Valley of Flowers Chapter 23

ARNAV sat at the restaurant of the Orchard Hotel of the famous Orchard street in Singapore, sipping his coffee as he scrolled down the news on his ipad. Coincidentally, this restaurant was also called the Orchard Café.

Having lived in US for a long time, he was used to eating bland continental breakfast. But now he stood in front of the cooking station trying his best to ask the chinese cook to make his omelette extra spicy. The clueless man handed him a bottle of Tobasco sauce. How did Khushi make the omelette so tasty? He had a sudden craving for her parathas. What had she done to his palate?

It was two days since he had come to Singapore and he hated every single minute of it. He missed Khushi like crazy. He missed seeing her facefirst thing in the morning and the last thing before he went to sleep. The nights were the toughest. He missed having her in his arms, sifting his hand through her hair, making love to her, her warm body plastered to his while they slept.

He had to get over this addiction. He was a businessman and he had to travel. There was no way he was going to be able to take her everywhere he went. It wouldn’t be fair on her as she had her dance classes to think about. He thought about the impending month-long US trip. What was he going to do?He wanted to hear her voice. He checked the time. It was too early to call her. Dammit!

Contrary to what Arnav was thinking, back in India Khushi wasn’t asleep at all, thrashing about as she was ensconced in the grip of a nightmare. Someone was chasing her in a dark alley and she was trying to escape him until she had hit a dead end. As she tried to calm her pounding heart, she heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Shyam standing there.

‘What are you doing here Shyamji?’ Khushi was aghast when Shyam walked into the room casually.

He stopped and turned around looking at her contemptuously. ‘You know what I am doing here Khushiji. I am here to remind you that we had a deal.’

‘Look Shyamji, this is inappropriate.’ Khushi whispered. ‘This is not the time or place for this discussion. Please leave.’

‘This is what happens if you don’t pick up calls Khushiji,’ he sneered. ‘Did you think you could just avoid me and I would do nothing?’

‘Shyamji please,’ she implored, ‘what if someone sees you here?’

Shyam turned around, ‘Who is there to hear us?’ He sat on the bed.

It suddenly struck Khushi that there was no one in the house except for Naniji. Anjali was in Lucknow for a seminar and Payal and Akash had gone over to spend a couple of days in Mr Malhotra’s farm house with NK and Ria.

Shyam looked at the bed and at her and a salacious look entered his eyes. ‘Fate has given us this wonderful opportunity to be together Khushiji.’

Khushi moved back all the way toward the door, her entire body quaking with rage. ‘Get out!’ she bit out, tears filling her eyes. She was ready for flight but she didn’t want to worry Naniji unnecessarily.

‘Don’t you have any pity Khushiji? Do you know how insipid Anjali is in bed? It was a total waste marrying her.’

‘Stop it!’ Khushi felt bile rise in her throat.‘Don’t talk about Di like that!’

‘She is not like you Khushiji,’ he looked up at her. ‘You are so beautiful…vivacious’ He stood up and began walking toward her.

Then he continued. ‘I saw you throw water on Arnav and run -- that night in the kitchen. That was so provocative. Any man would want to come after you and carry you in his arms -- the way Arnav did.’ He stopped in front of her, his eyes sweeping over her lasciviously. ‘I want -- that Khushiji.’

Khushi raised her hand and slapped him hard across his cheek, using the force of her entire body.

‘I should have done this a long time ago,’ Khushi spat out. ‘You should be ashamed of yourself! You married Di with wrong intentions – for her money! How dare you?

Khushi raised her voice uncaring of who might hear her. ‘It was my mistake that I entertained the thought of giving in to your blackmail. I am not going to give you any money. Now get out of this room!’

Shaym held a hand to his cheek, completely flabbergasted by Khushi’s rancour. He didn’t want Naniji to wake up. He quickly stepped out of the room and looked back at her. ‘You know what this means don’t you Khushiji?’

‘I know!’ Khushi spat out in anger. ‘I have decided to tell Arnav the truth about what happened when he gets back from Singapore. Di deserves to be rid of a man like you.’

‘You think Arnav will believe you over his own mother?’ Shyam voiced her own fears. ‘Do you think Anjali will believe you over me?’

Khushi shut the door and leaned against it weakly tears streaming down her cheeks.

Shyam Manohar Jha paced about in the living room of his house seething with insane rage. Khushi had slapped him. How dare she? He would have to teach her a lesson she wasn’t going to forget in a long time. The phone rang and Shyam’s face contorted in anger as he saw the caller id.

‘Didn’t I tell you to stop calling me?’ he barked into the phone. ‘Stop threatening me you son of a *****! Remember we are in this together. There has been a delay. That’s all. I will have the money in a day or two. I will call you.’ He cut the phone.

Khushi refusal to give him the money had put him in deep shit. He needed money desperately.

When Anjali’s dad was admitted in Ashray about a year ago, the state of his mental health had given him the idea that it would be easy to get the old man to sign the will in his name. He knew Anjali had a copy of the original will in which the property was bequeathed to his two children.

But neither sibling cared about the property.Both of them were workaholics who only cared about their work and nothing else.For Arnav, his share of property was peanuts compared to what he made in business and Anjali would probably donate her share to Ashray for the upliftment of the retards she slogged for.But that money would be very useful to him. There had to be some incentive for marrying this Mother Theresa.Once he had made this decision, it had been easy to get his father-in-law to sign the new will in his name.

Getting him out of the way had been the obvious next step. When Dr Manav had changed the BP medication he had explained that the old medication, if continued, would have no effect due to the psychiatric drug he was taking at the time. That would cause a rise in the blood pressure levels, leading to a stroke or a heart attack. This had provided him with the perfect opportunity to get rid of the old man without suspicion. The only problem was that he couldn’t have done this on his own. He had been forced to use Raju, the boy who had been assigned to take care of him in the home. He had talked the boy into administering the old medication by bribing him with a mere 1000 rupees. Once the old man had been admitted to the hospital, he had asked Raju to hide out inhisremote village in Uttarpradesh --just in case there was an enquiry. Everything had gone according to plan but his relief was short-lived. Raju, had found out that the old man had died and his worthless little pea brain had over functioned, figuring out that he could weasel out more money. And now he called him incessantly demanding five lakhs for his silence. He was considering silencing him in a different way but that would have to wait.

Even though he had the Lucknow house in his name, encashing on it so soon would put him on radar with Anjali.On the night of Khushi’s birthday, she had informed him about the will and though he had pretended to be shocked, Anjali’s eyes seemed to be scrutinizing him deeply. And when he had feigned regret over her dad’s capricious behaviour, she had conceded with him saying she couldn’t believe that her father had changed his will just a month before his death. She seemed upset that Arnav had been cut out of the will. Her sudden attachment to her estranged brother rankled him.

Khushi’s threat to tell Arnav the truth would put him in trouble. If Arnav found out that he was involved in sending Khushi away all those years ago, he would come after him. But for that he would have to believe that his own mother plotted against him and that was highly unlikely. First, he would have to solve the money problem.

He went up to the bedroom and took out the suitcase stowed away in the loft. It belonged to his father-in-law. He would have to check and see if there was any cash, cheque or LIC policy he could use. Anything.

Khushi sat at the wheel of her new car as she drove back home after her class. But her mind was preoccupied. The early morning visit by Shyam had disturbed her deeply. She had never slapped anyone in her life. However, the vile man’sinnuendos had been too much to tolerate. Now it had become inevitable that she bring out the truth. Anjali did not deserve to live with a man like Shyam. Her heart went out to the woman who was nothing but good at heart. But how would Arnav receive the news of his mother’s betrayal? she thought in despair.

Later that night, Khushi slept on the bed, with a night light on,holding Arnav’s pillow to her breast. She blushed thinking about his call a few minutes ago, as he had told her in husky voice, how much he missed her. She missed him more.

She missed those mesmerizing brown eyes that held the power to melt her insides, she missed feeling his arm around her waist as she slept, the musky smell of his cologne, the rasp of his beard against her cheek.

The knock on the door startled her and she hurried up thinking it might be naniji and opened the door without thinking. Not again! She was shocked to find Shyam standing there. She was about to shut the door on him when he slid his foot in preventing her from doing that. He pushed the door open forcing her to step back into the room. He shut the door behind him.

‘If you don’t leave the room this instant, I will scream,’ she threatened him.

‘Go ahead,’ he challenged her. ‘You think Naniji can hear you from her room downstairs?’

She rushed to her phone, but he was quicker. ‘What have you come back here for?’ She bit out angrily. ‘I told you I am not giving you any money!’

She saw a malevolent look entering his face. He had something up his sleeve.‘I don’t need the 5 lakhs I asked you for Khushiji.’ He stated simply.

‘Then why --’

‘I need fifty.’

‘Sorry?’ Khushi was astounded.

‘I said I need fifty lakhs.’ He said slowly.

‘Have you gone mad Shyamji?’ Khushi looked at him like he had grown two horns, ‘I am telling you that I am not going to give a single rupee and you are asking me for fifty lakhs?’

‘Well, the information I had earlier was only worth that much,’ he paused. ‘But what I am going to tell you now – no, I better show you.’ He took a photograph out of his pocket and showed it to her.

Khushi stared at a black and white picture of a girl and a man, standing next to each other. The man was smiling at the camera while the girl had affectionately leaned in so her temple touched his chin.

The horrifying fact was the girl in the picture was -- her mother! And the man was definitely not her father.

‘What is this?’ Khushi whispered afraid of what she was going to hear.

Shyam snickered. ‘You tell me Khushiji. That is your mother isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’ He mother looked about seventeen in that picture.

‘Do you recognize the man in the picture?’

‘No.’ She shook her head.

‘Look closely,’ he said in his slithery voice. ‘Doesn’t he look remotely familiar to someone you met recently?’

As Khushi continued to stare at the picture, he continued. ‘I found this in ourdearest father-in-law’s belongings.’

This man was Arnav’s dad? The man in the picture was a healthy looking young man in his mid-twenties, clean shaven, his thick hair oiled and combed perfectly. Then she saw the resemblance to Arnav. They had the same brown eyes.

Her heart constricted as images of how he looked in the hospital flashed before her eyes. He had been frail with thinning grey hair and beard.

Arnav’s dad and her mother? It couldn’t be! Her beautiful, wonderful and kind mother. Memories of her mother were the only happy memories she had of her childhood.

‘Turn the picture over.’

Khushi turned the photograph over to find a name scrawled in hindi. Laali! That was the name her father-in-law had addressed her as in the hospital. Khushi knew she was spitting image of her mother in her younger days. Her father-in-law, in his state of delusion had mistaken her for her mother. The photograph slipped out of her hand, her entire body suffused by tremors. She held on to the dresser for support.

Arnav had told her that his dad was in love with a woman before he was married and had never been able to forget her. She was the “other” woman in Sharada Raizada’s life. The other woman was her mother.

Was she the same woman Arnav had seen at the fair when he was seven? Was it a chance meeting or pre-planned? Had they been in an affair? Her mind began to spin. Hey Devi Maiyya! The implications were too horrifying to imagine.

‘Please Shyamji …..don’t tell ...him.’ She got the words out with great difficulty.

‘I will not Khushiji --’ he paused, ‘if you take money from your joint account and give me fifty lakhs.’

Khushi didn’t even want to ask him how he knew about their joint account. ‘NO!

‘No?’ He looked at her lustfully.‘What else can you give me Khushiji?’

Khushi stood numbly, her brain not quiet registering his innuendo.

His bloodshot eyes swept her. ‘But I want the money more.’

‘What will I tell Arnav?’ She pleaded weakly.

‘You wouldn’t have to tell him anything because you won’t be here.’ He said calmly.

‘What?’ Her heart stopped.

‘You will have to leave him Khushiji,’ he said looking at her with malice. ‘Five years ago I was the one responsible to separate Arnav and you. I have to do it again. It is destiny don’t you see?’

Shyam was insane, realized Khushi. But he was right. There was no way she could stay with him now, knowing her own mother had ruined a happy family, separated two kids from their father. It was very clear from the photograph that she loved the man standing next to her. Her aunt had never told her anything, but buaji had taunted her about her bad blood over the years. She felt like her heart was being ripped out when she realized that Arnav and she were not meant to be.

The joint account was just activated this morning ‘Give me two days.’

Shyam smiled. ‘That’s more like it.’ Then his eyes took on a malicious glint. ‘But for some reason if you change your mind like last time, let me tell you one thing. Your precious Di will not survive the next accident.’

‘You … you caused her accident?’

‘It was a good plan but that b#$%^ survived,’ he grated with derision. ‘I wish she was as co-operative as her father.’

Khushi thought she would faint with shock. ‘You ….killed Arnav’s dad?’ she squeaked.

‘No Khushiji, I didn’t do anything,’ he said emphatically. ‘Do you remember that afternoon when you didn’t want to go the hospital with me to give his lunch?’ A glazed look entered his eyes as he continued. ‘He was thirsty and I just gave him a glass of orange juice. I couldn’t believe it when he began to wheeze. By the time I could find a doctor, he had succumbed.’

Khushi looked at him in surprise, confounded by his regret. But a chill went up her spine when he began to laugh.

Arnav was worried when he reached the Raizada House in the late evening. Khushi’s phone had been switched off since previous night.He had reached Delhi a day early as he had a surprised planned for her.

The moment he entered the bedroom he knew something was wrong. He switched on the lights in the room to find the cream curtains billowing in the breeze, dark brown upholstery on the bed neat and creaseless, the green recliner in its position. Everything looked exactly the same as he had left it. But …..

His heart pounding wildly in his chest, he opened the cupboard and found Khushi’s side of the wardrobe empty. F#$%!

No! He was not going to panic. He switched on his India phone. Tons of messages waited for him but one caught his eye. Rs 50 lakhs withdrawn from accountxxxxxx. He called the bank. They confirmed to him that Mrs Khushi Singh Raizada had withdrawn the amount from the joint account, a day ago.

Then he saw the letter on the night stand.

With fingers that shook, he opened the letter and read the contents. It felt like déjà vu as he read the pure hindi script.

Arnav,

I am going to Mumbai as I have been offered a role in a movie. I have waited so long for an opportunity like this and I didn’t want to let it go just because I happen to be married. You told me that I could have as much space I wanted and more. I am taking you up on that offer. I don’t know how long this will take. I hope you understand.

Before you left for Singapore, you asked me what was wrong with me. I didn’t know what to say to you at the time. But I have come to realize the reason for my restlessness. I miss my life in show biz -- the fame and the fortune that goes with it. This is my calling. I should never have come back. You were always right -- this life of domesticity was not for me after all.

I have hidden the fact that I am married hoping it would increase the opportunities that come my way. So, don’t come looking for me.

PS: By the way, I have borrowed some money from our joint account. You know how expensive it is to stay in Mumbai. You said we could share, right?

--Khushi

Arnav crushed the letter and threw it aside. An intense rage assailed him as he paced about the room like a caged tiger.

He saw her bangle stand on the dresser, walked up to it, picked it up and smashed it against the wall, his brown eyes filled with unshed tears as he watched it splinter into small pieces, scattering the bangles all over the floor.

His heart felt exactly the same –completely shattered.