CHAPTER 6
VIKRAM
Maahi and Shyam have finally left, and now I have Daadi to myself. But instead of the conversation I've been pushing for, she's preoccupied with some jewelry, delaying me further.
“Daadi, you said we would talk after they left,” I prod impatiently.
“Yes, Vikram, I remember.” She beckons me into her room, showing me an array of intricate, traditional pieces. “How do you like these?”
I give the jewelry a cursory glance before meeting her gaze again. “They're beautiful. Are they yours?”
A proud smile curves her lips. “No, I bought them for Maahi. She'll be married soon - if I don't prepare her wedding, who will?”
The mere thought of Maahi getting married makes me inexplicably uneasy again.
“You know, Vikram, when I first brought Maahi into this house, she was so naive and shy...” Daadi's wistful tone draws me back.
“Submissive,” I interject, recalling the very first time I laid eyes on her.
It was one such vacation of mine in India. I had invited all my old school friends at Ratna Mahal and were having a small get together. I was hardly 16. Daadi had told me already we had another member in the family now who will stay with her forever. I didn’t like that fact but didn’t bother to know about that new member either. I was with my friends having Samosas and soft drinks when I saw a girl.. a few years younger to me, watching us from behind a pillar. Her dove-eyes were hard to ignore. When she realized I saw her, she hid behind that pillar hoping I would ignore. But I was always a curious kid. I strode to her and pulled her out. She shivered as I gripped her wrist.
“You are stalking me!” I said. It wasn’t a query but a declaration. Knowing I was a handsome boy and girls drooled me everywhere I went, I thought she was one of them.
“I wasn’t,” she replied keeping her gaze down.
“I hate lies.” My voice softened when I realized how pale her face turned by my accusations.
“I am not lying. I was leaving for my room when I heard you boys.”
“Oh, so you were eavesdropping. Should I tell Daadi? She will not be impressed by it.”
I didn’t mean to do that but I enjoyed her state. She was cold in my grip and my recently developed hormones were burning my body all over. I instantly felt attracted to this little girl which was sinful. We were still teens. But that instant, I knew I wanted her. I wanted to hug her. Kiss her even if she let me.
“Leave me.” She wriggled in my hold, breaking my chain of sinister thoughts.
“Only on one condition.”
She looked at me as if she was afraid of me already.
“Do 10 sits-ups.”
“Sit-ups?”
“Yes. For eavesdropping.”
Her face turned paler again. I didn’t mean to make her more uncomfortable. But before I could, she held her ears and began the sit-ups. And God knows how innocent she looked as she promptly completed them and ran away before I could get a hold of her again.
“Submissive?” Daadi's voice shatters the heated memory like a bucketful of ice water.
Shit...I shouldn't have spoken that word aloud.
“Did you trouble her in your childhood?”
I shake my head, unwilling to confess any more of that scorching first encounter. “You always thought I was the troublemaker, didn't you?”
“Because you were, Vikram!” Daadi laughs. “Always getting into fights, never obeying your teachers or elders.”
“If you expect me to obey teachers who tormented students over incomplete homework, then no, I'm still not guilty,” I counter with a smirk.
She watches me carefully for a long beat. “You were a fighter, yes - a natural leader who stood up for your friends. But your father was afraid you'd become an uncontrollable rowdy boy. That's why they never let you remain here long.”
My smile fades at the faint rebuke. “I'm glad they didn't,” I mutter, then instantly regret it as hurt flashes in Daadi's eyes. “No, I didn't mean that. Look at me now - I'm sophisticated, mature. I don't lose my temper or start fights anymore. I'm the captain of my own ship.”
She nods, seemingly mollified by my reassurances, and I seize the opportunity to finally broach the subject weighing on me. “Can we return to the main topic now? Who owns the Devaki Estate, and why did you sell it? That was our ancestral property - Dad or I should have inherited it.”
“Vikram.” Daadi cuts me off, gripping my arm intently. “That property belonged solely to your grandfather. It was his personal gift to me on our twenty-fifth anniversary. We had so many dreams for that land...”
She trails off, lost in nostalgic memory for a long moment. Swallowing hard, I give her a gentle shake to recapture her focus. “Even with all those wonderful memories, you still sold it off?”
“I didn't sell it,” she insists, coming back to herself. “I gifted it to someone.”
I gape at her, utterly blindsided. “Gifted it? Daadi, that property is massive - worth millions! Who could you possibly gift that kind of fortune to?”
“Even if it were priceless, I would have done the same,” she replies serenely. “No one, not even your father, has the right to question what I did with the Devaki Estate. Your grandfather left you and Vanraj plenty - you'll have everything eventually. But that land was always solely mine to bestow as I chose.”
Her words slice deep, shattering the sense of entitlement I didn't realize I harbored. Of course she's right...who am I to demand an inheritance that was never mine to begin with?
Reining in my wounded pride with an unsteady exhale, I meet her gaze steadily. “As your grandson, don't I at least deserve to know who you gifted it to?”
Daadi's expression clouds over with visible confusion. She doesn't want to tell me - that much is clear. But I have to know, even if it means resorting to my backup plan.
“Why does it matter now?” she evades. “It's been given away already. What's done is done.”
“The name, Daadi,” I press, undeterred. “I want to know who holds that honored place now.”
For a long moment, I think she'll refuse. Then, chin lifting with trademark pride, she levels me with her piercing stare.
“Maahi. I gave the Devaki Estate to her.”
And just like that, my hands fist at my sides as that unrelenting obsession blazes through me once more, scorching everything in its path.