9 Chapter 9

Janani was lost.

She wandered around the huge mansion trying to find her way to the room allocated for her and little Advi.

It was pitch dark, and all the Hollywood horror movies Richa had forced her to watch over the years, started playing a screen roll through her head.

Why God? Why now? She groaned

She peeped into an open room and saw it dark and empty.

How is she going to find her way around.

Advi is alone in the room.

What if he wakes up and cries for her. How will she reach him

She had left her cell phone in the room too. So she can't even contact anyone.

Tomorrow, she will ask for a map of the place when she sees that arrogant Verma again.

"Miss Janani" she gasped in horror as she heard the voice and let out a breath of relief when she saw the same house help smiling at her.

"Oh thank God, you are here. I am lost" she said looking around the place

"It happens, Ms Janani. When I started working here three years ago, I used to get lost too. The place is too large" the other woman said

"Can you take me to my room, please Advise? Advi is alone there" she asked politely.

"Sure Ms Janani. This corridor leads to the staff quarters. I was just leaving. I will lead you to your room and will leave" the girl smiled

"Thank you so much, er, what's your name?" Janani asked

"Payal" the girl smiled politely. She must be in her mid twenties.

She was walking alongside Payal when she heard the loud screams of a child.

Advi!!!

Her heart stopped for a second at the agonising screams.

Then she realized it couldn't be Advi

It's a little girl!!

The screams only grew louder

Janani winced and looked at Payal

"Payal, who is that crying??"

Payal shot her a nervous smile

"It's Ava Ms Janani" she murmured, reluctantly

"Who's Ava?"

"Mr Verma's little girl. She is only three and is very high strung. She sometimes has these bad dreams. The nanny finds her difficult to manage sometimes"

Another nanny?

Mr Verma's little girl?

He has a daughter?

Why hadn't he told her?

If he has a little girl of three, why did he go for a damn surrogacy?

The screams intensified and Janani felt the tension rise in her

Surely ,someone is going to stop the child crying.

"So? A nanny looks after little Ava? Where is Ava's mother?" Janani asked in a tone as casual as she could manage.

Payal shot her a nervous smile, which she managed to compose quickly.

"Baby Ava's mother is not here Ms Janani"

"Right" Janani nodded her head to that information and told herself firmly that it is none of her business.

She had enough to deal with in her life without adding any more.

The screams grew more frantic and she clenched her jaw and gave up the fight.

She could no more leave a child screaming like that than she could walk naked through the halls of Verma Mansion

"Alright" she looked at Payal in exasperation and walked towards the direction where the screams came from.

"So? Since the mother isn't here, Mr Verma presumably cuddles the little girl when she is upset?" Janani asked

"Baby Ava is quite attached to her nanny"

"So her father, Mr Verma doesn't give her cuddles and kisses?" Janani asked frowning

How could she leave her little Advi in his care now?

"Ava is not much close to, er, her father. She just came to live here a few months ago" Payal admitted uncomfortably

"Ms Janani, you shouldn't go to her. She is in good hands" the house help said urgently as she saw Janani walking towards Ava's room.

"Really Payal? Does it really sound like she is in good hands? Well, it doesn't sound like that to me" Janani muttered

Without waiting for permission, she walked along the corridor until she located the sound and pushed open the door, her gaze immediately homing in on a little figure in the middle of a huge bed.

She looked round the huge room and found the two Verma brothers standing there looking on helplessly.

The child sobbed and screamed and a young woman tried to calm her.

The woman looks as warm as an iceberg.

"Give her a cuddle, will you" the words shot out of her mouth and she saw three pairs of eyes turning to look at her.

"She wouldn't let me cuddle. She keeps thrashing and kicking, it is impossible to cuddle" The nanny said defensively

The child's screams intensified and she drummed her hands and legs on the bed

"She is scaring herself. She needs to be cuddled" Janani said firmly ,slipping off her bunny slippers and sliding onto the bed.

It was the only way to reach the child

The bed was simply large

Who would assign a king sized bed for a three year old little girl?

Ofcourse, the answer is standing in front of her with a look of disbelief plastered across his face.

Having settled herself comfortably, Janani placed the baby monitor on the bedside table and scooped the child onto her lap and cuddled her close, ignoring the flailing arms and kicking.

She hugged her tightly and talked softly to her, singing nursery rhymes.

After long minutes of trying, little Ava gave a tired sob and sagged against Janani in exhaustion.

Janani let out a breath of relief.

"Oh my! That must have been a terrible dream" Janani murmured, stroking Ava's hair from her face with a gentle hand.

Her face was red and wet from crying and she looked utterly pathetic that Janani's heart went out to the child.

"Do you want to tell me about it, sweetie?" Janani asked softly

"Ghosts" the little girl hiccuped "and more ghosts"

Janani frowned and rocked her gently in her arms.

"And what were the ghosts doing??"

"Chasing me" she hiccuped again "They were going to eat me. Just like in the story"

Janani felt her shiver and tightened her grip

"Just like what story??" She asked softly

"Like the story nanny liddi told me" she looked at the young woman and shrank closer to Janani.

"I see" Janani said, glaring at the young woman looking at her with complete hatred.

"Nanny liddi told me if I talk to dada, ghosts will eat me" the little girl said as she snuggled closer for Janani's warmth

She heard a sudden intake of breath and looked up only to see the stricken look on Armaan's face.

Payal's words of the little girl not being close to her father came back to her mind.

Was the nanny manipulating the child all along?

"She has dreamed up all that. Give her to me" the nanny came forwards trying to take Ava away

"Get out" Janani whispered furiously

"She is my charge Miss. I can handle her" the nanny said

Janani turned around to look at Armaan

"Will you kick her out or do I have to do that??" She asked

The fury she saw in his eyes when he looked at the nanny was a warning for Janani

Cross him and you are dead!!

"Riddi Kapoor. Out" He said and walked out first.

Then she glanced around the room.

"Well, there are no ghosts here, but it’s pretty dark, isn’t it? What you need is a light" she said

"Nanny liddi says that lights are for babies. And that I am a big girl" she said in a small voice and Janani smiled.

"I like a light on at night. Do I look like a baby to you?"

The little girl stared at her with wide eyes and then shook her head.

"No. You look like a princess" she said with a shy smile

"Do you like princesses?" she nodded and Janani smiled.

"Alright Ava. I am going to tell you a different sort of story. My favourite story" she said beaming at the child

"About ghosts?" She asked, looking at her in fear

"Definitely not" Janani pulled a face just to show what she thought of that idea

"It's about a princess "

Ava's face brightened

"Is she pretty like you??" Ava asked

"Much prettier. Like princess Ava" Janani said poking the little girl's nose with a smile

Ava looked doubtful for a moment and then nodded.

She stuck her thumb in her mouth and looked up at Janani expectantly.

Armaan stood in the doorway of the room after firing the nanny with a negative reference so long that she wouldn't be able to find a job in the next decade.

His eyes zeroed in on the two figures lying on the bed ,both totally engrossed in the story. One telling it and one listening.

"And the prince said, ''Save me, save me' " Janani was saying in a soft voice "and so the princess climbed up the side of the building and handed him the key that she’d stolen from the guard."

Ava’s eyes were like saucers. "Did she kill the guard?"

"Kill?" Janani put a hand to her throat, horrified at the suggestion.

"Goodness, no! The princess was a very kind girl. She used far cleverer ways to get what she wanted."

Armaan gave a cynical smile.

Of course she did.

Wasn’t that what women always did?

A sword was much too direct for them. They used other, more devious means of getting their own way.

Like trying to fool the prince with a show of feminine innocence.

"Aren't princes supposed to save the princesses??" Ava asked doubtfully because all the fairy tale stories she had heard has the prince saving the princess.

"That's years and years ago. Nowadays princesses are the ones who saves the princes" Janani said beaming

Ava nestled closer to her, clearly enraptured by the story

"Did the princess in your story have a sword??" Ava asked

"The princess didn't like fighting" Janani said firmly, her brown eyes twinkling with laughter. "She used a water pistol."

A water pistol? Armaan struggled not to laugh along with her, his eyes still on the little girl and the woman who was cuddling her.

He had been intending to sort out the issue of Ava's nanny next day and had prepared himself mentally for a long and difficult night as he had already been informed about Ava's nightmares

Instead he found the child calm and happy and snuggled tightly in the arms of Janani Trivedi .

Surprise rippled through him.

This is one development he had not expected.

Blissfully unaware of his scrutiny, she was curled up on the bed, happy and relaxed, totally at ease with the child.

Against his will, Armaan's eyes roamed the soft curve of her breast and her rounded hips and he felt an inexplicable surge of lust.

Her hair flowed loose over her shoulders and she was still wearing that ridiculous set of pyjamas

He saw Aadesh standing there leaning against the wall as enraptured as Ava is.

Ava let out a small yawn.

"I like that story. The princess is very clever " she murmured, her eyes drifting shut and Janani shifted slightly so that she could pull the blanket over the child

She lay next to Ava, stroking her hair until she was sure his daughter was asleep.

Armaan frowned lightly as he observed her patience and gentleness with the child.

He was surprised by how easily she has built a relationship with the little girl within a ridiculously short space of time

Something he has failed to do in three months.

But then, the nanny was to be blamed for that!!

Women are manipulative, the cynical part of his brain pointed out.

The nanny had manipulated his daughter so that she would be dependent on her and that gave her access to his life for as long as she wanted.

And this woman here had already cast a magic spell on his daughter.

It was hard enough to separate his son from her, and to add his daughter too into that.

How had his life come to this?