RaBir FF -A Cast of Characters chapter 97/98 & Epilogue pg121/2 (4 - Page 57

Chapter 46

"I want Papa."

The little boy's simple plea tore at her heart, and Rachna smiled at him reassuringly. "Ha Sanjay beta, I've sent a message to Papa and as soon as his airplane lands he will call home, I'm sure of it."

"Will I be able to speak to Pari too? She didn't come to say goodbye to me yesterday."

Rachna nodded. "And Pari too, beta. But remember they are both on a very long flight, and you may fall asleep before they call. If that happens then we will definitely speak to them in the morning, I promise."

She pulled the blanket up to his chin and tucked it securely around him. Bathed, fed and having been administered a dose of pediatric pain reliever, there was little chance that Sanjay would be awake when KT called; indeed his eyes were already drooping. Sure enough, not ten minutes later, the youngster had submitted to the rest his bruised little body required. Rachna activated the night light and made certain that the baby monitor was on before returning to the bed. She bent over and kissed the little boy's forehead, avoiding the bandage near his hairline. Walking to the nearby crib, she repeated her actions, careful not to disturb Aryia's rest, and finally left the nursery.

She headed back to her bedroom, hoping to relax for a little while. The events of the afternoon had seemed to finally catch up with her, and Rachna prayed that she would be able to stay awake herself to receive her husband's call. She had just sat on her bed, when there was a knock on her door and Rajeev entered carrying a cup and saucer.

"I really don't think the expectation was for you to wait on me hand and foot, Rajeev." She said with a tired smile.

"Perhaps I'm just looking to stack the deck in my favor; surely Naomi will be more than impressed with my efforts." He placed the saucer on the bedside table and handed the steaming cup to Rachna. "Daadi actually sent it up." He allowed her to take a sip before continuing. "I've sent a message to Naomi to get KT to call home right away, so whoever turns on their mobile first will know. Since Sanjay has settled down at last, you should take the opportunity to rest yourself, Rachna. You have been going non-stop, and it won't do for you to overextend yourself further."

She could help but agree; she was exhausted. "Ha Rajeev, you're absolutely right."

"I assume that no additional news has come from the hospital, so if you are still resting when he calls, I can relay everything to Kabir if necessary."

"Nay, Rajeev, please wake me up if I'm asleep. I must speak with him."

"Thik hai, but for now, please just get some rest, Rachna."

"...he never shied away from anything that any of us asked of or demanded, concerning his intentions towards you. He's a good man, Naomi, I never should have implied otherwise. I truly cannot express how sorry I am."

He had been on the right path to make amends with those words as for the first time since their quarrel Naomi had looked directly at him. It was at least a start, and Kabir was appreciative that she had heard him out. But her meal arrived before he could continue, so he left well enough alone, and let her enjoy her repast.

Now he watched Naomi as she made her way down the aisle, back from the lavatory. She stopped to retrieve the fallen toy belonging to a toddler in his mother's arms, smiling, and as was her nature she ended up sharing a few words with the pair. Aside from her outward beauty, her delightful personality was a natural draw to people, something evident when her interactions with the child and his mother got the attention of a few of the other passengers nearby. One young man in particular, seated a few rows ahead of them, attempted to engage her in conversation, which she kindly dissuaded. Not that it made a difference, Kabir thought as the young man turned to watch her. When he got up to let Naomi pass by to get back to her seat, Kabir found it necessary to stare at the other man, his raised eyebrow questioning the stranger's intent. Satisfied when the other man turned away, Kabir sat down and re-fastened his seatbelt.

"Now that you have admitted to it, I can definitely see that you have latent big brother tendencies KT. That was unquestionably a move Stefan would have made, and as I would have said to him, a totally unnecessary action."

"I don't think Rajeev would think so."

Naomi rolled her eyes, "And if I was travelling alone, then I would have had to deal with this trivial situation myself."

"But, you're not alone Naomi, so like it or not, I consider you my responsibility."

She bristled at his comment. "I look forward to the day when everyone realizes that I am not a child, but I fear it is my lot in life to be treated such."

Kabir considered her statement before responding further. "Do you think that this will be the biggest issue with your parents? That they think you still a child? If that's the case, I can't help but think that you are wrong in your assumptions."

"So the fact that they want me home isn't indicative of this, in your opinion?"

"It clearly shows that they love you, but when it comes to your happiness, will they still expect the same of you, or will they allow you to follow your heart?"

In an effort to hide her emotions, she turned away to stare out of the aircraft's window. "I guess I'll find out won't I," she whispered.

Unwilling to let the man to get under her skin any more than necessary, Sonal smiled back coolly. "You should have more faith, Abhi. What you see here is the result taking advantage of an unhappy circumstance and turning it to favor my own planning. It was an unfortunate mishap, hardly necessitating a hospital visit, but you know how panic can spread in a crowd, especially when a crying child is involved. Truthfully, I would have left immediately after our scrapes were attended to, had it not been for the realization that the attending physician was a dear friend of mine. You cannot imagine how heartening it was to see dear Rachna's concern for the Sanjay and me." With theatrical flourish she indicated her injuries. "This has opened all matter of possibilities for our plan however it will mean me being inaccessible to our overseas contact for a while. You will have to handle this dear Abhi, but think on the bright side; at least you will be able to get first-hand accounts of your Naomi's activities."

The slight flaring of the man's nostrils, gave more away than he hoped, Sonal thought. He was truly a man obsessed. She almost felt sorry for Naomi, but in the larger scheme of things, his intentions for the young woman really didn't matter. "So Abhi, can you handle this?"

"Has the work begun?"

Sonal looked at her watch, and nodded. "I expect that everything will be in place by the time their flight lands. And then it will begin."

The car pulled into a parking spot across from the hotel. The female got out of the passenger seat leaving her male companion seated in the vehicle. Retrieving the two floral arrangements, she turned back to the man. "The Muse Hotel, I think it's fitting, and excellent play on words don't you agree?" The man nodded, although his focus was on the photographs he was taking of the exterior of the building. "Okay, I will get these in place, and will just need you to confirm that you have received the signal. After that it will be off to JFK for the flight's arrival."

She walked into the first hotel room, the model's, and looked around appreciatively. They were certainly pulling out all the stops for this young lady, she thought of the Spa suite. "Wow, we should all be so lucky," she said wistfully to the concierge agent who had accompanied her. The young man beamed; his pride in his place of employment evident. "Oh I see we are not the first either," the woman continued as she noted the two bouquets that had already been delivered. "If the firm hadn't been so insistent that these were to be placed in a particular spot, I would have just added the arrangement to her personal garden. She is certainly well thought of." Quickly she scanned and determined the best location and placed one of the arrangements down. Under the pretense of adjusting a few stems and affixing the greeting card, she furtively plugged the tiny device into the nearby telephone jack. She turned back to the young man with an engaging smile. "Would you mind showing me around the room...please?" She placed the second arrangement next to the others on the side table, and followed the man as he described the amenities of the beautiful room. Inside her pocket she felt the vibration of her phone, and stealthily checked the incoming message. Everything was coming through clearly to her companion outside; anything that would be said in this room would be heard clear as day and recorded on the other end. "Thanks so much, this room is to die for. So the next room is on the same floor? Across the hall; that's wonderful." She made a point of dropping her mobile as she approached the floral arrangement, and quickly stole a glance at the cards on the other arrangements: one from her parents, the second from Rajeev. She kept this in mind as she followed the concierge agent to the next room.

Slipping into the car, she smiled at her companion. "Mission accomplished. I've just checked the flight arrival time; it's on schedule, so I imagine we should make our way ..." She stopped when her cohort's mobile rang, it was the clients who arranged all of this, and so of course they would take priority over anything else. She tried not to show her impatience at the length of the phone conversation, but she was anxious to get on their way to intercept the arriving couple. While her partner had all the particulars on their quarry, she had only received limited information. For her part, she was anxious for her first real look at this Kabir Tripathi and the model accompanying him.

Getting through US Immigration had been a nightmare; for certain Naomi was glad that the process was over. A little groggy, she followed KT as he located the driver the firm had arranged. She turned on her mobile as they exited the terminal, and waited for the phone to connect to a network. It took a little while, so instead of getting into the town car, she waited outside in hopes that she would get service in order to quickly send the message that she had arrived safely. The driver opened the door for them and KT motioned for her to enter the vehicle. At the same time she was notified of an incoming message. She came to a complete standstill, and turned back to him.

"KT you need to call home now, something's happened."