Chapter 13

Aryan paced in his room later that night. He was uneasy. Clearly Imlie had received a message from someone on her phone, and it had upset her. But then she seemed to go back to normal just a few seconds after that. When they’d reached home before walking inside, Aryan had considered asking her about it, obviously Aditya had messaged her, it made sense that she’d seem tense after seeing that. But how did she manage to get over it so quickly? When that horrible man did even a little thing, like not accepting the food she’d made or throwing out a little insult, it upset Imlie for hours after. After ten minutes of talking to himself, like a person on some sort of tv show, Aryan took a deep breath.

I need to calm down. Also I need to stop thinking about Imlie. What does it matter who messaged her? Why the hell should I care about her mood? Aryan thought to himself.

A few seconds later he was making his way to Imlie’s room.

He stood outside the door, which was slightly ajar, and listened in. There wasn’t any noise, and it didn’t look like any of the lights were on.

Am I really doing this? Have I gone completely crazy? he asked himself, Well, if I have gone crazy, there’s no turning back now, is there?

He pushed the door open a little further, thanking a God he didn’t believe in that he was rich enough to afford a house where nothing creaked. As a little light poured into the room from the hallway, Aryan could see Imlie was asleep on a wingback armchair next to the desk and across the way from the bed. The light hadn’t been on, but she had been working on something on her laptop.

He made his way towards her as quietly as he could, and carefully picked the laptop up from her. His fingers grazed hers and Aryan felt like something was pulling his stomach into his chest, while at the same time a buzz of electricity was moving from his fingers, up his arm, and down his spine.

He skimmed the write ups Imlie had been working on before she’d fallen asleep. They were interesting, up beat, but most importantly he could feel the energy and passion in Imlie’s voice, and he hadn’t even read them that closely. He carefully placed the laptop on the desk, and shut it down. His eyes fell on her phone, and then he looked back at her sleeping frame.

I shouldn’t. I know I wanted to, but she has some right to privacy. She has the right to make a mistake, even if it’s the same stupid mistake she makes over and over again. He decided not to pick up the phone.

Instead he turned towards her and put one of his arms behind her shoulders, slowly, making sure not to wake her up. Then he managed to get his other arm under her knees, and picked her up. He walked slowly to her bed and placed her on it. She was above the blankets, and he didn’t know if he could pull them over her without waking her, so he strode to the closet and grabbed two new ones. The AC always bothered her, even if it was off like it was now, she clearly found the room and house too cold for her liking. He carefully put one blanket over her, and then the second. She shifted in her sleep, and Aryan held his breath, hoping with everything he had that she wouldn’t open her eyes. Imlie might have believe him last night that he had a reason to come into her room, but she wouldn’t believe it a second time. She didn’t open her eyes. He sighed in relief and backed away slowly from the bed. Then he heard the ping of a phone, and turned to see Imlie’s phone lighting up after a message.

Curiosity overcame him, he had to look. He picked up the phone and tried to come up with options for what her password could be. The phone unlocked without a password.

She’s so dumb. How can she not have a password on her phone? Aryan thought. Then he realized he probably wouldn’t have been able to guess her password anyway because it was probably the date of her first wedding to Aditya or his goddamn birthday.

He looked at the message notification, it was from an unrecognized number on her phone.

”Anyway, thanks for talking to me and again it was nice meeting to you. I can’t wait to read your interviews and pieces you did today, even the one on my sister. She can be a handful, and I’m sure you figured that out already. When I have time I’ll make sure to read the other work you’ve done. Let me know when you want to get that chai!”

Aryan started seeing red. As he finished reading the message he’d realized this was Shiv Agarwal, the lawyer and brother that Priya was so eager to introduce to Imlie.

How did this idiot already get her number? Why is he texting her this late? Aryan tried to calm down, but scrolling up in the messages did not calm him.

This was the conversation he saw:

“Shiv (unknown number): Hi Imlie, It was great meeting you tonight. I know we’re in different industries, but as an alumnus, I should help out students from my alma mater. If you ever need anything, let me know! - Shiv. (Also my sister insists I ask if you would like to have lunch or chai some time. Don’t worry, I’m not that desperate for friends that I’ll beg you to say yes.)”

“Imlie: Thank you, it was nice to meet you too! Your sister is adorable and so very talented. I would love to talk about your time in college, I actually definitely need advice on classes to take in the coming semesters.”

“Imlie: Though I’m not really interested in working as a lawyer, I bet you work with or know a lot of people in law enforcement and other people in the legal profession. I’m always looking for new stories to write, so at the very least, you could be a great source.”

“Imlie: That is if you’re comfortable with that?”

“Shiv (unknown number): Of course. I don’t know for how many stories of yours I could go on record for, my work isn’t usually too high profile. But I do work as a defense attorney and litigator. So my cases range from criminal to civil. I can’t promise I’ll always be able to reveal everything about a case, but I’m happy to answer questions. And I can definitely point you in the direction of prosecutors or law enforcement officials who’d be open to chatting.”

“Imlie: that’s so kind, thank you!!! If I knew developing sources was this easy I would have started much earlier.”

“Shiv (unknown number): Well if you want to keep your first source happy, I accept payment in the form of chai and pani puri only.”

“Shiv (unknown number): Of course payment isn’t required, but it’s recommended. :)”

“Imlie: Of course! Well, to keep everything above level I can’t pay you…but pani puri and chai seems worth breaking the rules.”

“Shiv (unknown number): haha. Thank you. I find it fascinating that you’ve managed to work and go to college at the same time? How do you manage?”

“Imlie: It’s difficult, but not impossible. It helps that I like what I’m studying and the kinds of stories I’m writing.”

“Shiv (unknown number): Of course, I don’t think I would be half as good at my work if I didn’t enjoy it.”

“Imlie: Exactly! I used to think I just had to become an officer or work in government, that that was the only way I would be happy and be able to help my village. But I think Sita Maiya had a different path for me…and I’m happy she did.”

After this message from Imlie was Shiv’s last one. Aryan fought the urge to delete it. He wanted to delete the whole conversation and block Shiv’s number, but he knew that would be of no use. Priya would eventually contact Imlie, and Imlie’d figure out what happened. That jungli may not know how to keep a password for her phone, but she wasn’t completely stupid. Aryan contemplated writing a response, but he knew even doing that and deleting it would just turn out badly for him.

He tried to calm himself down a second time, it didn’t work, but at least he’d managed not to delete anything. He went back to her messages and tried to figure out why Imlie had seemed sad for that one moment, and then he saw it, the message from “Aditya Sir.”

His inexplicable anger from seeing Shiv’s messages had died down a little when he realized that at least Imlie hadn’t saved his number as “Babusahib.”

Then the message brought his rage back up. Imlie hadn’t replied, but this despicable, pathetic, manipulative man was still trying to apologize. He put the phone down right where it had been, and looked over at Imlie again, curled up in the blankets now. He doubted she could avoid Aditya’s manipulations forever. She’d falter eventually, especially if the rest of the Tripathi family helped weaken her resolve. He’d have to make sure there were no cracks in his plan. This wasn’t just about getting the revenge he’d wanted for Arvind Jiju anymore, this was about preventing Aditya Kumar Tripathi from destroying the life of yet another person.

He walked back to the door, and took one last look at Imlie and left to his own room. He’d worry about this Shiv Agarwal another time.