TS: Dear Robin Da

Dear Readers,

 I have had the good fortune to have been surrounded by books growing up, thanks to my appa, who believed that reading was the best pastime.  One such treasure that I loved reading over and over again is Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs.  A lovely story.  I also watched the movie based on this book and it remains one of my all-time favorites, with every dialog and song and dance move etched in my memory forever.

 I have always wished to write a story inspired by it and this is what I present with all humility, my  version inspired by the one and only Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.

I hope you enjoy this two/three shot; I am not yet sure if it will end at two or three parts😉 

For those of you who have not read my previous one-shot - Aman, I highly recommend that you do so before you read this to put my Amans in context.

Dear Readers,

 I have had the good fortune to have been surrounded by books growing up, thanks to my appa, who believed that reading was the best pastime.  One such treasure that I loved reading over and over again is Jean Webster's Daddy Long Legs.  A lovely story.  I also watched the movie based on this book and it remains one of my all-time favorites, with every dialog and song and dance move etched in my memory forever.

 I have always wished to write a story inspired by it and this is what I present with all humility, my  version inspired by the one and only Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.

 I hope you enjoy this two/three shot; I am not yet sure if it will end at two or three parts😉 

For those of you who have not read my previous one-shot - Aman,I highly recommend that you do so before you read this to put my Amans in context.

 Do read, hit like and comment. 😃

 Dear Robin Da

Disclaimer : The pictures  do not belong to me and have been procured from public internet sources merely for illustrative purposes.  I claim no rights to these.  The  inspiration for this story is Daddy Long Legs, but the words and situations  in this are  original and my own creation.

Note:  Dont. Even. Think about it.  My stories are copyright protected. 

Dear Robin Da - Part 1

"Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,
You never answered my question and it was very important.
ARE YOU BALD?" 
 Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs

            "The leaves would be changing at this time of the year in Cambridge."  Mused Arnav, a nostalgic smile playing on his lips as his SUV turned around the bend and entered the posh neighborhood of south Delhi.  The brilliance of fall foliage was prominent among the many things he had missed for years after he had left Harvard and returned back home; and on this October afternoon, the thought had crept unbidden into his mind.  

May be it was the cooling weather, or the slightly earlier sunsets that October brought with it, or maybe it was the wayward thought about future Raizada generations going to Harvard that had triggered this memory.  He could picture the historic Cambridge lanes lined with trees ablaze in gold, orange and coppery red foliage with crystal clear clarity.  "Khushi would have loved to walk in those lanes" he muttered to the steering wheel.

            "Did you just say something bhai?" enquired Akash looking up from his phone and giving his brother a quizzical look.  "Bhai was distinctly picking up Khushi bhabhi's traits" he thought smiling to himself when his brother gave him a sober shake of the head and trained his gaze back on the road, squaring his chin resolutely.  

It was a rare Friday afternoon indeed when the brothers could head home before sun-down.  Akash eagerly looked forward to a quiet evening out with Payal.  He had it all planned out the minute Aman had informed them that the afternoon conference call with their London office was rescheduled.  Maa and papa were eager to show off their darling grand-daughter at Satsang that evening and Payal would have been superfluous with them around anyway.  So he had made plans for a-dinner-and-a-movie date with his wife.  

"By the looks of it, bhai would not be averse to having Khushi bhabhi and an empty house all to himself" he chuckled silently while texting Payal that they were almost home.

                "Here you go Arnavji, your coffee, black, just the way you like it", said Khushi handing her husband his customary bold, black coffee and settled down next to him with her cup of extra sweet ginger tea, tucking her feet under her.  

Arnav paused in the act of lifting the cup to his lips as his gaze fell on his wife's face suffused with pleasure, the moment the hot sweet tea had made contact with her lips and her eyes shuttered down in an expression of pure bliss. The evening breeze by the poolside was lifting and playing with her hair with its invisible fingers, tempting his to reach out and touch her. His eyes dropped to her throat when she threw her head slightly back to gulp the tea.  He could visualize the warm liquid making its way down, and when she puckered her lips for the second sip, he all but groaned.  

"What the! She was driving him up the wall and she knew it.  Had she not told him as much a few days back?  Arnavji, I am determined to pursue ever means at my disposal to reach my goal, stay away from me if you can, she had challenged.  On second thoughts, maybe he should have insisted that the two of them accompany the rest to the Satsang. Dammit!"  He thought ruefully.

 "Khushi" he said in his husky voice with just a bit of a warning bite to the tone, and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, continuing to sip her tea nonchalantly.  "What d'ya think you're doing?"

"What am I doing? Arnavji" she replied lifting wide innocent eyes to his even as her tongue darted lazily to lick the drop of tea on her lower lip.  "I am merely enjoying a hot cup of tea in the company of my husband on this delightful evening."  

"Really?  Is that all you're doing? Just drinking tea?" He questioned, raising his left eyebrow while a faint smirk played on his lips.  

"Yep.  What did you think?" she retorted setting down her cup, bending a tad lower than necessary in the process, biting back a smile when she heard her Arnavji's sharp intake of breath.  

"Khushi" he growled, when a loud Ding- dong, dinga linga ling, Ding" cut through the house, interrupting his words. 

"Who can it be at this hour?" muttered an irritated Arnav, even as he seized the opportunity to escape the scene.  Striding towards the door he flung it open with greater force than necessary only to find his three Amans standing at the doorstep.  

"What the!  What are you doing here?" he demanded.  

"We are sorry sir, bbbuut this is important" stammered Aman Suri.  

"Yes sssir.  If it were not a very delicate subject, we would have never disturbed you at your residence" mumbled Aman Singh.  

"Ppplease sir, we might have made a mistake, and wwwe want to come clean with you, k-k-kKhushi madam, May we ppplease come in?" stuttered Aman Chatterjee shifting his pleading gaze from his bemused boss's face to Khushi's. 

Khushi graciously led them to the living room.  After several minutes of absolute silence Arnav looked at all three of them and spreading his hands out demanded "So, will one of you tell me what brings you here?"  

The three men looked at each other and as if by a premeditated consensus, Aman Singh cleared his throat and began, "Sir, actually it all began the year you returned back home from Harvard and had established AR Designs.  You had towards the end of that year, visited Kolkotta and had enrolled a girl of about fourteen years in an orphanage.  You had also set aside a sizable amount of money in her name to pay for her wellbeing and education.  Do you recall?" 

Arnav nodded.  Aman Singh paused and continued, "Then you would also recall that you had in those days considered all forms of attachment as vulnerability and had expressly ordered that no connections be maintained with the girl or the orphanage either by phone or mails."  

"What's the bloody point Aman?" Arnav snapped.  

"Sir, I am sorry sir, but we had disobeyed you.  The girl is so sweet, she wrote such beautiful and affectionate letters sir, that we could not stay mum for long, and started replying to her."  Continued Aman Chatterjee, rushing to his colleague's aid.  

"Whaaat?" exclaimed Arnav indignantly, unable to believe what he had just heard.  "Are you telling me that you revealed who I was to her and she has known all along who her benefactor is?"

"No sir" chimed in A,an Suri.  "She has no idea who her savior is or that her God father has been ASR.  She refers to you as Robin da, in all her emails.  At first she used to hand her letters to the manager of the orphanage Shudiptoji who then used to mail them to the P.O box that you provided in the paperwork at the orphanage.  Then a couple of years later, her parents' friend and executor of their will & trust had located her and was about to take her back with him to America, which is when she had written with her email details and requested an email address so she could continue to write.  We had grown quite fond of this charming girl and therefore had created an email address on your behalf and she has been writing to that address since then."

"You guys are unbelievable!  I can't believe this," exclaimed Arnav, rising up to pace the floor.  

The three Amans stood up nervously and shifted their pleading eyes to Khushi, who looked partly bewildered with the fantastic story that she just heard and partly worried at her husband's agitation.  She reached out to hold his hand and stop him mid-stride as he almost paced past her for the third time.  Looking up, she said, "Arnavji, please calm down and hear them out.  Amanji has not yet revealed what had prompted them to show up here and brave your anger, in order to reveal all this, after all these years."  

Arnav sighed and intertwining his fingers with his beloved wife's, he let her draw him to her side. Resigning mentally to hear the whole story, he settled down next to her.  "She is right.  I better listen to what they have to say."  

The Amans settled back in the couch across with a grateful glance at Khushi, and continued their narration.  "She is a very bright girl and has completed her bachelors three years ahead.  She plans to take a break before she pursues her masters and wishes to spend her time in India.  Aaand, sssir, she says in her most recent email that she's going to try and trace who her Robin da is and express her heartfelt thanks in person.  We can no longer keep this a secret from you sir, and if you wish to fire us for this, we understand.  But you have to believe us when we say that we meant no harm and were moved by the girl's need for affection and yearning to connect with her savior when we wrote to her as you." Finished Aman Singh, in a rush of words.  

Utter silence followed the tale and the three Amans shifted uncomfortably in their seats, as their formidable boss's gaze washed over them.  ASR's temper was well known, and hence they had decided to reveal the truth to him at his residence, betting heavily on Khushi madam's presence to calm him down, instead of revealing it to him over the phone. 

Khushi applied gentle pressure on her Arnavji's hand and looking at the three Amans asked in a neutral voice, "Alright then,  Amanji, Amanji and Amanji, please leave the email address with us and refrain from interfering in this matter henceforth.  Did you happen to discover where she lives in America, or how she looks, and what her real name is? Do you know which University she has graduated from?" 

The three men shook their head to confirm that they had no further details on her and replied, "ASR sir had written down her name as Piya when he enrolled her in the orphanage and that's how we have been addressing her.  Now that Shudiptoji is no more, her chances of tracing Arnav sir are virtually non-existent" replied the men in a low voice, laced with a faint sorrow at the thought.

"Ok then.  Thank you gentlemen.  We need to absorb all this." said Khushi rising from her perch.  

The men nodded and with a final apologetic look at Arnav, they were about to leave, when Aman Singh the oldest amongst them and the one to have worked the longest for ASR, spun around and in a soft voice requested, "Arnav sir, Please do read her letters and emails.  There is a full five-year worth of correspondence there.  Once you do,  I am sure you will understand why we did, what we did."

Arnav held the gaze of the man who had never failed to meet his demands ever and nodded.  Aman Singh's lips lifted in a smile of relief that echoed on the faces of his colleagues and with a parting greeting to Khushi they filed out of Shantivan.

To be Continued ... Dear Robin Da - Part 2 (English) - Page 8

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Originally posted by: win7

Interesting start. Though it was a bit hard for me to understand because of the hindi but I like it. 😃

Why was khushi trying to seduce him and why is he resisting?