The Malhotra Bride (14 page)

bell when you’re ready for breakfast.”

“You must’ve been awake for a long time,” she said in a contrite voice. “You should’ve woken me.”

“You looked too cute sleeping that I didn’t have the heart. Anyway, you needed the rest after the

trauma you underwent last night.” It was his turn to feel regretful. She looked at him with a question in

her eyes. Guessing her intention, he forestalled her saying, “Later, Sunita. Not now.”

She frowned at him but kept quiet. Tanuja and Raj walked in as if on cue.

“Good Morning, Akshay, Sunita,” called out Raj cheerfully. “How are you, Son?” he hugged him

affectionately.

“Super, Dad,” smiled Akshay while holding his hand out to his mother.

“You gave us a fright, Akshay,” said Tanuja, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Aw, Mom, I’m absolutely fine. Even God won’t dare to take me away from my mom.” He smiled at

her lovingly.

“Sorry for being late, Princess. I know you need to go home. But escaping the newspaper reporters

took us so long,” said Raj.

“Oh, damn!” swore Akshay for the second time that morning.

“Home for you Sunita. Your parents must be anxious.” Raj’s expression was grim as he recalled his

conversation with Gokul Rishi early that morning. “Let me drop you first. The police will be coming

any minute and I’d like to be with Akshay when they talk to him.”

“But Uncle, hasn’t Kamat come?” asked Sunita.

“Yes, my dear. Thanks to his skilful driving we managed to deflect the nosy reporters on our trail.”

Raj gave Tanuja a worried look. He did not want to say anything demeaning about Sunita’s father.

Sunita caught the look and said in a pseudo-cheerful tone, “You’re worried about Pappa. Please

don’t be. I can handle him. And
Dadaji
will also be there. Let Kamat drop me home. You please stay

here with Akshay.”

Raj was relieved on hearing the word, ‘
Dadaji
’.

“If you’re sure, dear?”

“Of course, Uncle.” She turned around to look at Akshay. His smouldering eyes invited her closer.

She went to him hesitantly, “Bye, Akshay.”

“I s’pose I’ve been a bad teacher. This is not how you say bye to your fiancé,” he murmured in her

ear. She slid a warning glance towards his parents. He raised his head to place a short, sweet kiss at

the corner of her lips, ignoring her frantic gestures. “Bye, Sweetheart. I’ll be seeing you when?”

There was a question in his voice, his frustration obvious that he could not rush to her when he

pleased.

“Sooner than you expect,” came the prompt reply as she stroked a finger down his cheek, hoping

fervently that her body was blocking the action from her parents-in-law’s view. He dragged her finger

to his lips and kissed it. He finally let go of her with a sigh when her eyes begged him to.

“Bye, Uncle, Aunty.” She left the room in a hurry and rushed to the waiting car.

HER FATHER BEGAN SHOUTING THE MOMENT SUNITA STEPPED OUT OF THE CAR. “Stay

where you are. Don’t you dare step inside my house.” Sunita’s face flamed as she felt Kamat’s gaze.

But he was too decent a driver to interfere and drove away as she gestured to him to leave.

She turned to look at her father’s furious face. His eyes were bloodshot with temper and appeared

on the verge of popping out of his face. Her mother was standing at the other end of the hall, wringing

her hands. She also noticed that Sandhya and Raghu
Jeeja
were there. ‘What are they doing here?’ she

wondered, ‘and where is
Dadaji
?’

“Pappa,” she began in a soothing tone.

“Don’t Pappa me girl. I am fed up. Do you hear me?” People within a half-mile radius must have

heard his roar. “I am fed up with you. How dare you stay out during the night? How dare you? An

unmarried girl! How do you expect me to hold my head up in society? You shameless chit! There’s

not one responsible bone in your body. I don’t want to have anything to do with such a daughter. Just

get out and stay out.”

Sunita squared her shoulders and looked her father straight in the eye. She was no more a playful

innocent. She had grown up fast during those few minutes when the onus of saving Akshay’s life had

lain in her hands.

“Try and stop me from entering my home, Pappa,” her chin rose in defiance. “This happens to be my

Dadaji’s
house. You can’t stop me.” She stepped over the threshold.

Gokul rushed forward with a raised hand and only the combined strength of Raghu and Leela

stopped him from slapping his younger daughter. She turned around to see Grandpa Ratan coming

down the staircase. Nothing had prepared the old man for this kind of atrocious behaviour from his

son.

He gathered his pet granddaughter in his arms before asking, “How is Akshay, my child?”

“He’s much better,
Dadaji
.”

“Don’t take that cursed name in this house,” screamed Gokul.

“But he’s my fiancé, Pappa.” There was no tremor in Sunita’s voice.

“Not any more. I’ll not let my daughter marry any man dumb enough to get shot at.”

Sunita distinctly remembered her father-in-law not divulging this fact to her father. She wondered

how he had got hold of that piece of information.

“What shame to have his name splashed on television! What a scandal! Bah! I’ll never be

associated with the Malhotra family, ever.”

“But, Pappa—”

Gokul rattled on as though he hadn’t been interrupted, “So what if he’d been threatened by a

gangster? He should have paid the money quietly. What do twenty-five or thirty lakh of rupees matter

to a billionaire? He refused and see what’s happened to him. Idiot!”

Sunita blanched as she understood the reason for the shootout last night. But her eyes turned fiery

when she heard her father call Akshay an ‘idiot’. Gokul didn’t notice the fire building in his

daughter’s eyes.

“Akshay is not an idiot,” every syllable was bit out clearly. Sunita was not his daughter for nothing.

She had a temper to match if not better his. She was relieved that one mystery was solved.

“
Aur nahi toh kya
? Of course he’s a fool. Why risk his life? Idiot,” reiterated Gokul. He was glad

that he had finally got under his daughter’s skin.

“And keep paying hard-earned money to scoundrels every time they cracked a whip for the rest of

his life?” she hit out at her father, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “Akshay’s not the fool.” Her tone

clearly indicated who she thought the fool was.

“That’s all water under the bridge now.” Gokul’s voice cooled down considerably. “We’ve nothing

to do with the Malhotras anymore. I have decided on a first class alliance for you. The boy—”

“What?” shrieked Sunita. She couldn’t believe she heard right. “What nonsense are you talking,

Pappa? I’m betrothed to Akshay.”

“You’re only engaged and thank God for that. We can cancel it. I’ll not live in fear of my daughter

being widowed due to someone’s stupidity.”

Sunita’s face turned white on hearing this. Had he gone crazy?

She decided to reason with him once again, “Pappa, please think it over. What in case I was already

married to Akshay?”

“Exactly,” Gokul replied triumphantly. “Exactly what I’ve been telling you, my girl. I’ve spoken to

Raj Malhotra informing him of my intentions. I—”

Gokul was shocked when she stamped her foot in fury. He had no idea his daughter possessed such

a fiery temper. For that matter, she hadn’t known either.

“I never asked to be married. I never wanted to meet Akshay Malhotra. I didn’t ask to get engaged

to him. You,” she pointed a trembling finger at her father, “You introduced him into my life, you

pressurised me into an engagement and now,” her slight body shook in a fine fury, “you expect me to

break off the relationship just like that?” She snapped her fingers.

“But you only got engaged because I told you to. Now I am telling you to break it off. So, what’s

your problem?” Gokul’s temper rose again as he followed his own line of illogic, refusing to

understand his daughter’s view.

“What do you take me for, Pappa—a robot without feelings? I’ve my dreams too and they are built

around Akshay. I refuse to break off my engagement,” her voice rang out clearly in the hall.

“What nonsense are you talking, Gokul?”
Dadaji
spoke for the first time since the argument between

father and daughter began. He had been watching the interchange, dumbfounded at the overnight

change in his granddaughter.

Gokul chose to ignore him and continued to speak to his daughter. “I’m telling you that I’ve already

broken it. I’ve told Raj Malhotra off in such a way that they will come nowhere near us.”

“Not you, maybe. But they won’t ignore me.” Sunita spoke defiantly, her poise wavering. She had

not known the Malhotras for long. But surely they will not ditch her. Her father had succeeded in

breaking her self-confidence.

She ran up to her room, tears pouring down her cheeks. She didn’t even look at
Dadaji
. She shut the

door behind her and went to the bathroom to have a hot shower which helped clear her head. She

came to a decision as she stepped out. She hastily dried herself and pulled on a pair of jeans and top.

She threw a couple of sets of clothes into a bag in a haphazard fashion as she waited for her hair to

dry. She ran a comb through the length and pulled on a pair of sandals in a hurry.

She had decided to leave the Rishi residence, permanently. That’s what she would have done after

marriage. Why not now?
Dadaji
will surely understand.

She lifted her bag and went to the door to open it. Nothing happened. Sunita rubbed her right hand

down the side of her jeans to rid it of moisture. Surely, that’s why the lock hadn’t opened. She tried

again but the lock wouldn’t budge. She’d been jailed in her own home. Panic welled in Sunita’s throat

as she hastily curbed the urge to scream. She had misplaced her cell-phone in the ruckus last night and

had no way to connect with the outside world.

She thought of Leela, Sandhya and Raghu. None of them had the guts to defy her father. Her
Dadaji
?

Poor
Dadaji
! Maybe he was locked in too.

Her thoughts turned to Akshay. There was no way she was giving up the man she loved, unless he

wanted her out of his life. But Sunita was not worried on that score. Surely he would miss her and

wonder what happened to her.

Sixteen

Akshay’s nerves were frayed. He had been up only a few hours and already felt tired. The doctor

refused to discharge him, not for the next twenty-four hours anyway.

Two policemen had grilled him thoroughly about last night’s incidents. He hadn’t minded as he

wanted the criminal caught and behind bars ASAP.

He also explained to the police yet again of the threats he had received over the past week, although

he had already filed a FIR. To top it all, each newspaper had printed its own version of the incident,

none based on facts. ‘Damn and a double damn.’

He felt drained. “Please give me your mobile, Dad. I need to call Sunita.” He frowned. “I’m not

sure what happened to mine.”

Raj handed over his cell to Akshay. “Both your phones were lying in the Audi, Akshay. The police

have retained them along with the car.”

Akshay dialled
Dadaji’
s number rapidly. The phone rang once, twice. Akshay stopped counting.

Dadaji
was obviously not in his room. He very reluctantly rang the residence’s common phone.

It was picked up on the second ring and it was Sandhya who answered. “Hello, Sandhya, it’s

Akshay.”

“Hello, Akshay. Sunita—”

Gokul snatched the phone out of Sandhya’s hand. “Who’s that?” he barked. “We don’t know any

Akshay and there’s no Sunita living in this house.” He banged the receiver down.

Akshay turned pale as he switched off the mobile to look at his parents’ face.

Raj’s face portrayed his anxiety. He hadn’t even told Tanuja what had transpired during the early

morning call from Gokul Rishi.

“Akshay,” he placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You must get your strength back before taking on

the world.” Right then, Raj couldn’t see any difference between the gangster and Gokul Rishi.

“But Dad, Sunita must be worried out of her wits. Poor sweetheart! How do we contact her?” His

voice shook. He just didn’t have the stamina to deal with yet another problem.

“Relax, son. Let me handle this.” Raj patted Akshay’s shoulder, his face grim. He went out of the

nursing home, deep in thought.

“
Saabji
.” It was Kamat, speaking in Hindi. “All’s not well at Sunita madam’s house. Her father was

very angry. He asked her to get out of the house.” He kept his gaze respectfully down.

“Why didn’t you bring her back with you, Kamat?” asked Raj in the same tongue, realising the

situation was probably worse than what he anticipated.

“
Saabji
, Madam was upset. But she wanted me to leave. I waited outside their gates for some time.

Everything seemed to be quiet and so I came back.” Kamat was a loyal employee who had been with

Raj since 20 years.

Raj patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, Kamat. You did right. Let’s go to the office.”