." Feeling satisfied, she loosened her grip and entered the mall, first bouncing around in happiness.
The first thing Sophie noticed upon entering the mall was the huge chandelier and the luxurious clothing stores.
"We are going for the clothes first." A jubilant Aishwarya raced toward the men's clothing line.
Oblivious to Aishwarya's preferences, a mesmerized Sophie walked toward the women's clothing line naturally.
The only man in the group sighed as he brought Sophie toward the men's clothing line.
"Why are we in the men's section?" A confused Sophie asked.
"Cause these are more fashionable and comfy, duh. I think these khaki jeans will look good on you." A blissed Aishwarya started trying every outfit. She was happy to finally have a shopping partner after a long time.
Nitin, left alone, was handling the shopping girl, who was staring at him through mesmerized eyes.
While the ladies were happy shopping, the light in the entire area went out. Trapped inside the sudden darkness, Nitin had just opened the flashlight when the whole building started quaking as if hit by a strong earthquake.
' Damnit!' Nitin thought as the building started collapsing, and he ran toward the frozen Sophie and pushed her out of the falling rubble range.
"Ugh! " She groaned in pain as she clutched her bruised elbow. It was at that moment that a sudden portal or wormhole opened next to her, and two green-skinned short humanoid creatures dressed in rags stepped out of it.
They looked around with unfocused eyes and noticed Sophie close to them. They started to approach her while tightly grabbing their weapons.
Feeling desperate and scared at the fantastical creature walking toward her hungrily, she crawled towards Nitin. But to her horror, she found him unconscious, bleeding from his head.
She applied pressure to his wound to slow down his bleeding. That's when she saw the creature swinging his mace at her head. Left with no other choice, she curled up and tensed her body with her eyes closed, in the hope of tanking some hits for Nitin.