SOLID SOUL - THREAD 2 - CHAPTER 30 / PAGE 49 - Page 31

I've been starting to read a ton of ArHi FF and this was one of the first ones I read back when I began last year. I absolutely fell in love with your writing and was so sad that you hadn't written in so long. On a whim i decided to check today and I am so glad you're continuing, looking forward to reading the rest of the story!

Hi Akhilash,

I found this FF by chance and read it all at one go. I love the way Khushi has grown and her kids adorably cute.


It is a really good story and I would love to read it till the end, I do hope you will complete it.

I came across this FF

great update dear
and welcome back
i am so glad u r back
continue soon...

beautiful update did not think you would complete the story asr is wrong and i dont think he should use his high handed tactics on her.as for kushi i dont want her to compromise she should not under any situation go to india and live with his fly .it will wash away all her efforts

You have a responsibility towards your readers my dear. You cannot just update after a year and then vanish for another. Jus being honest. So please put your fans out of our misery and please complete your story. I am saying this cos I love this story. Since the beginning. So please it's a heartfelt request

Great update. Waiting for the next one

Hi dear, I hope you will update soon. Please don't leave Solid Soul uncompleted.

Chapter XXX

September 7, 2016

1.30 pm CST

O'Hare Airport, Chicago

From the large bay windows, ASR watched the UA flight to Delhi back out from its gates. A few minutes later, he received confirmation from the United Airline escort detailing Pam's final seat assignment. He had delayed his departure from the airport until 2.00 p.m. waiting for the flight status to change to 'Departed'. The escort service facility availed from the ticketing agent had enabled him to personally accompany Pam right up to the departure gate. For an additional fee the UA personal escort ensured Pam boarded the flight.

Despite an arduous 5 hour drive back to the hotel, he attacked his take-over presentation with gusto. The glaring error in the financial statements was addressed. All the facts and financials were checked and double checked to ensure that he did not find himself in any more precarious position/s. He thanked his good fortune about Hari Mathur (HAM) being decent enough to point out the error to him privately than publically denouncing him as a greenhorn. He wondered if he would have been this charitable had the roles been reversed...

ASR: STOP... Put a lid on it dammit and focus on closing the deal Arnav.

Dinner meeting with the trinity (Rob Roy, Gerald Parker & Amy Su) & the other two officers, Hitesh A. Wadhwani and Henry Devry had lingered. By the end of the evening, he had all the five officers of the board in his pocket with the exception of the Mathurs. But they were not invited to the party. However the deal closure had come with a price - several concessions had to be made, some of them still rankled. The pivotal MD position would not be held by AR personnel and was relinquished to Hitesh A. Wadhwani, who would have higher authority over creativity & design. The trinity would maintain their role as investors & not play an active an role in the management of the company. He finally refused to cave in when it was demanded that the finance guy, Henry Ethan Devry, demanded the position of CFO, the position that was year marked for Mamaji. Despite the concessions, he ensured that AR Designs held majority in company stake holdings. He knew now it would be a piece of cake to take the company out of the Mathurs' hands, but somehow the victory seemed hollow as negotiation tactics seemed more underhanded with the absence of the Mathurs at the table. But all seemed justified just to get Khushi. It was not just good business, as it was too personal and losing was not an option.

He placated his rising conscience by citing Mathur's newly launched design school would provide the Mathurs, a new purpose/goal and that his (ASR's) acquisition of Good Earth Inc. would not leave them high and dry. He further reasoned with Rob's titbit about HAM & his wife, Paddy, being more interested in imparting their knowledge of the design industry management to academia. Then again the idea of a design school had sparked his (ASR's) interest immensely & he summoned his design head, Nandkishore (NK, also Akash's cousin on his mother's side), based out of the Sydney offices, to study the model of the design school operations for a possible replication in India.

Rob had also let it slip that Khushi, was HAM's right hand. He had been witness to the closeness between the Mathur's, Khushi & the kids. Come Monday morning, September 12, he was expecting a tempestuous confrontation with Khushi over the acquisition. Plus he hadn't factored Khushi's reaction over the Pam debacle.

Emails were flying between himself, Akash, Mamaji and AR's legal advisors in India at Roy & Sarkar Ltd & US legal whiz at Fox & Mendel PLLC, NY. The update from Aman indicated that both Mamaji & Sarathy would join him for the September 12 presentation. The short and precise agenda for Monday was drawn out. The opening item was the summation of the take-over followed by formal announcement to the staff. He knew he would personally address the employees along with Mathur ensuring that there would be no layoffs.

At 10.30 p.m. with great trepidation, ASR rang the doorbell to Khushi's house after conducting a prolonged debate with himself about the ways to enter Khushi's domain. After much pondering, he opted to go with the straight forward approach. He did not have to wait much longer; the door was opened by a wide awake Khushi. No sooner did the door open he slid inside ready for a round of heated verbal exchange with Khushi over entry rights. However, much to his chagrin, the skirmish did not happen and Khushi very impersonally showed him to the same guest room. Tiredness and the rhythmic clicking of the keyboard in the adjoining room lulled him into calm and much needed slumber.

For the second day in a row, ASR woke up to the persistent peeling of the phone. Elated at being admitted without fuss, added a spring to his feet as he moved to the kitchen nook. However, the conversation at the table, truncated his gliding feet midstride giving way to his pair of ears that parked themselves as eavesdroppers tuning in to the conversation between the mom & children.

Khushi: I want you to promise me that you won't take anything from a stranger - no eats, no drinks and no conversations with strangers. If anything is suspicious, you will report it to your teacher, if you are at school and ask them to call me, Nani, Dadu or Paddybua. Is that clear? Same applies to you, Rohan and to you too, Mohit?

Kiran: I promise, promise I won't take anything to eat or drink from a stranger. Cross my heart and hope ...

Mohit: Stop, stop right there. No talking about dying Kiran.

Kiran: What Mohitbhaiyya, it is only a phrase...

Mohit (yelling): Stop, I told you to stop, why won't you listen? If something had to happen...

Khushi: Guys no fighting or raising your voice at each other. Mohit I am sure Kiran will take care of herself. And you - Kiran, Mohit was worried about you.

Kiran: Alright Mom, alright Bhai, got it. BTW Mamma, is this how adults argue and fight and then get a divorce?

Khushi: What?

Kiran: Just wondering...

Khushi: Let me hear about your wonderings...

Kiran: One of my classmates, Ryan, says that his parents fight all the time and not a single day goes by when they don't fight at the dining table. So does that mean they will get a divorce?

Khushi: Not necessary, they may be making up after they fight. They may not be fighting about the same thing every time. There are the possibilities, but I don't know. But why are you...?

Kiran: OK... then... how was it with you and dad? Did you argue all the time and never make up? And is that why you are divorced? Didn't you love each other when you married, then why did you fight? Why didn't you make up?

Khushi was taken aback at the turn of events and contemplated before to answering Kiran's questions.

Kiran: Mamma...?

Khushi found three pairs of hopeful eyes regarding her. Avoiding and running away from it, would only increase the deluge of questions, so better brace for a full frontal attack. Explaining things rationally was going to be challenging. Khushi fanatically appealed to her Devi Maiyya for fortitude.

Khushi (mentally chanting Raksha karna Devi Maiyya) : Well let me see. Your dad and I were not in love with each other when we married.

Kiran: Then why did you marry?

Khushi: Well how should I say it? It was an on-the-spot surprise wedding. He thought by marrying me, he would keep me away from creating trouble for his sister.

Rohan: What do you mean?

Khushi: He thought that I was hurting his sister by taking away her favorite thing.

Mohit: You mean you took her toy, her doll? That was mean, but why would you do that? You tell us all the time not to snatch things from others, not take anything without the owner's permission, and encourage sharing. So then why didn't you... share? No I mean ... why did you snatch? No I mean ... did not share? You know what I mean.

An amused Khushi had no choice but to start at the beginning and break it down to kiddie terms.

Khushi: Let me start at the beginning. I lived with a family that adopted me after my parents died in a car accident when I was 8. My adopted family consisted of mom who actually was my mom's sister, her husband (Babuji), Babuji's sister, Buaji and Babuji's daughter, Payal. We all lived in Lucknow - remember the day trip that we made during our India trip. The house where you all stopped for drink of water? That is the house where I lived till I was about 18. It was my sister Payal's wedding. The groom's parents were being unreasonable so I went to speak to the groom, but ended up interrupting a private event that was being hosted by my husband, not my husband at that time.

Furious at his event being ruined, l found myself being locked away and severly reprimanded by him and when he let me go later, I was scolded by my family too at home. My sister's marriage was cancelled and I was labelled as a trouble-maker. My mom sent me to Delhi to live with Buaji. I found a job to help the family with money. My job was at your dad's office but the job did not last long. I tried different jobs to make money, but money was not enough, so my Buaji rented out a room to a boarder, called Shyam. She thought he was a nice guy and they got me engaged to Shyam.

Kiran: Why ...did you love him? Is he my dad?

Khushi: No & No... How about you hear me out and then ask questions?

Rohan: But I will forget all my questions by the time the story ends.

Rohan: And you say every time that it was ok to ask questions and clarify before moving forward.

Khushi felt flummoxed being trapped by her own words.

Khushi: Yes I say that all the time don't I? Ok ask the questions but I may not be able to answer some of the questions.

Kiran: Ok...

Khushi: Where was I? Engaged to Shyam right? But no one in my house knew that Shyam was already married to your dad's sister. I was working at your dad's house but had never met Shyam. And that was because Shyam made sure never to be there when I visited.

Mohit: Wait a minute, you found a job at their dad's house - as what?

Khushi: Well something like a teacher. I was teaching and training Kiran and Rohan's dad's girlfriend to ... cook Indian food, become familiar with all the Indian festivals and rituals.

Mohit: Huuh...Couldn't they teach her? Couldn't she find it on Google? Why you?

Khushi: I guess they could have taught her, but they thought I could do the job better. And I did get the job done. Their dad and his girlfriend announced their engagement and I knew that my job was done. So I was given a farewell party and sent home. I stopped at the temple on my way home unaware of being followed by their dad. And there at the temple he saw me with Shyam. Soon he came to know that I was engaged to Shyam. He was mad, thought I was a trouble-maker and to keep his sister safe, he married me right then and there.

Kiran: Why didn't you say something or try to explain?

Khushi: I tried. Maybe I should have tried harder. You could say that I gave up trying to explain.

Rohan: But he must have come to know that you were not the trouble maker. And he must have fallen in love with you when he lived with you right?

Khushi: We barely talked. I did not live with him. I lived in another house far away from the house where your dad and his family lived. He visited me during the weekends to make sure that I was not causing any trouble or hurting his sister. And NO he did not fall in love with me because he was already in love.

Kiran: But Mumma how come dad didn't fall in love with you? You are so pretty and so nice...just like my Barbie.

Khushi: But I was not your dad's Barbie and neither was he my Ken. Well can you imagine Ken and Skipper (Barbie's sister) together?

Kiran: Ken and Skipper. NOoo..., it has to be Ken and Barbie.

There you have it right out of the child's mouth.' As Khushi rejoiced her soliloquy, at the same time a fair minded Khushi could feel her Devi Maiyya frowning upon the use of her analogy. It was almost as if she had put words in her child's mouth, but there was no other way to explain things to a child.

Rohan: But what about your family?

Mohit: Did you not call them? Didn't they want to talk to you?

Khushi: They were very angry with me and did not want to talk to me anymore. I tried calling and tried talking to them but no one would talk to me. So I gave up. I lived far from my parents' house too and could not visit them.

Kiran: Then why did you leave dad?

Khushi: Well as he feared I got into trouble again with Shyam and this time I hurt myself pretty badly. Your dad had to be there at the hospital for me and then run to his other house to look after his sister who was not well too. Then they told me that both you and Rohan were in my tummy. That meant he would have to look after more people now. It was not fair particularly when he was not too fond of children. So I left, to take care of you and let him be with his family.

Rohan: Has he not tried to look for you? What if he comes and asks you to come back? Does he know about us? Will he like us?

Khushi: Honestly I don't know and I have never tried to contact him after I left him.

Mohit: Do you have a picture of him? What is his name?

Khushi: I don't have a picture but I am sure the internet will have a bunch of his pictures. Give me the iPad. Or you can search for AR...

The shrill bell tone of the telephone stopped Khushi's tirade mid sentence. Talk about being saved by the proverbial bell... thought an eavesdropping ASR.

And how trite - thought ASR, eavesdroppers never hear good about themselves but he was glad to hear Khushi's affirmation of him being the father of the twins. But Khushi's assertion was a double edged sword. Khushi hadn't maligned him but he had no idea how his kids would react to him since his side of story would be no different than what Khushi had just narrated. Khushi was barely cordial and he did not want to speculate about Mohit's reaction. Buying more time was not going to get him anywhere and Khushi had a four year head start with the kids. Before more analogies of him and Khushi being a mismatched pair were firmly engraved in the kids' minds, he took a headlong plunge without further thought, sauntered into the eating area and promptly plonked himself. Silently but briefly Khushi acknowledged his presence before moving to answer the incessant pealing of the landline.

From her expressions and the duration of the call, he could conclude that it was a blank call. No sooner had she finished the call, the phone jangled again engaging her. The call was short but her posture went from relaxed to ramrod stiff and fear marred her features. But a placid facade slid into place as the call was terminated. In succession two calls were made by her using her cell phone. He could have sworn that she addressed one of her callers as Chanakya. But he knew she would stonewall him if he pried, however, her calm countenance after the call, worried him no end. OR he speculated that she may have heard that Good Earth was now truly an AR subsidiary from Chachaji (HAM), and was not happy about coming into the AR orbit. Boy was he glad that he closed the deal yesterday. But then again why was she ready to divulge his identity to the kids when the previous night she had sworn that the kids were not his. Well what was going on?

Then again he thanked his stars that the kids did not question his presence. No sooner was he done with his soliloquy; the very same thought was voiced,

Mohit (armed with the iPad): Why are you in our house? When did you come? Did you sleep here again?

ASR fumbled and tried valiantly to come up with a reasonable excuse for his presence.

ASR: Yes I came last night and slept in the same room. I am here...because ...

Khushi: ...to make sure Kiran is alright.

The words from her mouth seemed like a lifeline.