Flaming Sun Collection 3: Perfect Twins Find Anya (Box Set with 3 novellas)

by Sundari Venkatraman

  “And see the result of all that empowerment. Saloni has turned out to be an egotist. She refuses to live with her husband who’s a decent...”

  “Stop it Rati.” Ganga’s voice rose.

  Rati’s jaw dropped as she gave her mother-in-law a shocked look. She had never, but never, heard the matriarch raise her voice.

  “You haven’t even bothered to find out why your intelligent daughter has chosen to leave her husband while you insist on burying your head in the sand. If Saloni has run away, all the way from Chicago to Delhi, with a babe-in-arms, there should be a valid reason, right? Shouldn’t you try to find out what that is, instead of shouting at her? A parent’s duty is to make sure that her child has a good life. A parent’s love ensures that she has a happy life. Just getting Saloni married isn’t enough, at least, not for me.”

  When Ganga paused to take a much-needed breath, Shyam spoke. “Saloni, if you think that Manish is unfit to be your husband, I believe you. I trust your judgement. This has never stopped being your home. You are welcome to stay here along with Mitesh till I am there. I’ll ensure that you have a flat in your name after me.” He got up, indicating that the matter was closed, pulling his daughter into his arms in a fierce hug. Ryan went forward and hugged his sister too, welcoming her back into the fold.

  Ganga wiped her streaming eyes, proud of her son. Shyam rarely spoke against his wife’s shenanigans, but his heart was obviously in the right place.

  While Rati stood there fuming with temper as tears threatened to fall from her eyes, Shaan, her youngest, gave her a fierce hug. “Take a chill pill Mom. You need to loosen up.”

  “Don’t be silly Shaan. How can I? Marriage is such a serious business.” Rati gave her youngest born a stern look.

  “Yes Mom. I don’t deny that,” he smiled at her. “But Sal’s happiness is way more important, isn’t it? Do you want her to have a sad life over the next half a century till “death does them part”? He drew quotation marks in the air, a cheeky expression on his face.

  “Yeh Mom Mom kya laga rakka hai? Mamma bolo.” Rati’s glare turned fiercer.

  Shaan laughed, hugging her tighter. “Sure Mom.”

  12

  Manish went home at seven that evening to find the house empty. Not too bothered when he did not find Saloni and Mitesh at home, he had a shower and changed into fresh clothes before leaving the apartment to meet a few friends. He sent Saloni a WhatsApp message saying, “You haven’t made food today at all it seems. Come back home immediately and make some hot rotis and my favourite fish curry. I should be home by 11.”

  He didn’t bother to check if the message had reached her phone or if she had read it, confident that his wife must be cowed down enough to do his bidding after the scolding he had given her that morning. He was glad to be out, unwinding after a hard day at work. He chatted non-stop, downing two pints of beer, munching on a slice of pizza. When his friends insisted on more, he refused with an unmasked glee. “My wife must have prepared my favourite dinner for me and I don’t want to miss it,” he grinned. He loved to show off to his friends of the wonderful way his wife took care of him, feeding him the best meals. It felt good to know that they felt envious, not that any of them had mentioned feeling that way. But then, what anybody else thought never really concerned Manish. He got down from his bar stool at 10.30 and left, bidding his friends goodnight.

  Entering his flat at exactly eleven, Manish was eager to have his favourite meal. What greeted him, however, was absolute silence. Was Mitesh unusually asleep? Where was Saloni?

  “Saloni!” Manish called out a few times before going around the two-bedroom flat in search of her. He even checked the bathrooms, only to find them empty. What the hell!

  He opened his phone to check if she was online and noticed that his message had never reached her phone. Had she lost her phone? Turning to the hall table, he noticed her keys. Grrr...the idiot had forgotten her keys. But she could have called him!

  Manish angrily went closer when he noticed the yellow post-it that was placed under the keys. “I’ve left for Delhi. Goodbye!”

  What the fuck!

  Manish’s stomach growled, as if on cue. What was he supposed to have for dinner now? That was the only thing Manish was bothered about.

  He called his mother and spoke to her for half an hour, heaping all kind of abuses on Saloni’s head. He also shouted at his mother for getting him married to a useless woman.

  “I’ll try to get a flight to Delhi as soon as I can. Her parents have a lot to answer for,” growled Manish before disconnecting the call.

  That he went to bed hungry didn’t cool his temper one bit. As he went on blaming Saloni for all his suffering, it never even struck him that he could have ordered for a home delivered meal.

  13

  Saloni moved into her old room where a baby cot was attached to her bed for Mitesh. Bindi was back in their employ, her position permanent this time round.

  “Don’t worry too much about your mother,” Shyam whispered to his daughter on an aside, “Her bark’s worse than her bite.”

  Saloni smiled at her father, absolutely touched by his support. He hadn’t asked her anything about her life with Manish, taking only her word for it.

  The doorbell rang just as they were finishing breakfast. Ryan opened the door to admit Manish and his parents.

  Shyam and Ganga went forward to greet them. “Please sit down,” said Shyam. Turning towards the kitchen, he called out, “Vinayak, get some water and tea. Have you had breakfast?”

  “We aren’t here to socialise.” Manish’s father, Parikshit Chawla, said rudely. “We are here to give Saloni a second chance and to redeem herself. Manish is ready to forgive her and take her back.” Now he smiled magnanimously.

  Saloni stood in the background, flanked by her brothers.

  Ganga raised a hand to stop Rati from saying anything when the latter moved forward to speak. “Manish is ready to forgive Saloni for what?” she asked.

  “Huh?! For serving him cornflakes for breakfast, of course; and for running away scared. Arre, he’s so young and works hard. Okay, he has a bit of a temper. You advise your daughter not to mind all that and return home.”

  “Stop it Dad. Who said I’m ready to forgive Saloni?” Manish gave his father a black look before turning to Shyam. “Uncle, I want you to ask your daughter why she’s being so mean to me. What did I ever do to deserve this treatment? I have given her everything that a woman could want...”

  “Everything? Are you sure about that, beta?” Ganga quirked an eyebrow up, her gaze sharp as she looked Manish up and down.

  “You are insulting my son,” snarled Anita, Manish’s mother. “What do you mean by that question? I am keeping quiet with due respect to your age. But you can’t offend the son-in-law of your house.”

  “Has Manish told you everything?” Ganga turned her attention to Manish’s mother. Shyam didn’t say anything as he wasn’t aware of what had happened in Chicago.

  “What’s there to tell? A hardworking doctor needs to have a proper meal first thing in the morning. Saloni doesn’t have any responsibility other than to take care of her husband. How could she serve him cornflakes? Which husband will keep quiet after that? Can you imagine a girl running away from home because of a bit of scolding?” Anita scowled, before turning to glare at Saloni. “Bade ghar ki beti we thought! We were sure she must be well brought up. But obviously not. I...”

  Ganga raised a hand to stop the other woman from talking further. “Is that what your son told you? That serving cornflakes for breakfast is the only issue? Do you really believe that my granddaughter would have left him for such a trivial thing?”

  Anita looked down at the carpet, unable to meet the older woman’s sharp gaze. Parikshit took up from there. “What else? My son is handsome, well educated, earning very well and lives in a posh apartment in Chicago. So many families were in queue to get their daughters married to him. We agreed to Saloni’s match amidst all those. S
he should realise how lucky she is.”

  “You are right,” piped up Rati, unable to control herself. “Saloni is indeed lucky to have a husband like Manish. I am sure she’s sorry for...”

  “I am not!” While Saloni’s voice was only a little more than a whisper, it was firm.

  “What?!” Four voices asked the question simultaneously. Manish was on his feet as was Rati, while his parents sat on the sofa, stunned at their daughter-in-law’s words.

  “I am not sorry. As Manish very well knows, it’s not just the cornflakes.” She appealed to her parents-in-law. “Ask your son if he has ever lifted Mitesh in his arms even once since he was born more than eight months ago. Ask him if he has touched me, his wife, even once since the same time. He...”

  Parikshit also hung his head now, unable to face the accusations thrown against his son. Manish was beyond furious. Treating his wife like a doormat behind closed doors was one thing. The whole thing exposed to the world was another matter altogether.

  “You should be ashamed to discuss our private life like this Saloni,” he said, his voice ferocious.

  “But why? Everyone here is family, right? What did you think? That I’d be scared of talking about your behaviour openly and you could continue to walk all over me? Get yourself a servant Manish. You don’t need, no wait, actually you don’t deserve a wife.” She turned to her parents-in-law. “I mean no offence to you both, uncle, aunty. But I refuse to go back to live with Manish. And that is my final decision.”

  Saloni did an about turn and walked up the stairs to her room, taking her son along with her. She was glad that Manish’s parents had shown no interest in meeting their grandson. That might have unsettled her.

  Parikshit and Anita got up. “We never expected to be insulted so badly. We’ll send you the divorce papers at the earliest opportunity. Come along Manish, let’s go.”

  Manish went, having no words to defend himself.

  Rati continued to ignore her daughter in the coming days, too disturbed by the situation that had gone beyond her control. She also spoke very little to her husband and mother-in-law.

  She could understand Ganga’s behaviour. It was Shyam’s attitude that had shocked her. The man who listened to her, always, seemed to have changed overnight. It didn’t strike her that her peace loving husband, who was generally easygoing, falling with all her plans, couldn’t stand back to watch his daughter leading an unhappy life. All these years, there had been no need for Shyam to go against his wife’s wishes. She liked to rule the home front and he was perfectly fine with taking a back seat. This was the first time that Shyam had refused to toe the line. And that had thrown Rati completely.

  She refused to go to her weekly kitty party that Wednesday, too ashamed to face her friends. It looked like Rati’s life was in shambles, all thanks to her daughter.

  14

  Ruma arrived a couple of hours after Manish and his family left. She entered Saloni’s room and gave her sister a hug. “Are you okay, Sal?” She looked deep into her sister’s eyes, trying to gauge the truth.

  Saloni grinned at Ruma. “I feel awesome Ruma.” She rushed across and shut the door just in case their mother came suddenly. “I feel so free.”

  Ruma laughed. “I’m so glad to know that Sal. Was a bit worried for you. What happened? Do you want to talk?”

  The sisters chatted for a long time. There was a lot of laughter and some tears as Saloni narrated the story of her brief married life.

  Ruma’s lips drooped. “Are you saying that Manish has shown no interest in Mitesh at all? But how mean is that? Why the hell did he get married in the first place? Sal, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have encouraged you to meet the man when Mamma suggested it. What a bastard! I...”

  “Hey, don’t be silly. There won’t be a Mitesh if I hadn’t married Manish. So, I’m not complaining.” Saloni smiled softly, thinking of her son who was downstairs in his playpen, having the time of his life with Ryan and Shaan, who were having a holiday.

  Ruma nodded her head, saying, “I suppose. But Sal, you’ve been suffering so much and none of us had known anything about it. I wish I had spoken more to you. So stupid of me! I thought that you must be so busy as a newly married woman, setting up home with your hubby in a new place and all that, that I shouldn’t disturb you too much. I...”

  “Shall we stop this blame game?” Saloni grinned at her. “Right now, I’m just happy that I had a lucky escape. And I have you to thank for that actually.” When Ruma raised an enquiring eyebrow, she continued, “It was when I saw your closeness with Laki that it really struck me what I was missing. Forget about being touchy-feely or even PDA, Manish never wanted to make love.”

  Ruma turned red when she heard her sister. “I don’t know what to say Sal. I...”

  “Why don’t you congratulate me? Maybe you can buy me an exotic flower arrangement. We’ll go out for a celebratory dinner, just you and me, like old times. What say? I’m serious.”

  Ruma stared at Saloni in awe as it slowly struck her that the latter was genuinely happy to be free of her husband. She raised her hand in a high-five, exclaiming, “Beer party!”

  Saloni laughed as she lifted her hand in response to her sister. “Done! Only I don’t think the boys are going to let it be a twosome.”

  Ruma laughed, feeling light for the first time since she had heard of her sister’s broken marriage. “I don’t think so either. Let’s all go get drunk. Do you think Mitesh will mind being left behind?”

  “We’ll coax him.” Saloni winked, a grin splitting her face in two. “And I’ll leave it to you to handle Mamma. You’re the rockstar, getting married to a guy she approves. That was a good one you pulled, by the way, the secret wedding. Hats off to Daadima and Akshay chachu!”

  Ruma laughed. “It was such fun, Sal. I had to marry Laki urgently or he wouldn’t let me sleep with him.” She laughed some more seeing Saloni’s raised eyebrows. “Yeah, I knew he was the man for me after we met the first few times. And here was Mamma, insisting that I should wed Bunty...”

  “Ugh! I know. Bunty Vaswani of all people in the world.” Saloni grimaced. “Where does Mamma get her ideas from?”

  “Exactly. In the end, Akshay chachu handled everything superbly. You were here and that was one of the main arguments that he used, about how you can’t travel again soon along with a baby.”

  “Which is what I ultimately did anyway.” Saloni winked at her sister. “So the plan is like this. I’m going to get myself a job first and then build my career from scratch.”

  “Splendid! Have you spoken to Pappa about joining his company?”

  Saloni shook her head. “I don’t plan to join him. If I go to his company, I’ll be the boss’s daughter. I’ll not get to actually learn things at the grassroots. I’m planning to apply outside. Daadima agrees with me and thank God for that. I don’t think I’d have managed to survive the past few days without her support.”

  “I think you’re right. And I know exactly what you mean. Mamma teared up twice in the five minutes I was in the living room, playing with Mitesh. She needs to get a job.” Ruma shook her head in frustration.

  “Well, I’m giving her an opportunity to play fulltime grandma to Mitesh. I hope that keeps her busy.” Saloni laughed.

  The sisters had never had a chance to have a heartfelt chat since Saloni had got married. Saloni felt so happy to connect with Ruma. It was a good thing that Jaipur wasn’t too far away from Delhi.

  15

  Dharmesh called Aarav on the intercom on the Monday after the latter returned from Mysore. “Hey Aarav, do you have a minute?”

  “Of course Dharmesh,” said Aarav to his HR head, “Shoot.”

  “I just interviewed this girl for the post of marketing assistant. She’s good. Actually more than good. She’s over qualified for the job too. Her only disadvantage is that she doesn’t have any hands-on experience. But it’d be foolish to let go of her is what I think. What do you suggest?”

  �
�Do you want me to meet her?” asked Aarav, checking his phone for his schedule for the day. “Is she still on the premises? I have a fifteen-minute window in half an hour.”

  “That would just be perfect Aarav. I’ll send her over to your office.” They chatted a little more about the clients that Aarav had gone to meet with in Mysore. He and Hiten had returned late evening on Saturday.

  “Yeah, we’ll meet at 5 pm regarding that. I’m going to take the contract, Dharmesh. It’s bound to be challenging, just the way we like it, and I’m confident that it’ll open new horizons for us.”

  “Right boss! See you in the evening then.”

  Hiten knocked before walking in half an hour later. “Aarav, your interview’s here.”

  Aarav looked up from his laptop to stare at his executive assistant unseeingly, nodding at the same time. “Yeah, send her in.”

  “Good afternoon sir,” said a soft voice.

  Aarav was turned to his right, facing his laptop that was set on the arm of the L-shaped desk he was working at. Without turning to look at the candidate, he said, “Good afternoon. Take a seat. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  Saloni sat on the visitor’s chair, crossing her legs elegantly. She felt in her element, excited to attend job interviews. This was the fourth one she was attending over as many days. She was still biding her time, reserving judgement before picking up a job that would be challenging enough.

  Dharmesh had been impressed with her and she could see that. And she had heard a bit about AC Events. Now she was here to meet the big boss. It was lucky that he could fit in her interview at such a short notice. But the man was obviously busy.

  She sat up straight when he turned his chair to face her.

  “You!” They both spoke at the same time as steel grey eyes met melting brown ones. Saloni laughed softly. “Aarav Chopra! You head AC Events?!” She shook her head in a daze. “I must confess that I haven’t done my home work well. But I thought you owned and ran AC Properties.” She couldn’t resist running her eyes over his handsome face. He looked good enough to eat. He must be thirty-one, if she remembered right.