Mysterious Intentions

Entrance gate, Gurukul

"Ouch," Mriga fell down and landed on her butt with a hard thump.

She had banged into someone, without even realising it. That's what near zero hours of sleep did to a person. Rubbing her back, she got up gingerly and raised her gaze at the cause of her fall.

"Hi!" Yash's face held unmistakable joy and surprise at this moment.

He was looking particularly handsome with a young orange sun rising, forming as a lovely backdrop, getting ready to shine.

Mriga's heart missed a beat but the next moment she steeled herself and said, "Sorry, it was my mistake. Excuse me."

Before she could walk past him, he slipped his hand through the crook of her elbow and brought her close to him in an embrace, all in one fluid motion.

"What are...?" her next words were swallowed in the kiss which he planted on her surprised lips.

"Sorry, I stole it. But I just needed something to keep me going. Don't hold it against me, please. I get it that you are angry and I am ready and waiting for my punishment, though not being able to see you and talk to you is the worst punishment anyways. Why do you look so tired? Have you not been sleeping well? Don't work so hard. And... ah, I heard that you are participating in the competition. All the very best. You can do it. Let me know if I can help in any possible way," he said it all in one breath.

Pushing him back, Mriga landed a solid punch on his jaw.

"Don't ever get presumptuous with me, again. Hear me? You are no longer my boyfriend. We are done!" with that she picked up the bag which had fallen on the ground and walked off.

Her heart had really melted at his words in that moment and the punch was aimed as much at herself as was at him. It was to remind her that she wasn't going to go down the same road, again. Never!

Yash rubbed the sore spot where she had hit him and smiled ruefully to himself. Do your best in keeping me away and I will do my best to fight it! He picked up the sheaf of parchments which had fallen from his hand and shook the dust off them. He had been on his way to board a carriage to go and meet his father, who had come to the capital on an errand when he ran into her, just now.

Eastern Zilla

Amrapali stood erect in front of the zilla chief. The Eastern zilla head, Dushyant was a transgender and preferred being addressed as Sharada, his female alterego. He had worked really hard throughout his thirty-five years of existence and made it to the position of a zilla chief a few years ago. He was the youngest amongst all four zilla heads and also the mildest and quietest of all.

He ran the zilla pretty much in the same order as his predecessor and was known to be a people pleaser.

Hence, it came as a surprise to Amrapali when she received the urgent summons to present herself to his office. Suraksha Chakra offices in all zillas operated under the direct command of the queen through the recruitment head who was based out of the Gurukul. The buildings were hidden in plain view as vanilla administrative offices of obscure nature in their respective zillas. Since, they operated strictly under the radar, their presence was usually of no consequence to the zilla heads or their officers.

As soon as Amrapali received the summons, she sent out a missive to Prithvi, informing him about the same. She wasn't expecting a reply back from him before she went for the meeting since she had been asked to report to the zilla chief that same evening.

Before going into his office, Amrapali had been informed by the official that she was supposed to address the chief as a female.

Dressed in a pastel muslin robe along with a churidar*, there was no embellishments on Dushyant's body to showcase his feminine self. Chandragarh didn't restrict its people from practicing their personal choices whether it was in terms of religion, gender or occupation, as long as it didn't impact other people, adversely. This was unlike the other nations where anybody outside the defined gender roles was treated with phobia and discrimination.

It had been ten minutes since Amrapali stood in the chief's cabin but was yet to be acknowledged. Sweating slightly, she wondered for the umpteenth time about the purpose of her presence here.

"So, you are the business head of that big place near the coast," Sharada (aka Dushyant) looked up from the ledger book and remarked as a way of greeting.

Amrapali nodded her head and smiled uncertainly.

"Well, we would like to purchase that land from you. You will be given the same square foot area in another place. Since you have no retail business, the location of your property doesn't really impact your business operations, does it? So, it's settled then. Please speak with the officer standing outside about the details. Shut the door on your way out," Sharada said and went back to the ledger kept on the table.

What??? What was up with this person?

"I am sorry, Ma'am. Uh, I am not willing to sell my place," Amrapali began cautiously.

Sharada looked up sharply, "Did I say that you were being consulted about this? The zilla needs that land for official purposes and under the Chandragarh Lands Act, you are not allowed to refuse. Please go back and start preparing to move."

Amrapali wanted to retort back but she held herself in check. Under no circumstances could she reveal that they were operating under the queen's directive. here. She would have to send another message to the Capital and await Prithvi's response.

Pasting a polite expression on her face, she bowed and left from there.

*Churidaar - Leggings