Ch 25

Advay said without any preamble, 'Why?''

Chandhini lowered her eyes, her lips trembled.

Advay ,''You knew I was drunk and you took advantage?.You know if a man does that then what it is called? ''

He angrily stared down at her,''You knew how I felt about this bloody marriage! you knew that I wanted out! What kind of person you are? don't you have any self respect? any ethics?''

Chandhini flinched at his words.

Advay angrily walked few paces back and forth,'' It will serve you right, if I still file for divorce''

Chandhini sat quiet. This further angered him,''Speak up ,damn it!!!, how could you be so low!''

Chandhini clenched her hands more tightly in fear. She had never heard any man shout like that in real life. Everyone was so soft spoken in this house and that reminded her,'' Please, don't shout, someone will hear.'' She pleaded.

Advay stopped pacing and stared at her in ,if possible, more fury. ''then let them hear it'' he roared.'' Let them know what the hell is happening in this house!!''

Chandhini got up on shaking legs and said,''please, I said I am sorry, please.''

Advay paced again in room like a caged tiger. Chandhini tried to move toward him, but he stopped and glared at her in a way that she stopped cold,''sit down and don't come near me'' he said menacingly,'' I have never hit a woman in my life and I want to keep it that way.''

Chandhini sat down, her hands in her lap and she stared at them with eyes blurring with tears. She was not used to anyone speaking to her like that and Advay never ever!

Advay paced for sometime, she just sat there and then he said,'' No, I cannot believe we raised you to do something like this.''

Chandhini looked up at him blankly , not understanding what he was saying. Then, he was suddenly near and almost on top of her ,his face bear inches away from her. He demanded,'' who helped you? who told you how to seduce a guy? which friend?''

Chandhini gulped, how did...Advay put his hand on her chin and tilted her face toward him,''look at me when I am talking to you, answer me.'' and she told him the truth unable to lie,'' aditi''

Advay stared in her eyes,'' abhay's wife?''

Chandhini wanted to look away his eyes, they were full of anger,'' yes. Please, move away, you are scaring me.''

Advay blinked and then he moved away, Chandhini scooted a few paces back, feeling unnerved.

Advay still looked at her and then looked away and muttered,''aditi.''

Chandhini felt the need to protect aditi, after all she had just tried to help her,'' Adv..''

Advay cut her off,'' You are not going to tell aditi that you told me truth. You aren't going to contact her at all. After I am done with her, I will deal with you.''

Tears started falling from her eyes, he was going to divorce her. He was going to leave her after what happened anyway, she sobbed. Then, he spoke and his question caught her off guard,'' are you pregnant?''

Chandhini stared at him ,''no, I had my periods yesterday'' she told him reflexively and then looked away embarrassed at how she blurted out words to him. But he seem to not care,'' I will book an appointment with a gynecologist just to be sure'' he said coldly.

Chandhini grabbed tissue paper and used it while nodding her head, her dark silky straight hair falling forward and covering her face.

Advay put a hand on his head like he had a headache and closed his eyes, Chandhini looked at him from the corner of her eyes. The silence stretched.

She wanted to ask him what he planned; she did not want divorce but now she felt so guilty over her actions that she remained quiet.

Advay moved his hand away from his head and slowly started pacing again; god know thinking what. Then , he said,''anything else you are hiding?''

Chandhini shook her head in negative.

Advay stopped pacing and then said,'' Then, go to your room... And ,'' he added watching Chandhini scrambling to her feet and almost running toward door, she stopped,'' don't contact aditi. If I got to know that you have contacted her or that you hid anything more from me, then you will...'' he stopped the threatening words his tone cold,'' you wish that you never find out. You don't want me as your enemy because I don't forgive.''

Chandhini nodded and ran outside to her room.

Advay closed him room door and put his head against the door,'' You should not have broken my trust tiny. you shouldn't have,'' he muttered brokenly, it was like he was in some alternate universe; the kid he loved most in the world was a rapist.

A part of him which loved her unconditionally made excuses for her,'' she was misguided, you know that she is not like other women. She is innocent and different from other women'' and yet a colder part of him which had earned him the title of ''shark'' in business community; a part which always analyzed things said,''remember what swathi said? how she told you that Chandhini was always deliberately egging her on. what if that is truth and she is not the person you think she is.''

He opened his eyes and moved away from door. Je did not want to believe it but facts were in front of his eyes.

 But there was something like an unease, like he was missing something crucial, the confusion fueling his anger, he angrily kicked the pile of books venting his anger; the books fell and collided with pile of medicines and scattered, some going under table, some under sofa and few even under his bed.

He needed to get out, he needed to leave this place so he could go somewhere he could get all his anger and frustration out. But his cell rang at that moment. he picked up recognizing the tune, ''Suresh?'' he asked looking at time.

Suresh,'' Sir there is an emergency, Mr. Kumar needs to urgently leave for malaysia and he wants to sign the deal before going, luckily I am here in Mumbai too for weekend, and I have necessary papers ready, I can come over and you can sign the papers and then, I will catch flight to delhi and at airport I will meet Mr. kumar and he can sign the papers too.''

Advay let out a deep breath and said,''did the lawyer checked the papers?''

Suresh,'' Yes sir he did.''

Advay,'' Ok. get the papers here and you still haven't emailed me the project improvised details''

Suresh,''Sir, I already did.''

Advay,'' let me check'', he grabbed his laptop and checked,''yes, I have got it. Fix the meeting with project manager and tell H.R. to hire the guy rumesh for supervising the project.''

Suresh,''yes sir.''

Shlok,'' Rest we will discuss, when you get here.''

Suresh,'' Okay sir.''

Shlok cut the call and focused all his concentration on project, he had found something to distract him.
...

Chandhini closed the room door behind her and went and sat down on bed. She felt miserable, maybe I shouldn't have told him anything, Maybe I shouldn't have seduced him, or maybe I shouldn't have listened to Aditi. Aditi. oh god, she was in so much trouble because of her. I should at least warn her ,god knows what will Advay do to her. 

Chandhini grabbed the phone and dialled aditi's number.

Five minutes later

Chandhini listened to Aditi's raging voice,she had been going on and on how stupid, idiotic Chandhini was... now it was beginning to anger her too

she had called to let Aditi know and in return, she was cursing Chandhini . Finally, Chandhini had enough and said,'' I was feeling bad for you and that's why I let you know. Now, that it is done; I think we should end this conversation.''

Aditi fumed,''end this conversation? you bitch, do you think this ends it? He will destroy me and my husband, you ...you are the princess, he will shout at you and let you go but me... no, he will destroy my life.'' she wailed.

Chandhini angrily replied,'' you are a bitch!! well don't act like you got nothing out of it, you profited from it too!''

Chandhini ,''profit? I am risking jail! did you give him the medicines too!''

Chandhini was confused,''medicine?''

There was sudden silence on the other end. Then, Aditi said,'' Thank god, I was not stupid to trust you over that.'' her voice was suddenly cheerful.''Thanks sweety, you gave me a way out, now I can tell my husband and Advay that I have got nothing to do with this and you are just using me.''

Chandhini ,'' meaning?''

Aditi looked at her nails and said,''do you honestly think that a bit of bhang and alcohol can make a guy like Advay ,who drinks alcohol normally, behave in such a way. I am cutting this call and I won't pick it up if you called again. In fact, I think I need a vacation,bye.''

Chandhini sat there shocked holding the phone against her ear. Then, phone slipped from her hand and fell on bed. She stared at the ceiling breathing rapidly panic overtaking her,''Was he drugged?'' she asked herself shaken.'No, I couldn't be that stupid...'' she covered her face with shaking fingers.

Then, she thought about medicines? which medicines? she thought back and then remembered aditi giving her a pack saying to keep it until she asked for it. But she never did and Chandhini forgot about it too and the pack , it was in Advay's room!

Chandhini got up quickly and ran back to his room panicking. she opened the door and entered without knocking, Advay was on his bed working on his laptop, several files open around him on bed.

Chandhini breathed heavily, he didn't look more mad than he was before, in fact he was calm. she looked toward the left of room where her books and meds were lying before; they were all scattered like they were kicked.
she just stared at them.

Advay annoyed at being disturbed said,''what do you want''

Chandhini slowly turned her head toward him, ''my things'' she finally spoke. ''I need them''

He nodded and waved at mess ,''get all this cleared too''

Chandhini nodded and wiped her sweating palms on her shirt. She picked up the intercom and called Rani to come up to Advay's room.

Chandhini started to pick up all the medicine, trying to remember what colour pack aditi had handed her. Rani came and started helping her.

Chandhini could not find the one aditi had given her. she told Rani to leave books and help her find medicines.

Again they did not find anything. Chandhini sat down on floor, her breathing turning shallow, where was it? what if someone else got hold of it? how will I explain?
..what if Advay sees it? she was panicking more and more, finally she started crying not able to bear the tension.

Advay who had put on headphones was oblivious to this. Rani was worried and asked,'' what happened?''

Advay's mobile phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw the message; Suresh was downstairs.

He looked up about to tell Rani and Chandhini to finish off quickly when he saw her crying uncontrollably, ''what the..' he muttered and took off his head phones.

Rani,'' we will find all the tablet packs, how did it look?''

She just cried.

Advay,''you can search for it tomorrow. I have a meeting now. Rani, please take these things and Chandhini with you.'' he said irritated.

Chandhini got up and left the room still crying.

Rani looked at him puzzled,''she is crying.''

Advay looked away,''where is ayi?''

Rani puzzled said,''everyone was invited to dinner by Shekha di's  parents.''

Advay finally remembered. He had gone with Chandhini to eat ice cream.  Veer had told him to spend time alone with Chandhini , to watch some movie and talk out the awkwardness which he was feeling.

It felt like it happened years ago when only few hours had passed.

Advay nodded and said,''Send Suresh up to my room''. Rani nodded and grabbed the pile of books and medicines and then, left the room.

Suresh came and they sat down on sofa and started discussing everything. Advay read the papers himself going clause by clause and then signed the papers. He gave the papers and pen to Suresh who dropped it accidentally. Suresh apologized and searched under the bed. He pulled out a pen and a pack of medicines.

Advay,''call me when he signs the papers.''

Suresh nodded,''yes sir,I think these are yours,'' he was about to hand the medicine to him but then, he froze.

Advay ,''Suresh?''

Suresh looked from medicine to him and then, back at it.

Advay was puzzled over his reaction and stared at tablet pack too.

Advay,''what's that ?''

Suresh stuttered,''Sir.. this is'' he became silent.

Advay whose anger was just beneath the surface, angrily said,''Suresh,I have a huge headache,and I am in no mood for puzzles. what about these meds?''

Suresh,''Sir are they yours? I mean of course not, I mean where did you find it?''

Advay was nonplussed. He took the meds pack and stared at it. There was nothing extraordinary about it and he was not familiar with brand name,''No, not mine, its ...'' he stopped,some instinct made him not say Chandhini 's name,''Weird... actually, it was in my coat pocket. I was going to throw it away.''

Suresh,''oh may be someone slipped it in your coat pocket during a party. You need to be more careful,parties in Delhi can be real dangerous.''

Advay already knew that and was always careful,'' but what is it?'' he asked.

Suresh,'' you know that my brother is a drug inspector. So, I have seen and heard about them. Mostly guys use them in parties to get high or drug a girl.''

Advay's face colour changed to ashen. The tablets fell from his hands.

Suresh got worried ,''are you fine?don't worry sir I know you. You won't do anything like that. You have girls coming over in droves.'' Suresh blurted in his hurry, trying to make him understand that he didn't think wrong of him.

Advay didn't know how but he managed to smile. It was most difficult thing he had ever done in his life but he managed. He acted normally, asked suresh how to dispose the tablets off as it was dangerous to just throw them in garbage, and then wasted them in front of suresh to make sure, he did not doubt him. Then, he waited for him to leave.

After that he broke everything in his room; the table, the lamps, bed, tv, everything, except for a single picture.

His hands were bloody by the time he was done but still he was angry he went downstairs and got kerosene from kitchen. He came back and then turned to look at picture of him holding a ten year old Chandhini. It was taken during one of picnics, both held fish dangling from fishing rods, he took it off and threw it down and poured kerosene over it and then put it on fire, he watched it burning standing there, beyond tears, ''dead, you are dead for me'' he whispered