Sometimes, someone's company is a vibe.

Pratima- Playing Chaya

I slept immediately. There was no time to give a thought to the fact that I was sleeping on the same bed as Praneet. I was too tired for any wild imaginations.

With the chirping of birds near the window, I got up to a picturesque view of the mountains.
It felt like home. Like Mussoorie. The curtains were drawn in the night, who removed them? I saw the other side of the bed which was empty.

I got up lazily but the view was so beautiful I wanted to see it closely. Admiring nature and its creation was satisfying to watch.

"You gleam like the sunlight," Praneet remarked and I looked in his direction.
Fuck! So hot!
He must have returned from a jog or gym coz his muscles were bulging out. His chest was moving up and down with his breathing and I was killing the urge to not touch those sexy muscles.

"Stop staring, woman." He commented and I had to stop ogling at my husband.

I wanted to see more because whatever I did was not enough. He drank from his sipper to hide his 'smile', I think.

I went towards the dressing room to check if I had anything to wear. A few dresses were kept with matching accessories. What I was looking for was undergarments. It was the basic necessity and something I cannot borrow from Praneet. His mother sent everything. Varieties of shoes and sandals with an entire range of makeup products, I didn't know about. But where were the undergarments? I looked everywhere but they weren't there. My new parents were not even bothered about the problems I might face.

"Any problem?" Praneet asked.

"I want to speak to your mother. I need a few things." I told him.

Praneet was looking at the dresses on the display and asked me, "What more do you need? I think she has sent everything. I have arranged fresh set of toiletries for you in the bathroom."

"Can I speak to her please?" I requested again.

"No. Whatever you have please manage." Praneet declined rudely and went out of the dressing room.

"I genuinely need something, please." I politely requested him again.

"Okay tell me I will arrange for you. I cannot call my mother now."

Why was he being so stubborn?

"I need undergarments. Can you arrange for me?" I asked him curtly.

"Umm... She must have sent." Praneet scanned the items sent. "Can you repeat from yesterday?" He hesitated to say but when he saw my hard glare he kept quiet.

"Why can't you call your mother?" I asked again.

"Because she is not home. She is only here on special occasions. My... My parents don't live together just like my grandparents." I could see pain in Praneet's eyes and I felt like holding him tight.

"If it's any consolation, my parents are living through a vituperative marriage and my mother gladly accepts the abuse. Don't know which is worse." It pained my heart to see Praneet so miserable.

He scoffed and asked, "You think marriages between royals are jinxed?"

"So, you didn't mind marrying a commoner?" My heart was throbbing hard in the anticipation of his answer and my fingers were crossed.

"I would have rather preferred. I didn't have a choice." Praneet answered honestly.

"Do you... do you have or like someone?" I never asked him. He never mentioned it. What if?

He chuckled and approached me, "No, a royal buffoon trapped me before I could crash in with someone else."

I was lost in his eyes when it struck me, he addressed me as a buffoon. I hit him on his arm but it hurt me instead.

"Why are you so violent?" Praneet asked laughing at my childishness.

"I can be more violent if I don't eat anything soon and that is after taking a bath." I cleared my plans.

"The bathroom is all set. Take a bath," he came close to me and whispered in my ear, "you may choose to not wear anything, I seriously don't mind."

My eyes went wide on his comment. I gritted my teeth hard and was about to scold him when I remembered I had a set of undergarments. I pushed him aside and took out all the lingerie I received last night. One of them had a decent pair.
Thank God!
I locked the dressing room and the bathroom. This bathroom was even more stylish and beautiful than Chaya's. I could pay rent and stay here. I took a relaxing bath and changed into a gorgeous wine coloured suit. There were other dresses too but I wanted to wear something Indian today.
I didn't experiment with makeup because I didn't know most of the things. At Chaya's home the stylists did it and I didn't learn from them.

I came out of the dressing room and Praneet was ready by then. Did he not take a bath? He looked so fresh though.
'You mean sexy' my heart corrected my vocabulary and I gladly agreed.

He turned and stood rooted.
Aha!
I liked that effect. I snapped my fingers to bring him to reality.

"You look... You look... Wow!" A genuine verbal compliment from the boy I loved so much, surely made my cheeks scarlet.

"Oh! Last I checked I was a royal buffoon?" How I love my newly acquired witty self.

Praneet just smiled and offered, "Breakfast?"
I nodded and sat down.

"You always have breakfast in the room?" I asked him applying butter to my toast.

"I love the view from my room and Ragini mostly joins me. Dad is busy in his own life and who wants Dada Saab's company." Praneet poured fresh juice for me while telling me about his family.
He was opening up and I felt it wasn't difficult to have a decent conversation with him. Probably we never spoke to each other properly.

"After breakfast and before lunch at Aryabhoomi with your parents let's shop some stuff for you." Praneet offered.

"I... Don't have money and I don't want you to buy anything for me. To be honest, sharing life with you is just for a namesake and you are already my self-appointed "bodyguard" so just stick to being that. I don't want to sound rude but..." I stopped saying further because Praneet put his fingers on my lips.
Can I kiss them?
"You can't!" My brain warned.

"I get it. So, why don't you draw your salary in advance from the office and shop from that?" Praneet's suggestion was good.

"How much do I get?" I enquired excitedly.

"Five hundred thousand!" Praneet answered.

"Sure. The owner of the company, that is you, draws four hundred thousand and an intern gets more? Mr Kesari, I thought you were better at managing your finances." I was not happy with him lying.

"Sorry. But the actual amount you should get, I doubt you will be able to get a single dress, princess." Praneet taunted me with my title but
he didn't know the real me. I could get two dresses for thousand rupees.

"I don't want to take anything from my parents. I rather wear stuff from street shops than take anything from them. Praneet, I have decided to not take the wedding gifts my parents give me today. I cannot forgive them for trading me." I requested with hope and wanted Praneet to understand.

"Chaya, anything you say after my name, consider it done. I don't know why but whenever you say my name, a spell is cast on me." Praneet declared looking deep into my eyes.

"Really? Let's check, Praneet... Finish this glass of milk in one go." I challenged him and he did. I was impressed.

"Praneet, do disco dance." I was hiding my wicked grin.

He looked at me in disbelief but he did. A mad disco dance without music and it was so funny.

"Good job! Praneet, say, "I am a royal buffoon five times." I was sure he would give up on this one.

He took my hand in his and repeated five times, "I am a royal buffoon to call this pretty girl a buffoon."

I retracted my hand and stopped the game.

"What? Gave up already?" Praneet questioned with a sly smile but I didn't reply. The game made me forget the problems and I just knew that my life was happy if it had Praneet in it. Sadly, it was not permanent.

*********************************************************************************************************************
Chaya- Playing Pratima

A knock on the door brought Ragini and me back to reality and I opened the gate to see it was Nani.
"Pri, why didn't you go to the office? Ragini you need rest or will you start working?"

"I am good to start, Nani." Ragini was full of energy and Nani couldn't be happier.

"Good. We don't have time. The deal papers that got delayed from Mr Raheja have arrived and they are in your office. Analyse them before signing the deal." Nani locked the room before pushing us to the office. She didn't want a minute to be wasted.

Ragini and I were clueless about legal documents but my dear brother Uday was not. His father was a lawyer and checked this deal. He cross-checked and asked me to sign.

Don't worry about signature. Ragini was a part-time hacker. She had forged her parents signature all her life. She can forge Pri's signature easily. She was practising it while I had a story to tell Uday.

Yes, the story of the METAMORPHIC SWITCH. He heard me patiently and when I assured him Pratima was more than fine, he relaxed.

"Princess, don't you think it's strange you and Pri look so similar? I mean, I agree they say there are seven similar looking people in the world. But you two look strikingly same." Uday raised his doubts.

"First, don't call me princess. I am running away from being one. Second, I don't know. Royal bloodline has always had several affairs. Not that I am proud of it but it could be possible some ancestors of ours mated?" I joked and Ragini laughed though Uday was shy.

"Done. Check." Ragini called us.

"Genius." I hugged her in appreciation and Uday looked at us with suspicion.

"Wherever I have marked, sign there." Uday told Ragini and she did.

Ragini gave me the papers and said, "let's go and fulfil our dream of a small business and carefree life."

We came to the construction site and asked the engineer about the progress. "Maximum a week more for it to be operational. You can announce the inauguration then."

"Really?" I asked in excitement and he nodded.

We shouted in glee and came to granny. I gave her the papers of the hotel and hugged her. She was happy too but her advise to me increased her stature manifold, "Pri, whenever in life you have enough money please return the amount invested by Raheja to him. He may have willingly given us the property but we must offer him what is his. Never claim what's not yours."

"I promise you, granny. I will repay him as and when I can. Just be with me." I wanted to stay with her forever. I doubt I will be able to survive without her after the switch was over.

Granny joked in her style, "Oh! I will! This forever twenty-one-year-old granny is not leaving you even when you get married."

"You will say that. You and your love is just a burden, Asha." Nani, who was passing from there, taunted granny. But we just laughed at her stupid remark.

It was lunch when I spoke to Pri. It took me courage to face her. The poor girl was married and living with an unknown boy in his room but Pri sounded happy.

She said she enjoyed Praneet's company and he was not how she thought he was. She sympathised with me because what my parents did was selfish and insensitive. If I was at her place it would have broken my heart beyond repair. I didn't love them but still had hope from them which were shattered with the revelations from Pri.

I was sad but Ragini cheered me up saying, "It's good. You won't feel the remorse when you marry, love."

Marry?

I had a shine in my eyes hearing the word. Did she have a plan?

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Readers
Pratima and Praneet are having a fun time with each other. How long will this last?
Ragini and Chaya are also happy about fulfilling their dreams. Uday know the secret of switch will he keep it or delve in it?

Find out!

Stay hooked!
Lots of love