42. South Sea Pearls
Indian chai was magical.
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Two pairs of Nike socks.

An undershirt, a Louis Vuitton cashmere roll neck sweater, and a luxury white blazer zipped up.

One pair of jeans.

I added a designer scarf and a limited edition beanie in my outfit.

While the cold water shower was de-stressing, I knew I was due for a cold in a few hours if I didn't layer up.

As I pulled on my Jimmy Choo fur boots which I thanked myself for adding to my suitcase, Ashar decided to speak to me.

"Are you going somewhere?" he asked. "A trip to the Himalayas?"

I didn't answer. Because of him, I had to take an icy shower.

I pulled my hair back and realized the gauze on my temple was sliding off. I took if off and threw it in the trash can.

"I have a first aid kit," Ashar said watching me. He went to his suitcase and took a white plastic box with a red plus sign.

"I'm fine," I informed.

"No. You don't want to get an infection." He shook his head and gestured towards the bed. When I didn't move, he sighed. "Anmol, sit down."

Not meeting his eyes, I took a seat next to his paperwork. I held my hair back and tilted my head to allow him to put the dressing. He stood in front of me and started working like the nurse at the hospital yesterday.

"Someone's grumpy this morning," he remarked as I sat with my jaw set. "I'll talk to Baba. We'll make sure you don't have to take a cold water shower again."

I side-eyed him wordlessly as he held back his smile. He obviously enjoyed putting me in an inconvenience.

"What's the plan for today?" He continued talking. "Is Baba taking you all shopping again?"

"No plans." I shrugged.

He finished putting the dressing and closed the box. Once he had it returned to his suitcase, he began wrapping up his paperwork. I got up to check my phone.

"Do you want to come with me?" Ashar asked.

I looked at him confused. "Me?"

"I won't be long." He nodded as he held his binder in his hands. "Aara wanted some Indian clothes for her and Rosie. She told me to make sure I take you with me. She doesn't trust my fashion sense."

"Okay, I'll go." I was now in a position where I didn't know how close I wanted to get to him. He surprised me by asking me to tag along with him.

When was the last time he had asked me to go somewhere with him? It'd be wishful thinking I was going on a date with Ashar today.

I almost laughed at the thought of a "date" as I followed Ashar downstairs.

We told everyone that we'd be back and I was going with Ashar. No one batted an eyelash. Jhanvi beamed at me and even gave me a small double thumbs up as I was leaving.

If she thought this was progress, she was wrong. Ashar didn't care about me one bit.

The absolute worst part was Baba's car had a flat tire. And he had no spare. That left us at the expense of a mechanic who would take some time.

"Taxi is gonna be hard to get around here," Baba told us. He was embarrassed by his car's situation. "I'll ask one of my friends to take you two—"

"It's fine," Ashar cut him off. "I'll take the rickshaw and a bus. Anmol, we can go another time. It'll be too much for you."

"I'm fine," I said with my hands in my pockets. "Let's go."

"We'll be taking the bus," he emphasized.

"I know what that is," I said annoyed. He treated me as if everything was above me. At this point, nothing was. "I traveled in a bus all the way here. Let's go."

He ranted on how I was going to regret it but we bid his father goodbye and hailed a rickshaw to the bus station. When we arrived at the location, the buses were swarmed by people.

I coughed from all the dust and pollution before pushing my scarf to my nose.

"Still not late to go back," Ashar said as we waited in the line to board the bus. The bus conductor was accepting everyone into the bus and I wondered how this bus would handle this amount of human weight.

Just for the sake of my curiosity, I boarded the bus with Ashar.

It was downright the worst decision of my entire life.

Before I could run away, the conductor yelled at the driver to get going.

All the seats were taken and we were squeezed amongst people. Ashar and I held on to a pole that three other guys had a hand on. I looked around uncomfortably before stepping as close to Ashar as I could.

Everyone was tightly packed next to each other. The potholes on the road weren't helping. One man behind me was watched me curiously. His shoulder bumped into me every time the bus hit a pothole.

I moved closer to Ashar to the point my shoulder and arm touched his chest. He looked down at me and then at the people surrounding us.

"Switch with me," he said next to my ear.

Before I could say anything, he moved behind me with one arm around me to keep my balance as I shifted. It was a small gesture but I appreciated Ashar doing this for me. He was still holding his binder in one hand with one hand on the pole. The man bumping into me shifted away slightly making me want to crush his toe.

The bus was absolutely horrendous. A point came where the driver braked so hard I almost fell. Ashar saved me with the arm with the binder by putting it around my waist. I felt my face burn as I gripped the pole with both hands.

The old ladies sitting down next to us giggled.

"Married?" one of the women with a tight bun asked me.

I looked at Ashar who seemed to be taken aback as well. He nodded at her.

"We were just discussing," said her other friend, "how beautiful both of you look together. He's such a sweetheart. His eyes have been on you this entire time."

I turned to Ashar who appeared speechless for a minute. The tips of his ears were red.

"She hasn't ridden a bus before," Ashar told them. "I have to keep an eye on her."

"She's so beautiful. Don't let your eyes go anywhere else." Both of them laughed.

I grinned at Ashar amused.

He rolled his eyes, but his lips gave away his smile.

When I remembered the divorce was happening in less than a month, my heart fell.

One of the ladies got up as the bus came to a stop. She gestured me to take her seat before anyone else could. Even Ashar pushed me into the seat.

This was insane.

I sat down but my eyes fell on the pregnant lady. I tapped her forearm to grab her attention. She looked at me puzzled. I got up and offered the seat. She clutched her protruding belly before sitting down with a relaxed sigh.

My hands went back to the dirty pole which might've been touched by thousands of people. Thankfully, I had a mini hand sanitizer bottle in my pocket.

Ashar watched the pregnant lady then me, but didn't say anything.

I suddenly had respect for all the poor people in India who had traveled via this bus service. Maybe I could ask my mom and my friends to start giving charity to India's transportation system.

Fortunately, we arrived at the lawyer office in under half an hour with all our limbs intact.

Ashar gave me an option to either sit outside the office in a plastic chair or follow him inside. As I was too exhausted from the travel with no interest in a legal chat, I sat outside. One of the lawyer's workers was kind enough to give me a steaming cup of chai.

Indian chai was magical.

I enjoyed every sip of it in the cold weather.

Ashar stepped outside after fifteen minutes with a crestfallen look.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The property's all gone," he replied with a defeated sigh. "Other people took advantage of the fact that my mother's family was in America. They seized the land and have it under their names somehow."

"What?!" I asked shocked. "Sue them."

"I'm not wasting my time or my money on suing gangsters and whatnot."

"How much was the property worth?"

"A million dollars."

"You're crazy!" I said upset on his behalf. "You can't walk away from million dollars like that."

"It would take a decade if I file a case against them to see my money," he said. "I'm never coming back to India. Those people who have seized the property might go after baba and his wife to torture them to take the case back. I've dealt with enough lawsuits to indulge in another."

Of course, his accident must've had a lawsuit. It made me infuriated that Ashar had suffer the loss of his mother and another person while he was young while dealing with lawyers.

I exhaled in an exaggerated manner.

The bus system was broken. The road system was broken. The justice system was also broken.

"Isn't your brother mad about the property?" I inquired. "Sunny also has a share. So do the girls. How can you abandon their shares like this?"

He almost laughed. "My brother told me this property is long gone. I never believed him. He was right. As for the girls, I can take care of them."

"How?" I wondered. "You asked to terminate the contract. Mom won't pay for their education."

"Anmol," he said as if my words were entertaining, "You don't think I can send my sisters to school without your money?"

"That's not what I meant," I refuted.

"Let's go to the market." Just like that, he changed the subject.

Ashar had terrible luck with money. The one million dollars sitting in his files were gone with the wind.

We were able to hail a taxi from here to the bazaar. The bazaar had an assortment of shops carrying everything one could name. I tried not to think about the disappointment Ashar must've been feeling. For poor people, one million was close to a fortune. Even my papa used to think fifty times before investing millions into something.

Lost in thoughts, Ashar took me inside a clothing stores to search for ready-made clothing. We spent roughly five hours finding appropriate designs and clothes for the girls.

On our way out, we found a jewelry shop next door.

"Let's go inside." I didn't wait for Ashar's response before rushing forward.

It was the world of gold.

"Anmol, I'm tired," Ashar groaned behind me.

"Aara wanted gold earrings," I said over my shoulder.

"She never told me that." He followed me inside the store full of glass pieces with shiny metals of various shapes and types.

"I called her this morning," I said as I explored the glass cases with gold rings, earrings, necklaces, bangles, etc. "I know what she wants—jhumkas."

"Wait, you called her?" he asked surprised. "Why?"

"What? Am I not allowed to call her now that you want to a divorce?"

That word turned a few heads from the customers around us. I tried not to embarrass myself further by keeping my mouth shut and going up to the salesman.

I asked him to show me the jhumka designs. Most of the earrings were too huge or too small. Some designs were too light.

"This one looks fine for Aara," Ashar said pointing at one that had emerald gems lining around the round bell shape at the bottom.

"Yes, sir. Would you like to try these on madam?" The salesman jumped on the opportunity.

"I want all pure gold," I repeated for the tenth time. "Gold. No unnecessary gems or little artificial hangings around the bottom. That's extra weight with less gold. But you'll charge the whole weight the price of gold. Now, show me a one hundred percent gold design."

As he went to search for pure gold, I looked at the couple next to us eyeing a pearl necklace. The price on it was sky high even in Indian rupees.

"What kind of pearls are those?" I asked the salesman who was showing them the pearl set.

"The finest quality of South Sea pearls, madam," he said proudly.

I squinted and then touched the pearls.

"These are not South Sea pearls!" I declared. Everyone turned in our direction. "You're lying! These look like freshwater pearls."

"Madam, you must be making a mistake," said the salesman firmly. His nose was flaring but he was staying calm.

"My father owns a pearl business," I informed him. "I know my pearls! These aren't even 8m which is the standard starting size for South Sea. By the way, pearls are natural. That means each pearl will not be perfectly round or look the same as the pearl next to it. Are these fake?"

"We should leave," Ashar suggested, not daring to step close to me.

"Might as well," I said frustrated. "This is a poor quality jewelry store. Everything is mixed with something else."

Ashar threw the salesmen apologetic looks. It was all in vain because most of them didn't understand English or my accent.

I huffed and walked out with Ashar running behind. The shopping bags in his hand swung back and forth.

"That was unnecessary," Ashar said.

"I'm going back," I said with my jaw set. "No, I'm going to call the police—"

"Anmol," Ashar said grabbing my hand with his free hand to stop me from reaching for my phone. His binder was tucked under his other arm which was also holding the shopping bags.

"No, Ashar, that's not right!" I said forcefully freeing my hand.

My motion startled him enough to make him drop the binder under his arm. Some of the papers flew out. My eyes landed on a white rectangular paper resembling a photo that fell a bit further away.

Ashar bent down to collect everything and I reached for the photo that was upside down. Before Ashar could grab it, I picked it up and flipped it over to see what it was.

My mind expected Ashar and his family.

The last thing I wanted to see today was a photo of Ashar kissing a gorgeous girl's cheek while she looked surprised at the camera.

It took me a moment before I remembered the name of ex-girlfriend or ex-fiancée.

"Hayat?"

* * *

A/N

South Sea pearls are the most expensive kind of pearls. Like the highest quality of pearls and very costly. Please always do your research before purchasing pearls or gold.

How are you guys doing?

How was the chapter?

My life just really sucks at work. My two team mates left and I only started the job recently as y'all know. So now I am the lead in my team (by default because I am the only person in my role hahahaha). My manager is desi and he just can't leave me the hell alone now.

Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk ;)

Are y'all watching Khatron ke Khiladi?

Thanks for the votes and comments so far. I didn't think anyone would come back to read it. Appreciate your love!!!

—K-K-Kiran