31. Breaking News

People always remember those who were by their side during hard times and those who were not.

***

"It's an emergency."

"Ashar, this isn't related to our conversation last night, correct?" My mother stared at Ashar as if trying to communicate something telepathically.

I wondered what conversation had taken place between these two.

Ashar and I had joined her in the living room of my parents' house. Mom sat with a cup of coffee while we drank tea. Technically, Ashar hadn't touched anything and jumped straight into the point.

"Correct," Ashar said carefully. "Unfortunately, my father is on his death bed. His wife said doctors gave him less than a week. Trust me, I don't want to go. But I promised my mom I would go burn his dead body when the occasion arose."

I blinked at Ashar amazed by the harshness in his demeanor. By the way he spoke, one could assume he was more than willing to burn his dad alive.

"I'm sorry to hear about your dad's condition," I said.

"Don't be," he said coldly.

"I hope he isn't in pain and suffering," my mother agreed. "How long will you be gone?"

"One month, at least," he said. "I have to sell off some properties in mom's name. These properties were passed down from generations. Mom never went back to India to sell them. I have to do that now."

I watched him from the side as he sat on the sofa next to me. The lack of sleep from last night showed under his eyes. He hadn't bothered to brush his hair so it fell over his forehead in a rather attractive and messy manner. His face was smoothly shaved and I could smell the same fresh scent radiating from his body as this morning in Aara's doorway.

He suddenly turned to me. "What?"

"What?" I repeated confused.

"You were staring at me."

"I'm not staring!" I denied immediately as my cheeks heated up at being caught. "I was . . . wondering . . . what I'm doing . . . here. You and your boss always discuss everything on your own and then call me in to sign the documents."

I almost sighed in relief at the lie I made up on the spot. Mom rubbed her forehead. Ashar looked at her for a response. I didn't dare turn my eyes on him again.

What's wrong with me?!

"When are you planning on leaving?" Mom asked him, ignoring me.

"In the next few days," he replied.

One month without Ashar?

Once upon a time, I wanted my calendar Ashar free. Now, one month seemed too long. Thirty days. Twenty four hours every day. That was sixty minutes per hour for those thirty days.

Mom discussed the rest of the details with him before we left the house. Him leaving me with his sisters wasn't a horrible thought. Aara, Rosie, and I could spend time at the spa, buy more clothes, watch movies amd make movies.

But no Ashar in the same room as me.

His decision to go to India was driving me nuts. I told him to drop me at my uncle's house on the way back. I wanted to check on Jhanvi and her food poisoning. Also, she was the only person I could share this breaking news with. The rest of my friends would never understand.

Ashar didn't exchange a single word with me even when I stepped out of his car in front of my uncle's mansion.

He drive off without waiting.

When was his anger going to disappear?

Uncle's security guard let me in. While my uncle wasn't home, my cousin opened the front door wearing a nightgown. It wasn't even mid-afternoon and she looked like she had just gotten out of bed.

Her black hair had lost all of its artificial colors and a strand of grey danced on the side. Wasn't twenty five young for grey hair?

She ushered me in the dark house, quickly turning on the lights.

"Were you sleeping?" I asked.

"No, just tired," she said. "Let's go to my room. Dad's at work. I let the maids leave early today."

"I thought you got food poisoning," I told her as we went upstairs. "Why are you alone?"

"I went to the doctor," she replied weakly. "I'm perfectly fine now."

We entered her enormous room, and I hopped on her round king sized bed. It had flowery pink sheets giving little princess vibes. She went under the covers to get cozy.

"I have some breaking news." I announced and quickly filled her in all the details of today. This included the conversation with Aara and what Ashar had told mom and what I had overheard.

"His dad is in India?" she asked sitting up straight.

"Yes. He's on his deathbed unfortunately."

"That sucks," she said with a sigh. "Wait, you said last night he went to your mom to terminate the contract? But he came back and never mentioned divorcing you."

"Yes."

"That's strange," she said. "What made him change his mind? Why doesn't he want to divorce you anymore?"

"You want him to divorce me?" I questioned.

"You don't?"

She put me in jeopardy with that question.

"We'll divorce when the contract ends," I reminded her.

"You're sure you'll want to divorce him then?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"You called me in the middle of the night," she said pointedly, "to save his sister from getting any charges pressed on her. You were in tears when he sent you home from the hospital saying you were responsible for his sister's condition. Then, you fired that maid he was friends with. What's going on, Annie?"

"Nothing," I said anxiously. "I was put under unusual circumstances."

"Sure," she said, dropping the topic. "So, he's going to India?"

"For a whole month," I said. "Does it take thirty days to settle property matters? He can easily give his power of attorney to someone else and come back in two weeks."

"That's true," she agreed. "My dad said getting paperwork done in India takes forever. It could take Ashar two months."

"Two months?" I repeated in shock.

Her face broke out into a smile. Then, she burst out laughing.

"Look at your face, Annie," she said before becoming hysterical.

"What the hell, Jhanvi?"

She finally stopped her laughter. "I can't believe it. Your mom will have a heart attack hearing you're crazy about your fake husband."

"Are you high?" I asked her. "You're sputtering nonsense. I'm not crazy about Ashar."

"You sure?" she asked, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Very much so."

"You know," she said slyly, "He'll be a young eligible bachelor from America when he goes to India. He's good looking. The girls will be all over him! The aunties will try to get their daughters married to a young, American citizen."

"No," I said slowly. "He's married to me."

"He can marry someone else when the contract is over," she said as it was that easy to marry and divorce. "Those girls will easily wait a year for him."

"But . . . " I had nothing to counteract her argument with. She raised a valid point.

"You don't care, right?" she said playfully. "You're not interested."

"I'm . . . not." Right?

It dawned on me Ashar had to leave now or later. It was worse hearing him falling for some girl in India and then marrying her after our contract. Maybe I was getting too attached.

"All I'm saying is," she continued, "he will find more than one girl to share his grief when he gets there. People always remember those who were by their side during hard times and those who were not. You know that better than me."

That she was absolutely right about. I held it against her for a long time for not being by my side after dad . . . Ashar was too innocent. Any girl could easily take advantage of him . . . or even fall for him seeing those beautiful eyes.

"We have stop him from going," I said worried.

"Who said we have to stop him?" she asked. "He's not the only person in America who's allowed to book a flight to India."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "You want me to go to India with him? He'll never allow for that to happen. Also, what will I tell mom? The last time we visited India was six years ago, and I swore I was never going back because of the heat."

"Leave that up to me." She winked. "I'll find a way."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Why do you look so excited?"

"I knew you had a thing for him!" she said as if she had scored a hundred percent on an exam. This girl hired someone to do her college assignments as far as I knew.

"He's okay," I told her. "I just . . . don't want misunderstandings between us to get . . . worse."

"Sure, Anmol, sure."

Rather than arguing, she moved the conversation to how dreadful her fingernails looked. Jhanvi and I desperately needed a last minute manicure. While an appointment wasn't possible in the short amount of time we had, we decided to use one of those at-home kits my cousin stored in her bathroom for emergencies.

"Let's do it in the bathroom," she suggested. "And I'll go over the plan I have."

We sat on the edge of her jacuzzi with the manicure kit spread out inside the tub. She helped me with my nails first before I took care of her nails. Jhanvi gave me all the details of what she had in mind. While it seemed like a dreadful plan with little scope of working out, I had no choice but to agree to it.

Once we finished, she asked me whether I knew what I had to do next. We heard knocks on the front door, signaling my uncle was here.

I quickly threw the little empty packets in my hands into the bathroom trash can. My eyes caught the sight of a few . . . thermometers sitting in the trash. I didn't have enough time to ask questions as my cousin urged me to hurry.

As expected, my uncle was home wearing his favorite navy blue suit. He had even added a matching hat as if the sun was going to hurt him in the snowy winter weather.

"Annie," he said surprised seeing me.

I welcomed him inside. "I dropped by to see Jhanvi."

He moved forward and looked around the dark house with only the living room light on.

"She's still in her room?" he asked quietly.

Now was time for the game plan. Seeing my uncle's concerned face, I knew Jhanvi's plan had potential.

"Uncle, she's a mess," I said dramatically. I closed the front door quietly before going near him as if  sharing a secret. "All the lights were out in the house when I came in. She opened the door and it looked like she had forgotten to take a shower today. I was in her room trying to tell her to come spend time with me. She refused to get out of bed. I'm worried about her."

He stroked his chin and then let out a defeated sigh. I hoped God would forgive me for lying to my family.

"I don't know what to do," he said. "The divorce is taking a heavy toll on her."

"It can't be like this," I emphasized. "She was crying hysterically saying she wanted to die."

"What?" His eyes widened. "We should take her to a hospital. God forbid she does something stupid—"

"Uncle," I interrupted. I had to stop him. We didn't need to send her to psychologists and psychiatrists just yet. "She's not up to that point yet. Maybe soon if we don't take her out of this hole she's making for herself."

"Oh Anmol," he said taking a seat on the sofa. "I'm so tired of it. Lately, she has stopped attending all events and functions. She won't let me throw a party claiming she's traumatized from the last one. I can't blame her. But I don't know what to do."

"Don't we have any relatives or friends she could visit?" I dropped the hint. "Somewhere away from St. Cloud. Sometimes just getting out this cold, dreary weather can change a person's mood."

"You're right," he said relaxing. "How about I book her a vacation to Hawaii? I heard Ashar's going to India. You and Jhanvi can have a good time in Hawaii in the meantime. What do you say?"

That was not what Jhanvi and I had planned.

I looked around, searching for an answer. Jhanvi stood in the dark shadows of the hallway, out of uncle's sight but not mine.

"Good idea, but we've gone to Hawaii too many times," I said lamely. "We don't have many spots in the US that we haven't seen before."

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "The weather's amazing in the South. Argentina? Brazil? How about Jamaica?! Jhanvi loved it—"

"Uncle," I stopped him once again. "We should pick a spot where we don't commonly go. She doesn't have to worry about Sunny following her there."

"Why would he follow her?" my uncle inquired.

I had made that up on the spot. Jhanvi waved her arms like a flailing bird . . . or maybe a dying bird?

"He's desperately trying to get back with her," I lied not so confidently. "He met with me a few times asking me to . . . help patch things. Jhanvi doesn't want him. She . . . hates him."

Jhanvi gave me a thumbs up.

"He'd try to follow me and her if we go on vacation," I resumed. "He knows the vacation spots she enjoys the most."

"No worries," he said. "I'll put my men on him. You girls enjoy."

I snuck a glance at Jhanvi who nodded as if it was fine. Assuming she might have a better idea to point her dad to India, I dropped the conversation. We didn't want to raise suspicion either.

"Sounds good." I forced a smile. "I better get going."

"Stay for dinner," he insisted.

"Maybe another time," I said. "I'll go say goodbye to Jhanvi before I go."

He nodded and began unlacing his shoes. I rushed to meet Jhanvi in the too of the stairway where she had run away.

"He's not suggesting India!" I hissed in a low voice.

She grinned. "Don't worry. I have a plan."

For some reason, her smile gave me the chills.

Little did I know, my cousin's mastermind had the worst idea possible.

* * *

A/N
How is the chapter?

Any predictions?

Definitely going to India.

How is life?

Hope I can compensate for the lost time with these updates. Thank you for the votes and comments!!! Please continue! It's very motivating.

Next chapter maybe tomorrow or day after:

—K-K-Kiran