Part 18

Part 18

He kept starting at her till she was inscrutable for a brief moment right before she turned and disappeared all together into the building. The shrill of his cell phone ringtone broke that trance, "Ya Aman"

"Morning Sir" he paused momentarily, "I have some bad news" Aman was unusually straight forward this morning causing him to take note right away, "What's up?"
"The piece in today's paper..." Aman stopped hoping Arnav would take over, but to his surprise the boss seemed clueless, so he had to bring it up himself, "Sir, the article about you and Ms. Vaid in today's paper..." they had never talked about Arnav's private life before so the hesitation on Aman's part was understandable, he wasn't sure how Arnav would react either.

"I haven't seen the paper yet Aman..." Arnav was still distracted by the events of the last twelve hours, his eyes still focused on the building's entrance and the person who had disappeared into it.

"Sir, I just received a call from Ms. Vaid, she sounded very upset" the mention of Ms. Vaid a second time finally got the boss's attention, "Email me a copy of it ASAP, I want to see it first" Arnav sighed suddenly weary of everything, "What's the bad news?" he knew the article alone would not incite such a response from his usually unflappable PA, "Sir, I have a friend who works at the paper. I was able to get insider information... it seems like the pictures were leaked to the media, Sir"

That certainly took him by surprise, "I'll call you back, let me see it first"

The past two years, there had been a barrage of these articles, mostly linking him with Lavanya, and while Lavanya had reacted strongly initially she too had given up by the end. After one particularly insinuating piece on them, Lavanya had said, "All publicity is good publicity" so he had let it be, if she had no issues, he wasn't certainly going to bother. Besides it served him too, as long as the press believed, he was with Lavanya, he would be spared of any more difficult questions about Khushi. He couldn't figure out what Lavanya got from it though.

But this was different, it was the first time he had been linked with a business associate, and this was never good. Arnav rubbed his forehead impatiently as he waited for the image to upload on his cell phone, and there it was, the headline couldn't have been more obvious "The much married bachelor's latest ..." The article started off with Arnav Singh goes international this time around, is it over with Lavanya Kashyap?" It looked the same, except the picture was recent he noticed, from last night, taken as he had ushered Natasha into Mama's Kitchen, who was up to this? Arnav frowned, this was bad, the timing of it all. And if these were indeed leaked to the media, he needed to know who was behind it. So he called Aman right-back, "So Who was it?" he asked not wasting anytime, "Sir, she didn't give me a name as she was still at work, I will talk to her in the evening once she gets off work"
"Alright, I want that info, Aman. Get it, even if it means, we need to splurge on your friend, do you get that?" he asked trying to make sure Aman understood, "Yes sir, I will get to it and get back to you, as soon as I have any relevant information" and he hesitated, "And Sir, Ms. Vaid?"

"I'll take care of that Aman" he cut the call, slid the phone back into his pocket impassively and looked back up at the building Khushi had disappeared into; this was the last thing he needed right now, Khushi to think he was some ... His frown got more pronounced as he noticed the actual building. If he had to describe the building in one word, it would have been dire. The white walls had gone grey; the paints had peeled off at random places and were sticking to the walls like badly weathered flaky enamel paint, dry and ready to crumble to pieces. There was no doubt that the building had not been re-painted in a very long time as all the dark streaks, blotches and water marks along with the organic growth, hinted at.
The unassuming rows of rectangular windows along the longer face of the building parallel to the road outside didn't look like they would sufficiently light up the small rooms on the inside. From his own experience, he figured there had to be a long corridor of unassuming rooms on either side. He tried to imagine Khushi in one of these dark and dingy rooms; the image was a drab one.  It reminded him of tenement housing from Europe. Everything felt wrong in that, and he felt his heart constrict at the knowledge of Khushi living here, like this, away from everyone, her family.

"Sir, is it a divorce that you are hiding from the media?" for some reason, this one question from another time, another city came roaring back filtering through his memory bank, oddly he could still remember the mocking cynicism in that reporter's voice as he walked away talking to his friend, "Don't be so surprised, relationships do not matter to these brats"

"But where do you think his wife is?"

"Who knows, maybe he packed her off with rich alimony. Even I would lay low after money like that..."

"How much money are we talking about?" the other had asked curiously, "Lakhs...or may be crores who knows"

Arnav looked at the building wistfully, "Neither..." he spoke as if answering their question. He knew, if only Khushi had been part of what he had accused her to be, a gold-digger, may be she'd be living in a much better place now. It didn't make him feel any better that in their brief married life together, he had not once thought about making Khushi financially independent, heck, he had been so wrong. What was he thinking? How had he gone so terribly wrong and wronged the one person who... it was so unflattering, all of this.

He realized that he needed a plan now, a good solid plan to woo Khushi back.His wife. It had a strange ring to it, and despite their bizarre marriage, and the ugly separation, it was still what bound them. One of those things, he was grateful of, may be the emotional connect had been lost but legally, they were still man and wife. But first, he needed to find out about her, what she had been up to, his mind drifted off to last night, Raul flirting openly with her, did she? No he did not want to go there, at all. In his mind, Khushi was only his.

Arnav was brought back into reality by the harsh voice of the guard, "Sir, Sir..." the man was standing too close for comfort, "What?" Arnav lashed out annoyed at this sudden intrusion and backed away a few paces to create that space in between "Sir, your car is blocking traffic" the guard responded almost apologetically.

And suddenly like a bolt of lightning, it hit him as he stared at the man in front of him. Arnav knew how to use power and wealth, and this was a hapless guard, who was more than willing to comply. Arnav finally drove away with a smirk on his face, Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada, time to get re-acquainted to LG, gosh he missed her calling him that, who would have thought! He took out the crumpled piece of paper from the dashboard and looked at the address; it was time to find out what Khushi had been up to, his first stop was going to be the culinary school.
~~~
He walked into the old neo-classical building, it seemed at odds with the time and place, and what it held, Arnav associated cooking with stainless steels not with Greek Orders; it didn't quite make sense but then again, nothing else made much sense either. He walked through the entrance portico into a narrow corridor weathered by age but unlike the hostel building this one had aged gracefully. He was not prepared for what lay behind the big double sized doors of the corridor though as it opened up into a lovely cloister, flanked on either side by a low lying arcade. The central space with beautiful flowers and a lush green lawn was open to air. He noticed a few students busy with books. It was Sunday morning, why were people studying? He found it absurd. It had been a long time since he had been at any school. He didn't realize it of course but he already liked the serenity of that place, the beautiful red roses reminded him of his own mother's garden that he had been tending to all these years.
When his steps made slight noises against the flagstone, a group of women who had thus far been inconspicuously oblivious of his presence looked up at him, he saw their expression change from surprise to awe, he could tell as it was not new, something he was used to by now, "Adminstrative office ?" he asked. He didn't wait to hear them say, “It’s closed today”
The Administrative office did not have much of a presence, more like a small wing towards the rear end of the cloister approached via one of those arcades. The walls were lined with rows of notice boards with all kinds of colorful announcements on them. He walked pass those boards towards the door of the Administrative Block, when his steps halted and his hands stilled on the door knob, he turned towards the wall seeking confirmation, and what he saw blew his mind away, quite literally. There in a shiny metal plaque, read an inscription, Ratna Malik Educational Endowment Fund for Women, and listed below were two of the first recipients, he let out a breath as he read those names, one of them all too familiar, Khushi Kumari Gupta.

"What the f**k?" he physically reeled back to hit the column at the back, even as his eyes looked up transfixed to those letters, Ratna Malik, "Ma..."

This he had not seen coming at all, what the hell was going on?

~~~

Mrs. Malik walked into the kitchen looking at Khushi curiously, "It smells good in here, what are you cooking?" She didn't need an answer though because the mountain of Jalebis spoke for itself.

Khushi was lost in her thoughts, thinking about the news in the paper, it should not have disturbed her but it did and her mind had gone into over-drive, what did much married mean? Had he re-married? Or for that matter, what did much married bachelor mean? Was he really involved with Natasha? What about Lavanya? If yes, what had last night and this morning been about? And why was she even thinking of all this, "I don't care what he does" Deeya had given her one of those, are you freaking kidding me stares much to Khushi's annoyance.

"Why is he even here?" Khushi complained as she flung the paper back on the bed, "Because you sent him that money" trust Deeya to show her the light, "He wasn't here all this time and suddenly, as soon as you sent him that, he is here in Mumbai. Can't you make the connection Khushi?" Sometimes she hated the how much sense Deeya made.
"I see we're having Jalebis for lunch today" Mrs. Malik spoke but Khushi was still lost in her thoughts, so she walked closer, placed a hand on her shoulder and called out to her again, "Khushi..." finally managing to snap her out of her reverie, "Yes..." she turned around almost instantly and bumped into Mrs.Malik, "Ohhh! I'm sorry; I didn't see...I was" anyone could tell she was distracted.

"Thinking about something...?" Mrs. Malik stared back with a slight frown, "Is everything alright, you are unusually quiet today?" Khushi just stared back at her without a word. It was then, it hit her, being away from family, from her parents as she looked back at the concerned face of Mrs. Malik, she realized she missed her own family terribly.
"And I've never seen you make Jalebis before" it was true; this was the first time in years that Khushi was making her favorite sweets. Khushi smiled half-heartedly, and for some inexplicable reason, hugged her. She needed that, "I met him yesterday" she said, even as she held on to Mrs. Malik, she needed to.

"Met who?" she pulled back slightly to look at Khushi, "My husband..." only to correct herself right away, "I mean, ex-..."