11. OS 21. An Unwilling Passion (Part 15)

Part 15

Arnav stumbled into the house he was staying in and shut the door behind him. He felt drunk, weak, exhausted and most of all, in acute shock.

What had his father done? How could he have destroyed two families for nothing?

He sagged in a chair and buried his head in his hands.

Garima! This was the woman he had been about to destroy! Like his father, he would have thoughtlessly bulldozed his way through her life and destroyed her family. Like his father. His shoulders hunched in repudiation of the blood that flowed through his veins, the tainted, dark, criminal, adulterous blood of his father and his uncle.

He needed to leave Lucknow, move as far away as possible from Khushi. His evil presence would darken her life, poison her existence, taint her innocence. But before he left, there were a few things left to do.

His phone rang.

He lifted it to his ear with a shaking hand.

Akash.

“Bhai, when are you coming home?” Akash asked, unwilling to stay away from his brother for much longer.

“Soon,” Arnav whispered.

There was a long silence. Then Akash asked, “Kya hua, bhai?”

“I...I am so tired, Akash,” he murmured.

ASR, tired? Fear rushed through Akash. His brother was the strongest man in the world, the kind who blasted through hurdles and stood head and shoulders above ordinary people. Nothing could get him down.

“Bhai?” he inquired, his voice shaky.

“I have to settle...my father’s affairs,” Arnav managed to say. “I will be back soon.”

His father’s affairs? Akash was horrified. The man had been dead for more than a decade! Something was seriously wrong. “I am coming over, bhai.” That was all he said.

                                                                  ***

A knock sounded on the door.

Arnav dragged himself out of the chair to walk slowly to the door.

Khushi.

He blocked the passage so that she couldn’t enter the house.

“Yes?” he asked, his voice husky in the extreme.

“Arnavji, aap theek ho? Amma said you looked pale.” Khushi’s eyes were clouded by concern.

“I am fine,” he responded, his eyes running all over her in a last-ditch attempt to save her image to his brain. He would never see her again. Her pure, innocent soul wouldn’t be corrupted by his presence. He would make sure of it.

“Shall I bring tea? Without sugar?” she asked solicitously.

“No,” he replied.

Khushi frowned. “Aap sach mein theek ho?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She hesitated.

“I have work to do,” he spoke, the words falling from his lips easily after years of practice.

Khushi nodded uncertainly. “Will you call me if you need anything?” she asked anxiously.

He couldn’t make himself mouth a lie. He just nodded.

She made to leave.

He shut the door, locking himself away from her.

                                                              ***

There was a series of loud bangs on his door.

Arnav stirred from the armchair and padded to the front door. Was it Khushi again?

Akash and Aman stood there in the dark.

Before Arnav could say anything, Akash walked into him and hugged him tightly.

Arnav locked his arms around Akash’s rangy figure and rested his forehead against his shoulder. “It is a bloody mess,” he whispered.

“We will sort it out, together,” Akash reassured him.

Aman set down their bags. “The private detectives are in Lucknow right now. All you have to do is give instructions, sir. They will be done.”

“Get me info on my paternal uncle,” Arnav said with a sigh.

                                                        ***

Akash and Aman sat listening to Arnav narrate the events that Garima had described.

When Arnav came to the end of the sorry tale, Akash couldn’t contain himself. “The scoundrel!” he exclaimed. “How could he?”

Arnav sat still, the weight of his past heavy on his shoulders.

“I need to recompense Garima for the loss of her land,”  he said finally.

“Shall I locate the property she owned in Kanpur?” Aman asked. “We can buy it back.”

Arnav thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. “No, her husband is sick and she doesn’t travel alone. It will be difficult for her to manage a property in Kanpur.”

“A property in Lucknow?” Akash asked.

Arnav nodded. “Preferably Sheesh Mahal.”

Akash gasped. “You want to gift her your ancestral home?”

Arnav’s lips twisted. “But I wouldn’t wish that mausoleum on anyone. It would drain her financially to maintain it and selling a house that huge would be very difficult for her.”

Aman received a call and he moved away to take it.

The brothers remained silent till Aman returned with news. “Your chacha is up to his neck in debt. Sheesh Mahal is pledged to the hilt. You can buy it,” he announced.

Arnav thought for a moment and then declared, “I am not throwing away my hard-earned cash on that nightmare. He wanted the house to himself, which is why he threw di and me out. Now he can deal with it and go to hell in his own way.”

Akash nodded. “If that’s what you want, bhai,” he responded.

“I will transfer money to Garima Gupta’s account,” Arnav announced, “enough to make up for the loss of her property.” There was no way he could make up for the way in which his father had cheated her.

“I will get her account details,” Aman added.

“And fix an appointment with my chacha,” Arnav told Aman quietly. “It is time to bury this.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will come with you, bhai,” Akash declared. There was no way he was letting Arnav walk into Sheesh Mahal alone.

                                                                     ***

It was done.

Arnav sat back in his armchair. The meeting with his chacha had gone as planned. The bounder had admitted to stealing Garima’s land to pay creditors.

He took his chequebook to fill out a leaf for Garima. He entered a large sum as compensation for her. Payal’s face swam into his mind. Marriage cancelled at the last moment, just like his di. He added a zero to the number. Khushi. He added two more zeros to the number and continued to fill in the blanks.

He handed over the cheque to Aman.

There was a knock on the door.

Khushi. He knew it was her.

“Akash, see who it is,” he instructed, exerting superhuman control not to bound out of his chair and go running to the door. “Whoever it is, tell them I am not available.”

Akash opened the door to see Khushi standing there, a loaded tray in her hand.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Who are you?” she exclaimed. “Where is Arnavji?”

Arnavji? Interesting, Akash mused. “I am Akash, err...Arnavji’s brother. And you are?”

“Khushi,” she replied as though it were public knowledge. “Where is Arnavji?”

“Inside,” Akash said, pointing to the living room. He didn’t think bhai would lose his temper at him for letting this beautiful lady into the house. He followed Khushi in, eager to watch the interaction between Khushi and her Arnavji.

“Arnavji!” she called as she walked up to him and set down the tray on the table by his chair.

“Khushi?” Arnav sat up. “Did you get the cheque?”

“Cheque? Kaun sa cheque?” she asked, busily removing the cover of the tray to reveal pakodas and tea. “Aap kha-pi leejiye. You look very tired. I thought you would be happy that your brother has come to see you?”

“I sent Aman to your house sometime back...” Arnav began.

“Oh, that nice bhaiyya? He took amma to the bank with him.” She frowned. “Why did you send a cheque with him?”

“Err...I...my family owes her. We took property from her a long time back. The cheque is the payment,” Arnav explained.

Khushi held out a cup of tea to him, her direct gaze on him. “Are you satisfied with whatever amma had to tell you?” she asked.

“Yes, it was not her fault. It was my father’s.”

Khushi heaved a sigh of relief. “Chodiye yeh sab. It happened so long back and your parents are no more. Aap chai peejiye, pakode khaayiye.” She held out a cup of tea to Akash who accepted it gratefully.

“How is your father?” Arnav asked.

“Much better,” she replied, joy suffusing her face. “Doctor saheb said if he continues getting better, he can come home at the end of this month.”

“Good,” Arnav replied.

Her face became drawn to Akash’s interest. “Agar aap nahi hote to...I can’t even imagine...pata nahi how we would have taken him to hospital.” She turned to Akash. “I knocked on your bhaiyya’s door at midnight and he took us to the hospital in his car. Doctor saheb said that acha hua we brought him quickly, nahi to pata nahi kya ho jaata...”

Akash was very intrigued at the good Samaritan version of his bhai, the most akhdoo, khadoos person in Delhi.

“Really?” he asked, with a look at his bhai who flushed slightly.

“Really. Your bhaiyya is the best, Akashji,” Khushi averred.

Arnav stood up. “We will be leaving Lucknow today,” he declared.

Khushi’s face fell. “Aap jaa rahe ho?” she asked in dismay.

“I have been here too long,” Arnav replied, turning his face away from temptation.

“Aap wapis aayenge na?” she asked hopefully.

“No, my work here is done,” Arnav managed to say, his head still turned away from her. She had no notion of self-preservation. It was up to him to ensure her safety...from him.

Akash stood watching the strange pair and their ridiculously complicated wooing dance if he could call it that.

                                                          ***