ArYa SS: A Father's Trial - PART 5 Up (PG 22)

Part-1

Yash slammed their bedroom door shut. A startled Arti looked up – she had not seen him this furious for a long time.

"Yash? What happened? What's wrong?" she asked hesitantly. The rage in his eyes brought back memories from 10 years ago.

"Do you know where your darling daughter is?" Yash stormed at her.

"Who? Palak? She and Ansh must still be in school….well actually," Arti murmured, checking her watch "they should be on their way back home."

"Huh – that's what you think" Yash snapped.

"Yash – what happened? Instead of snapping at me will you tell me why you are so upset?", Arti asked, letting her exasperation show.

"Palak is at Barista with a boy!!" Yash exclaimed in anger, mentioning the new caf that had opened in town and become the rage with all high-school and college kids.

Arti shook her head, "How do you know that?"

"Because I saw her, Madam. Your precious girl is out cavorting with a boy" with each word, Yash's tone got louder till he was nearly screaming at her.

"And what were you doing at Barista Mr. Yash Scindia?" Arti tried to tease in an effort to get him to calm down.

Yash sighed, "I was driving by on my way back from a client and saw her at the caf. So I went in, thought I would surprise her and Ansh and give them a ride back. But she was there with this…this…boy" he spat out.

Arti sighed. She had hoped she would be able to confront Palak before things got out of hand – she hoped they were not out of hand yet, she could trust Palak, couldn't she?

At Arti's sigh, Yash snapped his attention to her. "So you knew?" he asked accusingly.

"Not exactly. I was cleaning out Palak's cupboard this morning and found a few things. I meant to talk to her when she came home today…." Arti looked worried.

"I am going to kill him" Yash muttered to himself.

At that, Arti started giggling. Yash looked shocked "You find our daughter's cavorting with an unknown…" and he shook his hands in distaste "boy a matter of joke??"

"No. But I do think you are over-reacting. Remember 'Father of the Bride' Yash?," said Arti referring to an old English movie they had watched a couple of weeks ago. "And Palak is not even a bride yet!"

"Listen" she tried to calm him down. "Palak is 16. A perfectly normal age for girls to have their first crush." Yash shook his head vehemently. Before he got a chance to interrupt, Arti continued "The only reason I am upset with Palak is because she went somewhere from school without informing me or you. I don't even know if she has a crush on this boy, and what he means to her. But I do know that if she sees your reaction, things can spiral out of control real fast."

"Let me handle this…please" Arti said with more determination in her voice than her words implied. She was not asking him – she was telling him to back off while she dealt with their daughter.

Yash sighed. Arti had always been able to get to Palak and Payal better than him, while Ansh and Pooja always deferred to him. He nodded, "ok, but if that boy lays one finger on my daughter I am going to tear him apart" he promised.

Arti walked around to their cupboard and pulled something out. Walking up to Yash she gave him his boxing gloves. Ten years ago Yash had promised Arti he would never go to the boxing club again. But she understood him well enough to let him keep his boxing arena in the house. When he felt frustrated, he often went to the basement and boxed the sandbag – it helped him calm down and clear his head.

Pulling on his boxing gloves he muttered through gritted teeth to himself "I am going to beat that boy into pulp."

Arti handed him a photograph "Is this him? Why don't I paste the photo on the sandbag and you can beat it all you want".

Yash stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. She had a small smile playing on her lips as she held out the photo to him.

Sighing he sat down and pulled Arti onto his lap. Resting his head on hers, he said "Am I really over-reacting?"

"Yes", she said.

"You know…. I am scared" he tried to explain himself, the stark fear of a father seeing his daughter growing up.

"I know. I get scared too. But all of them will grow up Yash, we can't stop it. And one day, all three of your girls will fall in love. But I don't think that day has come yet" Arti reassured him.

"Hmm…" Yash murmured bending his head, breathing in her scent. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure", she whispered.

"Where did you get the photo?" he asked.

"This is what I found in Palak's cupboard today, this is what I wanted to talk to her about" she told him.

"Mmm…" Yash agreed nibbling her neck.

"Yash!" exclaimed Arti "what do you think you are doing?"

"Ansh".

Ansh skittered to a stop hearing his mother's voice. He had hoped he could sneak in without her knowing, but that was always a fool's hope.

"Yes Mamma?" he asked, with an innocent look on his face.

"Where is Palak?"

"Uh…she is with some of her friends", he muttered.

"Where?"

"Uh…you know the new caf, Barista – some of our friends decided to go there for coffee" Ansh was spewing the tale as fast as he could make it up.

"Really? Palak does not even like coffee". Ansh cringed at that. "Who is she with?"

"Some friends…uh…Tina", Ansh picked a name at random from their group of friends.

"Really? Tina called a few minutes ago asking to remind you and Palak about her birthday party this weekend", said Arti.

She had not moved an inch. She was standing there with her hands crossed and Ansh knew he and Palak were in deep trouble.

Arti knew getting any information from Ansh would be like pulling teeth without anesthesia. Ansh and Palak were as close as two peas in a pod. While they were fiercely competitive when it came to studies, they were also one closed unit for everything else. They relied more on each other than even on their parents and were each others' closest confidants. Getting Ansh to spill the beans would be a tough task.

"Who is she with Ansh?" Arti asked again. "And why did she go without calling home first?"

Ansh kept silent. No way was he going to squeal on Palak.

"Give me your phone" Arti held out her hand.

Ansh looked up at that. Oh ho, his mother was up to her tricks – how ever could she read his mind?? Ansh handed his phone over.

"Go to your room and do your homework. And no calling, emailing or tweeting Palak" she warned knowing full well he was itching to get in touch with his sister to warn her. Ansh rolled his eyes – she had left out a couple of other ways he could get in touch with her, but he got the gist. Palak would be in even more trouble if he contacted her. Instead he would leave their usual warning sign at the window – if she saw it, she would get the message.