* * *
5: Dev
5 hours earlier...
"F**k!"
He glared at the table while massaging his knee, as if doing so would cause the lump of wood to apologise.
Everything in this place seemed to have it out for him and after the morning he had had, he was in no mood for vengeful furniture.
First the nightmares and then that damn bloody bird on his balcony that just would not shut up...
If it wasn't for his brother, he would have left this godforsaken place a long time ago. Almost as soon as he'd arrived, in fact...
When it came down to it, however, it was for his brother.
After losing him once already, Dev knew well the value of the man he had grown up idolising. It wasn't just that Maan was his brother - he had been something of a trailblazer, the perfect role model that bratty young Dev had needed in his formative years. Long before any semblance of true ambition had stirred in him, Maan had inspired Dev to at least want to try... a little harder at his homework, a little longer during piano lessons, a little more when trying to replicate his bro's signature coif.
Even now, while he liked to believe that he was more of his own man and less of his brother's fanboy, Dev still felt as if he needed to do something special... something more to keep his brother from leaving him. It was a weakness he was quite happy to keep concealed.
He had been roaming through the corridors of the haveli quite unintentionally and it was only now, as he found himself at the front desk, that he stopped to really look at the place.
It was a musty, old building, if he were to be prosaic about it, but something about the place made him feel young again, which was ridiculous considering that the house he had grown up in had been bigger and far more grand. Well... grand in a modern, distinctly man-made way, he reasoned. It would be hard to replicate this sort of natural elegance. He ought to know; he had tried to do just that for his chain of hotels.
"I need to go into town. Do you think you can handle being alone for a few hours or is that too much to ask?"
Dev jumped at the sudden intrusion and turned to see Mr. Gopal watching him, petulantly at first and then with satisfaction at having given him a scare.
"Hours..." Dev made a show of tapping his chin. "They're the ones that occur seven times a week, right?" Without waiting for a reply, he scowled at the older man and sauntered back down the dark corridor.
He didn't know what the man's problem was but after noticing his emerging hostility towards him, Dev had decided to always be on the offensive when it came to Mr. Gopal. He would have chalked it up to old age crankiness - and the moodiness this beautiful but far too isolated place provided - had it not been for the way Dev had seen him interact with others. The man obviously doted on Nayantara and he had even struck up a strange sort of camaraderie with Geet.
It was only when he saw Dev's face - a face Dev personally found very agreeable indeed - that his mood seemed to sour.
Dev shrugged. His work here was to assist his brother. No more, no less. Especially no more.
Ten minutes later, he heard the heavy front door c lose, the sound reverberating through the empty house.
After Maan had left, it had been just Dev and their father. Dev and their father eating on opposite ends of the table. Dev and their father sitting through parent-teacher conferences in embarrassment. Dev and their father drifting apart because, try as he might, Dev was not Maan.
Thus, Dev was not unfamiliar with silences such as the one that stretched around him now but he was by no means a welcoming recipient.
He considered joining his brother and Geet at the construction site but something about the way they had been interacting lately made him resist. He would ask but some noses were better suited to their own business... They were fine, he was sure...
The next few hours passed in disagreeable solitude. He was a man of chaos and activity. This brand of aloneness offered too many opportunities to dwell...
The phone at the front desk rang through the house and had it not been for boredom and his incessant need for competition, he would have let it ring. As it happened, he raced through the corridors - barefoot and a child once again - in an attempt to beat the phone to its final ring.
"Hello."
The voice on the other end was clipped and clinical. "May I please speak to Mr. Gopal Parekh?"
"I'm afraid he isn't here at the moment. Can I take a message?" He made a face, wondering why he was even bothering.
"I'm afraid it's urgent. May I please speak with a family member of Ms Nayantara Rathod?"
A chill crept into his spine as Dev clutched the receiver a little tighter. "What... what happened to her?"
"I am calling from Joya Lekar Hospital. Ms Rathod was admitted here after a car accident earlier today. She is currently unconscious and we need consent from her next of kin..."
The woman on the other end continued but by now, Dev had already grabbed the keys Mr. Gopal had left by the door and begun rushing out of the house. If he had waited a little longer, he would have known the other reason for the phone call.
"...was travelling with. She is refusing treatment despite appearing to have sustained the more serious injuries. We need her to agree to let a doctor examine her." A pause. "Hello? Hello?..."
Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin
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