The Mysterious CEO's Domineering Devotion

CHAPTER 14 - Instinctual Caution

Jwalin strode to his study with his fists clenched and banged the door to control his temper after seeing the stunt Pranavi pulled earlier at breakfast.

Soon, Pranavi followed upstairs to change herself into something comfortable. Gazing at her suitcase, she signed and grabbed a white top and grey trousers.

Settling herself on the huge bed, she didn't see any presence of Jwalin and thought he had left.

A relaxed smile came across her lips by just having a feeling of no Jwalin to her!

Grabbing her laptop, she started doing her assignments as she was nearing the deadline because the past week was a blow to her, and she couldn't concentrate on her work.

She plugged her headset into her ears to avoid any distractions, and she was lost in her world of music while working.

She was so immersed in her work that she didn't even know when Jwalin entered their room.

Jwalin stood in front of her with his hands crossed across his chest and glanced at her with a scrutinizing gaze to know what she was up to with such dedication!

Eyeing her actions, Jwalin shook his head and decided to leave her because he was in no mood to entertain her!

Quickly grabbing his keys without making much noise, he left without even bothering to let her know, leaving Pranavi alone.

After a couple of hours, she was still busy, but stretched herself with a yawn and grabbed her mobile.

Glancing at the screen, Pranavi saw the number of missed calls and frowned. "Why did Shreya call me like crazy?"

With narrowed eyes, she murmured, "Did something happen to her?"

"Holy crap! Why did I turn my mobile into silent mode!" Cursing at herself, she quickly dialed Shreya.

"Duffer!" Shreya yelled, and Pranavi kept her mobile an inch away from her ear with the tone Shreya used.

"What's wrong, Babes?" Pranavi queried in alarm.

"We're screwed!" Shreya huffed when Pranavi raised her brows in confusion.

"What?" Pranavi asked, "What happened?"

"Didn't you check our work email?" Shreya asked, puzzled.

"Nope. I'm busy with assignments," Pranavi mumbled.

When she was about to log in to her email, she heard Shreya saying, "hurry up and see with your eyes!"

"Why are you in such a rush, girl?" Pranavi couldn't help but ask, but didn't get any reply from Shreya.

With a huff, Pranavi started checking her inbox, and the email from Shlok Ahuza's secretary with the title 'need to upgrade the application design' got her attention.

After going through the details, Pranavi was pissed off, "what the fu'k, dude?"

"Exactly!" Shreya blurted out.

"Maybe we need to meet Mr. Shlok Ahuza and discuss it in person with the details," Pranavi suggested, rubbing her fingers across her forehead in annoyance.

"I booked an appointment at 01:00 Pm, and I'm already on my way to Ahuza Group of Companies," Shreya added when Pranavi heard the honks and sounds of vehicles.

Checking her watch, Pranavi scowled, "damn! It's already 12:00 Pm."

"Come on, we don't have time to chitchat now. Start asap and be there on time." Shreya muttered while doing something on her laptop.

"I'm at Oberoi Mansion, Shreya. It's impossible for me to reach there on time with the heavy traffic!." Pranavi reasoned, but she knew they couldn't do anything now.

"I know, but try to come as quickly as you can. I'll manage in the meanwhile." Shreya said while her lips pressed into a thin line, thinking about what she was supposed to do!

"Gotcha," Pranavi said and hung up with a sigh and rushed to get her grey blazer and did a high ponytail.

Glancing at herself in the mirror, her eyes focused on the vermilion in her hair partition.

With a sigh, she murmured while biting her lips, "It'd be better if they didn't know I'm married."

She reminisced about the NDA Jwalin made the guests sign at their marriage venue, and knowing how Jwalin was treating her and how he wanted an extremely low-key wedding with no news to the outside world about his marriage and wife, Pranavi was sure he'd mind if she was exposed as his wife.

Imagining it, she got goosebumps all over her body because she comprehended how scary Jwalin would be then!

Shaking her head, "it wouldn't do me any good if he's pissed off because of me."

With that, she took a few tissues and started wiping off the vermilion. But it seems the vermilion was as stubborn as Jwalin as it wasn't going off!

Glancing at her forehead with a shade of red due to the force she applied, she huffed in annoyance. "Get off me, you sticky vermilion!"

After her painful efforts, she managed to look good and put on light makeup to prevent anyone from noticing the redness and removed her nuptial chain without much emotion.

Anyhow, they weren't any lovely married couple. So, she presumed, "it'd be good if fewer people knew of my marital status and who my husband was!"

Because the name Jwalin Oberoi attached to her name would damage her when they were divorced, and she could never afford the consequences!

Grasping a chunk of air with a determined nod to herself, she grabbed her tote while swiping her mobile to book a cab, almost running down the stairs to fly to her destination, but there weren't any cars nearby!

"What the heck? Not even a single car was available to this location?" She cursed while her eyes bulged in displeasure.

Panic settled in her nerves, "what am I supposed to do?"

"How could I go without any vehicle?"

Eyeing at her watch, she gasped, "God, time was ticking!"

She was fiddling with her fingers when Nishita patted her shoulder, while Pranavi jumped in shock.

"Jeez, relax Sister-in-law, it's me!" Nishita said, glancing at Pranavi with furrowed brows.

Pranavi eyed Nishitha dressed in flared blue jeans, and a white T-shirt, paired with a denim blazer.

She was drowned in the highest luxury brands that would at least cost a few lakhs. Seeing that, Pranavi was baffled for a second, and asked, "Do you need me for anything?"

Nishita shook her head and asked, " You're going somewhere, sister-in-law?"

"Uh, yeah! I've got some emergency." Pranavi said, scratching her neck in awkwardness.

She got married yesterday and was going out on an emergency today. How embarrassing!

Nishita nodded but didn't say anything and glanced at Pranavi's mobile, who was desperately trying to get a cab booked!

With a chuckle, Nishita added, "sister-in-law. Cabs won't be available here."

Hearing that, Pranavi choked on her saliva, "What? But why?"

"This area of the city was highly restricted because of the prominent figures residing in this locality."

Listening to that, Pranavi mouthed an Oh while her eyes were wide in realization.

Pranavi blurted in frustration, "Then how am I supposed to go?"

"Well, there's a way, but you need to walk for around 3km. Then you can get some taxi services." Nishita mumbled with a concerned look.

Hearing that, Pranavi's mind was in a frenzy, and her mouth dropped, "I don't have that much time to do all this."

She pulled her hair in frustration, "How to get the hell out of here?"

Remembering her bike, she sighed, "God, I miss my bike so much now."

"My poor baby, how's it doing without me going on a ride on it for almost four days." She pondered, but her subconscious mocked her, "you're running out of time but you're thinking of how much you miss your bike? How foolish!"

Gazing at Pranavi's restless expression with scrunched brows, Nishita queried, "Should I give you a ride?"

Pranavi instantly gave a thankful expression and her brown eyes twinkled, "sure, but only if it's not a bother to you."

"I'm free today, and I love to roam. So, never mind!" Nishita winked and dragged Pranavi to her eye-catching red Porsche.

Eyeing that, Pranavi gulped, "what the fu'k!"

Her eyes widened in realization, "Am I supposed to travel in this luxurious car?"

Shaking her head in disbelief, "This is too grand for me!!"

Glancing at it, Pranavi felt as if she would stain the beautiful car! Poor, girl!

...

Nishitha was driving the car, and Pranavi remained silent, eyeing the heavy traffic and sighing continuously.

Glancing sideways, Nishitha shot Pranavi a look, and Pranavi blinked, gazing at the piercing eyes as if they were burning Pranavi.

Pranavi didn't feel comfortable, though Nishitha didn't do anything bad to her that put her in the wrong.

But still, Pranavi couldn't pinpoint what exactly was a miss with Nishitha, but she was always cautious around her.

Although Nishitha was appearing to be friendly with a relaxing smile on her plump lips, Pranavi could feel the unpleasantness emanating from Nishitha.

Over the years, Pranavi learned to judge people and she's damn good at that.

Grasping her sixth sense, Pranavi chose not to interact much with Nishitha since she didn't know what Nishita would use against her and take advantage of her!

She felt silly by just accusing Nishitha based on her instinct, but it'd be better to be cautious when you can, rather than to cry when the situation leaves your hands.

Nishitha was carefully observing Pranavi from the corner of her eyes. Though she didn't show her disgust like Jwalin, she wasn't fond of Pranavi because she believed Pranavi took the place of Brinda, who is Jwalin's ex-girlfriend and a close friend of Nishitha.

Although it's been six years since Jwalin and Brinda had broken up, Nishitha knew how obsessed Brinda was over Jwalin and couldn't help but loathe Pranavi.

Though Nishitha didn't know the reason behind their break up, she knew Brinda wasn't over Jwalin yet and thought Jwalin would be the same!

But after seeing the intimacy between Jwalin and Pranavi that morning, she thought pleasing Pranavi would give some benefits to her and her mother and could use them to her advantage!

With that thought in mind, she offered to give a ride to Pranavi. But God knows how much she loathed Pranavi in her heart for that!

Glancing at the time for the nth time, Pranavi couldn't help but sigh because she felt it was taking forever to reach her destination.

Pranavi wanted to question what was going on, but supposing it might not be a good gesture, she let it be and tried to relax.

Nishitha narrowed her eyes while observing every move of Pranavi and scoffed in her heart. "Am I a driver for her or what?"

Her insides burned, "That cunning b***h!"

A displeased scowl settled on her face but she masked it quickly, "How dare she act like the queen of Oberoi's."

Reminiscing the intimacy Jwalin and Pranavi shared this morning, she felt sick, "She was brave enough to be intimate with my brother in front of us."

The grip on the steering tightened, "Sister-in-law, my foot!"

Her eyes turned cold, "She can never be my sister-in-law as long as Brinda is there!"

With a venomous smirk, her lips curled upwards, "You just wait for the show, Pranavi."

With all these pretentious thoughts running across her mind, Nishitha kept a masked smile on her smile thinking Pranavi was buying it, but, oh boy, was she wrong?

In the meantime, Pranavi got a beep.

From: Shreya

Pranavi, the location got changed. We were heading to Tuscany.

Also, Relax! The appointment was moved to 03:00 Pm.

"Holy crap," Pranavi muttered under her breath while glancing at it.

Since she was familiar with the way, she decided to leave the car at the next stop and walk to the restaurant so she wouldn't be noticed in a Porsche!

Soon, Nishitha heard Pranavi calling her, and she was dragged back from her daze.

"Yes, Sister-in-law?" Nishitha queried with a raised brow.

"Can you drop me on the roadside?" Pranavi asked in a hurry while Nishitha eyed the surroundings, but she couldn't find anything useful since it was filled with people and nothing else.

She had an immense urge to know where Pranavi was going but stopped herself since it'd degrade her elegance if she appeared nosy in front of Pranavi.

With a nod, she dropped Pranavi off and saw Pranavi walking to the opposite side and Nishitha shook her head.

"She's not that easy to handle, it seems," Nishitha mumbled when a glint of repulsion flashed across her eyes.

"I'll see how far you can survive!" With that, she left while the roaring accelerator came to life.

...