"Siya inki Laila hai, Rajveer," Devika started the fairytale with a grand flourish of her hands, but she was instantly interrupted by Vikram's low, mortified voice.
"Tameez se..." he mumbled, his face flushing a bright, burning crimson. He was now not even daring to lift his heavy gaze to face his brother and sister-in-law, keeping his eyes pinned strictly to his lap as he nervously fiddled with his fingers.
Devika subtly wiggled her eyebrows at Rajveer in absolute proudness. "Dekha Majnu ko!! Anyways, dono ek dusre ko bahut pasand karte hain..."
Again, Vikram's voice dropped into a tiny, hopeless whisper, his brain trying to map out a defense. "Uska pata nahi."
"DONO karte hain ek dusre ko pasand!" Devika repeated with absolute, unyielding authority, completely running over his objection. "Lekin dono hi hichkicha rahe hain—6 MAHINE SE, Rajveer!!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands wide in sheer dramatic exasperation.
Rajveer let out a slow breath, giving Vikram a helpless look of complete despair. Vikram glanced up at his older brother for a brief, terrified second before his red face immediately dropped, his eyes locking back onto his hands.
"Problem kya hai?" Rajveer asked, his voice perfectly calm as his mind stepped in to analyze the emotional deadlock.
"Problem kuch bhi nahi hai, Rajveer. Dono ka dimag ghutno mein hai bas!" Devika scolded Vikram aggressively before explaining the gravity of the situation. "Siya ek divorcee hai, aur uski ek chaar saal ki beti bhi hai. Naam shayad Avani hai na? Isliye us gadheri ko lagta hai ki is vajah se vo Vikram ke liye 'unfit' hai."
"Pata nahi," Vikram murmured under his breath, his shoulders slumping further into the chair.
Rajveer nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing into a focused gaze as he processed the psychological layout, genuinely trying to figure out how to help his younger brother navigate his boundaries.
"Vikram ne uski madad ki thi actually, cheh mahine pehle," Devika continued, her voice dropping into a softer, gentler frequency as she revealed the core of the operation.
"Avani ko cancer tha, aur na hi Siya paas dekh-bhaal ke liye koi insaan tha, na hi utne paise. To Vikram ne secretly Avani ka ilaaj karvaya aur Siya ko naukri vagaira bhi di. To is gadhere ko lagta hai ki agar vo ye usse jaake confess kar dega ki vo use pasand karta hai, to vo ye samjhegi ki ye uski majboori ka fayda utha raha hai!"
"Yakeenan!" Vikram murmured, nodding his head firmly as if she had just validated his entire logical framework.
"Bakwaas soch rahe hain dono," Rajveer concluded flatly. The blunt verdict instantly gained an aggressive, enthusiastic nod of agreement from Devika, and a betrayed "You too!" look from a deeply wounded Vikram.
"Tum dono ko aapas mein baith kar baat kar leni chahiye. Is tarah se to poori zindagi beet jayegi. For God's sake, cheh mahine bita diye tum logon ne?! This is too much!!" Rajveer scolded him, his tone rich with elder-brother authority.
"Bilkul!" Devika exclaimed in triumphant agreement, leaning over her desk with a wide grin. "Is aadmi se accha to Jai hai! Ek din college gaya, doosre din ladki pata ke laaya! Perfect!!"
The sheer absurdity of the comparison shattered the heavy tension in the room. Both Rajveer and Vikram broke character, letting out a synchronized, low chuckle.
---
"Accha, thak gaye hum. Hume kuch aur baat karni hai," Vikram announced, shifting uncomfortably in his seat to throw off the romantic spotlight. He looked up at his older brother, a sudden, incredibly wicked spark lighting up his eyes. "Bhaiya ka sar kaisa hai? Hum to poochna hi bhool gaye!"
Rajveer instantly drove a sharp, terrifying mock-glare straight into his younger brother's chest, while Devika burst into a loud, melodic giggle behind her desk. It had officially become a two-day running joke in the Jodhpur palace now. Both of them knew exactly how thoroughly tired and exasperated Rajveer had become of this particular topic, but the sibling brigade and his wife still teamed up to tease him mercilessly at every given opportunity.
"Uff yaar! Ab khatam bhi karo, shaitaano!!" Rajveer exclaimed immediately, his face flushing a faint shade of pink as he forcefully tried to stand up from his chair to escape. But they both lunged forward with their words, comically coaxing him to stay.
Once the laughter finally subsided, the atmosphere in the room shifted back into pure, unyielding precision. The three of them leaned over the mahogany desk, systematically mapping out the micro-surveillance grids and comparing the encrypted data feeds they had all independently intercepted over the last twenty-four hours. They spent another hour fine-tuning the operational blueprint against Jaipur, verifying camera angles and black-ops perimeter sweeps before a thoroughly exhausted Vikram finally decided to call it a night.
Vikram stood up, stretching his stiff shoulders, but before going toward his room, he subtly signaled Devika to come a little closer.
Leaning in, he whispered in a low, conspiratorial undertone, "Aapko inhe bhaang pilate rehna chahiye. Humse ab aur intezaar nahi hota, hume aapke bacche dekhne hain!"
At once, Devika's ears flared a brilliant, crimson red. The fierce commander vanished, replaced entirely by a thoroughly flustered wife as she violently slapped his shoulder. Vikram merely offered a wicked grin, completely unbothered by her strike.
"Ye saari bakwaas Siya ke saamne chalti to aaj baraat mein naachte tumhari!! Uske saamne to bolti band ho jaati hai na!" she scolded him sharply under her breath. Vikram let out a soft, amused huff, bid a quiet goodnight to both of them, and finally dragged himself out of the study.
When she sat back down in her leather chair, biting her lower lip nervously, she immediately noticed her husband's highly amused, penetrating gaze locked onto her face. Rajveer was leaning back slightly, his eyes glittering with an intense, running mischief. Sensing his upcoming tease, Devika dramatically backed her head away from him a fraction of an inch.
"Aapko kya hai?" she asked defensively, though her sharp mind already perfectly calculated the exact trajectory of his thoughts.
"Kuch nahi. Hum to bas soch rahe the ki aisa kya bol diya usne ki aap aise laal-peeli ho gayi," he said, his voice dripping with a captivated smirk as he leaned across his elbow to look at her more closely.
"Hum girgit hain jo laal-peele honge? Bakwaas mat karo!" she tried to scold him hesitantly, her usual lethal command entirely failing her under his intense proximity.
"Oo... To usne aapke kaano ko paint kar diya hai!! Ab samjhe !" he teased her even more, his eyes focusing straight on the blazing scarlet color of her ears.
Devika immediately gave him a sharp, narrow-eyed look. Moving with aggressive, rapid-fire precision, she snapped her fingers up, pulled the elastic band out of her ponytail, and let her thick hair tumble completely open, violently shaking the dark silk forward to shield her burning ears from his sight.
Rajveer let out a rich, low chuckle that vibrated beautifully through the quiet room.
---
In reality, the entire legendary "Bhaang" crisis had unspooled on the glorious evening of Holi, exactly two days ago. After ruthlessly playing with water pipes and colors for over three grueling hours inside the secret grove of the garden, the entire sibling brigade, along with the monarchs, had completely collapsed flat onto the cool green grass out of sheer, breathless exhaustion.
Jai had volunteered to jog back to the royal kitchens to bring a tray of refreshing, chilled thandai for the weary warriors. Before he left the garden, he had been explicitly, strictly ordered by Devika to ensure he did not bring the special bhaang-infused thandai anywhere near Avani or Rajveer.
But that absolute idiot!
Jai had completely mixed up the silver glasses. Operating with zero survival instincts, he had marched right back into the garden and confidently placed the heavy, bhaang-loaded thandai glass straight into the hands of a thoroughly unsuspecting Rajveer, while greedily downing the regular, completely non-intoxicated fruit juice himself.
They chatted on the cool lawn for a few hours as the evening shadows deepened, the sibling brigade's voices gradually quietening from their earlier Holi high. Throughout it all, Devika noticed that Rajveer was being uncharacteristically, deeply silent.
She initially brushed it off, thinking he was simply drained from the intense three-hour water war. But after a few hours, when the entire group was finally standing up to head back inside the palace, she gently nudged his shoulder with her elbow to signal him to move with them.
He slowly turned his head to look at her, his expression shifting into a completely innocent, childish manner. He tilted his head to the side, but as the ambient garden lights hit his face, she saw that his eyes were shockingly, violently bloodshot red and watery.
"Aapko kya hua, Rajveer?" Devika asked immediately, her sharp instincts flaring as her voice sharpened with instant concern.
The exact millisecond she spoke, the entire sibling brigade froze, their attention focusing entirely on the King.
"Hum... Hume din mein taare dikh rahe hain," Rajveer murmured, his deep, raspy voice sounding completely slurred, loose, and heavy.
He raised a long, uncoordinated finger, pointing blindly into the empty night sky. "Do. Teen. Chaar... Are? Teen-teen Devika!!! Haye, hum to dhanya ho gaye!!"
The realization slammed into Devika's brain like a physical weight. The clinical, corporate ruler of Jodhpur was completely, thoroughly stoned.
She snapped her head around, throwing a terrifying, murderous glare straight toward Jai, who was standing a few feet away, holding an empty silver pitcher and looking completely blank, entirely unaware of what had just unspooled. "Zindagi bhar sudhro ge nahi tum, kasam kha rakha hai na tumne!" she scolded Jai fiercely, her hands flying out as she quickly slid her shoulder beneath Rajveer's broad frame to steady his swaying weight.
"Humne kya kiya?!" Jai asked at once, his defenses instantly pinging as he took a defensive step back.
"Kya kiya? Mana kiya tha Rajveer ko bhaang mat dena!" she barked, her eyes flashing with a dangerous authority.
The pieces finally clicked inside Jai's chaotic brain. He stared down at the pitcher, his face splitting into a sudden, wide, and entirely shameless grin as the logistical error became clear. "Oooh! Tabhi to! Hume nasha ho hi nahi raha! Hume laga tha hum bhi bade ho gaye!" he chuckled out loud.
But his proud grin vanished in a fraction of a millisecond as another icy, lethal glare from a thoroughly unamused Devika cut through the air, forcing him to shut his mouth instantly while Rajveer happily leaned his entire heavy frame against his wife's shoulder, giggling like a schoolboy.
Then, as she tried to make him stand up properly, he suddenly and defensively pushed her hands away from him, stumbling back a step on the grass. "Off me, young lady! I am married, for God's sake!!" he announced with supreme, slurred indignation, his English accent perfectly crisp despite the heavy haze in his brain.
The entire sibling brigade erupted into a massive round of hushed giggles. It was a spectacular comedic paradox; wasn't this untouchable monarch literally just celebrating the fact that he was seeing three Devikas a single minute ago, and now his stoned brain didn't even recognize her identity?
"You are married to me, for God's sake!" Devika shot back ruthlessly, rolling her big round eyes as she lunged forward again, wrapping her arm securely around his waist to pull his massive frame off the ground.
"Really? I am married to YOU?" Rajveer exclaimed, his bloodshot eyes widening in absolute, unadulterated surprise as he looked down at her face.
"Why? What's wrong with me?" she said, looking comically offended as she adjusted her grip on his shoulder.
"You're so damn beautiful, my God!!!" Rajveer replied instantly, his voice filled with a raw, breathless reverence that completely lacked his standard, cold restraint.
Devika's ears flared a brilliant, instant shade of crimson scarlet under the sudden, devastating compliment. Overwhelmed by her own shyness, she instinctively dropped her head, hiding her flushed face against his broad shoulder while the sibling brigade absolutely lost their minds, breaking into a loud chorus of laughter, high-pitched whistles, and triumphant cheering at the raw confession.
How on earth could this formidable, international corporate mastermind be so deeply, thoroughly intoxicated by just half a glass of thandai?
The entire sibling brigade's fingers were practically tickling with a desperate, burning urge to pull out their smartphones and shoot a high-definition video of this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime scene. Vikram and Harsh even reached toward their pockets, but they forcefully forbade themselves from crossing that boundary, knowing that recording the Maharaj of Jodhpur in such a compromised state would be pushing a family joke a little too far.
Instead of playing with their cameras, Vikram and Harsh quickly mobilized into active security mode. They cautiously looked outside the borders of the secret garden grove, scanning the corridors and lawns to ensure absolutely no lingering state guests, palace guards, or media cameras were anywhere in the vicinity.
Once everything was cleared, the brothers and sisters swarmed around the chaotic couple, effectively hiding the giggling, stumbling King from sight and guiding Rajveer and Devika safely back up the private stairs and into the quiet sanctuary of their room.
---
The journey from the moonlit secret grove of the garden to the safety of the room was a masterclass in managing a thoroughly compromised monarch. With Vikram and Harsh executing a professional visual sweep ahead, the sibling brigade formed a tight, protective human shield around the couple, entirely determined to preserve the King's dignity from any lingering palace staff.
Rajveer, completely oblivious to his brothers' security maneuvers, refused to break his unyielding, heavy focus on Devika. As they navigated the winding sandstone corridors, his long arms wrapped around her waist with the desperate, territorial grip of a koala. Every time she tried to gently shift his weight to make walking easier, he would let out a low, deeply offended grunt, anchoring his chin heavily right on top of her shoulder.
"Devika... Where are we going? Are the aliens attacking already?" he mumbled loudly, his deep, raspy voice carrying a childlike curiosity that made Jai snort with laughter from the front line. "Stay by my side. There are dangerous entities outside. I must protect my lady."
"Haan, haan, Hukum sa. Alien attack kar rahe hain. Aur koi kaam-waam to hai nahi alien logon ke paas," Devika whispered back as she manually guided his clumsy, long legs up the grand marble staircase.
Every single time they crossed a photo or painting of her, or just a group photo featuring her on the giant walls, Rajveer would stop dead in his tracks. He would blink his watery, bloodshot eyes dramatically at it, and then cut his gaze back down to her face with pure, unadulterated awe.
"Wooooooww!!! Who is she? She looks like you?" he would ask in a dazed whisper.
When she would tell him that it was she only, he would exclaim, "I have hit a jackpot, man!!!" with a goofy, breathless grin, entirely stripping away his decade-long European coldness.
By the time they finally reached the double doors of their private suite, the siblings swiftly turned the brass handles, pushed them inside, and backed away with triumphant, mocking winks, closing the doors firmly to lock them in their sanctuary.
Devika let out a massive, exhausted sigh, her muscles aching from carrying his towering frame. With a great deal of maneuvering, she managed to guide him across the Persian rug and gently tipped his heavy body backward onto the soft, plush mattress of the grand bed.
"Uff! Chhoriye ab, Raj!" she panted out, attempting to straighten her posture.
But Rajveer was absolutely not in the mood to release his captive. The exact millisecond his back hit the pillows, his fingers convulsively tightened around the fabric of her white anarkali suit. With a sudden, uncoordinated heave, he pulled her straight down with him, forcing her to collapse right onto his broad chest, his arms locking around her back as if she was a teddy bear.
Devika propped her elbows against his shoulders, looking down into his innocent, heavily hooded face with a look of spectacular mock-irritation.
"Ye sahi hai! Aise to das feet ki doori banaye rakhte ho humse, abhi aadha glass kya chadha liya, pyaar aa raha hai?!" she scolded him playfully, a brilliant smirk plastered on her face as she tried to pry his fingers off her waist. "Jao, nahi aa rahe aapke paas! Chhoro hume!"
She expected him to scoff, or perhaps mumble another ridiculous, slurred English line.
Instead, the response she received completely short-circuited her brain.
Rajveer's sharp, masculine features suddenly twisted into a portrait of absolute, heartbreaking distress. His bottom lip began to tremble violently, his big eyes overflowed with fresh, glassy tears, and right there in front of his thoroughly stunned wife, the formidable Maharaj of Jodhpur let out a loud, pathetic, and entirely childish wail.
"I am sorry! I am so, so sorry, Devika!" he wailed dramatically, his chest heaving under his wrinkled white kurta as he buried his face straight into the crook of her neck, tightening his clingy hold until she couldn't even breathe. "Don't go! I would never leave you alone again, I promise! Sorry!"
Devika froze completely, her bold mouth running entirely dry as she stared at the crying, giant toddler in her arms. A sudden wave of intense, overwhelming tenderness washed over her heart, her giggles instantly melting away into a soft, breathless gasp as she realized that underneath the heavy haze of the bhaang, her strict, introverted prince was completely exposing just how deeply, terrifyingly dependent he had become on her warmth.
---
"Are, are... Shhh. Rajveer, rukiye! Hum mazak kar rahe the, baba!" Devika panicked softly, her reflexes entirely useless against this sudden emotional ambush.
She frantically tried to pull back slightly to look at his face, but he flatly refused to loosen his grip. He kept his face buried deep in the crook of her neck, his broad shoulders shaking under his wrinkled white kurta as he let out another pathetic, muffled whimper. He gripped her as if the entire universe would dissolve if he let go for even a single millisecond.
"Nahi... Aap door chale jaengi. I am a very boring husband, I know. I am sorry," he slurred miserably, his English collapsing into a thick, vulnerable Marwari accent as the bhaang completely took over his executive logic. "Hum nahi soenge. Aap chale jaoge."
Realizing that this giant, beautiful toddler was not going to let her move an inch until he was fully satisfied, Devika let out a long sigh that was overflowing with pure, unadulterated adoration.
"Theek hai, theek hai. Hum kahin nahi ja rahe. Hum yahin hain," she whispered soothingly against his messy black hair.
With a great deal of gentle maneuvering, she managed to slide her legs onto the mattress, shifting her posture until she was lying dow right beside him on the bed. The exact second her side pressed against his, Rajveer's dramatic wailing stopped instantly. He let out a deep, shaky, and thoroughly satisfied sigh, immediately throwing one massive, heavy leg over her hips and burying his face right into her chest, completely pinning her beneath his solid warmth.
Devika couldn't help but let out a silent, bubbling giggle at his cute clinginess.
She wrapped her tiny arms around his broad shoulders, anchoring him to her heart. Then, she raised her left hand, her fingers gently slicing through his dark, thick hair. She began to softly, rhythmically pat his head, using the familiar, grounding touch to soothe the erratic, drug-induced racing of his mind.
As the quietness of the palace room wrapped around them, Devika closed her eyes and began to softly hum, her voice dropping into a tender, low frequency as she sang an old, traditional Rajasthani lullaby her mother used to whisper to her:
"Ollo chho, mhara thal mha lada...
Sovo sovo, mhara raaj..."
Her melodic whisper floated beautifully through the shadows of the suite. Under the hypnotic, continuous rhythm of her fingers tracing through his hair and the sweet magic of the traditional song, the tense lines on Rajveer's sharp features finally began to iron out. His rapid, panicked breathing gradually slowed down, settling into a deep, heavy, and regular cadence against her collarbone.
Within a few minutes, the King of Jodhpur had officially lost his battle to the bhaang, falling fast asleep in the tightest, most protective embrace he had ever allowed himself to indulge in. Devika looked down at his calm, sleeping face in the dim moonlight, her thumb gently tracing a soft circle over his cheek as she silently vowed to protect this innocent, hidden side of her strict King forever.
---
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