262 How to market oneself?

Western Zilla

Prithvi's instinct had told him that he would be able to find his subordinate faster this way rather than wasting time in roaming around the place where Ramanujam had been abducted and hence had decided to take this calculated risk.

The guy getting tortured in the room was Prithvi's partner, his lover, his companion and a traitor. Prithvi had started becoming suspicious of him when he first interrogated that businessman in the capital who had been coerced and converted into a spy by the enemy. The way that person had described the handler, made Prithvi, for some reason, think of his partner.

And then Prithvi came across the guy in Eastern zilla on his last visit to the brothel. As Prithvi stood hidden behind the door in the prostitute's room, he had seen his lover saunter past him in the corridor along with the other guy. Unfortunately, the other person had clearly been in disguise, making it tough to recognize him. In fact, it had been difficult to determine whether it was a male or female.

Nonetheless, Prithvi had drawn their pictures and asked his men to make copies of the same and circulate around since then. That's how he had managed to keep tabs on his 'boyfriend' from that time on. Much to his disappointment, this guy hadn't made any suspicious moves during this period. He had only travelled with his troops and visited Prithvi in the middle. Which is why Prithvi had hesitated till now about interrogating him.

One he wasn't sure if the guy would know about Ramanujam's abduction and secondly, more importantly, he didn't want the enemy to know that he was aware of this mole's existence. But the lack of leads about Ramanujam finally forced his hand.

Prithvi didn't have the luxury of conducting the rescue operation himself, however much he wanted, so he hoped that his team would do the needful asap and report to him. In the meanwhile, it was time for him to go back to the capital.

This chain of 'supposedly' unrelated incidents was one of the reasons why he had insisted upon postponing the event but the queen's adamant refusal left him with no choice. The only good news was that Charulata didi's mission had been a success, not that he had even doubted the outcome with her being at the helm of affairs. With her being there, it would have been surprising had it not gone well.

Gurukul, Chandragarh

Mriga flopped down on the floor with a thump. She was tired. Meeting the Northern zilla head had been such a nerve-wracking experience. When she arrived at his temporary office in the capital, there was a line of girls already there, waiting. All this while Mriga hadn't taken this round so seriously because she knew that there were only a couple of seniors from Northern zilla who had the chance to clear the written exam round and none from her batch.

This deduction was based on the research which Yash had done regarding all the contestants ever since the contest had started. But upon reaching the place, she realised that there were girls from all zillas here, for various reasons. Since the Western zilla chief's daughter was participating and was one of the strongest contenders, it was obvious that his vote would definitely go to her.

The Eastern zilla chief hadn't arrived in the capital and it was being said that Sharada would be sending her nominated person's name via courier. That left only two zilla heads present in the capital and as a result, everyone was thronging the offices of Southern zilla head along with Northern zilla head.

With Ujjwala devi being in favour of Vindhya to the extent of choosing her as her prospective DIL, Mriga's options had shrunk to only one person.

By the time it was her chance to go in and speak to the Northern zilla chief, she found herself tongue-tied and with a brain freeze. How was she expected to 'sell' her good qualities in front of him? Not only was it embarrassing, she had a tough time thinking of such qualities which would make the man look at her favorably.

In the end, it was the chief who had looked at her with a frown before asking, "Have I seen you before?"

While Mriga thought about it, he had slapped his thigh and said, "You are Belavati's daughter. You performed last year in the regional fair with your mother, right?"

Mriga had nodded her head vigorously as she remembered how her mother was currently in flavor due to her superb performance in Himprayag. But in the end, she still couldn't ask him blatantly for his favour. She only thanked him for his great work in the zilla blah blah… and walked out.

But now as she was half sitting half lying down on the floor, she dare not say any of this to either Chairanjeev or Abhirath. She only told them that the zilla head had recognized her on his own and seemed to be very pleased with her. Neither of them suspected her since she looked confident enough and Mriga felt extremely proud of herself for managing to escape their nagging.

Next Morning

Saraswati took in a silent breath of relief and thanked the God for listening to her prayers as she saw Prithvi sprawled on his chair. He was back! His clothes were dusty and he looked tired.

"Have you come here straight from the trip?" she asked him.

At his nod, she said, "I will quickly arrange breakfast. You wrap up the work here and go home to change and freshen up. If possible, rest for a while before coming back. So far, I have managed the entire show without you efficiently. A few more hours won't make a difference."

He had been reading a few scrolls which had been waiting for his scrutiny during this period but at his subordinate's confident words, Prithvi raised his head to look at her.