by M. V. Kasi
He slid next to her in the bed. “I want to show you a way that will bring us even closer to each other. But it has to be our little secret.”
“Yes. I do want to be close to you. You are my favorite person in the whole world!” she exclaimed.
“I know you love me the best. But can you keep a secret, my beautiful Little Princess?” he asked.”Promise me our secret will remain only between us. Or I won’t be your friend anymore.”
“Okay. I promise,” she replied, smiling innocently.
And then, the horror began…
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
AJAY WOKE UP when he heard something.
It was Sia. And she was whimpering while tossing and turning. She was kicking the covers away from her in distress.
Turning on the night lamp next to him, he tried to ask her if she needed something. But her eyes were closed, and she was still asleep.
Her mouth was slightly parted as she rolled from her side to her back. One of her arms flew over her face as though trying to ward off something, or someone. Her face was scrunched up, and her eyes fluttered behind her closed eyes as though she was dreaming.
No. Not dreaming. She was having a nightmare.
“Sia,” he called out to her, but she didn’t respond.
She was crying.
“Sia!” he called out firmly, only to hear her choked sobs.
He watched her in helpless frustration as he heard the agonized sounds coming from her. He wished he could take away all her problems. He was definitely not used to being unable to fix things.
And Sia…she was one of the most important person in his life. It hurt him to watch her go through a nightmare because of whatever trauma she had been through in her past.
“Sia, wake up. I’m right here. No one is inside this room to hurt you,” he said, wiping her tears away from her face.
When he repeated it again, she jerked, and then screamed.
She kept screaming, and she shot up the bed with her eyes wide open. And even though she wasn’t looking in his direction, her body trembled, and scurried back towards the headboard, swatting at the invisible enemy.
“Sia!” he called out again.
He didn’t hear him. She wasn’t even aware of his presence. Her eyes were open, but she was definitely not awake. When he went closer to her, and laid a soothing hand on her shoulder, she punched him hard, thinking he was the attacker.
“Don’t! Get away! Leave me alone!” she shrieked as fear shook her body, and tears poured down her cheeks.
She dug her nails deep into her own upper arms, and he was worried that she would harm herself with the thrashing.
Ignoring her flaying arms, which threw blows at him with enough force to cut his lip and also maybe leave bruises, he hugged her close. She screamed even louder at the contact. She was also much stronger than usual as she was driven by her fear and adrenaline.
“Wake up! Sia. Baby please, wake up!” he called out loudly to her.
“No! I don’t want to! Please no!” she begged, and cried as though she was dying, and as though someone was killing her.
She was sweating profusely, and her tears mixed along with it, drenching his shoulder where he laid her head.
“Please,” she cried out, wailing and thrashing.
How can she still be asleep during all this?
Searching around him, he spotted the water bottle next to him, and grabbed it with one arm. Opening the lid, he tipped it towards them, letting a small stream flow on her face.
She flinched, and then froze, as though she was shocked awake. Slowly her body became limp, and then her eyes began to focus on him.
The panic and fear hadn’t left her eyes completely, but now, there was an added confusion while slowly comprehension began to rise.
“Ajay?” she whispered, blinking a few times.
When she finally realized what had happened, her face crumpled, and she began crying again.
This time in utter despair.
“Sia…baby…”
“Oh god, I hurt you. I knew I would. How could I be so dumb, and delude myself in believing that I would be magically cured. And now, I’ve hurt you.”
She ran her fingers gently over his bruised lip as tears streamed down her stricken face.
“No. Stop,” he said, holding her fingers still, and meeting her eyes.
“You were having a nightmare like you said you would. I didn’t know you weren’t awake, and tried to wake you up. It’s not your fault.”
“But I hurt you,” she repeated in a broken voice.
“You’ve beaten me before in the gym as well. This is not that different,” he joked as he ran a comforting arm down her back.
She smiled weakly at that comment.
He held her close, and placed her on his lap, and then sat back against the headboard, rocking them gently.
“Are you okay now?” he asked.
Then removing his t-shirt, he rubbed away the sweat from her forehead.
“I really don’t know,” she said hopelessly.
“How long have you been having these nightmares?” he asked.
“For a while now,” she replied vaguely.
He didn’t want to push her that night for an explanation. So he remained quiet as he continued holding her, and rocking them. Her body was still trembling slightly.
After a few minutes, when her trembling stopped, she twisted slightly to look at him.
“I’m sorry. For ruining your sleep,” she said quietly.
“Don’t. You don’t have to apologize. I rather not sleep, if it means being next to you when you wake up,” he told her, meaning every word of it.
She turned completely to look at him. “I want to wake up next to you too. Even if…I don’t know if I really can. But I want to try. And I don’t want to be afraid of the night anymore.” She held his hand. “I promise I’ll keep trying harder.”
“You don’t have to promise me anything Sia. Just remember that I’ll be there next to you if you need me.”
She nodded and then hugged him tightly.
He adjusted their bodies, until she was comfortable to sleep as he held her. He remained quiet, and soon her exhausted body slackened in sleep.
He remained awake for a while as he held her, thinking about what the future held for them. He could and definitely would, protect her from anything that could potentially harm her physically. But he didn’t know how to protect her from what was going on in her head.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
SIA WAS ON the phone with Varun.
“The content I leaked to the reporter last week would be made public tonight. The live interview with him is at seven,” she informed him.
“Did the hacker ensure you that he covered your tracks?” Varun asked.
“Of course.”
Later that evening, she turned on the news channel on her bedroom television.
At first it was the run of the mill interview with a new upcoming politician’s dashing son and his popular father.
“Sir, upon many occasions, you have stated that you would give your life for the sake of your village, Ghadhwaal. And also that your ancestral home along with its people was what motivated you to join politics.”
“That’s right.” Jagdish Naidu smiled.
The reporter smiled, and then looked at the son. Her smile brightened.
“Dr. Kranthi, you have also been pretty active in campaigning for your father. What exactly is your motivation?”
“My motivation has always been my parents, and the effort they both put in for the people of our village. I feel we can do much more good on a larger scale, if we were to be part of the government.”
“I see. That’s a great cause. And most of us are really impressed that at a very young age, you have been pretty keen to work with children’s charities. You have even pursued a career oriented towards the children,” the reporter gushed.
“Yes. I’ve always liked working with the children,” he smil
ed.
“That’s really sweet. And believe me, most of the women population in this state think so as well.”
He just shrugged and smiled.
“If you don’t mind, can we ask you something personal?” the reporter asked.
“Sure.”
“Why aren’t you married? And also, why not pursue a specialty that would earn you a lot more money than you’d earn as a pediatrician?”
“I’m only thirty one. I don’t think I’m a relic yet,” he laughed. “There’s still a lot I want to accomplish before I marry and settle down. And coming to your other question, our family has never been motivated by money,” he said.
“I see,” the reporter said, and her tone and expression changed considerably. “It’s quite interesting that you said that—about the money. Because just a couple of hours ago, we have received some information about the Naidu Estate from some verified unknown sources,” she said, even though she had received the information a week before.
“Oh?” There was a slightly guarded look.
“Apparently, your grandfather, the late Rameshwar Naidu left a will that did not leave any of the ancestral properties or the various businesses tied to them— to your father or to you.”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
But the interviewer forged ahead, “Your grandfather left you both nothing. He left everything to your aunt, your father’s sister. Can you comment on that?”
Immediately Jagdish Naidu took over. “My son cannot really comment on that since he wasn’t born when the will was made. He doesn’t really have the history behind it. It was me who had personally asked my father to do that. Because I loved my sister, and I had made up my mind at that time, to live a simple life of serving people and forgoing all the worldly goods.”
“I see,” the reporter said. She wasn’t too happy that Jagdish Naidu had answered on behalf of his son.
But Jagdish Naidu continued to drag the attention towards him. “Unfortunately, god had another path for me. My sister and her family passed away in an accident. And not being the kind to shirk away from duty, I had to take up the reins to run such a vast estate.”
The reporter’s eyes lighted up, but she looked at the two men innocently.
“Hmm…We also heard that your sister’s daughter, who was the next in line, survived that accident. She used to live with you?”
There was a pause.
“Yes. She…passed away in a drowning accident when she was nine. We all miss her and mourn her, even now. Especially my son. She was very…attached to him,” the older man answered.
At that point, the politician’s son looked obviously unhappy with the direction of the interview. But the reporter didn’t care. She went in for the kill.
“You family must have suffered through unbearable losses. Two different accidents, killing ALL the possible heirs to your vast estate…” The reporter’s voice drifted off suggestively.
There was uproar from the audience at the not so subtle implication of double murders.
The politician looked at the interviewer coolly. “Our family doesn’t really care for the wealth or any of the worldly possessions. Believe me, if I could have my sister or my niece back, I would gladly give up everything in a second,” he announced.
Sia switched off the television with a satisfied look.
Then be prepared to give up everything, my dear family.
She smiled as she headed outside her room towards the media room where her husband was waiting for her.
“What are we watching?” Sia asked Ajay as she joined him in the media room.
Ever since he had lured her to watch his ridiculous movies, she had surprisingly gotten quite fascinated with them, and wanted to know what other ridiculous things could happen next in the movie.
She sat on the sofa, and snuggled next to him as his hands went around her automatically to hold her close.
“We are watching another legendary movie,” he replied as he sniffed her hair.
She smiled. Okay, so it was slightly creepy and sweet at the same time when she felt him sniffing her hair at times. But she loved how he always seemed to touch her outside the bedroom. The affectionate pecks on her cheek, or simply placing his hands on her stomach to feel their baby move. Those gestures affected her much more than their usual raunchy foreplay or make-out sessions.
The desperate, hungry sessions made her feel desirable, but the simple gestures made her feel wanted. Like she mattered to him.
She also loved the way he looked at her. As though he already identified what a disaster she was beneath her cool exterior, and wanted her despite that.
And the fact that they continued sleeping together through the night from past few weeks, made her feel even more cherished.
Most of the time, she kept wondering how someone like her managed to land someone like him. And not only land him, she even managed to keep him close.
He was the only thing that had ever been right in her miserable life. And when they parted ways, she would always cherish their times together.
“Good god! Did he just shoot the bullet and split it into two?” she asked in disbelief.
“Shh. This is the interesting part. Be quiet and watch, woman,” he said, placing a bucket of popcorn and some freshly squeezed juice closer to her on the table.
She rolled her eyes, but sighed contently, and snuggled even closer, continuing to watch the movie in rapt attention.
Ajay smiled at the serious look on his wife’s face. She was probably trying to find some logic in the current movie, which was an impossible task.
When another over-the-top scene played in the movie, she snorted inelegantly.
He grinned, even as he felt that same overwhelming emotion whenever he saw her smile or laugh. He didn’t know when he began to obsess over wanting to always see her smile, or wanting to always make her laugh.
She was beginning to mean a lot to him. Which was foolish.
Because if she still decided to go ahead with their original contract to end their marriage as planned, he knew he would turn into a basket-case, missing her, and wanting to be with her.
Sometimes, he wondered if she would miss him. Or simply treat him as a failed business venture and move on.
But there were other times when he felt that she was softening towards him. Especially when she clutched his hands and placed them on top of her belly, so he could feel their child move. Or when they spent an evening together, talking and bonding,
Or sometimes when he caught her looking at him in a puzzled, forlorn way. As though she was repeatedly asking him the same questions.
Why are you still here?
Why are you wasting your time on someone like me?
I’ll only bring heartache to you…
It broke his heart to see her feeling that way about herself. He felt that beneath the cool and confident person, lived a woman who craved love like everyone else. He also felt that she probably never had love, or affection or any kind of simple kindness shown towards her.
His self-preservation had been shouting at him to maintain some distance. But it was impossible to do that.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
SIA WAS READING a scathing article about the Naidus. After the interview with Jagdish Naidu and his son Kranthi Naidu was aired, there was a lot of speculation about their morals and their motives.
People were fickle. A few damaging doubts about their ideals, and they would be ready to change sides or even grab their pitchforks.
It hadn’t been that easy to slowly brainwash the masses. She had to systematically release and feed other confidential information to the reporters about the Naidu men to create bigger doubts.
She had sent them proofs about how the management of the children’s charities run by them, wouldn’t allow educational courses such as ‘Personal safety from child predators’ to be taught to much younger children. And the Naidu management had just released a statement with their weak reasoning.
“We live in a highly sexualized environment. We don’t want to corrupt the innocent minds of the children, teaching them about the filth that rarely exists.”
There had been several debates on the topic. And some of Jagdish Naidu’s firm supporters began to question his and his son’s ideals. A few articles that were supposedly sponsored by the opposition also made it seem like something sinister was lurking under the charming and dynamic personas of the Naidu men and their charities.
“Varun, continue to monitor the feeds. I’m tracking the two guest houses and the three orphanages. Just one little proof or even a hint of abuse, and we’ll have him where we want him,” she told Varun over the phone.
“I know. But it’s really hard, Sia. The private areas don’t have access to cameras. So, without you or me meeting those children or the management to check if anything strange had happened, we might not get much.”
“I know. But let’s not completely rule out the feeds we have. And if we wait for two more months, I’ll definitely get us unlimited access,” she said.
“Yes. I can’t wait for it either.”
She gave a few more instructions to Varun before ending the call and heading towards the kitchen.
She was planning to bake a chocolate cake.
From the past few weeks, she had been making desserts regularly for after dinner. She had a sweet tooth, and the pregnancy hormones ramped up her craving even more. And even though she hadn’t had any training or experience in cooking, she took Ajay as her inspiration, and began fixing up desserts.
Putting on her apron, she opened the recipe of chocolate lava cake on her tablet. She was so engrossed with the video that she didn’t realize that it was time for Ajay to return.
She was still mixing the ingredients when she felt his presence. He was standing only a few feet away on the opposite end of the kitchen island watching her in amusement.
“Good evening,” he drawled.
She smiled absently at him as she continued watching the instructions on the video. “Save some space for dessert,” she told him.
