Chapter 37:
Rachna unlocked the door to the apartment and stepped into what was supposed to be the living room, though it was unrecognizable in its current state. With newspapers strewn across nearly every inch of the floor and furniture, the room bore no resemblance to its usual tidy state. Navigating carefully through the crumpled papers, Rachna found both the living and dining rooms to be empty, aside from the clutter. Quickly glancing into the kitchen, which also appeared to be lifeless, Rachna walked into the master bedroom, where she was again shocked to find a similar scene to what she had just visualized in the living room. Turned on to their full brightness, the overhead recessed bulbs flooded the room with a harsh white light. Looking around the room, Rachna finally spotted the person she was looking for.
Surrounded by a pile of newspapers, a laptop placed in front of him, and a pen held loosely in his hand, Kabir lay on the bed with his eyes closed. Rachna dimmed the lights a bit before she walked towards the bed. Seeing the consistent rise and fall of Kabir's chest and hearing his evenly spaced breaths, she concluded that he was asleep. Dropping her purse and the bags that she was carrying onto the floor at the foot of the bed, Rachna gathered the newspaper scraps that littered the bed and placed them neatly onto the desk. Taking care not to disturb Kabir, she removed his fingers from the keyboard, quietly picked up the laptop, and placed it on the desk as well. While trying to dislodge the pen from his grip, Rachna's hands touched his fingers and Kabir let out a soft sob as he stirred in his slumber.
Dropping the pen on to the side table that adjoined the bed, she stood overlooking her sleeping husband, noticing the slight trembling of his body. Placing a soft hand on his forehead, Rachna was startled to find his body burning with a fever. Quickly covering him with the duvet that lay at the bottom of the bed, she ran into the kitchen to fetch a bowl of cool water and the first aid kit. Digging through the box, Rachna found the thermometer as well as a soft cotton cloth. Placing the thermometer into Kabir's mouth, she wrung out the excess water from the cotton strip and placed it on his forehead. A few moments later, the thermometer beeped to indicate a temperature of 103.4F. Thinking back to her father's incessant lectures about first aid, Rachna popped out a pill of ibuprofen from the bottle and placed Kabir's head onto her lap.
"Kabir, open your eyes baby. Here, take this medication."
She placed the pill into his mouth and carefully fed him a few sips of water after she saw his eyelids flutter in response to her voice. Changing the cotton strip every few minutes and stroking his hair lovingly, Rachna tended to Kabir while her mind was muddled with worry.
Hearing the click of the front door opening, Rachna stepped out of the bedroom to see Karan walking into the apartment with a frown on his face.
"Rachna bhabhi?"
"Karan? What's going on? I haven't even been gone for two days and the house is a mess and Kabir's come down with a 103 fever."
"What? Bhai has a fever? Is he okay? I mean, should I call the doctor?"
Rachna cleared a small spot on the couch and gestured for Karan to sit next to her. As he took his seat, she placed a comforting hand onto his shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod.
"He should be fine soon. I've given him some medicine and his fever seems to be going down. But can you please tell me what is going on? Kabir hasn't been taking my calls all day and he even missed the appointment with our wedding planner this afternoon, which is completely unlike him. I figured I would come by to see if everything was okay here. Needless to say that it was nothing less than a shock to walk into all this and find Kabir shivering with a fever."
Karan sighed as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
"Nothing's fine bhabhi. Where do I even begin with all this?"
"Karan, now you're scaring me? What i..."
Rachna turned her face towards the bedroom when she heard the noise of something clattering to the floor. She ran into the room and found Kabir struggling to sit up as he tried to reach towards the glass of water that was on the side table. Rachna rushed to his side and supported him to sit up in the bed as she helped him take a few sips of water. Kabir closed his eyes while she helped him lay down and sat on the bed beside him. Stroking his hair, Rachna placed a soft kiss on his forehead.
"Rachna, you...how come you're here?"
She listened carefully to make out his barely audible whisper.
"Well I brought over some truffles for you from this new bakery I discovered yesterday. They're definitely no match to the ones that you so fondly remembered the other day, but they're certainly nothing to avoid either."
She saw the trace of a faint smile on his face and heard the faint laughter emanate from his throat. His eyes opened momentarily and gazed at her face before they fluttered shut and he turned onto his side to place his head onto her lap. Looking up from her husband, Rachna saw Karan standing at the door of their bedroom with tears in his eyes. He turned and walked away before she could call out to him, leaving her even more confused about what both the brothers were so worried over.
Kabir slept with his head resting on Rachna's lap, essentially pinning her down underneath him, for there was no way for her to move without awakening him. When the clock on the side table showed 8:34, she realized that she had not informed anyone at home about where she was. Finding that her own phone was out of her reach, Rachna picked up Kabir's phone from the side table and dialed Sneha mausi's number.
"Hello, Kabir beta?"
"Sneha mausi, it's me."
"Rachna? Where are you beta? I thought you would be home a few hours ago after your appointment with Pallavi?"
Rachna explained everything that had happened from Kabir missing the appointment with Pallavi to coming home and finding him shivering with a fever.
"...so I'm here with him right now. Sneha mausi, I can't leave Kabir like this; he still has a pretty high fever right now."
"Haan Rachna, you stay with him beta. Make sure you put wet cotton strips on his forehead; it'll help the fever come down faster. Oh and give him some of that herbal tea that Shail didi used to make for you kids whenever you had a fever. Do you remember the recipe?"
"Can you text it to Kabir's phone? He's sleeping right now but I'll make it for him once he's awake."
"Okay beta, I'll do that. Take care of him Rachna and call me if you need anything. I'll handle everything at home."
"Okay mausi ji. Bye."
Rachna hung up the phone and waited for Sneha to message the recipe for the herbal tea. When the phone beeped, Rachna opened the message. Reading through the text, Rachna became confused at its contents. Glancing at the number, Rachna saw that the message had come from UNKNOWN. She scrolled through the message history and saw multiple texts from this source, all having been sent from her birthday onwards. What was more perplexing is that every text contained a message that was identical to the one that she had just read.
RED 2103
Rachna wondered what these messages meant and why Kabir hadn't mentioned them to her. Before she could ponder further over the meaning of the cryptic text messages, Karan appeared at the doorway of the bedroom again and this time pulled up a chair to sit at the side of the bed.
"Karan, can you tell me what the matter is?"
"Papa."
Rachna waited for him to continue, but spoke up when Karan said nothing more.
"Your father? What about him?"
"He's alive bhabhi."
"What? But Kabir told me that he..."
"Died? Well, that's what we thought too up until yesterday. Here, read this letter."
Karan handed a piece of paper to Rachna, who skimmed through it quickly and looked up at Karan with a confused expression. He began to explain all of the events that had occurred over the past 24 hours, from finding the letter to meeting Pathak.
"But I don't understand Karan. How could this be possible?"
"That's what we've been trying to figure out bhabhi. We've been looking through old newspapers from the year that papa died to find any mention of his death. He passed away from a car accident when he was returning from a business trip in Pune, at least that is what I remember being told. But, the oddest thing is that there is no mention of any such accident or of Papa's death in any newspaper or even anywhere on the Internet."
Rachna looked down at Kabir as she felt him stir and move. Feeling his forehead, she noted that he was still running a light fever. She looked back up at her devar when Kabir merely adjusted his position and continued to sleep.
"Bhai is taking all this pretty hard bhabhi. He didn't eat anything last night and refused breakfast this morning as well. He stayed up all night poring through newspapers and searching through countless databases. I don't think he's slept a wink until now."
"I'll handle him Karan, but are you sure you're okay?"
"I...I guess...I don't know bhabhi. The biggest truth that I've been living with is a lie, a complete lie. I don't know how to feel."
Rachna held Karan's hand and gave it a supporting squeeze.
"I know it's easier said than done, but don't worry Karan. I'm sure that everything's going to be okay soon. We can try talking to Pathak ji again and see if he'll tell us anything more."
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❤️ Nivi
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
