It was the next day was a rather sleepy Sunday. The dew had not yet evaporated from the leaves and a mild moisture hung in the air. Before the boys could make up their mind to laze around the house, Rajiv shooed them to the yard and made them tie a volleyball net to make them play. Since Rajiv had been busy for the last few days, the kids did not get to spend time with him, so they got excited to play. When they were starting to play, Leena walked out of the annex in her pajamas with a newspaper and a cup of coffee.

"Care to join?" asked Rajiv. It was his plan to make the children accustomed to their mother.

"Sure", replied Leena and she joined them.

"Acha, it might be too rough for a lady to play the game with us, said Ravi to Rajiv.

"You are sure of that?" asked Leena.

"Lets see. Shall we divide into teams?" asked Rajiv.

They divided into two teams with Rajiv and Ravi, Rajiv being a good player and Ravi an average player in one team. The other team made of Abhi, Kiran and Leena. Abhi was an excellent player while Kiran was a very poor player and they did not know anything about the skill of Leena.

"We are going to bulldoze you", taunted Ravi.

"Lets see" said Abhi.

Little did anyone except Rajiv know that Leena was an excellent volleyball player who had played for the state team.

The game began and Abhi immediately guessed that she knew how to play and was quick to use the words and lingo to communicate with her and they were able to pummel the offense. Kiran was having a blast hazing Ravi.

After a hard fought match Rajiv and Ravi lost to the others.

"Good play" said Rajiv, his face was glowing with a smile, rather than sweat.

Ravi was upset and did not speak at all.

"Congratulate them Ravi, be gracious even in your losses. This is unsportsmanlike behavior" chided Rajiv.

Ravi grumbled and shook hands with the others. Kiran, Abhi and Leena had formed a good rapport and they were high-five-ing each other when slowly something clicked inside Ravi's brain and he stood rooted to the spot.

"What happened?" asked Rajiv.

"Nothing" muttered Ravi shaking his hgead, but staring intently at Leena.

"Kids, come for breakfast" Gomati called from the portico of the house.

The boys quickly removed the net and ran back home, laughing and chatting with each other.

"See, you got time to spend with them!" said Rajiv as soon as the kids were out of earshot.

"Yes, thank you", said Leena, she too was glowing with happiness.

Rajiv took leave of her and went back to the house. All through the breakfast, Ravi was quiet. But he kept staring at Abhi from time to time finally irritating him enough, he asked "What?"

"What?" Ravi retorted back.

"You lost fair and square, so don't show me eyes" replied Abhi, his eyebrows scrunched in irritation.

"Pfft" said Ravi getting back to his breakfast. It wasn't the loss that bothered him, it was just how familiar Leena felt. How she smiled, just like Abhi. How she was kind with the boys, how she would look with pride whenever the boys played well and how when Rajiv lost points she looked at him teasingly. Why all through the game Rajiv had eyes only for her. He looked at his father, he seemed happy, a smile was playing on his lips; it was a rare thing. At first he thought that it might be because Indrani aunty had slept though the breakfast. But it was something else, his father seemed to be happy from inside. He remembered how he talked to Leena, eyes gentle and standing too close than he usually does to other women. He laughed and smiled when they lost points and whenever she took a great shot he would shake his head grinning at her as if to say, "won't you stop surprising me?" It seemed like he was..... in love.

That thought shook Ravi. How is it possible? As soon as breakfast was over, Ravi went to his room, it faced the gate and from there he could see Leena sitting on the porch reading the newspaper. He started noticing her, how she looked and remembered how she talked. She was gorgeous, not the same way as Indrani aunty, but in some way that men would intensely feel attracted to. Wait a minute, his father likes her. So he cleaned up his mind of any possible dirty thoughts. That's not it, yeah she is ravishingly beautiful, but that can't be the only criteria for his father to be attracted to her. What else? Did she remind him of their mother? She smiled like Abhi and was dark, just like how his father described their mother. Did his father just find a proxy for their mother? This was too much for him to think, so he dialed Parvathi, his girlfriend.

Half an hour later a cute girl with long wavy hair and bright slanting eyes skipped into the compound and stopped in front of the annex. Leena was inside the house, so the girl rang her doorbell.

Leena was pleasantly surprised by the cheerful looking girl who stood in front of her.

"Hi aunty, I am Parvathi, Ravi's girlfriend", she chirped.

Leena was taken aback! What! But she quickly changed her shocked face into a welcoming one.

"Hi, my name is Leena. I work for Mr Rajiv", she said to her.

"Cool! I am going to meet Ravi, so I came to see you before that", she said.

"You come here often?" Leena asked. She was a concerned mother, she did not raise her sons and was afraid if they had inherited Rajiv's romantic nature then what might happen? After all Leena and Rajiv had to get married because he got her pregnant!

"Not really, this house is like.... Meleparambil Aanveedu (House of men)" Parvathi whispered. "I am allowed to visit only when Rajiv uncle or Ravi's grandparents are home. Ok. See you bye", she finished and then skipped towards the house.

Rajiv who spied the skipping girl talking to Leena took the phone in his hand and waited, it rang.

"What the hell Rajiv! Is the entire female population of Kerala going to parade through your front door?" she asked.

"That is Parvathi, Ravi's girlfriend. He intends to marry her as soon as he finishes his degree", said Rajiv.

"What? He is still a baby", whimpered Leena, "he is still my baby........."

"I know" he answered.

She cut the call a pout adorning her face.

Rajiv went downstairs to meet Parvathi who was sitting on the couch in the living room with Ravi and both got up seeing Rajiv.

"Good morning uncle", she greeted him.

"Good morning. How are you Parvathi?" he asked warmly.

"I am fine uncle" she replied brightly.

"Ok. Ravi, get her tea or breakfast" said Rajiv and he headed to his study.

Parvathi kept staring at the receding figure of Rajiv.

"Ahem...." coughed Ravi. "You are my girlfriend remember".

Parvathi rolled her eyes at him. The truth was, Parvathi was just a classmate of Ravi. She and a bunch of girls from his class used to regularly come to his house on many pretexts, but what they really came was to ogle at his handsome father. Ravi had a crush on her and managed to make her fall for him, but he always got a bit irritated remembering that she used to come to his home to stare at his father! Why? He never understood, his father was oblivious to the attention of any woman in the world, except.....

"So why did you call me urgently to your home? We were supposed to go for a movie in the afternoon and you dragged me here to meet that aunty. Why?", she asked him while settling comfortably back on the couch.

Ravi looked around to confirm that no one was within earshot and then whispered to her, "I think Achan is having an affair, or at least he is attracted to Leena aunty".

Parvathi raised her eyebrows and said, "She is hot, I won't blame your father for falling for her".

Ravi sighed as he sat next to her and said, "I am a man, I can see that".

"Really? So why are you tensed about it?" she asked.

"Because I am worried about Indrani aunty. You know we like her, she is fun and takes care of us a lot. I am afraid Achan might break her heart", he said.

"But your father never liked her that way, doesn't she know that?" asked Parvathi.

"Yes we all know that. But Achamma (Grandma) wants her to get married to Achan" he replied Ravi.

"Are you sure your father likes Leena aunty?" she asked.

"I kind of saw it in his eyes", Ravi muttered.

"That's it? Then why don't you confirm with uncle", she asked him.

"What the hell? How can I ask that to my father. Besides, I don't want to give him any ideas", he replied hastily.

She conspiratorially lowered her voice and said "Then investigate".

"That's a very good idea", Ravi observed.

In the study, Rajiv was going through some files when his phone rang. His face lit up seeing the name and he talked to the person and after cutting the call, he dialed Leena.

"Get ready by 4 o'clock; we are going somewhere", he said to her.

"Where?" she asked curiously.

"Its a surprise, drive your car to the back of the stadium and park there. I will pick you up and we will go and meet the surprise", his voice was light with mirth.

"All right" she agreed and kept the call.

Then Rajiv opened his contacts on the phone and found the name Surjith Singh and dialed his number.

"Hello Surjithji, did you manage to get all the files and documents?" he asked.

"Hello Rajivji, I have couriered all the files, documents and information regarding the murder of Om Prakash Sethi to you yesterday" a gravelly voice replied.

Rajiv thanked him and kept the call. He rubbed his fingertips together, now was the time, he thought. He was getting ready to shut the Pandora's box of his past so that he could capture all the evil in his life back into the place where it came from.