***
Everyone was tired of studying by the time midterms were over, and Raj's birthday gave them an excuse to go out and celebrate. Raj suggested that they go to his restaurant because he could get a discount on the bill, and Vijay and Lucky quickly agreed. Raj cleared his plan with Manpreet, and when she discovered that it was his birthday, she insisted on paying for everyone. She also reassured him that she would be there personally so that Pankaj wouldn't cause any trouble.
Raj didn't work that day, and in the evening, all three men took their time getting ready. They showered and put on their nicest clothes, and they were about to leave the apartment when the scent of roses and baby powder filled the room. Raj and Vijay looked around for the source, and determined that it was coming from Lucky.
"Man, what did you do?" Vijay asked as his eyes started to water.
"What? It is very good cologne," Lucky replied proudly.
"Really? Where did you get cologne?" Vijay coughed into his sleeve.
Lucky's hand shot behind his back. "It is of no concern to you, my friend."
Raj stealthily circled behind Lucky while he was preoccupied with answering Vijay's questions and grabbed the piece of paper Lucky was holding behind his back. Raj put his nose to the paper and gagged. "Oh, man! What is this?" Raj choked, handing it to Vijay.
"Give it back!" Lucky cried indignantly.
Vijay looked at the glossy paper and laughed. "Lucky, this isn't cologne; it's women's perfume, and you ripped it out of a magazine."
Lucky's face turned red. "We should go or we will be late for dinner."
"I am not going anywhere with you smelling like that," Vijay laughed. "Go wash up," he said, pointing towards the bathroom. Lucky stormed off and slammed the bathroom door shut, and Vijay heard him turn on the sink's faucet. Vijay leaned against the wall with a look of amusement on his face, and Raj was laughing softly to himself. Vijay observed Raj pensively for a moment, and then spoke. "So, happy birthday, man. Many, many happy returns of the day."
"Thank you, Vijay."
"So did you talk to your family last night? Your family does the whole Indian, call-you-at-midnight-on-your-birthday thing, right?" Vijay inquired.
Raj fidgeted uncomfortably. "Um, yeah, I talked to them."
Vijay considered his reply. "Good. It's always nice to hear from your family on your birthday. It's times like this when I miss my family the most, because they would always make a big deal about birthdays," he said, searching Raj's face for clues. Raj revealed nothing.
"When did you talk to them?" Vijay continued, effecting what he hoped was a genuinely perplexed look, while at the same time trying to keep the conversation casual, and not like an inquisition. "I don't remember you leaving the apartment last night after you got home."
Raj looked at his watch. "Lucky has to hurry up, or we'll be late," he replied curtly.
"Lucky, let's go!" Vijay banged on the bathroom door. Turning his attention back to Raj, he asked him again, "So when did you get a chance to speak to your family?"
"I called them from the restaurant," Raj replied, a little too forcefully. He knew he was being challenged, and didn't like it.
"Oh, okay," Vijay replied, unconvinced. He didn't want to ruin the evening, though, so he decided to drop the subject.
When the bathroom door opened and Lucky stepped out, Vijay immediately noticed that his shirt and pants were soaking wet. "Man, what happened to you? You look like you fell in the toilet!"
"No more questions! You said we need to go, so excuse me, but why are we still standing here?" Lucky replied, holding his head high and striding with determination towards the door. Vijay and Raj exchanged a look, shrugged at each other, and followed behind him.
They were fifteen minutes late to the restaurant, but Manpreet greeted Vijay and Lucky graciously, displaying no indication that she'd noticed either their tardiness or the condition of Lucky's clothing and his strange odor. But she did notice that Raj was wearing a Kashmiri suit, and she couldn't take her eyes off the way it draped his body. She wanted to touch him, but Pankaj was lurking in the back of the restaurant, keeping an eye on everything.
The restaurant was fairly crowded already, but Manpreet led them to a large table by the bay window, the best location in the house. She invited them to take a seat, and called Nitu over to take their order. After Nitu had filled their water glasses, she went to the kitchen while Manpreet lingered another few minutes, putting on her most charming smile and shamelessly flirting with Raj's friends. When she finally stepped away from the table to attend to other customers, Vijay and Lucky told Raj how impressed they were with the restaurant, and how lucky he was to work with Manpreet. Raj had never told Lucky or Vijay the truth about Manpreet and Pankaj, so he just nodded and took a big gulp from his water glass.
Pankaj stared at Raj and his friends, and then went to the kitchen, muttering to himself. He began pacing back and forth, as images of his wife with Raj filled his head. It made his blood boil to see her being so kind to Raj. The woman hadn't had an ounce of affection to spare for him in years - the cold bitch - and yet here she was, making a fool of herself over this boy and his friends. Pankaj went to the refrigerator and yanked at the handle. He pulled out a bottle of beer, hoping that the alcohol would take the edge off and help him forget his whore of a wife, at least for a little while.
Raj and his friends ordered plenty of food, and Dalbir took his time to cook the dishes to perfection. Nitu went to pick them up, but Manpreet dismissed her with a small waive of her hand and gathered the dishes herself so that she could take them to Raj's table personally. As they ate, Manpreet flitted around the table, inquiring about the temperature and spiciness of the food, and making sure they never ran out of their favorite dishes. Raj was extremely grateful to Manpreet for ingratiating herself with Vijay and Lucky. Maybe everything he had put up with from her had been worth it, even if the result was just this one wonderful night with his friends. Seeing Vijay and Lucky eating and having a great time, and knowing that he had played a part in making this happen, pleased Raj immensely, and made him forget his troubles. At least for this evening.
They finished off the appetizers and the main course, and Manpreet took their dessert orders. Everything was going far more smoothly than Raj had ever imagined it could, and Manpreet had only been slightly inappropriate with him tonight, with a few too many touches and glances. But she had kept her word about Pankaj, who hadn't shown his face all evening, and Raj hoped that her flirtations would be mistaken by his friends as just normal behavior by an owner whose flattery was designed to ensure happy, returning customers.
Manpreet walked into the kitchen and nearly tripped over Pankaj, who had finished off several beers and was now leaning against the wall, snoring loudly. Manpreet looked at him with utter contempt. What kind of woman would be attracted to that? She hadn't touched her husband in years, and the idiot actually had the audacity to still get angry with her about her rejections. These past few years had been incredibly lonely for her, as the thought of her husband's hands anywhere on her body disgusted her, and yet she couldn't quite bring herself to break her vows and give in to her desire for anyone else. She had been faithful - well, technically, anyway - for so long, but she had needs, and fulfilling them on her own just wasn't sufficing anymore. Raj was young, virile, and handsome - the exact opposite of her husband - and when she looked down at Pankaj, and then out the kitchen door at Raj, something snapped. She was like a pressure cooker whose lid was going to have to come off at some point, and she couldn't think of a better time than now. Her lust for Raj had exceeded her ability to control herself, and self-deprivation was no longer on the menu.
Manpreet walked directly up to Raj and interrupted a joke he was telling to his friends. "Raj, darling, would you be a gentleman and help me with something in the basement?"
Raj looked up at her and hesitated when he saw the look in her eyes. H
e knew where this was going; he'd always known that someday it would come to this. But he didn't want to deal with her now, not like this, not tonight. Not when his friends were here and everything was going so well. But he didn't know how he could say no to her in front of Vijay and Lucky, particularly after she had gone out of her way to impress them tonight.
Nitu, who was delivering food to a table, caught the exchange out of the corner of her eye. Manpreet's attraction to Raj was no secret, and when Raj got up from the table to follow Manpreet, Nitu was pretty sure what was about to happen. Manpreet walked over to Nitu and told her to take over the floor for a few minutes while she and Raj attended to some business, and Nitu merely smiled and nodded. Contrary to what Raj had always believed, Nitu had never held a grudge against him. She actually thought he was pretty nice. But Nitu had always hated Manpreet. She was the reason Pankaj drank, and Nitu took pity on him. Pankaj wasn't a bad man. He was a man who was bound by contract and by financial necessity to a frigid wife who humiliated and emasculated him daily for her own pleasure. Nitu thought Manpreet was well overdue for payback, and she was just waiting for the right opportunity. But now it looked like Nitu was going to be able to just sit back and watch.
Manpreet motioned for Raj to go down the stairs first, and she followed, closing the basement door behind her, which she never did. Raj was already nervous because he knew Pankaj was around, but didn't know if he'd seen them go downstairs. Manpreet turned the lock on the door, and Raj could feel the sweat beginning to bead up on his forehead.
She wasted no time with pretense, and shoved Raj up against the wall. "You look so good in that suit. Did you really think I would let you leave tonight without giving you my birthday gift?" Manpreet smiled a thin, dangerous smile. She ripped the buttons off his shirt and began to suck ravenously on his neck and his now-bare chest. Her pupils were dilated, and she was acting like a possessed woman who was clearly unconcerned about the fact that Raj was not reciprocating her attention, or that her husband was only a few feet above them and might easily hear them. Raj stood rigidly and grabbed her upper arms, trying to restrain her, but Manpreet fought him, escaping his grasp and cupping the back of his head with her hand as she kissed him hard on the mouth.
"Pankaj has the key to the basement," Raj managed to gasp as he pulled away from her mouth.
"He is drunk, as usual," Manpreet laughed, taking Raj's hand and pulling it to her chest. "Feel me," she ordered, looking into his eyes and squeezing his hand tightly around her breast.
"My friends are waiting. I should go," Raj nearly begged, yanking his hand away.
"They are having their desert and you should have yours." Manpreet unzipped her salwar, revealing her bare breasts. Raj couldn't help but stare, as this was the first time he'd seen a woman's breasts. She moved closer to him and rubbed her erect nipples against his chest. Raj had never been so frightened before, but he also couldn't control his response to her. Manpreet felt his hardness, and pressed herself into him.
"Please stop! I have a girlfriend!" Raj's voice was strangled as he tried to be forceful but quiet, afraid that Pankaj would hear them. Manpreet only laughed.
"You are young and sweet, my dear," she said before she ran her tongue over Raj's lips, trying to part them. She stopped briefly and stepped back, looking him in the eyes as if she was trying to read him and gauge the amount of effort she was going to have to put into this before he complied. She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "But you are also a liar. There is no girlfriend." She kissed Raj's lips again, harder this time. Her hand slid down the small dip in his lower back to grab his firm ass, and she pulled him close. Raj's lower body was responding, and he couldn't control that. But he could control the rest of his body, and he jerked his head away sharply, refusing to respond to her lips.
"But you're married!" Raj said, his face still turned away from her.
Manpreet made a strange dismissive sound, and tugged at his belt, unbuckling it. "Don't worry about him. Nitu keeps him happy. I am the one who is suffering," she pouted, threading the belt through his trousers and throwing it on the floor. She lowered herself to the hard concrete and yanked with all of her strength, pulling Raj down on top of her when he lost his balance. She spread her legs and felt his throbbing, and she smiled as she coiled her legs around his body, pinning him tightly. Raj felt her nails dig deeply into his back.
Manpreet had spent so many of her sleepless nights dreaming of Raj's young, muscular body, but now that he was on top of her, she found that reality was far better than the dream. The weight of his body and the smell of him drove her mad and she wanted to scream with pleasure, but she knew she couldn't make a sound, if not because of her husband, then because of the customers. So instead of moaning, she bit Raj's chest and shoulders, and licked his lips and face.
Raj was panicking, not only because he was afraid of being discovered, but also because he did not want to lose his virginity to Manpreet. What he had told Lucky and Vijay about being too busy working and saving money in India to have any time for a girlfriend was the truth. But there was another reason he hadn't been involved with women that he hadn't shared with his friends. Since he was old enough to understand what girlfriends were for, he'd dreamt of meeting the perfect girl and falling in love. Then and only then would he share this precious, unforgettable moment of his life with the woman he loved. Manpreet was definitely not that woman, and the basement floor of an Indian restaurant was not the picture he'd held in his mind all these years.
"Please stop! I don't want to do it," Raj pleaded.
"Really?" Manpreet laughed, and then put her hand inside his pant and felt him. "Oh, honey, I think you're lying."
At her touch, Raj lost the last shred of his composure. "Please?please don't do this!" he shouted, pushing her off of him.
"Why?" Manpreet replied with anger. "You owe it to me. I always fought for you," she hissed while climbing back on top of him before he could stand up. Raj couldn't bear any more. He wanted to get paid for honest work, not for being Manpreet's prostitute. With a sudden surge of anger, he grabbed her arms and flipped her over, pinning her against the floor. "Listen! Enough!" he shouted.
Manpreet saw the look on his face and realized that she had lost the upper hand in this battle of wills. She'd pushed him too far, and now she had to find a way out of this situation. She closed her eyes and went limp in his arms. Raj sat up and loosened his grip on her arms, afraid that he had hurt her. "Manpreet? Manpreet, are you okay?" Raj asked with fear and concern in his voice.
Manpreet lied still, her breathing shallow. All these months she had been trying to seduce Raj with her feminine wiles, and when that didn't work, she had played on his insecurities, subtly and sometimes not so subtly implying that she was the only reason he still had a job. It wasn't because he was a hard worker or a great cook. She'd made it clear how hard she'd had to work to placate her husband and keep his temper under control for Raj's benefit, and surely Raj could show her a little appreciation for all her effort? But no matter what she said or did, Raj had refused to reciprocate her affection, and her frustration and irritation with his attitude had continued to grow over the past couple of months. She was a beautiful, successful woman, and he was nothing but an arrogant, poor, dirty boy who refused to show any gratitude for what was handed to him on a silver platter. Manpreet was tired of throwing herself at him like a little schoolgirl, only to be repeatedly humiliated as he rejected her advances time and time again. And now, to be found in such a compromising position by her husband? She couldn't bear the thought of the scandal it would cause. Irrespective of how much she might have lusted after Raj, her image within the family was far more important to her than any stupid crush she had on the kitchen help. Manpreet knew this was her best, and only, option.
Her breathing deepened and she slowly opened her eyes, but instead of pulling Raj towards her again as he was anticipating, she began to push against him violently.
"Please stop!" Manpreet screamed at the top of her lungs. "I'm a married woman! For God's sake, please don't do this to me!" Manpreet struggled against his hold and once free, delivered a stinging slap across his cheek and then shoved him hard against his chest.
Raj stumbled backwards, stunned by the change in Manpreet's demeanor. A moment before, she was all over him, and now she was screaming as though he was forcing himself on her. He'd hardly regained his balance when he sensed someone else's presence, and his eyes shot up to find Pankaj standing over him. Raj quickly crawled even further away from Manpreet, and stood up to face Pankaj, whose face was full of rage and disbelief.
"Sir, wait, sir?" Raj began frantically, retreating from Pankaj with his hands in the air. Pankaj reached down to grab a piece of broken water pipe he'd seen on the basement floor and with surprising speed for a drunk man, struck a blow across Raj's back and shoulders. Raj screamed in pain and fell to the floor next to Manpreet.
Manpreet scuttled like a crab away from Raj, a look of terror on her tear-streaked face. "Oh, please save me Pankaj! Thank God you came, he was?he was?" she choked. "He was going to rape me," Manpreet sobbed, her body convulsing as she placed her hands over her face. That bastard, she thought as she continued to hide her face from her husband. Serves him right for rejecting her.
"Pankaj, my love, I don't know what would have happened had you not come down here when you did," Manpreet continued, looking up at her husband again. "I knew Raj was always fond of me, but all this time I thought it was my fault, that perhaps I'd been too good to him and too lenient, and that I was to blame for him taking advantage. I told him many, many times that I loved only you, and wanted no other man, but he would only laugh and harass me more. Tonight he tricked me, telling me he needed to go over the restaurant's inventory with me, and asked me to come to the basement with him. Oh, Pankaj, I know I shouldn't have gone alone, but I didn't want to bother you. He made me go first down the stairway, and he locked the door behind us, and then he attacked me, and?" Manpreet broke out in renewed sobs. "Well, you saw the rest. I am so ashamed, Pankaj!" she cried as she got to her feet and threw herself against her husband's chest. Pankaj awkwardly embraced his half-naked wife, the pipe still in his hand.
"You fucker?My wife took pity on you and hired you, and you repay her kindness by forcing yourself on her?" Pankaj yelled. He pushed his wife behind him, and lunged forward again with the pipe, this time striking Raj in the stomach. Raj gritted his teeth and tried to cover his stomach, but the blows kept coming, and he let out another blood curdling scream. Manpreet quickly grabbed her salwar from the floor and put it back on, then retreated into the corner of the room. She was still crying, although now she wasn't sure why.
Raj had his arms raised, trying his best to endure Pankaj's blows. He knew that there was nothing he could say to Pankaj to stop the beating, and although he understood that Manpreet was trying to protect her image as a respectable married women, he was still in shock over her betrayal. He noticed that Dalbir and Nitu were now in the basement too, having heard his screaming. He assumed most of the customers had heard him as well, including his friends.
"What happened?" Dalbir shouted, stepping between Pankaj and Raj.
"Bhenchod, he is trying to fuck my wife!" Pankaj bellowed, shoving Dalbir away and kicking Raj in the stomach. Raj folded himself in half, trying to curl into a tiny ball. He wanted to speak, but he was not sure what he could say that would change anything, and he had no strength left. His face contorted in pain, and he chanced a look at Manpreet, although he knew that doing so could invite an even worse beating from Pankaj if he noticed. Despite this unanticipated betrayal, Raj was grateful to Manpreet for her past kindness, and he did feel indebted, which is why he had tolerated her abuse - and now, her husband's beatings. He knew that he'd lost his job, and with nothing left to fight for, Raj bore Pankaj's fists and feet as the punishment he felt he deserved for allowing himself to be touched by a married woman. He should have stopped Manpreet long ago, insisted that they only be friends, but he had been a coward, too afraid to lose his job and to stand up for his beliefs about love. He knew that no one would believe him now if he tried to explain how a married woman had taken advantage of a strong, grown man, but Raj decided not to even plant a seed of doubt in her husband's mind. Defending her honor by keeping her secret was the only way Raj felt he could repay her for the kindness she had shown, and so he kept quiet, finally turning his eyes away from Manpreet.
Dalbir had followed Raj's gaze and now he looked curiously at Manpreet. She was an utterly destroyed woman. Her face was red and puffy, and tears were flowing steadily down her face, creating ugly rivers of mascara that smeared across her cheeks and under her eyes. Dalbir was wise enough to understand that her behavior had both nothing and everything to do with Raj. He wasn't blind; he had witnessed Manpreet's constant harassment and flirtation, and understood what truly must have transpired in this basement. But he was torn about how to intercede, as Manpreet was family, and he felt compelled to defend her honor, despite the fact that he knew Raj was not capable of the actions she accused him of.
By this time, Vijay and Lucky had scrambled out of their seats upstairs and had run down the basement steps, drawn by their friend's screams and Pankaj's shouting. Upon reaching the landing, they saw Raj lying prone on the ground, bleeding profusely from a cut to the head. His shirt was torn and his pants were twisted around his legs, and Lucky saw that his belt had been discarded a few feet away. Vijay took in the scene quickly and then looked at Dalbir, who was trying to shield Manpreet from the sight of her husband attempting to beat Raj nearly to death. Nitu was halfway down the stairwell, watching the show and trying to control her laughter. She wasn't happy to see Raj hurt, but the sight of Manpreet blubbering in the corner gave her immense satisfaction. She didn't really even care what had happened, though she was pretty certain that she knew. The whore was finally getting what she deserved, even if it did come at Raj's expense.
Vijay and Lucky didn't know Manpreet the way Nitu did, and they didn't know how to interpret the situation before their eyes. They only knew that somehow they had to stop Pankaj and get Raj out of that basement. The two men piled on top of Raj to absorb Pankaj's continued assault, but their intervention didn't even slow him down.
"Please?please don't beat him! Please, just leave it!" Vijay shouted.
Pankaj was even more incensed. "You fucking beggars. You can't hide your fucking real castes. You belong to those shitty slums where you came from!" Pankaj said, his fists and the pipe continuing to rain down punishment on Lucky and Vijay.
Lucky began begging. "Please, sir?please just let us go," he said with both hands up to protect his face. Pankaj was so livid with rage that he couldn't even hear their pleas. "Madarchod harami?I bet you fuck your mother...." Pankaj howled, but before he could complete his sentence, a guttural and inhuman cry escaped from Raj's throat, and Vijay and Lucky rolled off him as Raj emerged from the pile, gathering his last ounce of strength and landing a vicious punch to the area between Pankaj's legs.
Pankaj emitted a shrill, piercing cry, and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Vijay looked at his friend in shock, but quickly shrugged off his inertia. He wasn't going to waste this opportunity, so he grabbed Raj under one arm and signaled to Lucky to grab his other arm. They lifted Raj off his knees and onto his feet and steadied him.
More than pain, Vijay was struck by the anger that consumed and distorted Raj's normally handsome features. Raj wrenched himself away from his friends and stumbled as he reached down to grab the metal pipe Pankaj had dropped by his side when he fell. Vijay and Lucky didn't know the source of Raj's newfound strength, and couldn't understand what had suddenly set him off, when up until Pankaj's last outburst, Raj had been suffering the beating without making any move to fight back. Vijay leapt at Raj and tried to wrestle the pipe out of his hand, but Raj's fury and the adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream had
transformed him. Standing over Pankaj, he raised the pipe above his head and was about to bring it crashing down when Manpreet screamed.
Something about her primal cry stopped Raj cold, the pipe quivering in his clenched fist as he struggled to control himself. His lip was split open, and he spat out a mouthful of blood at Pankaj's feet. Vijay and Lucky looked at Raj, but they no longer recognized this angry, dark, brooding man standing over Pankaj. For the first time since the beating began, Raj spoke, his voice low and ominous as he punctuated every word. "If?If?you?say?one?more?word?about?my? mother?I will kill you?" he warned, every muscle in his body tensed and quivering as homicidal rage boiled deep within his blood.
Dalbir took Raj at his word and immediately covered Pankaj with his body. "Go!" he screamed at Raj. "Go, and don't ever come back here!"
Because of his respect for Dalbir, Raj released his grip on the pipe and it clattered as it hit the ground. Vijay turned to Lucky and told him to grab Raj's shirt and belt, and he pushed Raj towards the rear basement door. Dalbir followed them out to make sure that Raj didn't change his mind and come back for Pankaj. Nitu ran over to Pankaj and put her small arms underneath his to try to help him stand, but he was too drunk and too heavy for her, and after a few failed attempts, Pankaj sank back to the ground. Nitu looked over at Manpreet, who was still in the corner with her head down, weeping uncontrollably. Nitu didn't know whether her tears were for herself, for her husband, or for Raj, and she didn't really care. She was just angry that Manpreet had made such of mess of everything, all because she couldn't keep her hands to herself. Nitu looked up at the basement door, and saw that a few curious customers had gathered around the upper landing, pointing and whispering as they looked down on the scene of mayhem below.
Outside the restaurant, Vijay was supporting Raj, who now looked like a deflated, bloodied balloon. The adrenaline rush was gone, and he could barely stand due to his injuries. "Lucky, get a cab!" Vijay shouted.
Lucky looked at Raj and then at Vijay. "Vijay, we need to take him to the hospital. We should call the ambulance."
"No! Just do as I say," Vijay shouted at him. "Go get a cab."
Lucky ran down the block to the corner and waited for the light to turn green. Several cars passed and then Lucky saw a yellow cab making a right hand turn onto the main street, and he stepped in front of it, nearly getting hit. "Please, stop!" Lucky yelled to the driver as he pounded on the cab's hood with his open palms. He dove into the front seat with the driver, and pointed to Vijay and Raj, half a block away. As the car approached and the driver got a good look at Raj, he shook his head at Lucky and pushed the accelerator towards the floor.
"No, I don't want no part of whatever is going on with your friends," the driver said as he sped past Raj and Vijay.
Lucky grabbed him by the arm. "Please sir, my friend needs help! We will not cause you any trouble, I promise, sir. Mom swear! We will pay you double. Triple. Please!" Lucky pleaded.
The driver slammed on his brakes and the car backed up to an irate Vijay who was standing at the curb, one arm around Raj and one arm in the air in a gesture of disbelief. Lucky jumped out to help Vijay with Raj. They were able to maneuver him into the back seat, and when they were all back inside the car, Vijay asked the driver to take them to Ozone Park.
"He is bleeding a lot, man. We should take him to the hospital," Lucky suggested again. The driver looked at them in the rearview mirror, and Vijay stared back at him. The driver averted his eyes and concentrated on the road.
Vijay turned his attention to Lucky, his voice stern but calm. "No. How do you think we could explain the bleeding? The doctors will call the cops and if the cops find out that he was working illegally, they'll deport him." Lucky hadn't considered that outcome, and he nodded in understanding. Raj managed to lift his head long enough to look at Vijay and Lucky, his eyes echoing Vijay's concerns.
Vijay and Lucky were both eager to know what had happened in the basement, but they'd already talked about Raj's legal problems in front of the driver, and although the cabbie had no idea who they were, Vijay didn't want to take any more chances by discussing anything further until they were out of the car. He asked Lucky for Raj's shirt, and pressed it to Raj's forehead to try to staunch the bleeding.
When they reached home, Vijay and Lucky pooled their money together and paid the cab driver triple his normal rate. Vijay couldn't worry about the money right now. Lucky hurriedly grabbed his and Raj's blankets and put them together to make a softer bed for Raj on the floor, and they laid him down.
"Thanks, Lucky. I'll watch him for a few minutes. I need you to go to the pharmacy and pick up some Band-Aids - make sure you get some that look like butterflies, you know, for his forehead - and what else? Some gauze, tape, and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. And some pain pills, whatever they have," Vijay said, handing him the last of the money from his wallet. Lucky took the cash and quickly left for the pharmacy.
Angry, purple and black bruises were already forming all over Raj's back, chest, and stomach, but at least Vijay had been able to stop the bleeding from his head laceration. Most of Pankaj's blows with the pipe had been to Raj's back and chest, so Vijay was hoping that he didn't have many broken bones, though he couldn't rule out a few broken ribs. Those would be extremely painful, but they would heal on their own without medical intervention. As for his forehead, Vijay knew he'd be better off with stiches, but the butterfly bandages would have to do; they couldn't take the risk. Vijay went to the freezer and took out some ice cubes, wrapping them in a clean rag and applying them to the worst of Raj's injuries. Raj had had a good dinner at the restaurant, which was probably the only reason he was still conscious.
Lucky returned in less than fifteen minutes and helped Vijay clean Raj's cuts and apply bandages. Vijay read the dosage instructions on the ibuprofen, doubled the recommended amount, and made Raj drink a whole glass of water to wash down the pills. No one talked much, and though they all laid down, with Lucky and Vijay sharing Vijay's bed, sleep didn't come to anyone. Raj was restless, and moaned as he shifted positions trying to get comfortable. Eventually he gave up and pushed himself up until he was leaning against the wall. He winced in pain, cradling his rib cage. Vijay lay still for another minute, staring at Lucky across the small gap between them, and then sat up. Lucky followed Vijay's lead, and sat up cross-legged.
Raj turned his head to look at his friends. "Sorry, guys. I sure spoiled your night," Raj apologized.
"You do not need to apologize to us," Lucky said gently. "Today is your birthday and look at you. You could be in big trouble today?" Lucky's voice was breaking.
"What happened in the basement?" Vijay asked, his voice sharp and without a single note of sympathy.
"Nothing," Raj replied.
"Nothing? Are you fucking kidding me?" Vijay exploded. Lucky was surprised to hear such language coming from Vijay, but Raj just bowed his head and stared at his bruised hands. "You have to tell us what happened at that restaurant, Raj. We could also be in big trouble because of you," Vijay shouted, standing up. "Did you do something to that woman?"
Raj didn't reply or look at Vijay.
"I asked you a question!" Vijay snapped as he stepped over Lucky and bent down in front of Raj, putting a finger under his chin. "Did you do anything to that woman? Either tell us everything right now, or get out of this house."
Lucky interceded, gently pulling Vijay's hand away from Raj's face, but Vijay had reached his limit. "No!" he shouted at Lucky. "Today he speaks. I'm tired of all of his secrets, and I don't want to be in trouble because of him. You and I are sacrificing time with our families so that we can study and be successful?not so that we can get involved in his crap and end up deported!"
"No," Raj replied quietly.
"No, what?" Vijay snapped, looking back at Raj.
"No, I did not do anything to her."
"And why should we believe you?" Vijay stood up and pac
ed the small room. "Because you were half-naked and she was screaming and crying? Do you really think we're that stupid?" Vijay said incredulously.
"She was the one who was touching me from the first day I started working there," Raj continued quietly, his head still down.
"Why did you not tell us?" Lucky asked Raj before Vijay could shout at him again.
"And what would you have done? Haan?" Raj replied, finally raising his head and looking into Lucky's eyes. Lucky understood what Raj was saying. He knew that as immigrant students, they were helpless in this country. Lucky moved closer to Raj and put a hand on his shoulder.
"We would have told you to leave that job!" Vijay continued to berate him. "You lost it anyway, but now everything is far worse than if you had just quit like you should have."
"I needed that job, Vijay. Who was going to pay my tuition, my rent, my food?"
"That's your problem, but now you've made it ours, too. I hope you enjoyed her," Vijay said bitterly. Lucky gave him a look, wishing that Vijay wouldn't be so hard on Raj, but Vijay was still suspicious, angry, and scared.
"No! I didn't want it," Raj protested. "I really didn't want it. I stopped her so many times," he said, his voice trailing off. Raj placed his head down in his hands.
"So what happened today, Raj?" Lucky asked softly, his hand still on his shoulder.
Raj shook his head. "Her husband didn't understand what he saw, and she blamed it all on me."
"So why didn't you explain everything to him?" Vijay demanded to know as he walked back over to Raj.
"And you think that would have made him stop? He was harassing me from day one. He was always looking for an excuse to yell at me and insult me. I'm sure he would have beat me no matter what I said today," Raj replied.
Vijay backed off slightly and considered the fact that Raj just might be telling the truth. But there was still so much he and Lucky didn't know about Raj, so much that Raj was still hiding. Vijay felt he had no choice but to continue to pressure Raj into revealing the truth about himself. He gathered his thoughts and then sat down directly in front of Raj. "You think we'll just believe your stories?"
Raj shrugged. "I don't have any proof, Vijay. You just have to believe me. I'm not lying," Raj's eyes were filled with sadness.
"Okay. Let's say for a second that I believe you. Tell me one more thing?He was beating you all this time?so why did you get so angry when he called you a 'mother-fucking bastard'? You were ready to kill him, right? I didn't make that up. You seem to have some experience with that kind of thing."
Raj's eyes hardened and a cold chill ran down Vijay's spine. "What do you mean," Raj asked. "Would you like it if someone said that to you?" The desperation and sadness that had filled his eyes seconds before was suddenly replaced with something much harder and far colder.
"No, I wouldn't. But I also wouldn't kill someone for saying it. He was beating you and cursing you in every way he possibly could, and you didn't say a single word or even once try to defend yourself. Then he calls you a mother-fucker, and you.."
"Shut up!" Raj shouted, cutting Vijay off in mid-sentence and jumping to his feet. He pulled Vijay to his feet by his collar and Vijay could see the fire in his eyes. "Don't say another word or I don't know what I might do!" Raj was shaking with a deep-seated fury.
"Hey! Don't show me your anger!" Vijay yelled, getting in Raj's face. Vijay's reaction was all bluster; he was actually terrified. He'd never been frightened of his roommate before, even with all of his quirks and odd, unexplained behavior, but he'd also never seen him like he was in the basement today, and Raj had never before laid a hand on Vijay in anger. Until now. This was the second time today that Vijay had watched Raj morph into a completely different man right before his eyes, and he realized that he had been far too cavalier about Raj's propensity for secrets and lies. He knew nothing about this man, and Vijay was afraid that he had arrived at this unfortunate conclusion too late for it to matter.
Lucky knew he had to diffuse the situation fast and he pushed himself between Raj and Vijay. "Raj, please?we are not trying to hurt you. We care about you. That is why, on that first night, Vijay invited you into our home when you had no one and nowhere to go. We want to help you. But we need to know everything about you," Lucky explained, putting his hands on Raj's shoulders.
"I know you mean well. But I can't stand to hear anything bad about my mother and father," Raj explained, addressing Lucky while avoiding eye contact with Vijay.
"Okay, we can understand that," Lucky said, looking over his shoulder at Vijay. Vijay took a deep breath and nodded his head slightly in agreement. Lucky continued, satisfied with Vijay's acknowledgment. "So if you love them so much, then why do we not see you talking to any of your family? I know everything about Vijay's family. You know everything about my family. But we know nothing about your past. We never see you studying. So it is obvious that you are not here for studies. You do not seem crazy for money like me. So why you are here?away from your family?going through this abuse every day?"
Vijay was a good actor, and Lucky didn't realize that he was afraid of Raj. Lucky just assumed he was furious, and he knew that Vijay's patience had its limits. He needed to get Raj talking, and he needed to do it quickly. Lucky decided the best plan was to just be straightforward. He looked into Raj's eyes and gathered as much courage as he could to ask him the question he and Vijay had been wondering about for months.
"Are you a terrorist?" Lucky asked.
Raj's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth opened, but nothing came out. He slowly pushed Lucky's hands off his shoulders, but not before Lucky saw Raj's whole body go rigid. Raj's eyes clouded over, and the look that passed over his face was unreadable. Vijay and Lucky instinctively backed away from him.
Lucky felt he had to continue, despite his overwhelming fear of being anywhere near this man. This man who had been ready and willing - and seemingly able - to kill another human being this evening over a common, and rather banal, insult. Lucky took a deep breath and then spoke in a fever pitch of jumbled sentence fragments. "Because if you were?I mean, if you are?a terrorist?and if you are planning something bad?if that is why you are here?then you are going to put us in lot of trouble, lot of trouble, and you need to?tell the truth because you owe us?for saving your life today." Lucky ran out of breath and hoped Raj couldn't see that he was trembling and slowly backing away from him as he waited for a response that could change all of their lives.
Raj stood in stony silence, staring at Lucky. Vijay didn't move. He was surprised that Lucky had the courage to say the things he did, but he was glad. Whatever happened now was beyond Vijay's control. He could feel his heart beating and the blood rushing in his ears. Lucky didn't dare to breathe, and when Raj finally spoke, after what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Lucky and Vijay nearly jumped out of their skin.
"Are you serious?" Raj's voice was low and quiet. "Am I a terrorist? Why, just because I'm from Kashmir, that's what you think of me?"
"No?not because you're from Kashmir," Vijay hastily responded. "But why do you go to the World Trade Center site almost every morning?"
Raj jumped as though he'd been hit. How did they know where he went in the mornings? Vijay answered his unspoken question. "Lucky followed you many times."
Lucky's head snapped towards Vijay, his eyes widened in fear, but Vijay ignored him and kept pressing forward. "And instead of studying, why do you pull all-nighters searching for 9/11 information on my laptop? Do you have any idea how much trouble that could cause me?"
Vijay was still uncertain about whether Raj presented a threat to them, but something about Raj's demeanor had changed, and the knots in Vijay's stomach started to loosen.
Lucky took a chance. "That day, when we went there first time, you were not lost?you did not go to the restroom. Because I had checked it. You lied to me?why? What are you hiding from us? Please tell us?please, Raj."
Raj walked ove
r to the wall and Lucky and Vijay quickly moved out of his way. Raj slid his body down to the floor and drew his knees up to his chest, shaking his head repeatedly without saying a word. Cautiously Vijay and Lucky approached Raj and sat down on the floor across from him. Raj put his hands over his face, and they all remained seated in silence for some time. Just as Vijay was about to speak up again, Raj let out a choking gasp, and Lucky saw a rivulet of tears flowing between Raj's fingers. Lucky looked at Vijay, but Vijay couldn't take his eyes off Raj. Raj wrapped his arms around his knees tightly and rocked back and forth, his throaty, guttural sobs echoing in the nearly empty apartment as his body shook violently. Vijay didn't know how he knew, but it was suddenly clear to him that Raj was a bigger danger to himself than he was to anyone else. Whatever Raj's secret was, it had spread like a cancer, insidiously infecting his life with a poisonous darkness that Raj couldn't shake. It had taken him over completely, body and soul, eating away at him and leaving behind only this beaten and broken man who sat before them. Vijay inched closer to Raj and Lucky did, too. Lucky wasn't afraid anymore either; he was only concerned about his friend who was obviously in an incredible amount of pain, a pain so visceral that Lucky felt it like it was his own. Vijay shook his head and moved to Raj's side, putting both of his arms around him and pulling him close. Lucky then wrapped his arms around Vijay.
Feeling his friends' love and concern unleashed a torrent of emotions in Raj that had been pent up for far too long, and years of suffering and uncertainty overtook him, leaving Raj's body wracked with grief as he cried inconsolably in his friends' arms. Vijay and Lucky rocked back and forth with Raj, their silent compassion speaking to him in a way that their words never could. Raj knew he could trust them. He had no choice, because he could no longer bear this burden alone.
"I am looking for my mother," Raj whispered. Vijay and Lucky looked up at each other in shock, their mouths agape, but neither could muster any sound. Instinctively they both tightened their grip around their friend as Raj buried his bruised head deeper in the protective canopy of arms and bodies and hearts that they had built around him.
Namaste New York: A Novel Page 20