Rajiv kissed the sleeping woman and got up from the bed. He cleaned himself and got dressed in a t-shirt and a white mundu and sat on a chair smoking as he gazed at Leena sleeping on the bed, exhausted from his demanding love-making. After almost half an hour she got up to see him looking at her intently, lost in thought. Feeling shy at his glance, she covered her breasts with a blanket and then, her eyes caught the cigarette on his fingertips and the smell was irritating her.

"Since when do you smoke?" she asked him, upset.

"I do not smoke regularly, just on a few occasions. Don't worry, the boys don't know", he said to her.

"But still", her pout made it clear to him.

"The last one, I promise", he said to her. She smiled at him in acceptance.

"Why don't you dress up, they will be here soon", said Rajiv.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Leena as she got up from the bed and collected her clothes and went into the bathroom to change. A few minutes later she got out and sat on Rajiv's lap and pulled her hair to front and said, "close it". It was her character from earlier days, she would get ready and come to Rajiv to close her bra hooks and zippers on her back.

Rajiv smirked and said, "How did you close it all these years?" He extinguished the half-smoked cigarette.

"It was too much work, but now you are here", she said. But instead of putting the hooks on, he slid his hands into her kameez and grabbed her breasts and she hissed in retaliation, "What do you think you are doing?"

He pulled her back to him and whispered menacingly into her ear, "Don't bring a 5-course meal to a starving man and not expect him to take a bite".

She managed to pull out his hands and said, "You already had a 3-course meal".

"Yeah, but I have been starving for fifteen years, and don't know when the next meal is coming", he smirked and then he became serious.

"What happened?" she asked.

He kissed her and said earnestly, "I want to wake up with you beside me, I want to have breakfast with you, drive to office with you, have lunch and dinner with you and... make love to you every single night", he said.

"Rajiv..." she kissed him back.

"I will make it happen, Leena", he said looking deeply into her eyes.

She pulled the pendant of the chain she was wearing which had fallen to her back to her front.

"Wait, this is your thali (mangalsutra)! I did not notice it before", said Rajiv.

"I usually hide it because I am Miss Leena Mathews. But didn't you notice it now, in bed?" she asked.

"My eyes were occupied in other areas", he replied sheepishly.

"Of course. But I have to go now" she said. He nodded and quickly put on her hook and the zipper of her kameez and they both went downstairs. 

He escorted her to the annex and just as she opened the door he said to her, "Maybe I might call you in the night to keep the door unlocked. Will you do that?"

"What if someone finds out?" she asked.

"Come on, will you disappoint your husband?" he asked, holding her waist with his arm and rubbing his thumb on her nipple over her clothes.

"You are really bad. We shouldn't be behaving like horny, sneaky, teenagers in our 40s ", she said pushing him away. "Good night, dear", she said and locked the door with a naughty smile.

"Good night", he smiled and went back to his room. He switched off the lights, lit the half-smoked cigarette and sat in the dark to do some serious thinking.

After fifteen minutes, the gates opened and a cars rolled into the premises. The front door was opened by Gomati. "Hey, don't make any noise and wake up your father", she admonished the half-asleep boys as they trudged upstairs. On the way to his room, Ravi got the faint yet distinctive smell of cigarettes, unlike his brothers, he knew his father smoked, but only under a lot of stress. He noted in his mind not to bother him the next day because he could lash out at them at the slightest provocation. So the next morning he got ready and made his brothers also get ready and packed for their classes and went down for breakfast before Rajiv came to call them. While waiting for his breakfast he heard the maid telling Gomati that the lady in the annex had left tea, her thermos and dupatta in the outside kitchen, but came and took them back in the morning, apparently she had got an emergency call and left them there. 

Anticipating that his father will be in a foul mood, Ravi was waiting to see what will happen when Rajiv came downstairs, fully dressed for office, looking happy, extremely happy; positively glowing. This almost gave Ravi a whiplash. Rajiv sat down and cheerfully talked to them and asked about the engagement party while having breakfast. Ravi hardly listened to the talk, but noticed every expression on his father's happy face. In between their chat, Rajiv perked up to the sound of Leena's car leaving the compound and a naughty smile was glanced over his lips. Something was wrong, Ravi sensed a disturbance.

In the college during a tea break they were having at the open air tea stall in the campus, Ravi was lost in thought while sipping the tea. Parvathi poked him and asked, "What's wrong?"

He pulled her aside and asked, "Paaru, does sex make a man extremely happy?"

Parvathi's eyes narrowed and she pushed his chest away with her forefinger and said "You are not getting any before our marriage".

"I did not mean that", he said irritation.

"Well, sex releases endorphins, it makes people happy", she said to him. 

He thought of the abandoned tea and the dupatta in the kitchen, the empty house and his glowing father. Rajiv now had two women in his life; Indrani, to whom he was getting married, and Leena, from whom he was definitely getting sex.

"I just realized something", he said to Parvathi.

"What?" she asked sipping her hot tea.

"My father is a slut". Parvathi's tea went up her nose.

***

In the evening, Rajiv was in the downstairs study. The maid had kept his mail on his desk and a courier with the sender's name Surjith Mann caught his eye instantly. He quickly closed the door of his study and opened the package. Inside, covered in layers of plastic sheets were legal documents and yellowing old newspaper cuttings, the first of which caught his eye.

"Mystery deepens in the death of Delhi Businessman Om Prakash Sethi

The gruesome murder of Mr Om Prakash Sethi (47 y) of Prakash Enterprises one week back had the business community of New Delhi in shock. Now the mystery deepens with the disappearance of his wife Teena Sethi (24 y) and daughter Sunaina Sethi (3 y). Sunanina is the sole heir of the estimated Rupees 400 crore worth of properties along with Prakash Enterprises. Their home office has been found ransacked ...."

Rajiv read the whole article and then went through the documents.

"Sunaina will be 18 now. She stands to inherit the properties, only if anyone knew where she was", thought Rajiv.

He picked up his phone and messaged to Surjith Mann, "Find Sunanina Sethi for me. ASAP". He then sat back in his chair and remembered the fateful night, 15 years ago in New Delhi.

15 years ago

Rajiv had just packed his bag and was about to leave from the firm he worked in; Lohia & Co, a Chartered Accountancy firm. After Kiran was born and her post-partem complications were resolved, Leena had started working in a firm, earning pretty well. That night there was an office party that she had asked him to attend with her. He had to get home as soon as possible to get ready and go with her. Just as he was about to lock his cabin, a frazzled looking man entered the office. He was wearing an Hugo Boss suit, but it was looking rumpled and Rajiv recognized that he was an important client of his boss, Vikram Lohia, and also, Leena's boss. He was the owner of Prakash Enterprises, Om Prakash Sethi.

"Is Mr Lohia here?" he asked Rajiv as he was the only person left in the office.

"No, nobody is here. May I help you?" he asked the distraught man.

"Give these to Lohia and tell him, if I do not meet him tomorrow, then do the needful", he said giving Rajiv a folder and left before he could ask anything further.

Rajiv took the sealed folder and thought, "I am going to be late for the party!", then he closed the office, handed the keys to the security guard and took his car and drove to Mr Lohia's house in Sundar Nagar. His gated home was opened by a security guard and Mr Lohia came into the living room.

"What's the matter, Rajiv?" he asked, surprised to see him there. He was a middle aged man, dressed in a polo T-shirt and cotton pants. He seemed to have come back from the golf course and hadn't changed yet. Rajiv recounted what happened and handed him the folder. The ruddy color Vikram Lohia got from playing golf instantly drained from his face and with shaking hands he took the folder from him.

"Thank you, Rajiv. You may leave now", he said to him.

Sensing something was off, Rajiv asked him, "Is something wrong, sir?"

"Oh nothing. But in case I do not come to the office by 10 AM tomorrow, could you go to Iyer and Iyer? I will leave something for you there" he asked.

"Sure, sir" replied and Rajiv and he left Lohia's residence. The whole evening from the time Om Prakash came into the office to the time Rajiv left Lohia's residence felt fishy to him. It seemed like some sort of a sinister parcel game, taking one from one person and delivering it to another with no clue what's inside but with the condition of their absence. Rajiv did not try to think too much about what just transpired. The world of business is like an ice berg; you only see 1/8th of what is happening, what's hidden underwater is often dangerous and murky.

****

Present day

Rajiv remembered, that was the last day his family was happy and whole under his roof. When he opened the door to his flat that evening, Janaki chechi was on the living room carpet, with Kiran in her arms, and Ravi and Abhi playing with blocks. He heard Mani chettan, making dinner for the kids in the kitchen. Then the bedroom door opened and Leena came out, dressed in a red saree and sleeveless red blouse. The rhinestones on her saree threw light in all directions, her golden chandelier earrings glinted and the thali that he had tied as the promise of many lives together, rested against her chest. She had make-up on her face that perfectly matched the occasions. To him, she looked like some fortunate dream that had become reality. He remembered smiling at her wondering how beautiful she was. Her eyes had a hint of disapproval, but happiness and relief that he finally came home. She crossed her arms in mock anger and said, "I have been waiting for you for long".

Rajiv was a man, a man like any other, with desires and needs of the flesh. He was exceedingly handsome, which meant, even though he was married but not living with his wife, and even though he had three kids, women threw themselves at him. But this image of Leena was etched in his mind; his wife, waiting for him to come back. No other woman could break that spell, no other woman could make him want them, and no one could pull him towards them. Like flowers that eventually fall into the flowerbed, like raindrops eventually falling to earth, like streams rolling down the mountains, he will eventually only fall back into her arms, he could go no other way.

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