(Untold Stories) Chapter Thirty Five (1): Storytellers

“So, do you have a resident ghost here?”

“Sir?”

“You know, like a woman with open hair and red bordered saree. Some vindictive spirit of a great-great-great grand uncle. A tortured murder vict—”

“Sir we do not have anyone of the sort here.”

Aakash sighed in disappointment. “Isn’t this haveli supposed to be centuries old?”

“It is.”

“Then it has a ghost. You just don’t know it.”

Now the lanky boy began to look a little alarmed as he shifted his weight on his feet and gulped. When he spoke, there was a squeak in his voice. “No one has reported anything ever of the sort, if there—”

“But only last night,” Aakash interrupted him smoothly, “I heard what was unmistakably the sound of ghungroos cham-chamming down the corridors. It isn’t likely that *ahem* after what happened last night, Khushi would be in the mood to do a ghungroo laden walk around the house and my girlfriend doesn’t wear any. So now you tell me, my good man, who could it possibly have been.”

The boy’s face had blanched. “M-maalkin could have been—”

“No,” Aakash shook his head. “If you would recall the events of last night, Khushi’s mother is also unlikely to have been walking around with ghungroos outside our rooms.”

The boy was rendered speechless. Aakash assumed a look of mock grimness upon his face.

“Tell me now, because it’s imperative that we know at the earliest….was anyone ever murdered in this house?”

The lad shook his head, his eyes wild with suspense.

“Hmm, very curious. Then, was anyone a bit, you know…crack in the ancestral line?” Then he muttered underneath his breath, “More than the existing standards that is.”

With a thoughtful look on his face, the boy reflected for a while, and then his eyes sparkled. “Now that you mention, they say Khushi Bibi’s great-great-grandmother was a bit,” he looked hesitant and Aakash leaned in so that the confidential information could be whispered into his ears, “mental…crezzy types.”

“Ah,” Aakash nodded vigorously. “I always knew it, to be honest. Must be her then.”

“Are you sure but?”

“I am positive. Now I’ll tell you what you have to do. Tonight when the clock strikes midnight—”

But Aakash couldn’t finish his sentence, before a dry drawl from behind him cut him off.

“Could you find no better thing to do here, Aakash?”

Arnav then shifted his eyes to the boy and gestured him a signal to scurry away, with a gruff, “Don’t listen to his nonsense.” The damage had been done though. The boy skittered away, but not before sharing a meaningful glance with Aakash who mouthed ‘later’ grimly. When the scene had cleared, Aakash turned and grinned at Arnav. “No, I didn’t. But this was mad fun.”

“Seriously.” Arnav’s tone was admonishing but the effect was entirely lost on his friend.

“Ye chod,” Aakash said, “I couldn’t say it last night, but mad filmy scenes yesterday man. I didn’t know you had a resident action hero inside. What a punch.”

“Aakash.”

He might be joking now, but Arnav well remembered Aakash’s alarmed and furious form from the last night. But clearly now that the worst was over, he saw no need to be anything but his incorrigible self.

“So, how did the meeting with senior Gupta go? Did he spike your tea with poison? Try to shove you off the terrace? You know the way he was looking at you yesterday made me seriously concerned for your well being.”

“It was fine. Nothing I couldn’t have seen coming,” Arnav answered, even though it hadn’t exactly been a very comfortable conversation. “And don’t speak this way about him in front of Khushi. He’s still her father.”

“I’m not daft. Speaking of Khushi, have you met her?”

“Hmm.”

“And?”

“What?”

Aakash stared at his face, a little somberly now, then took a deep breath and shook his head, “Nothing. Just asking. Is she doing better than last night? I really hope so.”

Arnav nodded. “Yes.”

The conversation was interrupted by a movement near the curtain, and soon Lavanya came into view, everything about her appearance giving away the fact that she had just woken up.

“Hey,” she said, looking at the two men before her. “I slept like a dead log. Have you guys seen Khushi? I woke up and she wasn’t in the bed. Is she fine?”

After they’d informed her, she nodded wordlessly. “Should we— I mean we need to leave right? We should check into that hotel room we booked now.”

“Yes, I don’t think I can handle one more confrontation with Khushi’s dad to be honest,” Aakash said warily. “Do you think she’ll come with us now? Khushi?”

Arnav remained silent. Lavanya was about to answer, when they saw Khushi appear from the nearest doorway. Her eyes, as usual, lingered a little longer at Arnav than the rest. Then she quickly looked away.

“Did you all sleep well?” she asked, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t even check on anyone last night. I slept so soundly, I should have at least—”

“You were tired, Khush.”

“Well, you all were more tired than I was. You came straight from office after a full day’s work, and then the situation here wasn’t exactly—” she paused. “Anyway, how long have you been up? Lavi you were fast asleep when I woke up…I didn’t want to disturb you sooner than was necessary. Aakash, did you at least have tea?”

“No, but I have been well occupied. Khushi, by any chance, are you aware of some great-great-grandmother with a…slightly notorious reputation?”

Khushi looked at him with a lost expression which was understandable given the absolute randomness of his question. Then her eyes fell on Arnav whose expression was enough to fill the blanks for her. Her lips twitched in the same way they always had when Aakash had fooled around in office countless times in the past.

“No, but I’m sure you’ve already made yourself better informed on that front.”

Lavanya shot Aakash an incredulous expression.

“We’re heading for the hotel to get fresh. Then we can meet with the lawyer around noon,” Arnav said, addressing Khushi. “You want to shift to the hotel with us?”

Khushi looked discomforted. She wished to ask them to stay back, freshen up and have breakfast there at the house. But then remembered that she wasn’t really in a position to play host, not when she herself felt no less than an unwelcome guest in the place. She thought for a moment, and then shook her head. “No, you go ahead. I have something to do before I can leave. I’ll meet you straight at the lawyer’s place, and then we can plan forward from there.”

Arnav didn’t argue, but gave an understanding nod in response. Both Lavanya and Aakash were keenly observing the exchange, and it was clear from the way Arnav and Khushi were being around each other, that something had shifted between them within the space of a day. Arnav seemed more relaxed, but his eyes on Khushi had a visibly observant look in them. Khushi looked a little dazed and flustered, which, Lavanya thought to herself, was a marked improvement from the raw hurt and rage that had possessed her the previous night. She would talk to Khushi soon, she resolved, knowing full well that she’d have to be careful. If her guess was right, Khushi hadn’t gotten much time herself to process what she now knew. Lavanya, on the other hand, had seen it coming for a while now.

“Okay, see you then,” she extended a hand, and squeezed Khushi’s arm lightly. “You take care.”

When Aakash and Lavanya had left, Arnav turned to face Khushi. It was as if they’d picked up from where they had left earlier that morning, in the way that awareness and that all too familiar pull settled between them.

“I’ll pick you up when you’re ready,” he said, after a moment’s quiet between them. “Let me know, and then we can leave together.”

“I can just take a cab—” she began, but then let it go when she saw the look on his face.  “Fine…I’ll give you a call.”

“Good… I’ll see you then?”

She nodded.

When he turned to leave, Khushi felt that same restlessness that had begun to seize her whenever he took his leave from her, or whenever she had to walk away from him. That immediate sense of loss that she had felt when he had withdrawn his hand from hers that morning, was a lingering feeling that seemed to resurface at will.

“Arnav!” she called out, when he had walked a little way down the corridor. He immediately turned around.

Khushi looked blank for a second, before she said, “Text me when you reach.”

There was a pause, where Arnav looked confused for a moment. Khushi had said the first thing that her mind had offered, and now seemed to realize that he was just going to a nearby hotel and not on some long expedition.

 “I mean,” she quickly added, “The hotel’s not far, I know. But this way I’ll have an idea of when you’ve reached. So I’ll know. I mean not that I should, or have to know. It’s just that the city is new for you— But of course, there’s Google Maps….And you came all the way from Delhi so of course…you’ll manage. It’s just the time thing, you never know with the traffic…Although it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. Anyway, if you text I’ll know. But if you aren’t able to that’s fine.”

It was excruciating to have to listen to herself while she spoke, fully aware that once again, she was rambling in front of him – a remarkable talent that she seemed to have developed over the past several weeks and that seemed to flourish exclusively in his presence. The mortifying explanation, however, seemed to be having quite the opposite effect on Arnav, who was now looking at her with unmistakable amusement in his eyes and with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He looked positively pleased by the passing second, even though he made a chivalrous gesture to hide it with an idle scratch of a finger on his forehead.

“I’ll text you when I’ve reached,” he said finally, and for a moment he looked reluctant to leave himself. His mind teetered on the verge of reconsidering plans, and his feet almost turned to walk right back to where she stood.

But he left eventually, and unlike the way he had stepped into the house, this time he walked out into the bright morning sunshine with the lingering ghost of a smile on his face.

Khushi watched him leave and the embarrassed flush on her face took some time to die. Then she realized that she was now alone, and had some things to take care of before she could leave.

Turning around, she walked her way slowly back to her room, where the small duffel bag she had brought with her still sat on the table. Next to it, were a bunch of keys looped into a keychain that at first glance missed her notice, but soon struck as familiar. She picked it up and found the keys to her cupboards jingling from the resin disc with preserved flowers within and an embossed gold ‘K’ in the center – a gift from her Buaji. She smiled in happiness, but then a wave of longing washed over her, as it so often does when the memory of losing a loved one revisits. She ran her finger absentmindedly across the surface of the keychain, sounds and echoes from happier times spent in that very room echoing inside her ears. She needed to visit Buaji’s room, she realized, and then she might find herself at home in one corner of the large house after all.

Khushi was lost in her thoughts for quite a long while, and it was when her phone pinged with a text from Arnav that her glazed eyes blinked and she snapped out of her thoughts. A crease appeared on her forehead as she put down the keys and picked her cellphone. Surely, it was too soon for Arnav to already have reached? She swiped the screen, and his message flashed before her eyes.

Horrible traffic.

Two words. And the smile that had left her face came back, as a small, inaudible laugh escaped her lips. And this time, it stayed.

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A/N: Hello friends! I’ve been away on a family holiday, and therefore away from writing. Back to it now. I figured it was better to keep putting updates in installments like these than wait for a hundred thousand word document to dump on you all at once. Thank you for the love you gave to the previous chapter, I’m truly grateful for it. If nothing else, this story shall always remain special for all the love it has sent my way (or…Arnav’s way. But I’ll seize it from him, thank you very much.)

Hope everyone’s been doing well. Lots of love ❤