Hi!
Saw the recent episodes? My Vin was soooo heroic, helping Pragya and Abhi escape, despite the danger to his own life. 😍😍😍
But he got hurt so much! 😢😭🤧
Oh I feel like killing that guy! How dare he hit Purab!? (Thora mar jao Commando!💀🔨)
Ahem..Anyway, I bet the car's brake fail, that Abhi and Pragya are in, was because the show's gonna bring our Abhi's memories back. (Yay! 🙌)

Anyways, Onwards!!!

"Words in double quotes" - Talking

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

(Words in braces) - Telephone converstaions

Chapter 26 - Misconceptions

He jerked up awake when he felt a hit to his head. "What the heck Bulbul? Why did you hit me?"

"What are you doing here dozing off at 9 am in the morning? You rarely get out of bed before 11. What are you up to Sumit?" Bulbul narrowed her eyes at him.

Sumit had been keeping watch. He and Samay had been keeping an eye over the area so that they could catch those strange men Sarla told them about. However, they didn't find any men around the house over the days. Those men were being unpredictable. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that he would tell the truth to Bulbul. "I've started doing yoga. That's why I'm making the habit of waking up early to do yoga."

"And go back to sleep after it? What kind of crazy logic is that?" 😒

"This logic is for genius minds. Leave it, don't try to understand this logic. It might fry your dim-witted brain cells."

Bulbul was about to snark back, but stopped herself. 'What's the use of arguing with a self-obsessed jerk?' She gave him the keys to his bike. "You're dropping me at college. Come on."

"Eh? Where's Pragya? Don't you usually go with her?"

"I do. But Di left early, saying she had some important work at college."

"Why don't you tell Samay then? He could drop you off." with that, Sumit closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Well, he would have, if Bulbul hadn't pulled him by the ear and practically dragged him towards his bike.

#Mount College#

Kriti and Vivek waited impatiently at the gate for the arrival of their friends. Kriti looked at Vivek's face. For some reason, Vivek looked stressed since the day they came to know of the truth. "Vivek, what's wrong?"

Vivek was broken out of his thoughts by her voice."It's..It's nothing Kriti. Just thinking about some of my projects that I have left pending."

Kriti glared at him. "Don't even try to lie Vivek. You started acting like this from that day at Shabbir's apartment. Now tell me what's wrong! Right. This. Instant!"

Vivek sighed. "I'm just worried for you, alright?" on seeing Kriti's quizzical look, he explained. "You heard how that sniper tried to kill Pragya. Shabbir said it was because she got involved in helping him with keeping the chip safe. Now, we are helping him as well. Kriti, I don't care what happens to me, but I don't want anything to happen to you. I can't lose you."

Kriti smiled at his concern. "We are all in this together Vivek. Me, you, Shabbir, Abhi, Pragya di and all the rest. And until we are all working as one, no one can harm us or defeat us! We all have each other's support." She linked her fingers with his."Most importantly, I have you. I know you won't let any harm come to me."

Vivek looked at her pointedly. "Aren't you afraid that something might happen to you Kriti?"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. But as long as we all are together, united as one, I'm ready to face any hurdle. All for one, one for all!"

Vivek watched her with a smile. "You do realize that you just quoted 'The Three Musketeers'? Also, that was pretty lame and totally not funny."

"Shut up. I'm hilarious!"

They both looked up as a car stopped in front of the gate. Mr Mehra strolled out along with one of the twin, Aliyah and Karan. However, the others weren't there.

Mr Mehra approached them. "The others will be here soon. It would look suspicious if we all entered at the same time, so they will arrive separately. Did you take care of the schedules?"

"Don't you worry Sir. Everything's ready." Mr Mehra nodded and moved inside.

"Here Abhi. This is Shabbir's schedule."

"Why are you giving me my own schedule? I am to take Abhi's place, remember?"

Kriti and Vivek looked on shocked. Kriti turned to Aliyah. "You mean this is...? "

Seeing Aliyah's smile, Kriti knew they had been fooled.

"You're Shabbir? Wow! That day, I was at least able to say who's who. But now....now you're indistinguishable! How are we supposed to find out!?" Kriti exclaimed.

Karan stepped forward and took Abhi's schedule from her for Shabbir. "Its simple Kriti. Abhi is the one wearing a watch. He will be arriving with Pragya and Purab soon. See ya." saying that, Aliyah, Shabbir and he headed inside.

Vivek sighed. "Everything just got a bit more complicated."

"I know. Its damn complicated!" Kriti huffed out.

After sometime...

Kriti and Vivek looked up as Abhi approached them, Pragya and Purab following him. "Everything ready?"

"Yep. Here. That's Shabbir's schedule."

"Thank you both."

"Di! There you are!" All of them looked towards the source of the voice to find Bulbul approaching, followed by Sumit.

"Hello Abhi! Hey Purab."

"Hello love." Purab said with a smile, while she blushed.

"Hi Bul-ow!" Abhi exclaimed as Pragya stepped on his foot. He was about to question her, when she signaled with her eyes. 'What is she trying to say? I didn't d-' suddenly he remembered his error and turned to Bulbul. "You're wrong girl. I'm Shabbir."

Bulbul's eyes widened."No way! When did you start keeping short hair?!"

"Meh...I decided to try a new look."

"What made you do that? Not that it looks bad of course. At least you don't look like a churail anymore." Sumit remarked.

"But aren't you copying your brother? The one that you hate?" Bulbul asked in confusion.

"So what if I am? Don't try to tell me what to do. Shove off!" Abhi snarled, trying his best to impersonate Shabbir.

"Don't you know any manners? I can't believe I used to be a fan of yours!" Bulbul glared at him. 'Such an arrogant jerk! No way can this be Abhi.'

Abhi was about to respond in Shabbir's style, when he felt a pull in his ear. Sumit had successfully pulled off his spy piece and was looking at it quizically. "What is this for?"

"Its for..It-"

"Its for his songs! He needs it so that he can hear his own voice and make improvements! Right Ab-*cough* Shabbir?" Purab exclaimed hurriedly. Abhi just nodded.

"Oh. I see." Sumit nodded. However, he was thinking something entirely different. 'They think I don't know what this thing does. Heh...For them this might be something sophisticated, but me and Samay make such easy techs in our free time.' He looked closely and noticed a symbol on it. "What is this?"

"That is the symbol of Mehra Enterprises."

"Hmm..I see." Sumit handed back the spy piece to him.

"Good thing Sumit decided to drop you. I'm so sorry I had to leave early Bulbul."

"Its alright di. I'm sure whatever you had to do must have been really important." Pragya felt guilty at her statement. She hated lying to Bulbul. Yet, she had to, as she didn't want to involve Bulbul in all the mess that they were in. 'I'm so sorry Bulbul.'

"By the way Di. You seem to be hanging out more with Sahbbir now-a-days. Shouldn't you be with Abhi?" Bulbul questioned. She thought she had managed to convince Pragya to accept Abhi.

Pragya blushed. She almost forgot to tell Bulbul that she proposed to Shabbir. "Well...Bulbul its..You see...Its kind of.."

"Oh come on! Pragya di and Shabbir are a couple now Bulbul. That's it!" exclaimed the ever impatient Kriti.

Bulbul and Sumit looked at Pragya in shock.

"But Di! What about Abhi? How could you break his heart like that? Poor guy. I feel so bad for him. He must be so miserable right now... crying from a broken heart, drowning in alcohol, listening to heart breaking songs."

Abhi's eye twitched in irritation. 'What am I? Devdas?'

"Abhi accepts it and has decided to remain as Pragya's best friend. He's not a weakling to keep crying and drown in misery!" spoke Abhi, defending himself in the guise of Shabbir.

"Shabbir, you're defending Abhi? Wow!" Bulbul exclaimed. 'What is going on in here!? '

"Pragya, how could you choose this guy? He is arrogant, doesn't know how to fight, doesn't seem to care for others and most of all, he will try to take advantage of you!" Sumit exclaimed.

Purab snickered. 'If Shabbir would have been here, he would be flipping out in anger. Poor Abhi, having to bear the insults thrown at Shabbir.'

"No, he won't Sumit. Shabbir would never do that. Besides, he's changed. He's no longer the same arrogant guy. He cares." Pragya defended.

"Then why is he standing like a statue? Shouldn't he be holding your hands, being affectionate to you?" Bulbul spoke, accusingly.

Pragya and Abhi panicked. They can't do those things as he wasn't the real Shabbir. Pragya decided to handle the situation.

"Look! I'm not a little girl anymore and I know who is right for me. Shabbir is my love and I won't hear any insult against my man. Got it?"

Bulbul and Sumit looked at her wide eyed. They haven't heard Pragya speak like that to them.... Ever! Slowly, Bulbul sighed. "I was hoping you would choose Abhi. I lost the bet against Purab I guess."

Sumit, on the other hand, was rubbing his imaginary tears. "Oh, my little cousin has grown up! It feels like it was only yesterday when she was in her diapers an-" Sumit was interrupted by a hit to the head by Pragya.

As they chatted on, Sumit silently slipped away from them and moved inside the campus. Well, he thought no one saw... No one except Abhi that is. Abhi watched as Sumit met with Prasanth. 'How does he know our Maths teacher? If I remember correctly, Prasanth Sir was the one who wanted to throw out Sumit and Samay after entering the library without permission and causing a scene. Now they are chatting amicably? What's going on in here?' He was broken out of his thoughts by Pragya's voice.

"Let's go inside. We'll be late otherwise." He nodded and they all moved inside.

#Arora House#

Samay sighed for the unempth time. He was getting tired of waiting for those men to show up again.

"Beta, relax. We will catch them."

"How Sarla aunty, how? They haven't appeared since two days!"

"I find it quite odd as well. Why would they just leave and not show up if they really wanted to do something? I mean... usually we have at least some clues on what they were up to."

"Exactly! And they even appeared when Pragya wasn't at home? If Pragya was their target, why come here when she isn't present? I just can't understand what they are playing at!"

Sarla was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. "Beta, are they...are they targeting Bulbul now?"

"But why would they tr-" Samay paused as a thought struck him. 'They found out about Pragya's main heritage, so they also must know about Pragya's personal life. They might know how much she cares for Bulbul and so, are after Bulbul. I think they want to use Bulbul as bait to get Pragya! Well...now I know how to catch them. We'll catch them at their own game.'

He took out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello? Sumit, listen carefully."

#Mount College#

Shabbir sat at his seat with an irritated frown. He had to sit still and maintain a stoic face, so that he looks like Abhi. Karan sat behind him. "Can't I just sit a little sloppily?"

"For the hundredth time, no Shabbir." Karan spoke as he clicked away on his phone, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

Shabbir sighed in defeat. Suddenly, someone came and slammed his hand at the teacher's table. Shabbir looked up to find a strong and muscled boy standing there. 'Why is he glaring at me?' He leaned back and whispered to Karan."Oi! Who's that?"

"That is Manish, the bully in the class."

"And why is he glaring at me?"

"Well, you know how Abhi is. He loves to make sarcastic comments and doesn't know when to shut up with his teasing. That's how he managed to piss off Manish. Don't worry though. Abhi and Manish's verbal fights happens everyday, but it never escalates to physical fights. Manish knows how good Abhi fights."

Shabbir looked in horror as Manish started walking towards him. "In case you've forgotten, I'm not Abhi! He's going to pound me into a pancake!" he whispered back in panic, looking forward worriedly.

"Relax Shabbir. Like I said, their fights are always verbal. You just have to show an attitude like Abhi and he will back off."

"No, I can't. Even looking at him makes me nervous! Help me dude. You speak to him for me this time."

Karan looked at him irritated. "You can and you will. Quit being a coward. Be a man!"

"I'm still a boy in the process of growing. You're the real man. You fight him! I wi-Oh my, he's getting near!"

"Shabbir, man up or else..."

"What do you mean else? Nothing could be more worse than getting beaten up by that big brute!"

Karan smirked "Or else, I'll shave off all of your hair this time."

Abruptly Shabbir stood up. "You bastard!"

"What did you just call me!?" spoke Manish as he reached him.

"N-no no I...I didn't mean you. I-" Shabbir looked at Karan for support. However, Karan just made a scissoring motion while grabbing his own hair. 'That unhelpful, stone-hearted, torturous jerk! Always harrasing my hair! *sigh* Alright! Time to man up and face this Manish.'

"You dare insult me Abhi? You want to fight me, huh!?"

"Yes I did. So what, huh? You deserve it you good-or-nothing bully. You just try to show you're strong, but you're a sissy from inside!"

'Nice move Shabbir.' thought Karan with a smirk. No matter what he said, he would have helped Shabbir. 'Although I guess he doesn't need it now.'

Manish turned red in anger. "Sissy? You dare call me a sissy!?" he spoke, poking Shabbir with a finger.

Shabbir moved forward and looked him in the eye. "Yes, I did you over-grown chicken. What are going to do about it?" The entire class was looking at them. Shabbir's face showed confidence and power. However, inside...'Oh God, Oh God, Oh God! I hope I survive. Please let me live. I haven't even married yet!'

Slowly Manish backed off. "I'm letting you go this time. But I won't hold back the next time!" saying that, he moved away. The teacher arrived at the same time.

Shabbir looked at her in irritation. 'Couldn't she have come when that grunt was threatening me? I'm suing this teacher!'

Shabbir sat back down and let out a shaky breath. "I can't believe I survived. I'm awesome!"

Karan rolled his eyes. "You and your pride. Anyway, that was quite impressive though."

Before Shabbir could respond back, a paper was placed on his table. He looked to find the teacher distributing it to every student. 'Oh my! Its an MCQ test. What am I supposed to do? My knowledge of Advanced Maths starts from 0 and ends at 1.' He coughed and leaned back. "Hey Karan, my handsome friend, old pal, m-"

"I'm not helping you cheat. So you can stop trying to flatter me." spoke Karan, without looking up from his paper.

Shabbir sighed. He thought of using his spy piece, but he knew his siblings won't help in such trivial matters. He picked up the pencil and looked at the paper with determination. 'You can do this Shabbir! I'll just sing my favorite song in my mind and whenever I reach my favorite words, I'll tick!'

At the college gate...

Prasanth and Sumit hid behind the pillars, waiting for Bulbul to come out. His brother had called him and told him that the only way to catch those men was to make Bulbul come home alone. He hid his bike and called Bulbul, telling her that Sarla aunty was ill and they couldn't be at home. Once Bulbul leaves for home, Sumit and Prasanth planned to follow her discreetly, so that those men don't find out about them.

"There! She's leaving. Let's go!" Prasanth said and they followed the taxi Bulbul took in Prasanth's car.

#Auditorium#

"I'm supposed to meet the sponsors now?"

"Yep! They'll be here soon." Pragya replied. She and Abhi were waiting at the auditorium, waiting for Purab to arrive with the sponsors.

A group of boys entered the auditorium and came towards them. "Shabbir Mehra. How nice to see you! I have been waiting for us to have a talk." spoke one of them, probably their leader.

Pragya cursed seeing them heading their way. "These are Shabbir's rivals."

"Don't worry. I can take care of them easily."

"No Abhi. You need to handle them how Shabbir does. You need to try to negotiate with them and avoid fight. Shabbir always tries to get the easy way out." she said with an eye roll.

"Okay. I'll try."

The leader came and stood in front of Abhi. "Listen Shabbir. I want this auditorium for my team for the week. You won't lay a step here. Understood?"

"Um...Its quite a big auditorium. Can't we just share?"

"What the..are you refusing to listen to me? You think you can command me!?"

Abhi looked at him in disbeleif. 'I didn't even do anything to offend him. I tried to negotiate like Pragya said.'

"Don't get angry Abhi. They are five, you're one. Shabbir would have fought if it was one, but with so many, he would have agreed. You should too." whispered Pragya to him.

Abhi looked at Pragha pointedly, but finally relented. 'The things I have to tolerate for having a brother like Shabbir.'

"Fine. You can take the auditorium." Abhi tried to move past them, but his rival held him back.

"What are you trying to do? Look all cool and generous now? You think you're better then me?"

Abhi had had enough. 'This guy doesn't want the auditorium. What he is looking for is a fight. I'm sorry Pragya. I tried, but he's asking for it.'

"Listen Shabbir Mehra. I am the son o-" whatever he was about to say was lost as Abhi punched him square in the jaw. The rest of the four watched as their boss fell down unconscoius at a single hit and promptly ran away.

Pragya looked on wide-eyed. 'Good Lord! I think its time to activate those spy pieces. Only Aliyah can handle her bhai.'

#Arora House#

Footsteps could be heard as Samay ran as fast as he could. Their plan had worked. The moment Bulbul entered her house, they saw some cars arrive and park near their house. Samay had told Sarla to close all the doors and windows once Bulbul was in. Once it was done, Prasanth and his men came out guns blazing and tried to catch those men. However, they were skilled and managed to run off in different directions.

Currently, Samay was chasing one. He had taken a shortcut and was sure that he would be able to catch one of them. 'Just that corner and...' Samay kicked as hard as he could. However, his opponent managed to dodge it. As he tried to escape, Samay grabbed his jacket. However, the man got out of his jacket, kicked back Samay and ran away.

"Samay! Samay, did you get him?" Prasanth shouted as he and Sumit came near.

"I failed to catch him!" Samay spoke, looking up at them."

"He escaped!" Samay threw away the jacket in frustration.

Sumit noticed something in it and went near it.

"Don't worry Samay. we'll catch them soon. They can't run forever."

"I hope you are right Prasanth." Both of them looked towards Sumit when they heard him gasp.

"Bhai...this symbol.....I saw it today."

"Where?"

"On the spy piece with Shabbir."

Samay and Prasanth looked shellshocked. "You mean...you mean they had sent those men? They are the ones...the ones trying to kill Pragya!?" Prasanth exclaimed.

"No...there must be some mistake. We have met those guys and I don't think they can do this." Samay tried to reason.

"Look at this Samay! The proof is right in front of you. They are the ones responsible." Prasanth stated with authority.

"Bhai is right Prasanth. Abhi and Shabbir can't be the ones doing this!"

"Do not forget your purpose. You can't let your emotions cloud your judgement. It is them and I'm going to inform Shekhar about it. Grow up and face the reality!" saying that, Prasanth left.

There was silence for sometime. Slowly, Sumit spoke. "Bhai do...do you really think its them?"

"I don't know Sumit. I just don't know. I thought they were good friends of Pragya and also someone..someone whom I could depend to save Pragya's life. And now this?" He sighed.

"Shekhar might attack them." Sumit pointed out.

After a while, Samay got up, looking determined. "Whatever it is, Pragya is our first priority. We must keep her and Bulbul away from the Mehras. And as for them...If they are really the ones guilty, I won't hesitate to go against the Mehra family. What about you?"

Sumit thought about Aliyah. Could he go against his heart? However, he also couldn't go against his family. 'I'm sorry Aliyah. But if your family is really the one guilty, I won't hesitate to harm them.'

**********************************

To be continued.

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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹