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When I was almost done with my breakfast, she said, "Go back to the girls. I am going to Bangalore as a guest faculty for one of the universities there."

After hearing her, I stopped what I was doing and looked at her.

"Ma. You know it is too much..right! Why are you stressing yourself so much? Please stop making me worry about you all the time. I am not at all against the idea of fulfilling your dreams but in that process, you shouldn't forget about your health. You can work here if that what makes you happy but stop traveling from one place to another now and then. You aren't a young lady who is brimming with full vigor." I told her before walking towards the kitchen to wash my plate.

"What do you mean by " not a young lady who is brimming with full vigor"? I'm just in my fifties. It is not at all considered as old. Hmph. Remember this, teaching is my passion and I love spreading knowledge. So don't you dare to stop me from doing so."

I heard her loud voice from the dining room as I dabbed my hands with the cloth once I was done washing my plate and walked up to my mom.

"Who is stopping you from doing it? I am just asking you to stop running everywhere in the name of those lectures." I told her while picking up my bag.

"Whatever!! As much as I like teaching, I love doing some other thing too? Wanna know them?" She asked me like an excited kid.

"As if you won't say it once I asked you not to," I mumbled in an audible tone and she shot me a glare.

"Get married soon and give me some..no no... At least a single grandchild. Then I will stop working and will spend my entire time looking after him while you and my son-in-law busy yourselves with making a sibling for him. Nice plan..right?" She asked me in a proud tone as if she found a perfect  solution to the most difficult problem in my life.

I shook my head at her helplessly as I was quite used to her, bringing up that marriage topic directly or indirectly at every given chance.

"You want a grandchild? Then I will adopt a baby..happy?" I asked her in a challenging tone.

"Adopt?" She frowned at me initially but again smiled at me before saying, "okay. Do it. At least my life won't be this boring."

She agreed to it immediately, making me look at her skeptically as I knew she wouldn't agree to even a single statement of mine without having a fair amount of argument. But this time she agreed to it just like that, which was quite unbelievable.

"But," see! I guess so.

"before doing so, get married first because I want that child to grow up and experience the love of both the parents. If you are okay with it, then adopt a baby. I don't mind it." She said with a straight face but I could sense the under-laced gloating in her tone.

"Stop trying to associate everything with that damn marriage thing. I don't want to get married..ever." I started heading to the main door before saying this after hearing the horn of Aaru's scooty.

"Then I am going to Bangalore today. Let me tell you, it won't be my last trip...hmph."  I heard her shouting.

"Then don't ask me to massage your old bones once you come back and make sure to remove those keys under that flower pot outside. Even milk boy knows your so-called hideaway," I shouted back.

"Old bones? You are the old one and your mom is the old one. Your who-? Why am I even scolding myself? About keys, then make sure that you are carrying those spare keys," she was still grumbling when I greeted Aaru who was waiting for me outside on her scooty.

"Why are you making my cutie so angry early in the morning itself? You bad meanie."

She asked me once I settled on the backside of her scooty. Yesterday Daksha drove the car as she had some emergency at her mother's place. So Aaru dropped me here and informed me that she would pick me up on her way.

"She is the biggest meanie than anyone out there. Now enough talking and start driving. It's getting late." I ushered her

"Okay. I will and you can thank me later for letting you hitch a ride on my adorable baby." She cackled at her silly statement. I just shook my head and took my mobile phone out to check today's schedule of mine.

"Oh god!! Akka, we are so dead!!!!!" She suddenly exclaimed while applying the brakes when we reached a signal.

"What happened?" I asked her while lifting my head from my phone and looked in the direction where she was looking at.

On the other side of the traffic signal, traffic police were checking the documents of the bikes by stopping everyone but I didn't understand what she was worried about.

"Traffic police are there. So what?" I asked her with a confused frown on my face.

"Akka!! Officers are checking the documents and the thing is I FORGOT TO BRING THE DOCUMENTS WITH ME TODAY. We are done for good, akka. Let's go back..okay?" She asked me and tried to reverse her bike but it was too late since one of the officers had already seen us and gestured us to come there.

"Idiot, you can't do the single thing properly," I grumbled to myself.

"What did I do? Yesterday that stupid Dhruv gave my baby for bike servicing and he removed the documents from the bike. I am being stupid, forgot to bring them along with me. If you want to blame anyone, blame that Idiot..okay?" She whined and I just glared at her, not knowing what to say to dodge her unreasonable words.

Once we reached them, one of the officers ordered us to show him the documents and instead of responding, Aaru was just fiddling with the hem of her dupatta.

"Mam, can't you hear me? Show me your RC, PUCC, and DL. Ohh. Take out your insurance papers too."

He asked us again and she looked at me in a pleading way, gesturing me to do something. I really wanted to strangle her to death but resisted myself in doing so as harming a civilian just in front of the police was considered an even more severe crime.

"Sorry, sir. We forgot to carry them along with us. We will pay the fine. Tell us the amount." I asked him in a humble tone, still thinking of ways to kill Aarna.

"Aren't you aware of the new rules? We are ordered to seize the bikes if the owners are unable to show the documents. So hand over the keys to us."

He said, making Aarna's head snap in his direction immediately and she was looking at him like she was about to cry.

"No no. It's my baby!!" She shouted.

"What baby!! Moreover, where is your helmet? Why are you not wearing it?" He questioned her and she immediately adjusted her hair with a cheeky smile and replied to him.

"Today I styled my hair to impress my hubby. So not to spoil my hairstyle, I didn't wear my helmet."

Hearing her response, the officer looked at her as if she was an alien and I couldn't resist my urge to slap that silly brain of hers. So I whacked her head and gestured her to keep quiet.

"Sir, please let us off just for this once. We won't repeat it. We will pay the fine but please don't seize the bike." I requested him but he shook his head.

"I can't do anything, Mam. It's an order from the higher officials. All I can do is, obey them. Please give me the keys." Saying this, he attempted to take the keys off the bike but Aarna held his hand to stop him.

"Sir, please stop. I am the sister of the Assistant Commissioner of  Police of the central crime branch." He reacted to her words with just a scoff.

"You see the people there! They all have said the same thing as you."

He pointed at the queue there with his finger as I mentally slapped myself at our bad luck.

"Sir, I'm telling you the truth. I am his sister. Okay. Fine. You won't believe me..right? Then let me tell you, she is the fiancée of him. He won't let you off the hook easily for making her stand like this under this hot sun." She said, compelling me to pull her hair out. God! What's this girl is doing?

"Really?" He asked me in an unsure tone as I don't know what to reply, I just shook my head vertically and horizontally.

"Yes sir. She is. No one has said that excuse till now..right?" He shook his head.

"See, then believe me. She is really his fiancée." She told him proudly.

"Ohh. Then show me proof or better call him. I want to apologize to him personally." He asked her and that dumb fellow actually took out her phone to call that Dracula.

Can't she see that the officer hasn't believed her single word and deliberately asked her to call him? Moreover, irrespective of the connections, he didn't seem like a person to let us off so easily!

"Hello, Anna."

"We are done for good. That hothead will surely bury us alive together." I gulped at that mere thought itself and started thinking of excuses to escape from his wrath.

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