She had her eyes closed the entire time her Naanaji paced the hallway, screaming expletives at Rishabh, she had never heard him use, while Maira aunty stayed by her bed and stoked her hair; the only maternal solace that was left in that place.
"Won't you tell me why he was here? Its been three hours and you won't speak a word...I need to know if he did something to you, Ruhee"
With the sound of her middle name, she winced. Sanaa to most of her mother side relatives, Ruhee to her Maira aunty, Madhubala to him and her manager, she wondered who she was more of.
"I go away for one month and everything flails. The book scandal and then he comes back..."
Back? Her forehead puckered as her mind snagged at the last word in her aunt's gripes and she ruffled from that coiled state, looking up into her aunt's eyes.
"We know about those calls..." Maira aunty said with a quiet embarrassment reading the question in her eyes, "Sorry! It was unavoidable not to take notice of it when the phone rang at such ungodly hours. Your Naanaji might have picked up a call one such night"
Sighing, she placed a hand over her forehead. So, his presence in her life had been common knowledge after all.
"But he said it was weird," Her aunt added quickly as if that explained their trespassing on her privacy, "That you both didn't speak anything except just say your names once or twice. A long drone of silence and lastly you had just asked him to put the phone down..."
Lord! This couldn't be happening, she thought to herself and turned around in bed, so she wouldn't have to face her aunt.
"Then the watchmen confirmed that the Rishabh was really RK. His car was often seen parked by the street your window faced," Her aunt placed a hand over her shoulder, "But he couldn't ask him to leave, when it was our adjacent street and not by the front gate."
She felt a urge to take a deep breath. Not now...not anymore...
"Please! Maasi..." she finally spoke in a whisper, "I don't have to know any of those..."
"If there is something between you two..." Her aunt's voice was stricken with anxiety.
"Maasi!" She sat up as if her aunt had just spelled blasphemy, her eyes blazing with a sudden show of anger, "I'm getting married in five days. Are you questioning my decisions?"
Certainly, there was much to be taken offense to in her Maasi's suggesting, but it was only a natural conclusion one would be led to after having witnessed their reactions towards the other.
Shaking her head, she covered her face with both her hands. "I'm sorry Maasi..."
She shifted and hugged her Maasi, "I shouldn't have spoken like that..."
"It seemed he wanted some confirmation of the details from that infamous diary page," she gave up the particulars of his visit as if to make amends for her fit, while she still held her Maasi in an embrace, "Like if the new assistant was really from Shimla and if we had verified it with the books from the studio."
The faint sense of horror in her aunt's eyes was oblivious to her as she pulled away and continued, "If only the publisher had not gone for that piece. I wanted my mother to be made human in people's eyes. Not have her dirty laundry slashed out for all to see..."
She drew back a breath, realizing what she'd said then, but decided against calling attention to it. It was a sore subject, for which her aunt had apologized over and over again. There was no forgetting the guilt and mortification she'd seen on her aunt's face. After the first print had come out and they had found that sensational writing had made it into 'Fading light', her aunt had sworn on everything she'd held dear that she'd removed it from the draft when she'd questioned that selection at multiple levels. Despite, many objections from the family, the publisher had held his ground about going to print with it and had threatened to void the book deal, if they were to have that piece taken out. That is when they had gone rampant to check the veracity of the details and had sought acknowledgements from the living family members involved. Of course, their search for the 'chap' had led them nowhere when it was only obscure and impersonal trivia they had managed to scour from her mother's diary. And then, they had gone ahead with the book release, only to end up linking the 'chap' and Rishabh Kundera that all of their assaying had failed to reveal.
Shaking her head, she said, "Why do I feel there has been a mistake, Maasi? Do you think you can get me the original diary and the books?" her voice was replete with a traceable sincerity and eagerness to set things right as soon as possible. And in it all, she even heard a strain of hoping that she wouldn't be required to go down that path to start with.
"Ok..." Her aunt spoke meekly at first and then her voice gravitated towards a convincing determination, "We will look into that as soon as the wedding is over. Now, is not the time to worry about it."
Her aunt, mustering a smile, shook her face by holding her chin, "We need you looking like a princess..."
Unable to contain her response at her aunt's childlike praise, she too smiled then.
After the wedding it is then, she told herself, as she held her aunt and waited for the feeling of unrest to die down in her.
Note: Don't forget to read the last part of Update 10: Allegation, that was added earlier tonight. Also, add me to your buddy list if you need PMs.
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