Chapter 23
R achanna brought her car to a halt before a large, majestic building. The security guard saluted them before opening the door.
Anirudh whistled. “Wow! Samay was rich!”
Rachanna sighed. “I know.”
“What’s with the sigh?” He asked, as Rachanna drove along the winding lane leading to the house.
“People say I married him for money...”
“For this much money, I would have married him.”
She glared at Anirudh. He laughed. “Chill! I am just kidding.”
“How can you joke at a time like this? I am dying of fright and suspense,” said Rachanna as she parked her car.
“Hence the humour,” said Anirudh, alighting from the car.
They walked towards the house that was a large, white, majestic structure. It was surrounded by a large garden with a neatly cut lawn and pruned bushes.
“How did Samay live in a flat after living here?” Anirudh asked.
She frowned. “Our house is a penthouse. It has two floors. Four bedrooms. A large terrace…”
“Still…” replied Anirudh, shrugging. “Nothing can compare to this!”
“Are you kidding me? This only looks good. It is a maintenance nightmare. If I lived in a house like this, my full-time job would be to supervise the maintenance staff. No, thank you! I would rather work and live a more productive life.”
Anirudh laughed. “I agree. I thought you would be jealous…”
“Oh! I can be jealous and still not want to trade places with them…”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, there was no question of us moving here. We wanted to live separately after our marriage. And since he was sick, I insisted on getting a smaller house. In fact, I would have been very happy in a simple 2-bedroom. So that I could take care of him easily. But Samay…” she said, shaking her head. “Our penthouse was the most he could downgrade.”
“That does seem like a significant downgrade. I cannot believe that this is where Asmee spends every other weekend. Such huge gardens. I can imagine her running and rolling around in here. How is she not complaining when she has to come back to your apartment?”
She shrugged. “Truth be told…she does not like it here very much.”
“Really? Why?” Anirudh asked, as they ascended the stairs to the house.
“All her best toys are at our house. And all her friends are there.”
“Aah! She feels lonely here.”
“My in-laws do not let her feel lonely. They take her out wherever she wants. They treat her and spoil her rotten in those two days. So, it kind of compensates for her to not see her friends for those two days.”
“Ha-ha. Looks like she only misses her friends and not you.”
She rolled her eyes. “As if she will miss me. She is actually very happy to be without me. No one to insist she eats only healthy food. No one to ask her to study. She actually looks forward to being without me. I think that is one of the significant attractions of this place.”
Anirudh laughed. They entered the large living room.
“Wow!” Anirudh exclaimed as he entered the house. The house made a football field look small. It had huge couches, an expansive chandelier, ceiling-to-floor windows, Italian marble statues and a plethora of paintings arranged artistically around the room.
He whispered to her, “This is like a football field. How do they talk to each other from one end of the living room to the other?”
“They use their mobiles,” replied Rachanna, giggling.
An elderly couple descended the curved staircase. The man was tall, lean and had a thick crop of fully white hair. His eyes were sharp and Anirudh noticed a similarity with Samay’s. The lady was short, stocky, and stylishly dressed in a pink salwar kameez and pearls. When the lady’s gaze fell on Anirudh, her smile faltered. But only for a couple of seconds. She quickly smiled again to cover up as she approached them.
“You did not get Asmee?”
“She had her guitar class and I…we…we wanted to talk to you. This is Anirudh. He lives in our apartment. Anirudh, these are my in-laws. Ranveer and Menaka.”
They all shook hands and settled on the couch. After the initial pleasantries were done, Rachanna began with the difficult conversation.
“Actually… I have actually decided to… I mean, we are planning to…” began Rachanna, wringing her hands.
She stammered and stuttered and yet, her in-laws did not offer any help. Neither with words nor with looks of encouragement, though they clearly understood what was happening. They looked at her stoically.
“…to get married,” finished Rachanna as she flushed heavily.
They looked at each other and then turned to face Anirudh.
“What do you do?” Ranveer asked.
“I am going to start a football academy for kids,” replied Anirudh. Then, he laughed. “More like ‘catch them when they are young’ kind of a thing.”
Both her in-laws looked at Rachanna in shock. “Going to?”
“He…he had a company. He recently sold his shares and…”
“I have a lot of money, if that is what you are worried about,” revealed Anirudh. “A football academy is the next phase in my career.”
Both of them turned and glared at Rachanna, who flushed. “He is exploring his options right now…”
“I am rich enough. I am not marrying your daughter-in-law for her money,” explained Anirudh further.
“How can we be sure of that?” Menaka asked. “Samay did leave quite a bit…”
“I am returning everything,” interjected Rachanna.
“What?” Menaka asked, shocked.
“We…we are returning everything. Everything that Samay left in my name and in Asmee’s name…we are returning it. The fixed deposits. The stock. The land in Mumbai. The houses here. The shops in the shopping complex in…”
“Is this your way of saying we are no longer a part of your life? Or Asmee’s life?” Menaka asked.
“No! No! Of course not. I will still be a part of your family. And so will Asmee. She is your granddaughter, and she always will be. Nothing can change that. Not this marriage or anything else in this world. Asmee will continue to spend every other weekend with you. I am just saying that I would like it very much for Anirudh to be a part of this family too.”
“The aspiring sportsman?” Ranveer remarked with scorn.
“Look! I get you don’t like me,” started Anirudh.
“You got that right,” murmured Ranveer.
Anirudh controlled his anger and continued, “Well, I don’t care if you like me or not. Because you are my wife’s in-laws. Not even mine. You don’t have to like me. It only matters that Rachanna and Asmee like me. I will survive without you both liking me. It is only because Rachanna said how much you meant to her that I agreed to come and meet you…”
“She is not your wife yet.”
“And she is not your daughter, either,” shot back Anirudh.
There was a tense silence. Then Menaka said in a low voice, “You can never replace our son. Never.”
Anirudh sighed. He said gently, “I don’t intend to. I am just trying to share the rest of my life with Rachanna. And I will try to be the best stepdad to Asmee. That is all. I am not looking at replacing Samay. I am not even trying.”
Menaka looked slightly gratified.
Anirudh continued, “Samay will always be Asmee’s dad and the one she looks up to. Not me. I will always be the stepdad.”
She nodded.
“So, you don’t have a job?” Ranveer asked.
Anirudh rolled his eyes. “What is it with parents and jobs? No, I don’t have a job. I am planning to have a career and not a traditional job.”
“What you have is not a job. It is more of a hobby.”
“It is not a hobby. I am going to do it professionally. What exactly is the difference between what I am doing and a traditional job? I earn money, I will be spending a major part of my life doing that work…”
“But there will be no one to oversee you. You report to no one.”
“Yes!” Anirudh exclaimed. “And that looks like a major advantage to me!”
“There is nothing to motivate you.”
“There is something called self-motivation. And it comes naturally when you love what you are doing.”
There was silence for a few moments.
“I don’t know what you expect out of us, Rachanna. Do you hope to get our blessings with just an introduction?” Menaka asked.
“I am crazy about Rachanna and she loves me, too. What more do you want? Do you expect her to stay single for the rest of her life?” Anirudh asked.
Rachanna placed her hand over his to calm him down. Anirudh kept quiet. Her in-laws saw the gesture. There was something in their eyes that Rachanna could not understand.
“I hope you have given it enough thought. You have a daughter…” said Menaka.
“Ma, I don’t expect you to give your blessings in just one meeting. Get to know him first. He is an amazing guy. I love him. And more than that, I trust him. I trust him with my life. I trust him with Asmee. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I want you both at my wedding not as my in-laws but as my parents.”
There was silence again.
“I would also like to transfer the properties to you…”
Ranveer shook his head. “That is out of the question. Samay wanted you both to have them. You were his family.”
Rachanna lowered her head. Then, she composed herself and looked at her in-laws. “I am sorry. But I have no need for it all. Neither does Asmee.”
“Why? Why are you doing it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want it. I married Samay because I loved him. Him! And not his wealth.”
“Nobody is saying that.”
“I think a lot of people are.”
“We don’t care what people say. Samay wanted you both to have it all. He wanted to give Asmee enough advantages in life.”
Rachanna shook her head. “I am sorry. I have to return it. We just need your love. Not your money.”
“It is not our money. It is Samay’s. And he wanted his family to have it.”
Rachanna shook her head. “It does not feel right.”
Menaka sighed. “Samay anticipated this…”
Rachanna looked at her, surprised. “Anticipated what?”
“This! He said that there will come a day when you will try to give back everything he left you. He said that there will come a day when you will say exactly what you are saying now.”
Rachanna was confused. “How? I…I don’t understand.”
“Wait a minute,” replied Menaka before she went inside.
“Samay asked me to give you this when you tried to transfer your properties to our name,” Menaka said when she came back with an ornate box that was locked with a numerical code.
“What is in this?” Rachanna asked.
“We don’t know. He made us promise not to look inside. And we did not know the code either.”
“I don’t know the number code, either. He never said anything about this to me,” said Rachanna, holding the box carefully in her hands.
“I don’t know. Maybe he thought you could guess…” offered Ranveer.
Menaka said, “Go through the contents of this box and we can talk about everything later. We don’t know what is in there but I believe it is something very important. Else, why would Samay entrust it to us?”
She turned to Anirudh and smiled. “We will talk about it later. For now, please join us for dinner.”
Anirudh looked at Rachanna, who nodded. Anirudh, taking the cue, nodded back at Menaka. And they all proceeded to have a slightly friendlier but mostly awkward dinner.