by MV Kasi
Sia felt herself relax as she mingled with the guests at the party. She felt the warmth and friendliness extended towards her because of Ajay.
Ajay was just about to accompany her towards the food when a familiar man's voice called out to Ajay from behind her.
"Ajay! What a pleasant surprise to see you."
She turned to look at the man who had spoken, and froze as she met his eyes.
And then, her heart began to thud loudly in panic and illogical terror.
She almost felt faint, but she collected herself quickly, and tried to appear much calmer on the outside.
Ajay greeted the man. "Hi Dr. Naidu. How are you?" he asked.
The man smiled. "I'm doing good, Ajay. Congratulations. I'm sorry I couldn't attend your wedding. I was campaigning for my father during that time," he said.
"That's okay. I understand," Ajay turned towards her. "This is my wife, Sia." Ajay was watching her with a slightly guarded look. Maybe he could sense the tension in her or he must have seen her reaction to that man.
"Sia, Dr. Naidu is a friend of mine. He runs a children's hospital and several charitable organizations along with his family. Manthena Corp provides security to some of those places."
A frown crossed over the handsome doctor's face. "You seem very familiar. Have we met before, Sia?" he asked.
She looked at the man who was from her past in the eye. "No. I don't believe I've seen you or met you before," she lied.
She looked at Ajay. "Excuse me for a few minutes. I need to use the powder room for a few minutes. I'll be right back," she said.
"Let me come along with you," said Ajay.
"No. I'm fine. You should—" she broke off as looked at Dr. Naidu, her cousin, "—catch up with your friends. I'll join you in a few minutes," she said and began to walk away.
She walked rapidly towards the other end of the huge party hall.
She had no freaking idea where she was heading to. She just needed to get away from there.
From her past.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
A YEAR AGO
Sia flew to Hyderabad, two days after she had discovered that she had been abused during her early childhood. She was completely filled with rage and pain. And like an animal that had been wronged, she wanted to immediately attack. She wanted her abuser gone. Wiped from the face of the earth.
And before even she could re-analyze her actions and implications, she set out to do just that. She purchased an illegal weapon for a very high price from a dealer in Hyderabad.
Concealing the weapon inside her handbag, she marched purposefully towards the front desk of the Naidu's Children's Specialty Hospital, and asked to meet the well-liked and well-loved Dr. Naidu.
She had to wait because he was currently seeing a patient.
She began pacing restlessly in the lobby, still burning with the need to lash back violently at the monster that had destroyed her life.
Holding the handbag closer, she felt the gun inside. And at that point, she didn't quite care if she would be arrested and thrown into prison for murder. All she wanted was justice for that nine year old girl who had been betrayed in the worst possible way.
"Miss Anand, Dr. Naidu will be with you shortly. Would you like to wait inside? There is better air-conditioning available along with a few snacks and beverages," the receptionist offered with a smile.
She had given the receptionist a wrong name, and also fed her with some bull-shit about being an interested donor. She would definitely leave some money after she killed the monster who ran the place, and announced to the world that their dear Dr. Kranthi Naidu who loved children was actually a child molester.
She was almost certain that with his unholy urges, he was possibly destroying many children's lives, using the facade of his job and various charities.
"Will I be okay, Dr. Naidu?" a child's voice yanked her out from her thoughts.
"You'll be fine. Nikhil. Just promise me that there will be no more balancing on high walls for fun," a man's laughing voice said.
"I promise, Dr. Naidu" a small boy replied back.
Heart thudding, she slowly turned to look at the doctor.
It was him.
Her abuser.
Her rapist.
The monster who had stolen her soul.
He was talking to a little boy whose hand was tied in a plaster. He was kneeling down, and handing a lollipop to a boy who was smiling innocently.
'Don't. Get away from that monster!' She wanted to shout and warn that boy and his parents.
But she couldn't breathe, let alone shout.
It physically hurt to breathe while looking into the doctor's smiling light brown eyes and his handsome face.
And instead of pulling out the gun to blow the monster's head, her entire body froze in terror. A sick knot began to form in her stomach that was a combination of affection and despair, causing her to almost gag and sway.
How on earth could she ever feel affection towards him?
He had betrayed her trust. He broke her spirit.
She had spent the past couple of days, reliving every moment of terror, over and over again. And during her planning, she had always thought that she would be immune to facing her rapist.
She even thought that she'd have enough rage to go through with the murder. But now, the unexpected surge of affection towards that man blew her mind.
Childhood memories of how he had spent time playing with her, and how he took her to various places with him, and then how he had read her bedtime stories, rushed through her mind.
She had loved him.
God, she actually had real affection towards that monster at some time when she was a child.
Her head began to throb. And she held it in agony as conflicted emotions tore through her.
"It's too painful to believe that someone you loved can do such a thing. So your brain fragments those memories into several pieces, leaving only the acceptable memories in your conscience mind. And even though the knowledge, sensation and feelings in your brain are shattered, they are not completely forgotten. They intrude in the most unexpected ways."
Dr. Patel had warned her about it. But instead of the bad memories, the good ones were pouring into her brain.
She stood rooted to the spot in daze, even as her stomach cramped in anxiousness and confusion. Soon the overwhelming feelings took over, and she ran inside a restroom to throw up.
When she was done, she rinsed her mouth, and washed her face with cool water, all the while staring into the mirror, as another memory and a realization took over.
"When I grow up, I'm going to marry you," said the little girl.
"That's very sweet Little Princess," he said, laughing and ruffling her hair.
"Where would I go?" asked an amused voice of a woman.
"You can live with us too, Aunty. Kranthi, you, Uncle and me, we'll all live together in the same house," the little girl replied.
Aunty? What the hell?
She closed her eyes and braced herself to think hard.
Her mind had played tricks when it came to resurrecting her childhood memories. She knew what had happened to her during the night was real. But her mind had associated the abuse with the events that were fed to the outside world.
She had never been weirdly obsessed with her cousin. It was a pure fabrication. Her cousin was older than her. He had been a thin, bony, teenager who wasn't interested to spend time with a little girl.
The man who had abused her was an adult.
And as a little girl, she had been more attached to him. She had even told him that she wanted to marry him.
Her cousin wasn't the one who had molested and raped her repeatedly when she was a child.
It was his father.
Her uncle.
The upcoming politician, the great champion of humanity and compassion was the abuser of his own niece. And he had trivialized and distorted the facts to the outside world.
As she came int
o that realization, she aborted the murder plan completely.
That same evening, she flew back to Boston. Not because she thought she was a coward to exact her revenge on her uncle. But because she knew she wasn't ready yet.
She was too driven by rage and pain. What she needed was a calm and rational mind.
A complete absence of emotion.
So she could plan. She needed to come up with a plan which wouldn't offer her target a quick death. She wanted her abuser to suffer for a very long time. She wanted him to lose everything he held dear. She wanted him to beg for his death.
She wanted to destroy his soul.
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
PRESENT
Sia was breathing heavily as she stared at herself in the restroom mirror.
Despite knowing that her uncle was her abuser, she still couldn't digest or bear her cousin's face. Because, he had close resemblance to his father.
And not only that, Ajay knew her cousin.
How the hell can that be remotely possible?
Her mind rebelled at the connection. But if she were to spend time questioning every new development in her life for the last couple of decades, she would have gone mad.
With trembling hands, she splashed water on her face in the ladies restroom.
She heard the door open and saw a woman enter the powder area. The woman stood next to her, and placed her handbag on the countertop before pulling a small make-up kit.
"So you are Ajay Manthena's wife?" the woman asked.
Sia turned to look at the woman, to smile at her politely, but her body went on alert as she recognized that particular woman.
"You probably don't remember me that well. I'm Smitha Gopal. I was with Geeta Naidu when you saved her life at the restaurant," she said, while continuing to re-touch her make-up.
When Sia didn't respond, the woman shook her head, smiling.
"It's quite strange how life works. Kranthi probably doesn't know that it was Ajay's wife who had saved his mother that day. He was extremely grateful and wanted to thank you in person. I should definitely tell him—"
"No. That's not really necessary," Sia interrupted her. "I didn't do much." Except almost poison your friend and plant a tracker in her handbag.
"No. No. You saved her life. And believe me, Geeta, Kranthi, and even Ajay will be thrilled to know that fact. Apparently, they go way back," said the woman.
Sia's polite smile froze, and she felt it in her gut that her world was going to come crashing down with the woman's next words.
"I wasn't aware that Ajay knew the Naidu family that well," she remarked casually, with great difficulty.
The woman smiled. "Oh yes, Ajay knows them well. They are from the same village. Ghadhwaal. And apparently when Ajay lost his parents, Mr. Naidu, who is Geeta's husband, sponsored Ajay's education, until The Colonel adopted him. Geeta had once told me that she and her husband are quite proud of his success, and consider him their protégé. He keeps in touch by making anonymous donations to their children's charities."
Sia's legs almost collapsed under her. She supported herself by holding on to the hard granite countertop, and stared at the woman blankly, trying to process the words that were spoken in the last few minutes.
Impossible. No way. This cannot be true.
But she knew it was true.
Her mind ran through the possibilities.
The way they first met.
The way he was always turning up in her life.
There was no such thing as too many coincidences. He had even made a joking reference about that fact to her. But she was too blinded by him to analyze that.
He had always known who she was.
She threw up as soon as she realized that fact.
"Oh my god! Are you alright?" she heard the woman asking in a concerned voice.
Her entire world was splitting apart. So, no. She wasn't bloody alright.
CHAPTER FORTY
AJAY WAS WAITING frantically outside the women's restrooms.
When he saw a familiar woman rush out with concern on her face, his heart thudded in fear.
"Ajay, I think your wife is not well. You should take her home or to the hospital," she said.
"Thank you Mrs. Gopal. I think I will," he assured her and rushed inside.
Heart pounding with dread, he walked towards the resting area.
Sia was leaning over the counter.
Her eyes looked wild and she looked close to manic. She was crying and sobbing, and repeatedly saying no.
She was checking something on her phone in distress.
He had never seen her behave that way before. And even as he went closer to her, she didn't notice his presence.
"Sia," he called her softly, so he didn't startle her.
She froze, and then as though coming out of a trance, she looked around in a horrified manner, and then slowly she raised her eyes to look at him.
The look in her eyes destroyed him, and he felt his whole world tilt.
Moving towards her hurriedly, he held her in a hug by wrapping his arms around her.
"No!" She screamed, trying to jerk away from him. Her phone dropped from her hands and she began struggling to reach the phone on the floor.
"Stop," he told her gently.
But she screamed again, this time in a high-pitched wail that ripped out his heart.
She tried to shove him away. Hard. But he braced himself and continued to hold her close.
"Stop." He commanded her in a controlled tone. "Calm down for a minute."
She stopped struggling immediately, and became limp in his arms. He took her towards the seating area where a few chairs were available.
She didn't resist.
Placing her on one of the chairs, he knelt down in front of her. But she wasn't looking at him.
"Sia. Baby, please don't cry," he said as he wiped away her tears. He hated seeing her lose control this way.
"Baby, look at me," he said, holding her face between his hands, and lifting her chin,
She stared at him, and then he saw it happening.
Her eyes going blank. She was disappearing behind the cold mask she used to wear during their initial days of marriage.
"How could I ever think of risking justice for all those helpless victims? Including myself. And all that for what? For having a chance to be with you and to protect you."
He didn't reply, because he didn't understand what she was talking about. And her deadened tone was worrying him.
"Sia—"
"You knew who I was right from the beginning," she stated, rather than asked.
His heart stopped. How did she find out? He hadn't kept papers or any kind of evidence around him.
"Answer me," she said with an eerie calm. "Did you already know who I was, before you had met me?"
His heartbeat sped up, even though he had known and prepared for such a day to arrive.
"Yes," he replied. "I've always known about you."
She stared at him for a few seconds.
"For how long?" she asked.
"Since I was eight," he replied.
She paused, and then took a deep shuddering breath.
"What was your name before you were Ajay Manthena?" she asked.
He watched her quietly, and then answered her. "Ajay Chandra."
Sia's mind immediately ran through the large database of names that were associated with her uncle and the village. Chandra...Chandra...Mrs. Sita Chandra.
Her teacher.
"You are Sita Chandra's son," she stated.
Her teacher's image flashed in her mind. Her teacher's words and her dimpled, warm smile had always made her feel safe and secure.
Ajay was the spitting image of his mother. His familiar dimples and smile had lulled her into a false sense of security whenever he was around her.
"Listen to me Sia, it's not what you think," he said, inhaling a deep breath as panic slowly crept into him.
He gently brushed aside the hai
r falling on her face, and tucked it behind her ear.
She flinched at his touch, but he forged ahead determinedly.
"You and our baby are the only things that matter the most to me. I stopped caring about what happened in our past during our childhood. After I met you again, I decided to let it all go, and start over to make new memories with you."
She scoffed with a cold look. "How noble of you. But you still don't know the half of it," she said. "Do you want to know the most pathetic thing?" she asked.
He didn't reply.
"Me," she said. "I was going to tell you the truth about myself. Because I wanted to trust you. I felt you completed me. And I wanted you by my side when I fought against the whole fucking world. Because I felt safe with you. And I felt happy and loved. But it was all a lie. A fucking lie."
"It's not. I—"
"How did you know I was alive or where I lived?" she asked.
He wanted to pull her into his arms, and hold her, and force her to listen to him completely. But the look on her face stopped him. She looked as though, she was barely hanging by the thread.
"While you were presumed dead due to drowning, you were actually placed inside my house. My mother was the one who had helped you disappear. A few days later, she was informed of your adoption by a woman who lived in Boston."
"I see," she said, even though she didn't.
He held her hands in his. "Sia. Baby please listen—"
"Do you also know why I married you in the first place?" she asked, cutting him off.
He paused. "Yes. Some of it. According to your grandfather's will, if you have a child by the time you turn twenty five, you can claim your inheritance that's currently being managed by your mother's brother."
"Ah...my dear old mother's brother. You already know who he is. And apparently, you are also his favorite protégé," she said bitterly.
He paused, and then said, "Yes."
Pushing his hands away from her, she watched him closely.
Her phone began to vibrate on the floor, a few feet away, but she ignored it.