It was a beautiful day, the sun had just shone from early morning and now, in the late afternoon, the heat of the day was less powering.
She did not hear the sound of the great purring car which stopped at the front of the house, nor did she notice the man whostood, with narrowed eyes, watching Krishna and Anjali, who were so immersed in their game.
He began walking over to where she lay. Some instinct told Anjali that she was not alone. She glanced up quickly, startled into awarness of his presence. She sat up on the grass and stared open-mouthed at the handsome stranger who stood looking down at her with an unfathomable look in his eyes.
He said: "Do I have the pleasure of adressing Miss Deshmukh?"
Anjali: "You have. What can I do for you?"
He looked around him questioningly and asked, "Is there somewhere we can talk, Miss Deshmukh?"
"What could you possibly have to sayto me that you can't say out here?"
He looked a trifle taken aback at this show of truculence, but only for a second. He took a wallet from his inner pocket and took out a card which he handed to her, wordlessly.
She glanced at it and a name jumped out at her. Kavya Nanda!..Krishna Nanda's cousin!
Her face crimosned as she handed back the card and rather ungraciously said, "You'd better come inside."
He smiled, a supercilious smile which made Anjali want to hit him, as he followed her into the house.
I hate Nandas!.. How can I forget what Krishna Nanda had done to my sister! said Anjali in her heart.
Anjali sat there waiting impatiently for him to speak, and after a look which seemed to take in every aspect of her dishevelled appearence he asked her:
"How well did you know Krishna, Miss Deshmukh?"
Anjali was about to reply that she did not, and had no wish to, know him, when she decided to adopt Riya's identity in an attempt to punish him for his insufferable intolerance.
"As well as anyone knows the father of her children these days, I suppose. We had fun together but unfortunately I was left holding the baby"
His voice was crushed ice, each word crackling with cold as he answered her.
"Krishna is dead, Miss Deshmukh - killed by his own foolhardiness in chartering a plane which was not safe in order to reach you sooner. If he had been content to wait for a seat on the regular airline he would be alive today, but no, his love for you was such that he could not wait for even a few days to reach you. He is dead"
Anjalis eyes were dark in horror. Poor Riya!
"That is the reason I have come, Miss Deshmukh - to look after you both. To marry you."
"Are you mad? Marry you? I'll rather die" Anjali said in an outraged voice.
"The baby would be assured of an upbringing suitable to his father's station. His future would be a bright one."
"Don't you think it's time for me to know your name?"
"Its Anjali" she replied without thinking.
Anjali. I like it. It suits you. As you only wrote what was obviously a nickname on your letter to Krishna. You sounded so desperate in that letter. See Anjali, I am here for a proposal for you to marry me.
"But why should I marry you?" Anjali nearly cried.
"I hope you will have no objection to my taking my nephew to his rightful home? I am not here to part you both, I am just here to take you both out of here. Krishna would have done the same if he was alive Anjali. And if you wont agree to marry me then I will have to separate you both."
Anjali could do anything for baby Krishna. "Allright!"
Cricket
Tum Se Tum Tak
