Chapter4
Kanak spent the rest of the day roaming on the terrace and thinking about her future course of action. Now what? She had failed to get the shop so going back home to live there was out of question. She would of course go and meet her family but after that…she started to think of her contacts from college. Would one of them be able to get her a job? Preferably in Pushkar but if not, at least in Delhi. That way she could stay in touch with her brothers without giving any more pain to Bhabho. Yes, that would be the perfect solution. “I can go for further studies. I had wanted to expand Kanak Mishthaan Bhandaar and open a full fledged restaurant as its extension. Now all that is impossible.” she thought miserably. “And Shiv. I’ll have to forget him. I’ll never see him again. As he grows up, they will teach him to hate me.” Kanak broke down at that thought and her silent tears gave way to sobs.
“Are you sick again Bhabhisa?” said a familiar voice making Kanak lift her face from her upturned palms. She saw Shiv looking at her in concern.Kanak gathered herself up immediately and wiped her cheeks and her eyes.
” I am ok Shiv.” she said in an attempt to sound cheerful.
” Maasisa said you are not well so not to trouble you. I just came to see how you are but you were crying. Badly. I saw. Why?” Shiv persisted.
Kanak felt extremely nervous. ” Shiv, I was not well na, so I started to miss my family. It’s ok. Everyone gets sad sometimes. Does not mean something is wrong. Come here.”
Shiv seemed to have found her explanation valid as he eased up immediately and walked over to her. “I can understand that.” he said innocently. ” But I am here to cheer you up right?”
Feeling full of emotions, Kanak hugged him tightly. ” Yes, you are here to cheer me up. And I will always love you.” she said in a composed voice now. ” Come, let’s read a story book together.”
Kanak spent the rest of the day in minor household activities, resting, and talking to Shiv. As the evening started to draw closer, her restlessness grew, anticipating Uma’s arrival. “Today is gone. Why did he stop me? Tomorrow I will definitely leave.”
It was early evening when Uma came back. Kanak’s heartbeat grew faster seeing him walk in and seat himself in the living room. She stole glances at his face to figure out what was going on in his mind. He looked a little strained but thoroughly in control of his composure as usual.
“Finished your work?” Maasisa asked casually as they ate dinner.
“No. Not finished but made good progress.” He said looking at Kanak who was staring into a vacuum, while her food lay on her plate.
” How are you now Kanak?” He asked bringing her out of her trance.
“Oh…ok. I am absolutely fine now.” she said hastily and proceeded to finish the food that she now wished she had taken half of. It was becoming more and more difficult to swallow each bite, and she had to drink water to make the food go down every single time.
Uma stared at her actions and let out a heavy breath.
It was late evening when Uma came back to his bedroom and found Kanak sitting rigid and upright on her side of the bed. The tension in her was not just visible but also palpable. She jumped up the moment she saw him and walked over to him. Uma quietly closed the door and locked it. They needed complete privacy.
“Today was completely wasted. I’ll definitely leave tomorrow. Why did ask me to stay today?” she asked almost out of breath.
Uma held her by her left elbow and guided her back to her bed. Once they were both seated and facing each other, he lifted her wrist to examine it. ” No swelling. Good. It was a very minor cut. Does it hurt?”
” No! It’s fine. I am fine.” she said impatiently.
“Good. In that case, you are fit to travel. Pack your things. We will go to Pushkar tomorrow.”
Kanak looked at him in disbelief. ” We? Why we? I can travel alone. You don’t need to come with me. I have lived on…”
” Yes yes I know… you have lived on your own since your childhood, you are very strong, you are independent, you can do everything by yourself…and…above all, you are the daughter of late Sandhya Rathi, one of the bravest police officer Rajasthan and maybe the whole country has seen. Of course you can travel alone. But you cannot get your sweet shop transferred to your name all by yourself. For that, you will need me.” Uma said glaring at her.
Kanak was dumbfounded. She hadn’t expected this of all things. “But I , I didn’t fulfill…”
“The tests.” Uma completed for her
“Yes. And I did not…”
” Tell me the truth about yourself from the beginning, deciding to use trickery instead.”
“Well, ok yes. But I had my reasons. You…”
” had taken the shop fraudulently from your Bhabho because I am some kind of a mafia don who has become rich by snatching property from people.”
Kanak decided to stop speaking. It was unnerving to hear him complete her sentences accurately each and every time. How was this possible.But her question still was unanswered she thought.
” And now that I have been finishing your sentences, you have decided to stop talking but your question still lies out there. Since you won’t sleep without it being answered, and will then be too tired to travel tomorrow, let me answer it for you. I went to Pushkar today to find out the matter of this shop deal. Contrary to what you think, I am a regular business man and have done pretty well without having to resort to snatching things forcefully. I genuinely thought until yesterday that Kanak Mishthaan Bhandaar was sold through a fair deal. I went to investigate the matter today and have found out some troubling facts. Bottom line is, that the original owner of that shop, your grandmother was cheated. I cannot digest a property acquired in that manner. The price I have paid for it means nothing to me, one because it’s pittance compared to my entire property, but more importantly, the havoc it will wreak on my conscience is not worth it. So I am going to give the shop back to your family and will deal with the culprit when I can get my hands on him.”
Kanak had to concentrate hard to understand all the information he had given out because her mind had first gotten stuck at the fact that he had known her unspoken thoughts and questions. But she got the basic gist of what he had said. ” It was you who did the fraud deal. I saw a video clip of you getting the thumbprint from my Bhabho.Iam not a fool.”
” Yes you are. A pretty big one at that. And if I wasn’t so tired, I would have happily enumerated all the evidences of your astounding foolishness right now. But again, to rest your tiny brain, let me tell you, whatever nonsensical video you saw, was not of me. This deal was done by my brother, Aditya. It’s possible that you saw his footage and being a Ph.D in jumping to conclusions, you assumed that was me. But I’ll let that go, because you did have to go through seeing your Baabasa threatened by Gabbasa.”
He saw her clouded eyes and the hyperactive expressions in them. ” Kanak, if we continue to discuss this, it will be morning and in that case, I will delay going to Pushkar by another day. You want that?”
Kanak looked alarmed at that possibility. “No! I’ll sleep. Now.”
With that she lay down immediately and covered herself up with the sheets.
A smile broke out on Uma’s lips and he felt his tension released all of a sudden. He got up and went to change, switching off all but one light on his way .
“By the way, you did snatch me forcefully, regular business man or not.” she said from under her sheets.
Uma turned to look at her completely covered form. ” Yes, that I did. But everyone is forgiven giving in to at least one big temptation in this lifetime.” he said as he closed the bathroom door behind him. ” Specially if the temptation is of a treasure one might never set eyes on again.” he said softly to himself.
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Sorry to all my readers for not updating for so long. The explosive track in the actual show completely threw me off my track and I could make no sense of my story anymore. Whatever I thought up seemed ridiculous to me considering what was going on in the show. However, prompted by some very motivating readers, I realized that it is important to finish what I had started. So I will write this till it’s finality. It will not be at all like the real show because honestly, I am incapable of such drama. But I will present a simple story of self-realization, growing understanding, and revelation of mutual respect between the main characters. Hopefully I won’t bore and disappoint you too much. Thanks for your support. I really appreciate it. Do comment if you can ☺