Chapter 3 #2
“After you,” Raviraj Jethmalani held an arm out in front of Aditi, his voice soft and polished. In which version of multiverse did Chandni Aunty think that this man could not patao a woman?
“Advocate Doshi,” Zubin got to his feet, holding his hand out. Aditi took it firmly, leaving it just as quickly. “Mr. Jethmalani.” He offered his hand to the old man, and he shook with an equally firm grip.
“My name is Zubin Daruwala and I am leading Mrs. Jethmalani’s case. Please, have a seat.”
Raviraj Jethmalani walked around the table to take the chair right across from his wife’s. Aditi sat down beside him. Zubin took his place next to his client, and noted the old man looked anywhere but at his wife. His wife, though, was throwing daggers at him with her eyes.
“Before we begin this meeting,” Zubin said. “I…” he looked at Aditi, “we, would like to disclose something to both of you.”
Both pairs of older eyes came to him. Zubin tipped his chin at her, and she nodded.
“Advocate Doshi and I are married, we share a home and a life…”
“Oh my!” Chandni Aunty’s manicured hands went to her mouth. “Dear, you are Aditi?” She looked at him, then back at her. “Aditi, no?”
Aditi nodded, offering a polite, professional smile.
“I have heard about you so much, and your tiny mini. How old is she? Five, no? Zubin told me she is such a dancer like me and looks just like you, I told him to come to the park and bring her also but she doesn’t wake up early at all, no? But I also go in the evening on the weekends…”
Zubin cleared his throat — “Uhhh, yes.” He blinked at Chandni Aunty. “We will bring her one day, hmm?”
Chandni Aunty nodded, looking overstimulated.
“Coming back to the topic at hand, as I was saying, Advocate Doshi and I keep our personal and professional lives separate. However, if either of you have a problem, we can address it right now.”
Mr. Jethmalani eyed him introspectively. Then turned his eyes to Aditi. “Have you fought cases against each other before?”
“Yes,” Aditi answered.
“How many?”
“One.”
“What was it about?”
“A criminal case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.”
It wasn’t culpable homicide but a naive Sardarji helping a drunk Bollywood hero who had passed out on a footpath.
His car just happened to have veered on it too, but not over the hero.
Zubin had proved it. But he kept his mouth shut now.
If he opened that can of worms, there was no way he and Doshi would stop.
“Who won that case?” Mr. Jethmalani asked.
Aditi’s jaw ticked. “Advocate Daruwala did.”
“Aaah!” Chandni Aunty clapped her hands, looking evilly at her husband. Zubin did not need the gloating, especially not when Mr. Jethmalani seemed on the fence about Aditi. One, he could not miss this chance, and two, and most importantly, he could not have her lose out on this case.
“If you have an issue, Mr. Jethmalani, I will bow out.” Zubin declared.
“No! Why you? Not you. You are staying, and I don’t mind Aditi staying also.” Chandni Aunty fought. “People who measure people on the scale of thermometers can delete their lawyer if they are not sure about their case.”
“What?” Zubin frowned.
“His business.” She scoffed. “Making thermometers and barometers and glass equipments and all that.”
“Which are going to pay for your ridiculous demands,” Mr. Jethmalani pointed, for the first time falling to her bait.
“Decision is here then!” Chandni Aunty pointed at him, half out of her chair. “He said he is ready to pay for my demands.”
“Chandni Aunty…”
“What is court’s need now?”
“Sit down, Chandni!” Her husband yelled.
“Don’t shout at me!”
“Then behave like a sane adult woman which you clearly aren’t.”
“You dare so much…” she began to rise, looking physically ready to tear into him. Zubin intervened, getting to his feet — “Chandni Aunty, please…”
“No way, Zubin. No way I am sitting quietly when he talks to me like this. Who do he thinks he is? You, listen here,” she pointed a red-painted finger at him and snapped — “You asked for this meeting. Not I. I missed my Bollywood dance class to come here.”
Raviraj Jethmalani threw his head in his hand. “This was a mistake.” He looked at Aditi. “You thought we could sit and talk? Like this? It is impossible. We need somebody with authority to control her.”
“Don’t talk about me like I am not here!”
Raviraj Jethmalani got to his feet, not even looking at his wife — “Advocate Doshi, there is no other way but the court.” With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving the chill of the AC and the silence of the air.
Zubin looked at Aditi, who was staring at Chandni Aunty with ill-concealed dislike.
Zubin did not like her much either at this point.
“Advocate Doshi…” he started.
Aditi was on her feet. “Advocate Daruwala,” she set her palms on the desk in front of him. “If you agree to a meeting on behalf of your client next time, ensure that they are on the same page.”
“We were ready to talk.”
“Clearly.”
“Advocate Doshi, this is a divorce case; emotions are involved.”
“Not on my client’s side.”
“I quote ‘Then behave like a sane adult woman which you clearly aren’t.’” Zubin reminded her. “The poison is not going to end any time soon.”
“Then it better come out in court, where an authority is clear…”
Ek number, tuzhe dimple, haaye chaal shaky shaky hai…
They both whirled to the source of the loud blare.
Chandni Aunty was watching reels on her phone, trying to emulate the hook step with her free hand. Zubin’s eyes came back to Aditi and now she was openly fuming.
“Uhh…” Zubin looked around, at a loss. “Chandni Aunty, volume, please.”
“You want to hear?” She turned the volume up.
“No, volume down, Chandni Aunty.”
“Huh? Oh yes yes,… but this song is so nice. See… yeh paayje take it take it take it…”
Zubin swallowed, without even looking at her, seeing Aditi’s barometer rise. Fuck, he had bitten a morsel too big to chew. Or swallow. Was this a mistake?
Stupid, stupid, Daru.
Aditi stormed around the table and ran into him as he pushed out of his chair. “What?” She whisper-screamed, all spitfire. And the momentary doubt in his mind cleared.
“You look familiar.”
“You look deranged.”
In spite of everything, Zubin smirked, running a hand down his shirt, bowing his head. “See you in court.”
Aditi glanced at Chandni Aunty, still high on reels, then back at him — “Oh, you will, Daru.”