CHAPTER 7
Isha’s phone was ringing at a distance and she reached for it in her groggy state.
“Hi,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Aman said, making her smile. She had barely slept the previous night, worried she might have a nightmare again. She didn’t know when she fell asleep but it must be pretty late in the morning if Aman was calling.
She sat up and looked at the clock. It was past mid-morning. “No, you didn’t wake me up.”
“You are such a good liar,” he chuckled.
“Well, you did me a favor by calling. It’s almost eleven in the morning.” She sat up resting her back on the head board. “Did you just get back home?”
“Yes, I stayed late at work because I don’t have my girlfriend around to hang out with for dinner.”
At his words, she felt a twist in her chest. They weren’t in a traditional relationship but they enjoyed each other’s company. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Hey, I’m kidding.” He let out a chuckle. “Ideally, I should be there with you but—”
“Aman, I know you’re in the middle of a merger.” She paused processing her feelings. “I need to be here to sort things out once in for all.”
“You should take all the time you need. These are difficult situations.” She was glad even the practical guy thought it was good for her to stay back.
Isha talked to Aman a bit longer before hanging up the call. She felt good after talking to him as he even encouraged her to hang out with the kids. Just the right amount of encouragement she needed.
He was just perfect!
Isha told herself that she would do her best to control the situation. And that meant she had to get over her reflexes to walk in the opposite direction when she caught sight of the infants.
Determined to make some progress with her situation, she went straight to shower. Shortly after she went down the stairs, toward the sounds of screaming and squealing children. As she got closer, she saw the two nannies looking like they had their hands full, literally.
One kid was pulling the other twin’s hair. That explained the combination of screaming and squealing.
As if on instinct, she said, “Stop it.”
Isha was as shocked as the two kids who froze and were now looking at her. Just as she thought, all she needed to do was talk to them like adults, both kids started to cry. She cringed at the sound of it and even as the nannies tried to calm them, they were inconsolable.
Annoyance soon turned into frustration as she saw the nannies looking helpless. What did she say that they were throwing such a tantrum?
“Take them outside,” she told the nannies and they scrambled as they took them to the patio. Even as the kids were being taken outside, she noticed both of them were looking right at her. Like they were upset with her for asking them to stop.
Not possible. These are infants, it’s impossible for them to have such emotions. Could they?
Moments later, they seemed to have calmed down. Feeling somewhat brave, she walked toward the open patio doors. She stood by the entrance to the outdoors and watched the kids play.
Somewhat glad that the kids were calmed, she wandered into the living room. She looked at the large wall with many pictures. One picture caught her eye and she approached. It was an old picture and she had forgotten that picture.
It was her picture with her parents and brother, holding up the champions trophy. A small smile formed on her lips when she saw the pride in her parent’s eyes and the affection in the way her brother held her. It was right after she won a state level Tennis tournament.
She gently ran her fingers over the picture like she could connect to the joy from the picture. Tennis gave her so much joy. No, playing tennis with her father gave her immense thrill. And after her parent’s accident, she could not get herself to look at a tennis racket.
She cringed when she felt the darkness descend on her and she shook her head. How much ever she hated every word of Ashok said, he was right.
“Stop complaining and do something about it! Go after the man who you think was the reason behind your parent’s accident. Do something about helping me with the company your brother and I started. And the kids are not just my responsibility!”
“I hate it that he is right,” she let out a growl under her breath.
Now that the seed was planted in her mind, she had to do something about it.
The possibility of finding anything on the contract that was written over a decade ago was out of the question.
Even if she did find it, how would she proceed?
She would need the evidence that would solidify the case if she could even pursue it.
Why was she making up a bunch of excuses?
With that thought, she went back upstairs. The kids were better off on their own, playing with their nannies.
She hurriedly opened her laptop and paused, taking in a deep breath. She huffed out another breath and typed her father’s name on the search bar. A few references of his education, his patents and some other links to lawyers.
She felt the burn build up when she remembered overhearing her father tell her mother about how the CEO of the larger corporation was shutting his case down by buying out all the top lawyers who could help him win.
Her father had to finally work with a person who was a fresh law graduate with no experience.
Isha pressed her fingers into her temple trying to remember the name of the young lawyer her father had hired.
She had seen the guy stop by their house many times but could not remember his name.
She read the material online. The deeper she dug the more she got to know about the company that bought out her father’ s company.
Just in the last decade, that big corporation grew hundred-fold just with the machinery her father had built. The patent that was listed online indicated that it was still his own which meant the company had to be paying royalties at minimum.
She didn’t know how much time had passed but her research was interrupted by the commotion on the lower floor of the house. It took her a moment to realize that the kids were wailing in unison and she also heard a male voice.
A moment later, she knew it was Ashok.
What was he doing in the house in the middle of the day?
Isha sensed something was off and headed downstairs to find the two kids on their high chairs and the entire kitchen area was a mess. Baby food was strewn all over and the nannies and other staff of the house were cleaning up after what seemed like the kids’ mess.
And the two kids were screaming on top of their lungs and Ashok was just not able to console them. It was worse than the melt down they had earlier that day and it was getting worse by the minute. She wanted to scream on top of her lungs to drown their voices out but she refrained.
It’s a good thing she had decided to never have kids of her own. Not after how she felt abandoned and alone after her parents’ accident, even though her aunt and uncle showered unconditional love over her.
Not wanting to be chastised by Ashok for not taking responsibility, she walked toward the chaos. He picked up one kid out of the high chair and glanced her way when she got closer.
Was he giving her a stink eye for not handling the situation? He better not.
He picked up one kid and managed to calm them down. She dreaded the idea of her picking the other one up from the chair. Unsure of how to proceed, she looked in the way of the nannies who were busy cleaning up the mess on the floor along with the other staff.
As if Ashok sensed her apprehension, he glanced her way before holding out the child in his arms. But the kid was not happy. Isha had not heard the kids talk but she swore the infant was saying, now repeatedly.
Ashok looked taken aback. “Vaish, don’t be a bad girl. Go to Isha auntie, please.”
Something about the way he spoke to the kid or how he held a child whose clothes had baby food all over while he wore a dress shirt.
The very sight set off something within her, a sense of awe that she could not explain but she pushed it away to focus all her senses on the kid she was about to hold.
She awkwardly wrapped her arms around the kid who seemed to be calm. Her shirt got some of the food from the kid’s clothes but she was glad the kids were somewhat quiet. She watched Ashok take the other child.
“Clean up the room, we will take care of the kids’ bath.”
He started walking toward the stairs and Isha followed, unsure what she was supposed to do.
Go with the flow. She reminded herself.
As they went up the stairs, she noticed Ashok converse with the infant in his arms. She had no idea kids so young could be spoken to like they were to a grown up.
“What got into you guys today?” He chuckled and added, “Whatever you do, don’t scare your nannies away.”
To her shock the infant in her arms responded by saying something that she didn’t understand. Then the kid in Ashok’s arms said something that was more garble.
Isha had to be imagining because the two kids were taking turns to make random sounds that she could not understand. As they reached the top level of the house and made their way to the bathroom where there was a large tub, Isha noticed the kids had gone silent.
Maybe the idea of being in the water had calmed them. She waited holding the infant in her hands as Ashok put the kid in his arms in the water before reaching to take the other twin from her arms.
She was relieved to have the kid be taken off her hands but stood awkwardly unsure what else she was supposed to do next. She wanted to change out of her clothes but stayed put.
“Now what?” Ashok said, taking her by surprise.
What was she supposed to do?
It took her a moment to realize Ashok was looking at the kids and to her surprise the twins were looking right at her like she had taken their favorite toy away from them.
“Why are they looking at me like that?” she blurted, feeling rather uncomfortable with large round eyes staring at her.
“Beats me.”
One of the twins finally made a sound. And then the other kid made the exact same sound but she didn’t know what they were saying.
Isha looked at Ashok who had a smile on his face.
“What are they saying?” She had this weird feeling that the kids were saying something to her although it was impossible for the kids to even communicate with her.
“Who said that?” Ashok asked, looking at the kids.
And then again with those roly poly eyes they looked straight at her.
“What?” She shrugged looking at Ashok who seemed amused. “What does that mean?” She insisted on looking at him before looking at the kids.
He shrugged and that annoyed her. “Explains all the tantrums. It’s because of what you said to them.”
“What did I say?” It was beyond her that these kids could be tattling on her, a fully grown adult.
“Stop it.”
Isha was shocked to hear one of the twins say it and she did not imagine it. She had said that to them earlier in the day when they were pulling on each other’s hair.
“I did…because they were pulling on each other’s hair.” She felt judged under those twin puppy eyes.
Ashok just sat on the bathroom floor by the bath tub and looked at the kids. “All that drama for what your aunt said?”
Isha was alarmed as she didn’t know what had happened that day. Somewhere a bit of guilt prevailed since she was lost in her research on her father’s lawsuit from over a decade ago. “What happened?”
“Doesn’t matter, you’ll need to apologize.” His words were nonchalant as he looked at Isha.
“Excuse me?” For what?
He stood up, hands on his waist. “You said the S word.”
“What nonsense? I can’t ask them to—” she lost her words when she realized she was about to say the frowned upon word again.
Ashok threw his hands up. “Not my rules. It was what their parents had taught them.”
She looked at the two infants looking at her expectantly. “And you’re saying they will know when I apologize?”
He shrugged.
“And if I don’t?”
One of the twins let out a wail as if in protest and that shocked her. “And they actually understand when we talk?”
He only nodded.
When did kids get so smart?
“And the mess they created downstairs was because of what I said this morning?” She was appalled by the behavior. “And that’s okay?”
Ashok shrugged again making her want to yell, ‘Stop doing that’ but refrained.
She was about to say something about how the kids’ bad behavior should not be condoned .
But if they aren’t going to be her problem, why bother.
The nannies had also made their way to the bathroom to give the kids a bath.
“Fine, I won’t say that again. I’m sorry.”
The evil little twins actually smirked at her and she was sure she had not imagined it.
With that she took a note of how much she needed to watch out for what she said or did around the twins and left the bathroom feeling like she was reprimanded by the rugrats for telling them to stop pulling on each other’s hair.
Game on, kiddos!