ArHi FF! We, the people [Completed] - Page 4

Thanks for the pm...

Hey, came across your FF by chance and thankfully its not overtly dramatic like the show that goes by the title of the FF.

It seems well researched and you seem to know the ins and outs of poltical reforms and policy making well. I like the way the FF has started. The characterisations seem very crisp.

That was a pretty loaded chapter... I liked the whole setup
waiting for the implications of this bill

Originally posted by: Mxk3444

The gift was very sweet I love their whole dinner set up how they each set up something without breaking their conversation well done with update :))

Thanks :-) Isn't this similar to how we talk to friends when they are over for a meal? I was going with that :-)

Originally posted by: dorindakate

Thanks for the pm...

Am still amazed at the easy relaxed way in which Arnav and Khushi interact.

Not just Arnav's but your political astuteness is refreshing...your perceptions on corruption and how things really work in government affairs is (unfortunately) universally correct...

Great writing...

Patiently waiting to see what happens next...

Thanks. I think I mentioned this before - in this FF, Khushi and Arnav have an established friendship forged over years. This story has references to common things that goes on in Indian politics.

Thanks a lot!

Originally posted by: Naach_Basanti

Hey, came across your FF by chance and thankfully its not overtly dramatic like the show that goes by the title of the FF.

It seems well researched and you seem to know the ins and outs of poltical reforms and policy making well. I like the way the FF has started. The characterisations seem very crisp.

Thanks... No, this is unlike the show 'We, the people' though the content are the ones that you see in media. I have had help from Ivre in research who looked up things and we discussed about structure et al.

Thanks!

Very Detailed and well written... I really liked Arnav's attitude towards the whole thing but i do'nt support tht attitude. The update showed yur capability as a writer n how much yu r involved in the story. Keep it up!!!!

PS: Are yu a student of Politics???

Originally posted by: A...

Very Detailed and well written... I really liked Arnav's attitude towards the whole thing but i do'nt support tht attitude. The update showed yur capability as a writer n how much yu r involved in the story. Keep it up!!!!

PS: Are yu a student of Politics???

Thanks... an no, I am not a student of politics :-)

Chapter 5:

"We may have a problem," Arnav said over the phone. On the other end Rathore frowned at being told about a problem.

"Does it need my intervention?" Rathore asked. He was seated in a plush lawn chair enjoying the feeling of bare feet on freshly mowed and watered grass. He hated being disturbed when he enjoyed late evening ritual of a cup of strong tea and solving crossword from evening newspaper.

"Dhananjay slapped a reporter for asking a question about the charges on him. He said and I quote – 'My father will take care of it' which incidentally riled the reporter which made him ask a follow up and that in turn set off Dhananjay. The cameraman was smart enough to tape it all," Arnav explained patiently. Rathore let out a string of expletives. Arnav didn't comment but waited for the older man to give him instructions. When it came to taking decisions involving the family, Arnav drew a line.

"What do you recommend?" Rathore asked after calming down.

"Have him under house arrest for the rest of the week and get him sober. We will go to Orissa next week." Arnav said.

"Are you ordering me?" Rathore's voice was deadly. Arnav didn't hesitate.

"As a senior adviser to the party and to you, yes; that was an order. I will take care of the reporter now," Arnav replied and hung up the phone. He knew that Rathore would be fuming at his response but he frankly didn't care. Dealing with Dhananjay was becoming increasingly difficult with every passing day and he wanted to sit and think about future game plan without worrying about Dhananjay for at least a day.

He decided to pay Khushi a visit and let her know what was going on. And also get clearance for Dhananjay to leave the city. But before that, he had reporter to take care of.

*****

"Am I hearing this right?" Khushi asked him as soon as he stepped foot in her office. It was three hours after he had made phone call to Rathore and it had taken at least an hour to convince the journalist to let it go. After promising an exclusive with Rathore – an access of the level never granted before, the journalist had promised not to file a complaint.

"I've taken care of it," Arnav sighed and lay down on her sofa after removing his shoes.

"What about the evidences?" She asked. Arnav reached for his jeans pocket and took out a small tape. He threw in her direction and she caught it expertly.

"This is not my first time dealing with reporters Khushi," he answered anyway.

"But the circumstances are not under our control to take chances of this sort. Another FIR on Dhananjay, it would be difficult to negotiate anything." She said locking the tape in her office safe. "Is this the only copy?" She asked him, worried.

"It doesn't matter. I got it just that for you just in case. They won't be bothering us anymore," he sighed and closed his eyes. It was two days after he had had dinner with Khushi and since then they hadn't gotten an opportunity to talk. He hadn't slept since then either. After dinner, Arnav and Khushi had spent rest of the night going through paperwork of Arnav and Rathore family. He didn't explain why all of it was necessary but she assumed that he was ensuring there was no paper trails of scam anywhere near them.

What surprised her the most was that they were in fact very clean; squeaky clean even. By five in morning Khushi was getting frustrated with the clean way the finances of the Rathore family were presented. She could feel that something was odd but she couldn't figure out what.

"I have to get an accountant to look at it. Someone who is much smarter than me," she had said defeated.

"Show these to someone you really trust. If they find a loophole, notify me immediately." Arnav said handing her a pen drive and a thick file. She nodded understanding the implication. Exercising caution came as a second nature to her and her association with Arnav and the things he did made her borderline paranoid about secrecy.

After one hour, she was at Payal's apartment explaining the things that needed to be done. She handed Payal a flight ticket, key to an apartment, a smart phone and credit card; she would be where she will not be disturbed or anyone would know what Payal was up to.

"You have ten days to figure this out. Get to the bottom of this and report to me, okay?" Khushi said. Payal nodded and took the large manila envelope from her. "And one more thing," Khushi said stopping at the threshold. "If you get caught, I will ensure everything in my power to incriminate you." Khushi walked out of the apartment without waiting for a response. It was customary for her to add a disclaimer of such and Payal wasn't hearing it for the first time.

Now all they could do was, wait.

"You aren't sleeping properly again," she said noting the patch of darkness under his eyes. He hummed in response.

"There is another problem Arnav." She said bringing her laptop and sitting on floor right in front of the sofa on which he was laying down. He groaned loudly.

"You won't let me sleep a wink, will you?" He asked not opening his eyes.

"Arnav, this is serious." She said. Noting the quietness of her voice, he opened his eyes and saw her sitting on the floor. He turned on his side and propped his head with elbow support. "Here, look at this," she said shifting a bit to give him clear access to the screen. He bent down a bit to read what was displayed on the screen. After reading five lines, blood drained from his face.

Death threats weren't uncommon in their profession but it was never so blatant. He was a high profile bureaucrat in politics and Khushi wasn't loved by everyone in their circles either; being a lawyer, taking sides was a part of her profession. Threats were common during confrontation but no one wrote about it on internet. At least not that he knew of.

"How serious do you think this is?" She asked him. He sat up and took laptop from her and read through the entry slowly. She waited for him to break the silence knowing fully well that the wheels were turning as he read. After six long minutes, he replied.

"This isn't some mindless rant Khushi. Whoever is planning on eliminating you and me is damn serious," he replied. "How did you find this anyway? Has it gone public?" He asked the question she had anticipated the moment he read it.

"It's a private website with extremely minimal access and I cannot tell you how I got this information. This was posted about four hours ago and I received information about this only thirty minutes ago," she said. He nodded at that understanding the need for her to protect the source. He sent the URL to a friend via email before continuing further.

"What is the most common ruse for a death threat?" He asked her instead.

"Well, mostly it's disagreement in point of views – these views may be political, economic, social or even religion driven. Many times the action is triggered due to a public display of the disagreement." Khushi replied in a monotone.

"That's right but look at the language used here Khushi." He said handing back the laptop to her. "What do you think is missing?" He asked.

"I am not sure Arnav. I have read it twice and the only summary I have is that the writer and the organization the writer belongs to wants 'exterminate' us." Khushi spat. "What is missing?" Khushi threw the question back at him.

"Anger," he said lying on his back again. "The primitive cause for a person to react in such a manner is anger. And it's the same anger which drives vengeance. Strangely, both the aspects are missing in this entry." He said thoughtfully. She didn't know how he could profile the death threats so calmly. Without waiting for a response from her, he continued. "And these people don't want to just 'kill' but 'exterminate'. That's the second strange thing," he said.

"Well, the person gives explanation as to why we have to be removed from the society." She said scrolling up and down the page. "Frankly, the reasons are quite rationalized and they don't deviate from truth," she said cocking her neck to look at him. He was looking at her wide eyed.

"You are one weird woman Khushi," he said shaking his head. "It's the perverse variant of the truth which this person has idealized and want's to attack anyone who is leading a contradictory life," he said raising his voice in mild frustration.

"Well, I am trying to get a rapist acquitted and you are trying to get a rapist elected." She put it bluntly. He sighed deeply. It irked him when she started to differentiate the world between absolute right and absolute wrong, neither, from his perspective, existed.

"Every citizen has a right to defend himself in the court of law. Till the court determines or he confesses, he is not a rapist. He has every right to defend himself like the way the other party does. And till court gives its verdict, he isn't a rapist. I am merely aiding the man accused of rape charges to compete in next elections." Arnav replied, his face expressionless.

"Is that how you convince yourself?" She asked, her lips curling into a mirthless smile.

"I don't have to convince myself Khushi. I am only stating the things as I see it. You or I don't have to justify why we do things that we are asked to do."

"Well for one, we could always say 'no'," her reply was instantaneous.

"We could. But we won't." He shrugged. She didn't comment on the subject further. These questions never gave her satisfactory answers and she decided to best leave them alone. After the storm is blown away, maybe then she could sit and think about it on the rubble.

"We cannot meet in public anymore. I don't want both of us to be in open at the same place and time making us easier targets and look awfully stupid," she said, her voice stony. Arnav nodded understanding what she meant.

"Stay with me at my apartment. It's more secure than yours and be there till I come back from Orissa. I will get you a different car and driver." He said seriously. "And of course, you will get protection detail." He added.

"Can you get someone to check this out?" She asked without openly accepting his decision.

"It's being done as we speak," he replied.

"What about you?" She asked. He opened one eye and looked at her. "Will you be okay when you are in Orissa?" She asked knowing that the unknown territory will bring in lots of issues.

"I will be fine. I'll take care of it," he replied. When he said with such conviction, she blindly believed him.

"Arnav, this could be an elaborate ploy to deviate your attention from whatever you are doing. Have you considered that?" She asked him.

"I have but am not going to take any chances." He said breathing deeply. She fell quiet seeing how tired he was due to lack of sleep and high stress. She worked on her laptop sitting on the floor, right next to him. Had he asked, she would have admitted of being scared for her life and was glad that he was thinking on her behalf too. Her fingers shook when she typed and her heart rate hadn't reduced since the time her eyes fell on the web page.

She jumped slightly when his palm touched her neck.

"Come here," he said turning on his side and pushing himself till his back touched the sofa's backrest. She lay down next to him and he pulled her close by snaking his arms around her waist.

"Are you scared?" He whispered on her neck.

"Very," she replied closing her eyes, trying to calm down. The small tremble in her voice gave him an indication of how scared she really was. "What about you?" She asked him.

"Me too," he replied. They fell silent after that.

She gently slipped out of his embrace when she felt his breathing slow down and remained that way for several minutes. Picking up her discarded laptop, she resumed her place on the floor and restarted her work while Arnav succumbed to deep slumber on her sofa.

To be continued.