Chapter 9

"Listen, I want to clear something." he said calmly.

"What?" she asked.

Here DD slowly moved forward towards Neil's cabin as told by Shweta.

Silence had prevailed in the cabin with Avni waiting for Neil's answer and Neil not sure about how to disclose his identity to this stranger suspicious girl.

"Itna sannatta kyon hai bhai?"(Why is there so much silence?!) Shweta exclaimed from the phone and DD facepalmed himself.

Both Neil and Avni snapped their faces in the direction of the source of sound and stared at DD.

Avni was confused and asked him,
"What are you doing here?"

Neil sensed some familiarity with the source of sound that he had heard. Then it striked him....it was his mom's voice. And then, he connected the dots. His mom must have wanted to know about his meeting with the girl that she had selected. And DD was more of his mom's khabri(spy) than being a police officer. No doubt that he really worked hard but his spying had to stop.
"Who made him police officer?ughh!!" he groaned internally.

"um...mm ......woh ma'am actually there was no network outside....and I had to make an important call" DD answered finally and then tapped his phone and ended the video call immediately. Then he put his phone near his ear and started,
"Hello....Hello....can you hear me?? No??? Ohh no....still there is network problem" he sighed dramatically.
"I'll come later, I have an important call to make....bye", he waved at them and then hurried outside the cabin.

Neil and Avni, both were in a daze about what had happened.

Avni broke the silence,
"Is this really a police station?? This place is full of weirdos......."

"What?what did you say?" Neil narrowed his eyes at her.

" Nothing.....chuck it. Now, what were you going to say?" she asked him.

"Actually I-...I'm the ACP. My name-........" he was interrupted as Avni spoke

"Liar.....I do have eyes.....I don't think so 'Dakhal Dayaal' stands for the initials   'N. K.' " she said confidently and crossed her arms across her chest.

"You think you know everything,  don't you? Now don't interrupt me and listen to what I'm saying carefully...." he said frustratingly.

She rolled her eyes and he continued,
" I'm not DD i.e. my name is not DD."

She gaped at him and then questioned him, " If you are not a police officer, what are you doing here? What did you do to the real officer DD? Does this DD person really exist? Wait a minute.....then what is your name? I knew it....I knew it you are a fraud....I was right for not trusting you. What are your intentions? Come on tell me quick. How did you fool everyone in this office? What-...."

"Stopppppp!!!!" he shouted. It was surely loud enough that everyone in the office must have heard. Avni's mouth remained open as she was interrupted by his loud voice.

"Kitna bolti hu tum?!! zara apne thoughts ki train ki chain kheecho....."(How much do you speak?! Please pull the chain of the train of your thoughts) he said calming himself.

"Okay....so straight to the point, I'm the ACP......ACP Neil Khanna....i.e. 'N. K.' " he said waiting for her reaction.

"Neil Khanna? Did I hear it right? Can he be that Neil Khanna? My childhood frien- sorry childhood enemy? Well, there might be many Neil Khannas in this world.....but his eyes....they did seem familiar.......ughhhh.... I'm thinking too much......This isn't him. Even if he is, it doesn't matter. I'm here for my mission, nothing or no one can stop me from completing it. But wait a minute, why did he lie to me then? And how do I believe that he isn't lying now?" Avni trailed further in her thoughts.

"Hey....hello? Are you there? Zinda ho ya shock se heartattack aaya?"(Are you alive or did you get heartattack due to shock?) he snapped his fingers in front of her face to break her trance of thoughts.

"You- You are Neil Khanna......but why did you lie yesterday then?What was the need for it? And how do I believe that you're not lying now?"

"Just like you said, main bhi ajnabee logon ko apna naam nahi bataata( even I don't tell my name to strangers). Besides, as you see, I'm the ACP and it could be the case that you were some criminal so I couldn't risk telling you my name. Actually, I'm still not sure about your identity, whether you're a thief, spy, murderer or any other type of criminal " he answered shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Ohh hello...listen....you must be a criminal, I'm not. I'm still not sure about your identity. N. K. or DD? Actually, chuck it. You've already wasted enough of my time with your unnecessary drama. Nevermind....I'll just call and ask"

"Who is she calling?Ohh no.... she'll call mom and then again mom will start with her lecture and drama. I'll have to sort this matter here only and clearly tell her that I'm not interested" he thought.

"Wait....You wanted to talk to me right? Here I am. Listen, I'm really not interested in this. And I don't think anything can workout between us. Your thoughts and mine will never match. So I think you should change your mind and say no to this. If you want, I can help you in other things. Do you want to file a complaint against anyone? I'll help" he asked her, not paying heed to her and continued arranging the files on his desk.
"iska pata nahi par iske khilaaf zarur kisiko complaint karni hogi...( Don't know about her but someone must surely be wanting to complaint against her)" he muttered lowly but Avni still heard it

Avni was numb for sometime, processing everything that he had said and then, she answered
"Complaint toh tumhaari karni chahiye.....logon ko gumraah karne ke
ilzaam mein( actually someone should complaint about you....for misguiding people). And by the way, who are you to tell  me that I should not accept this? I will accept it. And so what if our thinking does not match? You continue doing your work and I'll do mine. And yes, i don't need any help to file any complaint. Now call DCP sir" she said.

"Is she mad? It is crystal clear that I'm not interested in her and by her behaviour, I don't think so she is interested in me too. Then why is she ready to go ahead with this silly relation thing? She's crazy.... totally crazy. Ajooba. Trust mom with bringing weird rishta(relation) for me. But why does this Ajooba wants to talk with DCP sir? What is cooking in her head?"  he thought.

"Not until you tell me what's the matter. I cannot disturb him for nothing. I'll help you" he answered her.

"I don't need your help, I'm already irritated"

"Fine then, sit here till you want to. Just don't eat anyone's head, we really are trying to work here" he said arrogantly.

"Yes, I can see what 'work' you'll are doing" she replied

Outside Neil's cabin, DD was sitting, at his desk, relaxing on his chair as sweat beads had formed on his head. He put the small table fan on his desk and felt the cool air fanning his face. The inside scene had left him in a panic state. It was always like this; he would always get sandwiched between his Sir ji and Maataji. Like mother, like son. And now to add to the list, another person i.e his 'honewali bhabhi ji'( future-sis-in-law). He sighed. Not a moment later, his phone rang. He saw the caller ID and felt like crying. It was none other than Shweta.

"Should I answer or not?  But if I don't, she'll kill me for not answering her call....Ufff!!" he thought and answered
"Hello Maataji....."

"What's happening DD? why did you disconnect the call?" Shweta asked.

"Ma'am, Neil Sir heard your voice....now he'll definitely intervene me for this. What should I do?"

" You don't worry about that. Just keep giving me updates about them. My boy hardly notices any girl and now, he has a girlfriend! Ofcourse I'll be excited. Now listen to me. We should....- "

DD interrupted her as he saw DCP Sir entering the police station,
"DCP Sir!! Sorry Maataji, talk to you later" saying this he ended the call.

Here, on the other hand, Neil and Avni.
She was sitting on one of the chairs playing on her phone and  he was trying to concentrate on his work but wasn't able to. His mind kept replaying the thoughts of a certain someone sitting in the same room. He was annoyed with himself and decided to put an end to this. He stood in front of Avni and crossed his hands.

"Listen, you are here since an hour, you must leave. By the way, you didn't tell me your name. What's your name?"

"I didn't tell you my name coz I don't want to. Simple"

"Ughh.....you are so irritating. How does your family handle you?!!"

"Oye listen, mind your own business" she said, standing up and pointing a finger at him accusingly.

Neil looked into her eyes. The familiarity feeling with those dark brown eyes was back. The same anger filled eyes. He knew she was dead, so this can't be her. Staring into her eyes, he remembered something.

Flashback
8 years ago
The kids in the society were playing football as usual. Avni returned from her school in the evening and watching her new friends playing even she got excited. She left her bag on the garden bench and started playing with them.

           After sometime, Neil returned from his tuition classes and entered the society. He saw the scene before him. The New girl aka Ajooba aka Avni Mehta was playing with his friends. He didn't know why but he didn't like her. His friends had appreciated her and taken her side the last time they played together. And now again, they were playing together. Some of his friends saw him, waved at him and then again continued playing. No one bothered to ask him to join. It was never the case before. Before Avni Mehta came. He saw how all their faces were beaming with joy.

"Avni.....what a goal Yaar!! Too good bro!!" Karan shouted and gave her a high-five.

"Yo .....we are ahead of them....I'm sure we're winning this game" she said happily.

"No.....let's end this game and make new teams again. Avni will be in my team" Arjun said.

"Now that you are losing, you want her in you team?! Not possible dude" Rohan said and all of them continued arguing.

Neil was standing at a distance and observing all of them. He felt jealous. Earlier, they used to fight for him like that. Now, no one was paying attention at him.

All of them started playing again. Rohan passed the ball to Avni and she was speeding towards the goal post for scoring a goal. Suddenly, the ball was snatched from her and next she hears, it was a goalll!!! She looked to her left and saw Neil smirking at her. She felt the heat growing on her face due to anger.
Some boys came from behind and started congratulating Neil.

"What a goal dude!!! Yeah!!!" Arjun yelled.

Here, Avni was fuming with anger.

"Oye....you were not in the game. How can you come in between and score the goal??Also, the teams were already divided equally. Why did you come in between?"

"Woh Kya hai naa 'Ajooba', I was showing you how to play....." a victorious smirk kept playing on his lips.

"Listen,you don't need to show me anything ok. Who the hell do you think you are?Ronaldo? But he never cheats, unlike you. So you can't be him" she said in an accusing tone pointing her index finger towards him.

Now, even Neil got irritated. He opened his mouth to give her reply but got lost in her eyes. They spitted fire. How can such a small thing can get her so worked up? he thought.
He came out of his trance and started arguing with her. Both of them kept on arguing and blabbering until their friends had to pull them apart.

Flashback over

Neil was still lost in his thoughts, thinking about those fire spitting eyes. Yes, this stranger girl reminded him of her......his childhood-enemy. And Avni still kept on blabbering.

"Hey, are you listening?Oye day-dreamer!!" Avni snapped her fingers in front of his face.

He came out his trance and started looking here and there. Then, he composed himself and was about to say something but was interrupted.

"What's going on?!!!" a third person's voice caused the both of them to snap their faces towards it.

It was DCP sir and trailing behind him was a worried DD.

"Jai hind Sir" both Avni and Neil said together, saluting the DCP.

Neil turned his face towards Avni, a little surprised. Why did she salute him?How does she know him? he thought.

"Arre waah, even DCP sir knows about Bhabhi?!!" DD thought.

Avni forwarded her hand towards DCP Sir for a handshake and said,
"Hi Sir, I'm Ananya Verma"

"Ananya Verma" Neil repeated in his head.

"Hello to you to, Ananya. I see you've met our officer Neil" DCP said.

Avni aka Ananya nodded.

Neil was confused. "Sir, how do you know her?"

"Yes Sir, how do you know bhabhi?!!" DD asked.

All three of them snapped their faces in DD's direction as the words spilled out of his mouth.

"Bhabhi??" both DCP and Avni asked.

"DD!!!!" Neil said gritting his teeth while trying to control his anger at DD's blunder.

"I think so I heard something else I guess. Let it be. Neil already knows her. I'll introduce her to you DD.
She is Officer Ananya Verma, topper of her batch and is very competent, persistent. I've seen her during her training days. She just recently completed her training and on my recommendation, she's here to work with us.
Some days ago, I had informed you about the addition of a  a new officer right?

Flashback (Chapter 3)

"Any other important news DD??"asked Neil while walking back towards his  cabin.

"Yes Sir, some new officers are going  to join us in some days. Commissioner Sir told me to inform you about this" DD answered.

"Ohk..... let's see. "

Flashback over

"This is her. Welcome Officer Ananya!!" DCP said.

To say both Neil and DD were stunned would be an understatement.

Avni smirked while looking in Neil's direction and then continued talking with DCP sir.

While Neil was able to hide his astonishment, DD whispered in Neil's ear,

" Sir, why did you not tell me that even Bhabhi is a police officer?"

"Shut up DD!! She isn't your Bhabhi" Neil whisper yelled.

"So all of this was misunderstanding. She's here because of the job and mom didn't send her here for our rishta. I didn't expect her to be a police officer. How dumb of me?! But then what was the surprise mom and DD were talking about?And this DD, without even knowing anything, how can he call  her as Bhabhi? Idiot. All of this is because of him and mom" he sighed internally.

I know this update is too too late. 😌So Avni as police officer😁 What do you'll think?