Part 52 First step

I sighed and got into the room. Closing the door, I waited for a call. As I expected, I got a call from Harikesh. I attended the call.

"Yeah, Hari, tell me"

"We found out the informer... the caller is Harini. She is the one who called the SAME number a few minutes ago"

I was not surprised because I already found it out. Yet, I got the prof now.

"Thank you, Hari"

"You are welcome... anything else?"

"As of now, no... will tell you if I want anything"

"Don't hesitate" Harikesh said.

"Sure"

Harikesh disconnected the call. It was not hard for me to connect the dots. Harini must be the one whom Mithra threatened on phono. Mithra should have chosen Harini leaving everyone behind because I read the servant's list upside down when Akash asked me to select the servants as per my wish the other day because I didn't want Mithra to know the good terms Harini shared with Khushi. I doubted Harini in the first place because she would have alerted Khushi if any Mini Palace servant watched us but she didn't do it. Without her knowledge, anyone could not have watched us closely. So, it must be Harini. That was how I concluded.

I looked at the clock. This was the time to be connected with an important person. I dialed Payal.

"Bhai, you will live long!" she said excitedly.

"Is it? How?"

"Just now I thought about you," she said.

"Oh... from here on, everyone in the palace will think of me" I said.

"Why? Did you do something?" Payal asked nervously.

"Going to do..."

"Oh, my God... what are you going to do?"

"Wait for a few minutes"

"Few minutes?" She was more shocked.

"Yup..."

"I feel like crying..." she said nervously.

"You will feel like whistling afterward" I laughed.

"What's your plan?"

"You will get to know that in a few minutes"

"Why are you putting me under pressure?"

"What's the thrill if I opened the climax at the beginning itself?" I chortled.

"I hope nothing is serious"

"It will be serious like hell"

"Hey Devi Maiya..."

"Be brave like my sister instead of Mrs. Akash" I teased her.

"He is not a coward though..."

"When did I say he is a coward?"

Payal sighed.

"Forget it..."

"Ok, get ready..." I alerted her.

"For?"

"To do LIVE COMMENTARY"

"Live commentary?"

"Yeah, Khushi is coming there. Just tell me what's happening there"

"Why is she coming here?"

"To complain about me"

"To complain? What did you do?"

"Nothing... but Khushi will say I'm having an affair with someone"

"whaaat? Affair with someone? What the hell?"

"Shh don't shout..."

"Is she really coming to do that?"

"Yes, because it's me who sent her"

"Ohhhh God..."

"Where is Akash?" I asked.

"He is in the living room with uncle"

"That's good... Hasn't Khushi come yet?"

"A car is coming... I think it's she..."

"It must be she," I said.

"Yes, Bhai, Khushi is coming... but she is crying Bhai,"

"Yeah... I asked her to cry," I chuckled.

"What the..."

I laughed loudly.

"Bhai, Khushi rushed to Shashi uncle and hugged him. She is crying Bhai..."

"Perfect... she is doing what I said"

"Shashi uncle pulled her from the hug and looked at her crying face bewildered"

"Where is our dear Mother-in-law?" I asked.

"She is coming from her room," Payal said.

"Ok, continue..."

"What happened Khushi?" Shashi.

"He cheated me, Dad," Khushi.

"He? Who? Arnav?" Shashi.

Khushi nods yes.

"What did he do?" Shashi.

"He is having an affair with someone..."

"Whaaaat? Is Arnav having an affair?" Shashi and Akash shouted unbelievably.

"Yes, He received a call on his mobile. He was in the washroom at that time. So, I attended it. It was a girl's call. Before I spoke, she started speaking, thinking that, it was him who attended the call. She called him Arnie Baby dearly. I don't even know his name can be called that way. The girl said, 'Message me before leaving the office. So that I will not call you after that' she that it was Arnav"

"Didn't you say anything?" Akash asked.

"I did. I asked, who is speaking? The call got disconnected"

"Did she disconnect the call?" Akash asked.

"Yes... she did after hearing my voice"

"Why did she disconnect the call instead of making up the situation? She could have simply said, wrong number, or, something..." Akash became thoughtful.

"She didn't have expected Khushi to attend the call. That's why she became nervous and disconnected the call" Mithra said.

"Not only that, Bhai..."

"Then what?"

"I saw a lipstick mark on his shirt today. I'm done with this nonsense. I can't tolerate this"

"I expected something like this when I saw the post of the Chef Alan Smith on Facebook," Mithra said.

"What post? Why are you talking irrelevant?" Shashi asked frowning.

"I'm not talking irrelevant. It's about a TV program in which Khushi participated with Alan Smith the famous Chef. It seems she likes him very much. I think her husband would have brainwashed her by simply making her do the program with her favorite Chef. So that, Khushi would trust him to the core because he fulfilled her wish"

"I don't believe this. Arnav is not such a person. Something must be terribly wrong" Akash said.

"But, what about the phone calls?" Shashi asked.

"Khushi, when did you attend the calls?"

"After he reached home"

"If Arnav has an affair, how would he let the woman call him again and again only when he was at home? Why did she call him after she got to know that it was not Arnav but Khushi who attended the call? Why didn't Arnav warn her? There is no logic. We know Arnav..."

Cutting him,

"There is an unknown side to every man. Only he knows that" Mithra said.

"I'm not talking about that. We know how SMART Arnav is. He would not make a mistake if he wanted to do wrong. He knows how to hide it. He would not get caught"

"The old fox is caught at last. This day is that day. No one can escape for a long time. One day his true color will come out" Mirthra said.

She looked at Khushi and said,

"I'm sorry for getting you married to him, Beta. I thought he would be the right person to protect you for your lifetime. He made my guess wrong. I'm sorry. If you had told me about your interest in cooking, I would have begged your father and tried to do something about it even though becoming a COOK meant a drag on our Royal lineage"

Khushi was silent.

"I knew he must be doing wrong. That's why he got angry about the GPRS device in his car. If he is a clean slate, why did he get furious about it? Without thinking about it deeply, you guys became angry with me. you guys looked at me like, I'm a criminal. I agree, I wanted Khushi to marry him. Honestly speaking, I thought he was a genuine person. That's why I wished for the marriage but I never thought he would push my child into the fire" She chocked.

Akash pulled Khushi's upper arm and made her turn towards him.

"Khushi, listen. This is not a game but your life. If you have made a mistake in this matter, you may not get a chance to rectify it. Calm yourself down and think calmly"

"How could she be calm when the water is flowing over her head, Beta? Can't you see, she is suffocating...? Being her brother, you should have killed the man who is the reason for your sister's tears. She is a Princess, beta. We raised her like a queen. How could he do this to her? He is collecting pebbles leaving a gem behind. How could she tolerate this?" Mithra said looking at Shashi from the corner of her eye.

"Bhai, if you think I'm hurrying in judging Arnav, you can talk to him. He could not say he didn't get such calls on his mobile"

"Akash, I think we should make a decision," Shashi said.

"Of course, Dad... we have to... but before that, we have to give a chance to Arnav to talk" Akash took Arnav's side.

"Why should we give him a chance? Didn't we see how he hoped from earth to sky in anger? He will try to shut our mouths by giving silly excuses" Mithra said.

"Even a murderer given a chance to speak his side..."

"What he did is not less than a murder... he killed my daughter's heart, trust, and love"

Khushi cried closing her face.

"See, how she is crying...! Do you want to give a chance to the one who is the reason for her tears?" Mithra said making a sad face.

"Yes... I want to give him a chance... she is crying because she doesn't want to lose him. She could not be without him. That's why she is crying..." Akash said.

In no time, Khushi threw herself in Akash's chest and cried.

"See, this is why I want him to come here," Akash said to Shashi.

"But..." Mithra tried to say something but Akash stopped her.

"Why are you hesitating to call him here? Are you scared?"

"Why would I be scared? The wrongdoer is him, not me. I have no problem in calling him. I just worried about my child. She will get upset if she sees him again"

"I will handle my sister"

Akash pulled Khushi and looked at her.

"Khushi, will you accept Arnav if he proves himself innocent?"

"How could he prove himself innocent when the prof is against him? It was Khushi herself who attended his mistress's call"

"Until his guilt is proven, don't use such an abusive word against him..." Akash said strictly making Mithra speechless.

"Tell me, Khushi. Do you have any problem in accepting Arnav if he proves himself?"

She nodded no.

Akash removed his phone to call Arnav.

"Bhai, I'm cutting the call. Akash is calling you" Payal who was giving Arnav LIVE COMMANTARY disconnected the call.

Arnav attended Akash's call.

"Akash, did Khushi come to Palace?"

"Yes, she is here"

"I'm sorry, knowingly or unknowingly, I made her cry"

"I called you to talk about it only"

"I too want to talk to you about it"

"Could you come to the Palace?"

"Sure, I'm coming"

"Thank you, Arnav" Akash disconnected the call.

To be continued...