Chapter 37
"I am bored" Manav cribbed for the tenth time since morning. "The match is washed out due to rain and there's nothing to watch on the TV"
"Study something." Madhu told him.
"No. Everything is boring. And I didn't even get all my books. Didi, till when are we going to live here? Can I go back to my school now?"
"Not now." Madhu answered with hesitation. Then, she picked up Manav's Math book from the table. "Here, solve the exercise for the topics I taught you last night. Your final exams are in two months, you shouldn't fall behind. Sit and do them and don't get up till all are finished."
"Didiii you're so strict."
"Oh yeah, how about all those times when I get you something you want - then I'm cool and fun, right." Madhu retorted and Manav giggled in response.
Rishabh lifted his eyes to see Madhu and Manav fighting as only siblings could. He was glad he'd chosen to work from home today; peace had come to him at long last and he didn't want to let Madhu away from his eyes for a second if he could help it. Yet, the overbearing question in the room loomed large - what now? As Manav said, they couldn't be here forever. At the very least, Manav needed to go back to school. Madhu too would want to do something with her life, probably study. As for him, he was willing to give up anything if Madhu would be with him, but he didn't know what was on her mind. He must tell her to stay with him, he decided.
If not as lovers and partners, at least as friends.
"You're really bored. You're missing your friends?" Madhu asked Manav after a while, noticing him distractedly turning pages.
"Yeah. It was so much fun in the hostel. And I also had my desktop computer in the room that I now miss."
"Okay, you two. Get up, get dressed." Rishabh spoke, walking towards them.
"What? Why?" Madhu asked, standing up herself.
"Because we are going out. Shopping and lunch. Come on."
"Yey." Manav said and rushed towards his room before his sister had a chance to say no. She had that look on her voice that usually meant she was going to stubbornly argue something to death.
"But Rishabh..."
"No arguments. What's the point sitting here and getting bored? Let's go out. It's such good weather. Go get ready. Don't you feel suffocated sitting inside the four walls..." Rishabh saw Madhu face pale at his last statement and he suddenly realized the import of his words. Hadn't he kept her caged in a room for months? How did she feel?
Madhu nodded, then turned towards her room, but Rishabh held her arm and stopped her.
"...I am sorry." he spoke, but his voice was suddenly very heavy and low, making Madhu turn back to face him. "I didn't think about how you must have felt. I didn't even let you out of your room for months. I just..."
"Shh..."Madhu put her finger on his lips, not wanting him to go down this path of guilt any longer. "What's done is done, right? You promised, remember, that we won't go down this road." Madhu smiled and Rishabh nodded. Then she held out her palm. "Now give me your hands" Rishabh did as instructed and Madhu took both of Rishabh's hands in hers, caressing them gently as she spoke. "We have to let go of the pain of the past Rishabh, otherwise it will consume our future. Look at me..."she coaxed and he moved his gaze from the hands to her eyes "...I have forgiven you. You need to forgive yourself too."
"Madhu..."
"Shh...now tell me where are you taking us?"
"Wherever you want. Have you seen Pune before?"
*******************
"Wow. That is so awesome Rishabh bhaiya." Manav beamed looking at the new laptop.
"You like it? Okay, let's get two of these packed."
"Two?"
"One for your sister. She has her studies too."
"Awesome, Madhu didi would be thrilled."
"What will I be thrilled at?" Madhu asked, joining Rishabh and Manav who had walked ahead of them in the showroom while she had excused herself to go to the restroom. On her way out, she stopped at the ATM machine to take out some money using the card Rishabh had given her for the account Patil kaka had opened. She was stunned to see over 50Lakhs in the account, though she expected there to be only around 3 Lakhs, the money she had given Patil kaka.
"This laptop. Isn't it awesome? We're getting two - one for you and one for me."
"But Rishabh..."Madhu protested.
"You both need it for your studies, Madhu. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Come now, let me pay and then let's get around to buying some clothes." Rishabh said with his confident yet charming smile, trying to egg them on.
"Rishabh wait" Madhu stopped him even though Manav was already at the counter getting the laptops packed. "I can't let you pay for it...this is too much. You..."
"Madhu, again..."
"No Rishabh this isn't fair. I will pay for it." Madhu protested
"Okay." Rishabh calmly said and folded his hands to his chest. Madhu looked at the smirk on his face and wondered what he was thinking to have agreed to easily.
They walked to the billing counter and Rishabh happily pushed the bill to Madhu, who looked at the amount and gave the salesperson her ATM card.
"You..."she glanced up at Rishabh angrily as she realized what the game was. He could easily just add money to her bank account when he wanted.
"What Madhu?" he innocently asked, though his shameless grin gave it away.
"You can't do this..."she spoke, but it was less in anger and more of a whine.
"Oh come on Madhu...my money is useless to me unless it's spent on something useful. Otherwise, what's the point? Now come on, don't fret. When you finish your studies and get a job, you can pay me 10% of your salary every month. Ok?" He offered, then winked at her and somehow Madhu didn't have the heart in her to protest when he was asking so nicely.
She still felt deeply uncomfortable accepting Rishabh's money, yet there was a part of her that wasn't that uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the irony of her life which had been defined by a greedy chase of money by those around her, a chase that hadn't even stopped at trading away her very existence. Somehow, now her destiny wanted to show her this other side, where money was almost inconsequential, merely a means to a greater end. Somehow, in the promise of trust and safety she saw in Rishabh's eyes, she found a glimpse of every affection that her destiny had stolen from her in a quest for more money.
**************************
Much later that night, Rishabh found himself back on the swing in his backyard. A gentle breeze and a full moon made the evening especially pleasant even though several things tossed around in Rishabh's mind. It had been an enjoyable afternoon, spent happily over lunch, shopping and a little bit of sightseeing. They were flanked with bodyguards and Rishabh was still somewhat wary of being out in the open lest someone tried to attack Madhu, but they still had a lot of fun. Manav was a brat but he was a good kid. They both made Madhu try out a number of clothes and Rishabh found himself enjoying the sight in front of his eyes a bit too much.
In particular, there was a black figure-hugging designer suit they'd made Madhu try. The low neckline and the flattering curves hit Rishabh like a bolt of lightning when Madhu stepped out blushing from the trial room, refusing to buy the dress. He added the dress and a number of other clothes to their final bill while Madhu and Manav weren't looking, including a few saris for her. Even now, the memory of Madhu in that black sari at the poolside sent desire raging through his body. How he wished he could just go in and take her in his arms for a soul-scorching kiss right now, he thought as he lay down on the swing and closed his eyes, letting the evening breeze soothe him.
After about half an hour, Rishabh sensed a presence and saw Manav out in the yard, sitting by the stairs and looking at the moon just like he'd been.
"Can't sleep, champ?" Rishabh sat up and asked him.
"Oh, I didn't see you there, bhaiya." Manav stood up noticing Rishabh.
"It's ok, come sit here. Not sleepy?" Rishabh smiled at him.
"No, i slept in the evening when we came back and now I can't sleep. Were you also watching the moon? You know didi and I used to love watching the sky when I was younger."
"Really? Nice. You love your sister a lot, don't you?"
"I do. She's everything to me. I don't remember my mother. My dad...he wasn't around much...he didn't love us also, I think. He drank too much. Madhu didi always kept me safe I guess. As far as I am concerned, she is my whole family."
Rishabh smiled at him. "You are everything to her, too. It's up to you to make her proud, you know."
"I want to. I want to study hard and become successful and independent just like she wants." Manav beamed, then continued in a low voice, "One time...one time I saw my dad slap her. I wanted to...I was so angry...but I was small. Anyway, I just want her to be happy. She is nice to everyone, she should be happy. I haven't seen her happy in a long time."
"Yes, she deserves to be happy. Your sister suffered a lot more pain that nice people like her deserved, Manav. Now, it's up to us - it's up to you - to make her happy. Whatever she needs. "
"She doesn't ask for much, you know. She gets happy easily. Sometimes I lose my temper. I don't know why I get so angry. But she never scolds me, she always makes me understand. And then when I apologize later, she becomes happy. Just like that."
Rishabh nodded at the veracity of Manav's words. All day long, she had refused to buy stuff for herself, but her eyes had literally sparkled when they stopped at a bangle store he dragged her to, remembering she liked them from their Panchgani trip. Watching that, he had to stop himself from buying the whole store for her with great difficulty, though he ended up buying a lot more than the two bangles she agreed to buy.
"Thank you" Manav said after a minute or two of silence.
"For what?" Rishabh looked at him quizzically.
"For helping her. She told me she was in trouble and you helped her."
"It wasn't a big deal, Manav."
"It was to her. You know I used to like Mukund bhaiya. He was cool and always got me chocolates when Madhu didi refused. More importantly, I thought he made her happy. But I guess I was wrong."
Rishabh's eyes narrowed at this mention of Mukund. From Madhu's letter and some conversation with Manav earlier, he had come to the conclusion that Mukund was a neighbor or friend of some sort and he was the man who had somehow sold her to Tony, given Madhu had warned Manav off him.
"She really trusts you." Manav continued, breaking Rishabh's thought from delving deeper. "She told me if I was ever in any trouble or if something happened to her, I should find you and trust you."
Rishabh was overwhelmed at the innocent trust in Manav's eyes and he couldn't help hugging him with a surge of protectiveness. His eyes were the same as Madhu's, innocent and gleaming. Suddenly, he understood better Madhu's urge to protect Manav at all cost. He understood better where Madhu found it in herself to endure all the pain she had undergone.
"I will never let anything happen to you or Madhu, I promise." He said, breaking the hug. Manav smiled in response.
"I know. I like you very much. Didi does too. She was telling me..."
"Manav" Madhu called out, entering the yard. She was quickly wiping away her tears, having heard most of the conversation between Rishabh and Manav when she'd come looking for the latter. She had stopped when she heard Manav confess to Rishabh how he worried about her. She had never imagined her kid brother thinking that way and she was also amazed at the depth of the bond he'd come to share with Rishabh to be speaking easily of things he hadn't even told her. Then, when she heard Rishabh reassure the child as well as promise to protect him, Madhu knew she had done the right thing placing her trust in Rishabh Kundra. Oh, what wouldn't she do for this man!
"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking up to the swing.
"Nothing. I was just going in to sleep. Good night Rishabh bhaiya. Good night didi." Manav said, standing up.
Madhu watched him walk back into the house then turned to saw Rishabh staring at her. He gestured her to sit next to him on the swing and she obliged.
"He's a smart kid." Rishabh said after a few seconds.
"He is in awe of you, you know. He wants to become a businessman just like you. He loves you." Madhu gushed.
"And what about you?" Rishabh couldn't help asking.
"Me?"
Do you love me too?
"What do you want to be? As in, have you thought of the future? What do you want to do next? Where do you want to be?"
"I.."Madhu began uncertainly.
"I mean you don't have to answer right now or even decide everything. You should take your time. Stay with me as long as you can, please"
Madhu ignored the tingling she felt from the last words spoken by Rishabh and said instead "I haven't really decided. I have to think about Manav."
"Hmm. I can get him admitted to a good school, no problem. There should be no more threat from Tony to you or from anyone else I know of at this point, although we should be careful, just in case. Wherever Manav goes to study, I'd make sure there's security around him."
"It's.."
"Hear me out. Actually, there's something I really need to talk to you about. This Tony...every time I think of what happened to you...every time I think of Karan's party where I find you...I can't sleep in peace. My lawyer helped me get in touch with the DIG Police yesterday...informally of course...I want to somehow put Tony in jail and his racket busted. Police is willing to act too. But I want to know what you thought about it?"
"Can this really happen? Can police catch him? Some girls told me...they have a nexus with the police."
"Maybe so, maybe at local police stations. The DIG said if we help them with an exact address and some details, they could launch a special sting operation. Try to sell a girl. If Tony bites, they could catch him red-handed and build on it. Prostitution of all girls may be hard to prove especially if they cant get witness, but if they find him, some evidence at the place, a red-handed sting...then they can definitely shut the operation down and put Tony in jail for trafficking. I mean...you're safe, thank God, but when I think of other girls going through what you..."
"Roma didi..."
"Who?"
"Roma didi. She was there with me. I met her there. She has been there for a few years. Trapped like most girls. She was the one who protected me when they beat me. I have her number. I can call her and use her help for all addresses where they keep girls and send them and where Tony is. She knows more than me."
"So you want to do this then?"
"Yes. You don't know what hell that place is. Those lecherous men...the way they treat girls...look at us...I felt like..I felt..."
Rishabh wiped away the tears that had started to leak from Madhu's eyes and pulled her closer to himself in an embrace.
"Shhh...I know. I wish you never had to see that. I am sorry I couldn't save you sooner..."
"I felt so cheap, so worthless, like a commodity."Madhu continued between sobs. "They take away our identity, our humanity, our freedom. The very notion of choice. All they see is our body and they decide between themselves who gets to use us next, for how much, for how long. It is dehumanizing. Some of those girls...I couldn't even talk to them. They look adjusted to that world but really they have lost all sense of themselves. Sometimes when they are alone, they are like zombies. It's like they went through so much pain, they broke. Not everybody gets a saviour like I got, but I wish they are all saved Rishabh. And that Tony...and those men...I want them to burn in hell..."
Rishabh continued to rub her arm and hold her tight as a mix of Madhu's anger and pain erupted. He had tears of anger and pain in his own eyes hearing Madhu's words but he didn't interrupt her because he wanted her to let it out of the system.
He kissed her on the head and spoke when she finally stopped, still holding her tight in his arms. "I will do everything I can...I promise. Your name wouldn't come in the records or anything...not even mine...but whatever information you have, just write it and give it to me tomorrow. I will do everything in my power to make sure Tony's men are punished and this racket is busted."
"Hmmm"
"But...there's something I would need to know. Can you...if you don't mind...can you tell me how you got to Tony? I remember you said someone sold you. Your father or? And how did Tony pay them, if you know?"
Madhu pulled away from the embrace and stared silently at the ground. She had to tell him some day anyway.
"It wasn't my father, though it could have been. It was Mukund. My father died seven months back. He was drunk and violent and abusive. One night, in a drunken rage, he tried to force himself on me. Somehow I ran away. When I came back in the morning, I realized he had fallen and died." Madhu gulped, then continued. "I and Manav were alone and the who my father owed money to took our house. Mukund was our neighbor. We thought he was a friend. He was nice to both of us. He...he said he loved me. I did too, or so I thought. I was too naive. He asked me to move with him. I agreed, but when I asked him to marry me, he postponed it. After some time, people started talking bad things about me because I was living in his house. I wanted to protect Manav, so he helped me send him to boarding school. He made most of the arrangements. I trusted him. But he still kept refusing to marry me. He wanted me to sleep with him. I kept saying no...not before marriage and he started yelling at me. One day..."
Rishabh felt Madhu stiffen. He held her hands trying to reassure her it was okay, even though his own heart was breaking into pieces hearing about the betrayal of Madhu's innocent love. How could she trust another person after that!
"...one day, he got angry. He beat me and tried to rape me. He said some really horrible things. I locked myself into a room. That was the moment realized he never loved me at all. That's not how true love was supposed to be. You don't beat and rape and call the woman you love a s**t. Few hours later, he returned with his friends. I was terribly scared. They managed to break the door and were almost about to rape me when one of them suggested Mukund to sell me instead. They said...they said...they could get paid a lot more for a virgin. Something like two lakhs. So they beat me and touched me but didn't rape me. They put me in a van and brought me to Mumbai...that house where you sent the car when you took me to your house. That was where they kept me...Tony...his men...they..."
Madhu was crying quite uncontrollably by now and Rishabh stopped her. He couldn't bear to hear any more, though he could guess. Madhu has escaped being raped from the men she'd trusted, but she had found herself sold and then in his bed, raped by him. Just listening to Madhu's words made him want to wretch uncontrollable in anger. He didn't know how she lived through all of that! He enveloped her completely in his embrace and tried to calm her down.
"Enough Madhu...God I cannot even imagine...the pain you were under...the horror...I am so sorry...I did not want to make you relive the horror...I don't need to know any more...I am really sorry"
"I...they...they dirtied me...they destroyed me..."Madhu hiccuped, unable to say anything. Rishabh pulled her up and held her face within her palms.
"Look at me...you didn't deserve any of it, okay. You were hurt too much, but it'd never happen again. I would not let anything hurt you even a bit, I promise. Those men that hurt you...I will do my best for them to be found and punished. You are the purest most beautiful soul in the world. Those men, anyone in this world in fact...trust me, Madhu, they could have hurt your body but nobody can touch your soul."
Except you, she found herself thinking.
"You are not destroyed. Nobody in the world has the power to destroy you or hurt you. Nobody is that important or that worthy"
Except you, she thought again.
"Your identity is your own. You are Madhubala Malik...the most amazing beautiful loving respectable woman in the world and you will always be. God, you are the bravest person I know." He muttered as he continued wiping her tears with his thumbs.
Madhu placed her hands on Rishabh's face. His eyes were the perfect reflection of her own at the moment. It felt as if her pain and anguish was just as much in her eyes as it was in his. That deep understanding, that non-accusatory compassion and that unmistakable connection was evidence a pull too strong for Madhu to resist anymore.
Teri dhadkano se hai zindagi meri
Khwahishein teri ab duaaein meri
Kitna anokha bandhan hai ye
Teri meri jaan jo ek hui
"Rishabh..."she whispered as he wiped his tears, mimicking his actions.
"Madhu..."he spoke too, lost completely in the moment.
The next moment, Madhu's lips were on his and his hands moved back to hold her nape as he kissed her back. But it wasn't enough. The anguished burning souls needed each other to heal. Rishabh pulled Madhu closer and held her by the head before diving back into her mouth, his tongue matching hers every stroke as passion erupted like a soothing balm to begin to heal the scorched soulmates.
Jo tu mera humdard hai
Jo tu mera humdard hai
Suhaana har dard hai
Edited by teekay - 10 years ago
Anupamaa
Kumkum Bhagya
