Anupama loved visiting Anuj at work. As the receptionist greeted her and Anuj's secretary came down to help her ride up to the 30th floor, she felt as if she were ascending into the heavens. The AK Group Head Office wasn't even the tallest building in all of Ahmedabad. But to Anupama, the place held a special significance. She enjoyed the recognition this small act gave her. Despite having been married to Vanraj for 26 years, he'd forbidden her from visiting his place of work.

"Baa, I think I've forgotten a file at home," another day, another conversation between the mother-son duo.

"I'm sure that Anupama must have called out to you while you were leaving the house. That good for nothing girl. She always ruins things for you," Leela muttered under her breath.

Vanraj and Anupama had been married five years. Her older son Toshu was four then. Anupama was sitting in the living room playing with the toddler.

"Baa can you look for it near the coffee table. I was working on it this morning before I left. It's a red file with blue lines on it. The cover reads Marketing."

Owing to Leela Shah's peculiar habit of holding the landline receiver at a distance from her ear, Anu could hear everything Vanraj said. She quickly picked up the file and handed it to Leela, who scrunched her face.

"I found it," she informed Vanraj. "Should I send it with Anupama?"

Anu smiled. She had never visited her husband at work, although many women in the neighborhood spoke about their husband's workplaces. She too wanted to visit him and be able to tell them things about how her husband's office looked like. Eager, she strained her ears to hear Vanraj's response.

A long pause ensued.

"Vanraj, are you still there?"

"Yes..yes Baa, I'm still there."

Another pause, and then a question.

"Is Bapuji around?"

Leela humphed. "No, he isn't. He's gone to meet an old friend of his."

Another pause from Vanraj.

"It's okay Baa. That file is not that urgent. Just keep it safe. I'll take it from you when I come home."

As Leela placed the receiver back, she taunted Anupama. "My son is so ashamed of you, he would rather get told off by his Boss for not having done his work than have you visit his workplace."

The elevator dinged, indicating Anupama's arrival on the exclusive floor. As she stepped into Anuj's office, she looked at the sun setting against the Ahmedabad skyline. She could watch this all day. She would never grow tired of it. She walked up to the glass wall and gently placed her hand on it. The cold glass stung her warm palm. She wasn't dreaming. All of this, however hard to believe, was real.

*****

"Anu, I'm glad you came."

She looked up to see Anuj walking towards the couch, a bluish-grey file in his hand, his loose tie haphazardly slung across his shoulder. Any other man would've looked like a clown. But Anuj, it wouldn't matter if he was dressed in rags, he would still look like a king.

Shaking her head, she made her way up to him.

"What made you think I wouldn't?"

"You never responded to my text."

Anu had the decency to look ashamed. "I'm sorry, I..."

"It doesn't matter. You're here now." He patted on the sofa asking her to sit down. "I want you to see this."

He handed the file he was holding to her.

As Anupama continued to peruse through its contents, her eyes began to turn into saucers.

"Anuj..???"

"You can now see why I couldn't have discussed this with you at home."

"Are you sure about all this?"

"Positive. I've had it independently verified by two investigators."

"The problem was never Kinjal's stepfather. It was always her mother Rakhi."

*****

Anupama stretched her hands to pick up the glass of water in front of her. She gulped it all down in one go. She then refilled the glass from the jug lying next to it and drank it all too.

"Anu??" Anuj was concerned. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded her head, but the truth was, her tender heart that had begun to form an attachment with Kinjal was completely flummoxed.

"Kinjal's mom?"

Anuj nodded.

Walking to the glass wall, to put some space between himself and Anu, he continued: "Not everyone has your heart Anu. Not everyone cares as selflessly as you do.

"Remember when you wanted me to help Kinjal and I asked you for time? I know you weren't happy with my response then, but you know better now, don't you?"

His back was turned to Anu, so he couldn't see her reactions.

"19-year-old Rakhi Patel fell in love with a budding businessman Sameer Dave. A whirlwind romance during which she got pregnant and was forced to marry Sameer. While their initial days of marriage were filled with love and bliss, Sameer soon started suffering losses in his business. 

"Monetary challenges affected their lifestyle and soon, Rakhi began to begrudge the very same man she'd loved. However, Rakhi refused to allow her husband's failure to affect her lifestyle. She borrowed money from her father and brothers and continued to live lavishly.

"After Sameer's death, she moved back home, but her father had passed away by then and with her father no more, her brother's no longer pandered to her every whim and fancy. One even told her to get a job to support her daughter. 

"Life at her parent's place was hard. When she was their daughter, she was the princess of the house. Now everything had changed. Her brother's wives decided what went on in the house. Her mother hardly spoke anymore. Except, she'd made one thing very clear. Rakhi would have to get remarried. The brothers wouldn't support her forever."

"And so the Patel's ended up arranging Rakhi's wedding with their distant friend, a widower with two daughters. On the day he came to see Rakhi, he casually mentioned that the only reason they'd agreed to this alliance was that Rakhi didn't have any kids of her own. He felt a step-sibling would compromise the love the new mother would bestow on his girls. Eager to leave her maternal house, Rakhi had kept quiet about Kinjal."

Anuj paused and turned to look at Anupama. She stared back at him. She already knew the remainder of the story but wanted to hear it from Anuj anyway.

Clearing his throat, he continued:

"Rakhi claims she intended to tell her husband about Kinjal once they were married. But it's been more than six months. And Rakhi is well settled in her new life, playing mother to his daughters. There is no place for Kinjal anywhere in her life, anymore."

"And Kinjal?" Anupama dared to ask.

"Sadly, there is no place for her in anyone's life in the Patel family. Sameer Dave was an orphan, so no relatives on her father's side too."

"So can't we keep her forever?" Anu dared to voice her thoughts. To which Anuj, laughed, hollow laughter berating his power and position as a curse.

"If Rakhi or the Patel's find out that "THE" Anuj Kapadia is interested in adopting Kinjal..." He didn't have to complete the sentence for Anupama to catch the gist of it.

"What if I adopt Kinjal? We're not married...yet. Anupama Joshi is a nobody."

The suggestion made Anuj pause momentarily.

"It won't work. Your face has been splashed all across the media."

"That was three months ago."

"People remember."

"No Anuj, they associate. If I go to visit the Patels in an expensive car, wearing expensive jewelry, "looking" like your fiancé should, they will recollect, but dressed like this.." She pointed to the plain brown cotton sari she was wearing, her hair neatly braided, a thin gold chain on her neck, and small drops of gold on her earlobes, "no one will fathom. Association is very selective. Our brains think what they want to think."

Anuj smiled. He threw his head back and laughed. And he walked up to her and hugged her around and twirled her. "I knew you were smart. You're the smartest woman I know!!"

She laughed at that. "Aren't you being sexist? Shouldn't you have said smartest person?"

He scoffed at that, exhibiting mock anger that only endeared him further to her.

"No, I meant what I said. Smart woman."

"So who is the smartest man you know?"

"Me of course! After all, I was the one who proposed to you!!"

The two started laughing and then sobered.

"Let me get started on the paperwork. But we'll have to handle this very carefully Anu."

She walked up to him and looped her arm through his. "Teamwork makes the dream work."

As the two turned around, their armed looped together, silhouetted by blood orange against the Ahmedabad skyline, Anupama smiled. Another crack had healed.