Part 49 Gathering

"Has not she changed yet...? What does she want? Has she not been satisfied even after killing her own sister? Is not it enough for her?" Rahim yelled like a madman forgetting himself.

I got stuck even though I expected something like that. I was right in guessing my enemy. I brought a shocked expression to my face and said,

"What are you saying? Is that true? Has Mithra killed Khushi's mother? But how? How could she do that when there were a lot of people in the palace? Why didn't anyone get doubt on her?"

"That was her talent. She was so nice when she came to the palace. She served for her sister like a slave. That showed her as a saint in others' eyes. Even I trusted her because her acting was so real. Slowly, the snake started spitting out the poison. She brought a few men from her village to the palace and recommended them for jobs. Bade Sab readily agreed because he thought they would also be polite and loyal like Mithra. Of course, they were polite and loyal ONLY to her..."

"Were they the ones who killed Khushi's mother?"

"No... it was she who killed Garima Maji... the men helped her to hide it from the world's eyes"

"But, Khushi said, her mother died of shortness of breath..."

"She was not wrong... she died of shortness of breath only but it was caused by Mithra"

"What do you mean?"

"Garima Maji was an asthma patient. She always struggled in the winter season. Not only that, she could not stand SMOKE."

I nodded yes as it was a common issue to an asthma patient.

"That day, there was no one at home, I mean, Bade Sahib, Khushi baby and Chotte Sahib. She sent all the servants to the other side of the palace assigning some work, including me. Garima Maji was already struggling to breathe due to winter. Adding to it, Mithra lit a mosquito coil under Garima Maji's bed. Garima Maji tried to take her puffer to get her breath balanced but Mithra snatched it from her. Garima Maji fell on the bed taking her last breath. At the same time, I entered her room to finish the assigned work and saw Mithra smirking at Garima Maji shaking the puffer in front of her. I understood what would have happened" Rahim cried with anger.

"Didn't you do anything?"

"How would I leave her without doing anything? I tangled her neck and hit her like hell. That was when her men saved her from me, hit me badly, and threatened me. They warned me not to tell the truth to anyone if I said that to anyone, they said, they would destroy my family...! I still wanted to warn Shashi Sab but they got my family under their control and asked me to leave the palace after attending Garima Maji's funeral because they didn't want Shashi Sab to get suspected"

"After that only did you leave the palace?"

Rahim nodded yes.

"Didn't you visit the palace after that?"

"I didn't visit the palace not because I'm afraid of them. I could not see her ruling the palace that belongs to Garima Maji..."

"What about Chandra Boss?"

"He was the loyal accountant and friend of Shashi Sab. She accused him falsely and made Shashi Sab believe it. He kicked Bose out of the palace"

"How did Shashi uncle believe her over Mr. Boss?"

"She could do anything... she is not only a witch but also a B****. She can seduce anyone"

"Did she seduce Shashi Uncle?"

"I saw Garima Maji fighting with Shashi Sab for entertaining her"

"Did he do that?"

"He did that but not with the wrong intention. He was just friendly with her. It was she who started everything. Garima Maji fought with Mithra too because she was with Shashi Sab in his study room when he drank alcohol. Garima Maji saw her pouring whisky into a glass for Shashi Sab. That's where her doubt started. She felt it was not right. She was alerted. She warned Mithra and asked Bose to help her in this matter. Bose was ready to talk to Shashi Sab about it. Within two days, he was thrown out of the palace"

"Shall I meet him?"

"He will be here anytime..."

"Oh, really?"

"He told me he would come to meet me after my Macca visit"

"Oh...do you guys often meet?"

"Yes... we often meet..." Came from the doorstep.

I looked at the man and got stuck. He was the same man I saw the other day when I and Khushi met her stock market friend"

"You?" I frowned.

"Yes, it's me, Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada..." Said Bose.

"Do you guys know each other?" Rahim asked.

"No... I don't know him but I saw him watching us..." I said.

Rahim smiled at Bose.

"Are you STILL following Khushi baby?"

Bose nodded yes.

"What does that mean STILL?" I asked.

"That means he always keeps his eye on Khushi baby"

"Why it's only Khushi? Why not Akash?" I questioned.

"Akash was submissive... he LIKES... I mean, LIKED Mithra. So, he was safe but Khushi. She didn't like Shashi and Mithra's relationship. She could not accept her as her mother... So, from the beginning, I was watching her"

"But you left the palace before their marriage. Then how do you know Khushi didn't like their relationship?"

"I often met her"

"Then why didn't Khushi recognize you?"

"I stopped doing that long ago, openly and I changed my getup too..."

"Why?"

"Mithra found out about our meeting. She brought Shashi to Khushi's school and made him see us where I met Khushi. Shashi got angry and shouted at Khushi. I didn't want her to get scolded in front of her friends. So, I stopped visiting her at school. I thought of meeting her somewhere else but Mithra restricted her from stepping out of the palace. Though she stopped Khushi she could not restrict me from following Khushi and knowing about her, without her knowledge because I didn't want her to face any problem because of me"

"If you are cautious about Khushi's safety, how are you talking to me so freely now?"

"If I'm following Khushi and knowing about her, I would have known about you and the condition put in front of you to marry Khushi, right?"

I nodded my head slightly.

"What condition?" Rahim asked.

"If he wants his sister's wedding to happen with Akash, he should marry Khushi and leave his family after his marriage"

"Leave his family? But why?"

"To make him hate Khushi... but for Shashi and Akash, the reason was different..."

"What reason?"

"Khushi would live like a queen without anyone's trouble if she lived in a lonely palace..."

Rahim frowned.

"This is how she makes Shashi trust her as if she is so concerned about Khushi and her wellbeing but everything is a ploy to ruin her happiness. Mithra always works calculating everything perfectly. This is the first time her calculation went wrong. She made a mistake in calculating you. I'm glad about it" Bose smiled at me.

"What calculation?" Rahim asked.

"Khushi's husband is not what she thought. That's the biggest disappointment to her"

"How do you know about me?" I asked.

"I know... I saw Mithra getting tangled to face the issue for the first time in the hospital when he pretended like she had poison" Bose smiled.

"Could you tell me the matter?" Rahim asked.

Bose told him what happened in the hospital.

"Is it? Did she act like she had poison?"

"But, Khushi didn't believe it," I said.

"She is a brilliant girl unlike her father and brother," Rahim said.

"Akash also shows some changes nowadays I suppose"

I nodded yes.

"Ask him to be careful. She has much more arrogance than what we knew... and, you too be careful" Bose warned me.

"I have decided to END her game. She is going overbroad. She is trying to separate me from Khushi. Khushi who you addressed as a brilliant girl also was shaken by her ploy... I'm not ready to waste my time anymore because I don't know when and how she will take another step"

"I'm ready to help you to do that. I want her to get punished for her deeds"

"I wanted to know what exactly happened in the palace. I believed that the two of you would know about it. That was why I came to meet Mr. Rahim but I didn't expect I would meet Mr. Bose too" I said.

"I too wanted to meet you but I didn't expect it would happen soon," Bose said.

"It's good we met"

"But, we should not meet again. She may get alerted. She should not get to know about our meet" Bose warned.

"It seems you are so cautious about her," I asked.

"It's because I know how dangerous she is... she will do anything to remove the person from her path. She won't mind even if the person is her own sister. I'm directly affected by her... Do you know how close I and Shashi were? That B**** came into our life as a curse" Bose said furiously.

"Didn't you try to talk to Shashi uncle about the incident and give him an explanation?"

"I tried but Shashi was not ready to listen to me. he was that blind then"

"He will soon listen to you..." I said.

"I so want him to listen to me... he should know how stupid he is..." Bose said furiously.

"It will happen soon..."

"By the way, what did she do to separate Khushi from you?"

I told them about the phone call.

"Could you show me the number?" Bose asked.

"Yup"

I removed my mobile and showed the number.

"This is Mithra's old number..." Bose said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm one hundred percent sure. I still have her number. I thought to delete it many times but I didn't..." he removed his phone and showed Mithra's name in the contact list. I smirked seeing the number had been saved in Mithra's name.

To be continued...