Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

Devyani makes her move

"Arnav," Anjali called. "Open the door, please."

"It's unlocked," he yelled back.

"My hands are full."

A few seconds, Arnav pulled his bedroom door open and stood aside so his sister could enter.

"I wasn't hungry, Di," he grumbled, eyeing the plates she carried.

"You know as well as I do that you shouldn't be skipping meals. And instead of complaining, you should be thanking me for bringing up breakfast."

"Thank you," he said. "But I wanted some space right now."

She sighed as she set the plates on the bed. "You've been alone since yesterday. Don't you think we should talk about it?"

"What should we talk about?"

"What happened between you and Khushi in my office that day?"

"Nothing. Neither she and I can compromise on our values, so that's it. It's over."

She opened her mouth to protest but he lifted his hand up. "Di, please. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Taking pity on him, she said, "Alright, if that's what you want." They ate in silence for a few minutes. "Actually, there's something I wanted to tell you." She hesitated. It felt wrong to bring this up when he was so miserable, but she really wanted to share her news with her brother. "Yesterday I went to see Aman and...I said yes."

"Yes to what--" Realization hit him. "You agreed to his proposal?"

Anjali blushed. "Yes. I'm going to tell everyone else today, but I wanted you and Aarav to be the first to know."

"That's great, Di." Arnav smiled for what felt like the first time in days. "I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you."

***

The early morning sun filtered through the leaves, and the forest was alive with the chirping of birds and squirrels playing tag. It was a beautiful day, but Lavanya had little time to appreciate it. She moved quickly and quietly, following the faint trail of blood on the dark forest floor.

Throughout the night, they'd caught eight of the ten prisoners. And Lavanya suspected she was close to the ninth. Hopefully, the other officers, spread across the area, would find the tenth.

Up ahead, she heard someone let out a muffled curse.

Got you now, she thought.

She stepped around a tree and pounced. Within minutes, she had the man on the ground in handcuffs.

She used her walkie-talkie to ask for back-up as the escapee was twice her size and she'd need help getting him back to the road.

The man struggled, but she managed to keep him still.

After he was taken care of, they kept up the search for the final prisoner for another hour but couldn't find him.

Seeing her team's exhaustion, she decided it was time to get back to the station. The missing man was either well-hidden or had somehow made it out of the forest. Regardless, it was a waste of time and energy to remain here.

She called her superior on the way to give him a debriefing and they discussed measures to see what could be done about the last prisoner.

"We'll need to identify him and inform the public so they can keep an eye out. I'll take care of that--you interrogate the ones you captured to see how they pulled this off."