4. OS 19. His Elusive Lover (Part 4)

Part 4

“Kaa hua, Arnav bitwaa?” mami asked. “Bhat happened?”

“Yes, Chotey. Why did you ask us to meet in your study after dinner?” nani asked.

“Kya hua, Chotey?” Anjali asked, adjusting the pallu of her sari and laying her phone by her on the sofa. Shyamji had promised to call her at nine and she was looking forward to talking to him.

“Chotey, did you call us here to tell us that you are ready for marriage?” nani asked eagerly.

“Hamre Arnav bitwaa ki shaadi?” mami shrieked. “Hum saare Miss Uniberse ko khada karenge, Arnav bitwaa. They bill stand in line phor you to pick them!”

“No, not my marriage,” Arnav disabused them.

The ladies looked at him, disappointed.

“Bhai?” Akash asked, pushing up his specs.

“Kaa hua, Arnav bitwaa?” mama asked, setting aside the newspaper he had been perusing.

Arnav took a deep breath. Then he pulled out an envelope with a few of the reasonably decent photos the PI had given him and taking the pictures, arranged them on the low antique table at the centre of the room.

All eyes were on the photos of Shyam with various women. There was perfect silence in the room.

Arnav stood, his arms crossed, waiting for his di to burst into tears. He would help her, support her. He was no longer fourteen years old, no longer helpless against fate. He was twenty-eight now. His shoulders were broad and his power vast. Together, he and his di would throw out that rat from their lives. His eyes became cold and his whole body tensed. The Raizadas never gave up. When life became hard, the Raizadas just became harder. Made of iron, fire could only strengthen them.

“Hello Hi Bye Bye,” whispered mami.

“Chotey....,” came nani’s feeble cry.

“These are the decent ones,” Arnav said abruptly. “I have the rest with me.”

“Bhai, these...,” Akash couldn’t find the words to ask what he wanted to know.

Arnav answered anyway. “I hired a private investigator as Shyam’s demands for money were increasing day by day and his absences growing longer.” His eyes were trained on his di. She was staring at the photos, her gaze blank.

She would be alright. He would make sure that she was alright. She could lean on him, her brother now. He was strong enough to make the world bend its knees before her.

“Di,” he called.

She looked up at him, her face pale, her eyes blank.

“We will see it through,” he reassured her. “I will take him down. No one gets away with cheating you and us.”

“Chotey...” she whispered.

Arnav walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, di. Trust me,” he said.

“Chotey, you are lying,” Anjali said.

Nani’s tears froze in her eyes. Mami gasped. Akash and mama stared at the brother and sister with fear in their eyes. Anjali was accusing her brother of lying, a brother who had made her happiness his life’s sole mission.

Arnav couldn’t believe he had heard right. He stood as still as a statue, mute, shocked.

“My Shyamji would never do anything like this. Chotey, why are you trying to turn me and our family against him?” Anjali asked, tears in her eyes.

Arnav stared at the sister he would have laid down his life for till a few seconds back without asking a question.

“He is a good man and these have been photoshopped. Someone is fooling you,” Anjali insisted, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“Anjali bitiya...” nani warned.

“Iph hamre Arnav bitwaa says that these photos are real, then they are real, Anjali bitiya. Hamre Arnav bitwaa neber lies,” mami stated.

“Yes, di,” Akash seconded his mother. “Bhai never lies.”

Nani nodded.

Mama said, “Anjali bitiya, hosh mein aao. This is your brother.”

“And Shyamji is my husband,” Anjali insisted. “How can you even think that he would do something like this? Kya hogaya he aap sab ko? Chotey showed us a few photos and your trust in Shyamji wavered?”

“Iph I had to chooses between hamre Arnav bitwa and your husband, I would choose hamre Arnav bitwaa,” mami said emphatically.

Nani and mama nodded.

“Tum theek kahat ho, Manorama,” added nani.

“Yes,” Akash said. “If bhai says jiju isn’t a good man, then I believe him.”

Anjali wept. “All of you are so ungrateful,” she wailed. “He is such a sanskaari man who worships the ground you walk on, nani. He adores you, mami. He is so respectful of you, mama. And he is so fond of Chotey and Akash. How could you, Chotey?”

There was a big hole within Arnav, a huge vacuum that nothing could fill. His whole life flashed past in his mind in those few seconds, but he banished the memories with a stern resolve. The feeling of having been thrown under the bus was very strong and capable of bringing him to his knees.

But only in private. He couldn’t afford to be weak now.

His family’s security was at risk.

He drew in a deep breath. He was a businessman through and through. Salvaging a sinking deal was what he specialised in. And Anjali was an amateur.

He spoke firmly, though his voice was huskier than usual. “You must be right, di. Jijaji has been very kind to us, very good. The detectives must have made a mistake,” he said.

All except Anjali looked at him with pain in their eyes. Mami wept openly.

“I am sure you know him best. I must be wrong,” he added.

Anjali dried her tears. “You are, Chotey.”

“Di, please don’t tell jijaji that I made such a grave mistake in judging him. Let this end here,” he requested.

Anjali nodded her acceptance.

The rest of the family stood silent, their eyes on Arnav’s face.

“I am sorry, di, for hurting you,” he continued. “Why don’t you rest? I...I’ll get some sleep too.” He looked at nani and mami.

“Yes, Anjali bitiya, lie down for a while,” nani took her cue.

“Comes, comes,” mami joined her in tugging Anjali towards her bedroom.

As soon as Anjali, nani and mami left the room, Akash caught Arnav by his shoulder.

“He has been fooling us for the past three years,” Akash stated. “Living off your earnings, bhai, living in this house, driving the car you bought him, pretending to love di and then...” He couldn’t even speak the rest.

Arnav nodded.

“Ab kaa kare, bitwaa?” mama asked.

Arnav straightened his shoulders. “Di may want to live in a make-believe world, but I don’t. I will expose Shyam to be the lowlife he is. And I will do it in the presence of di. Whatever happens, mama, Akash, he will not stay here or in di’s life a day more than I can help.”

Akash and mama nodded.

                                                              ***

“Khussi, we can’t run this house and meet babuji’s hospital bills with this money,” Garima rued, looking at her salary.

Khushi panicked. “I would get a second job, amma, but I return so late from AR Designs that...”

“Maybe I should try for a job,” Payal thought aloud.

“No,” buaji vetoed the idea. “What will people say if a girl of marriageable age is running around working here and there, Nandkisore? Khussi, hamri baat suno. You need to find a job that pays more, Titliya.”

Garima nodded. “Yes. And then leave this job,” she suggested.

A strange feeling erupted in Khushi’s heart. What would ASR do if she left? Who would make him coffee, tea and juice? He would be left all alone. No, she couldn’t do that to him.

With this thought came the realisation that she was being foolish in the extreme. 

‘Khussi,’ she told herself. ‘you are a fool. He has Amanji and a hundred other people in the office. He doesn’t give a hoot about you. He doesn’t even know you exist. And you are putting his needs above your family’s?’ But why did her heart ache at the thought of leaving that khadoos ASR?

                                                               ***

Arnav stood before the mirror, looking at his own drawn face. He could detect frown lines on his forehead, the beginnings of crow’s feet, deep grooves from his cheeks to the corners of his lips.

He swallowed hard.

He looked older than his years. Every moment he had spent slogging to pull his family out of financial ruin, every night he had worked instead of sleeping was etched on his face.

And it had all been for nothing. Nothing at all. The di for whom he had thrown away his life didn’t trust him. She believed a lying lecher over her own brother who had always put her needs first.

He met the eyes of his image in the mirror. There was a thin film of tears in his bloodshot eyes.

He looked down at his chest. There was nothing inside. Just emptiness.

He lifted one hand and placed it on his chest where his heart should be.

He had nothing to give anyone, not anymore. He was totally empty...and lost.

He turned away from the mirror and slowly walked to the pale green recliner and sat down, his head hanging low, his jaw clenched, his brows locked in a ferocious frown.

Suddenly, he felt parched. His mouth went dry and his throat muscles contracted painfully.

He got up and poured out a glass of water. What wouldn’t he give for a mug of tea made by Khushi, he thought.

He brought the glass to his lips and sipped. The flavour of ginger, lemon and honey filled his mouth.

His eyes fell shut as he drank deeply from the glass of water.