Where the Secret Lies (17 page)

‘Do you know anything about a
murder?’ Arianna dared to ask.

Auntie looked at her sharp. ‘I
have read of it...you are worrying me Arianna. Please forget all this nonsense
and stay away from the door. It is bad luck.’

 
‘I don’t understand, why do you to live here
if you think the door carries bad luck? Many would have sold the haveli and
moved away.’

‘You don’t think we tried? Once
people heard about the “murder” no one wanted to buy this haveli. Well, we
learnt to live with it but mostly we stay away. Do not be tempted to open it as
Rani, look how bad luck followed her.’

Arianna knew this was all
superstition on her auntie’s part. There is no such thing as spirits and bad
luck.

‘Auntie, thank you,’ Arianna
wanted to leave fast; talking about spirits and bad luck was not something she
wanted to hear. The talk of Rani and her “bad luck” also made her
uncomfortable.

Before she could get away, her
auntie grabbed her hand and began to cry, forcing Arianna to stay sitting.

‘She is not a bad girl. I miss
her very much...the argument should not have happened and now she has gone. It
is my entire fault.’

Arianna tried to be sympathetic.
‘Rani is a good person, auntie. I think all she wanted was your love.’

Her auntie showed a mix of
surprise and shock on her face.

‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have
said that. It’s none of my business,’ Arianna said quickly.

‘Is that what she thinks of me
beta? I don’t love her?

‘Auntie, this is awkward...Rani
told me about you not being her real mother...’

‘She told you? Oh...’

‘Auntie –’

‘Arianna beta, I love Rani as my
child. I never...how could she? What else did she say?’

‘Nothing else,’ Arianna lied.

‘I must speak to her,’ Auntie picked
up her phone.

 
‘The plane has left and they won’t reach
London until early tomorrow,’ Arianna said.

‘You are right. Oh...’ Auntie pressed
her forehead.

‘Will you be alright?’ Arianna
cursed herself for opening her mouth.

‘I will be fine beta,’ she said.
‘I won’t keep you now. Thank you...for everything.’

Arianna left her auntie in a
worse situation than she was in before. She felt guilty, but she couldn’t make
it any better.

She sighed, taking the route to
the lone corridor subconsciously, thinking all the while of Rani and her mothers’
differences. She completely forgot the reason why she went to her auntie in the
first instance until she saw the door.

She stared, unable to believe what she saw. The door lay
wide open! Arianna checked all around to see if anyone was around but there was
no one. She turned to the door – it was still very real and very open. Was this
an illusion? All this talk of the door that would not open, the spirit hiding a
secret, the mystery of the murder; she must be overtired. Arianna closed her
eyes for a second then reopened them.

The door was still open,
inviting her in. Excitement rushed through Arianna’s veins as she took a step forward,
then another and another. Soon she was inside the dark room. The lights came on
suddenly and Arianna jumped.

‘Hello is someone here?’ Anjali thought
of the spirit and cold dread crept into her heart. Arianna, don’t be daft.

She walked around; the room was
large and housed shelves upon shelves of dusty boxes. She took one off the
bottom shelf and blew the dust off. The dust cloud

circled her making her cough. Wiping the remaining dust off
the top of the box with her scarf, she saw a label in Hindi.

Arianna could not read Hindi,
should she ask her auntie? No, that would be a bad idea. She had a feeling
nothing was allowed to be taken out of this room. Arianna noticed a name
written in English – Anjali. The box was dated 1953.

She opened the box eagerly and
found dresses, sarees, a few old books, and a photograph album. The sarees and dresses
were exquisite and elegant. Arianna imagined Anjali parading around in Lucknow
in these beautiful clothes, attending parties and having dinner at elite
restaurants reserved for the wealthy. She closed her eyes, faintly smelling perfume.

Putting the garments aside, she
opened the album and flicked through sepia and black and white photographs.
They were mesmerising and she felt each picture told its own story. A family
portrait of a group of children caught her eye. Some smiled and some scowled.
Arianna chuckled. A woman stood next to some of the children. She wore a long
skirt, a blouse and a veil covered half her face. Another woman stood on the
other side, she had her hands on the shoulders of two girls and seemed
protective.

Arianna took up a small stool,
which conveniently sat in a corner and took the album with her. She began to
study the picture and was soon lost in the garments, the jewellery, the expressions,
and the simplicity of the children and the woman in the long skirt.

 
In the case of the other woman, simplicity was
not the case. She wore an ornate sari with many bangles on her wrists. Her
earrings sparkled, as did her necklace. This woman’s face was uncaring and aloof
whereas the other woman had kind and caring eyes.

What a contrast, thought
Arianna. She touched the photograph with her fingers and imagined herself in
such a place and time.

Arianna thought she heard
someone call her name from a far distance. She stopped and listened hard but
heard nothing more; she may have imagined it. Arianna flipped to another
photograph.

‘Arianna...’ the voice echoed.

Arianna stopped again.

‘You have come at last...’

 
‘Is someone there?’ Arianna closed the album
and stood up.

‘You have come at last...’ the
voice echoed around the room.

Arianna stepped outside and
stopped.

‘Oh Lord...’

A woman in a red sari stood before
her...she looked familiar. Arianna blinked.

The woman began to fade.

‘Wait!’ Arianna rushed towards
her but she only met a lingering white outline of where the woman had stood, a
lingering scent lingered...just like what she smelt before...

Arianna turned towards the room
and found it was shut.

Arianna walked back to her room,
lost in thought. As she entered her room absent-minded, she did not ‘see’
Nikhil until he dropped something on the floor. Arianna saw a suitcase.

‘Nikhil, are you going somewhere?’
she asked, still confused by the previous events.

Nikhil hastily packed, flinging
clothes into the suitcase.

‘Nikhil, answer me please,’
Arianna felt the beginning of panic settle in her stomach.

‘I was going to leave you a
note. I am glad you are here, I tried to find you to explain...believe me, I do
not want to hurt you.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Ari, I have to leave.’

Arianna didn’t understand.
‘Leave? You mean go back to Mumbai? Do you have another job? Of course you do,
what am I asking?’

She walked to him and embraced
him.

 
‘I have had quite a day,’ she said.

‘Ari, stop this. For a minute,
just listen will you?’ Nikhil looked harassed.

‘Okay...I’m sorry,’ Arianna
stepped back.

Nikhil groaned. He took her hand
and led her to the bed where he sat down and pulled Arianna onto his lap.

‘I love you, you know that right?’

‘I love you too,’ said Arianna.

‘Ari, I...we cannot be together
anymore. I, oh this is difficult. What I want to say is that I have to go back
to Mumbai, not because of a job but...something else.’

‘Because of what Nikhil?’
Arianna was feeling a little more than sick now.

‘I lied to you before. I mislead
you...Khushboo does not know about this, in fact nobody apart from my parents
and her parents know.’

‘Whose parents know what?
Nikhil, you are making no sense.’

‘I am engaged Ari.’

Ari stood up slowly. ‘You are
engaged?’ She shook from head to toe. ‘This is a joke, right?’

 
‘I wish I was joking,’ Nikhil said sadly.

‘Did you get engaged before or
after we met?’

‘It was before we met. I do not
love her Ari. My parents arranged this engagement and I cannot defy them. I
love you a lot, you must believe that.’

Arianna slapped Nikhil across
the face. ‘How dare you!’

‘I deserved that...I’m sorry Ari
but I have to go.’

‘Are you going to marry her?’

‘I have to.’

‘I’m sorry I ever met you, that
I loved you!’ Arianna screamed.

Nikhil closed his suitcase.
 
‘If you could ever forgive me...’

Tears coursed down Arianna’s
face as she watched Nikhil walk out of her life.

TWENTY-TWO

‘Ari, cheer up. Why are you wasting your tears on Nikhil?
You wait; I will be having more than a few words with him when I see him next!’
Khushboo fumed.

Arianna wiped her eyes but
stayed silent. Five days had passed since Nikhil left, leaving her depressed. She
loved and missed him so much...sure she was angry too. He was a coward and
deceitful and she would never forgive him but unlike other emotions, love just did
not disappear.

When Khushboo and Tianna found
out, they were angry beyond words.

‘How dare he? I always thought
there was something weird about him. If I were you Ari, I would have slapped
him!’ Tianna was furious. ‘How dare he do this!’

‘I did Ti. I slapped him,’
Arianna said in a non-caring tone.

‘You did? Well, good on you!’

‘I have a headache. Can I be
left alone, I want to sleep,’ Arianna said.

‘Ari,’ said Khushboo.

‘I’m fine, really. I want to be
alone for a while,’ Arianna said.

Arianna buried herself under the covers and let her tears
flow. Falling in love was something she did not do, not even with Jai. She had
boyfriends but that was where it ended, there were no emotional ties and no complications.

Meeting Nikhil and spending time
with him awakened feelings inside her and she let herself get carried away. What
was she thinking? Perhaps being in

 
a different country,
the smells, the scenery, and excitement heightened the attraction. His
attention towards her made her realise what love was like. Those softly spoken
words and gentle kisses did things to her she thought was impossible. They
spent good times together...Nikhil once took her to a rocky terrain, she
remembered the day well...

‘Where is everyone?’ asked Arianna.

‘Ari, how do you feel about
going out – only you and I...alone?’

‘No Khushboo, Ti or Jignesh?’

‘Just us...’

Arianna put her arms around him
and kissed him. ‘What are we waiting for? But wait, what should we tell the
others?’

‘Nothing,’ smiled Nikhil.
‘Khushboo and Tianna are out shopping with your family and Jignesh is asleep.’

‘They went shopping? Why didn’t
they ask me to come along?’

‘You were asleep, Ari. Are you
saying you would rather be shopping than spend time with me?’ Nikhil pouted.

Arianna kissed him. ‘Does that
answer your question?’

The rocky terrain overlooked a fast flowing river. It was
romantic and beautiful. Putting down the picnic basket, Nikhil picked up his
camera.

‘Enough of the photographs,
Nikhil. I am not photogenic!’ Arianna protested and tried to take it off him.

‘No way, you are stunning Ari
and I intend to capture every little bit of you. You never know, if we were to

 
be separated then all
I will have would be these pictures.’

Arianna and Nikhil had spent the
day in each other’s arms and made love, away from prying eyes.

Arianna now understood their ‘love’ did not mean anything to
him. How naive she was! She thought she was special. She was a fool and an
idiot!

Arianna had seen her friends
fall under the trap of deep love with no sense or direction. Repeatedly they
were let down. Perhaps that was the reason she shied away from commitment, and
vowed to not go down that path; to stay away from boys who thought girls were
toys of sex.

If Tianna or Khushboo found out
what she did...it was one thing to make love but another if it happened before
marriage. Arianna was a firm believer of no sex before marriage, so to commit
such an act made her feel dirty and she was ashamed of herself. She let herself
down and she hated it!

Someone knocked on the door. ‘Can
I come in?’

‘Go away Khushboo. I don’t want
to talk to anyone. I want to be left alone.’

The door opened. Arianna came
out from under the blanket expecting to see Khushboo or Tianna but it was not
them. It was the maid.

‘What are you doing here?’ she
asked.

‘I’m sorry Memsahib. I have come
to clean the room, am I interrupting? I can leave.’

Arianna tried to conceal her
teary face, what a state she must be in.
 

‘It’s okay. You have work to do.
Carry on.’

‘Can I say something? I hope you
won’t mind,’ the maid began to sweep the floor.

 
‘What do you want to say?’

‘Memsahib – ’

‘Please call me Arianna. You
make me feel I am from the nineteen forties or something,’ Arianna’s laugh
sounded hollow to her ears.

The maid seemed shocked, then she
smiled. She began to sweep again. ‘I am sorry you are upset. Nikhil Saab is not
a good person. You should not grieve for him. Thank Bhagwaan (God) he left.’

 
‘What? How dare you lecture me about my
personal life? This is none of your business.’

‘I understand. Your heart is
broken; you hurt deeply. I too, have been hurt.’