Chapter-10

It was then time to come into the light of Ravi's conspiracy against me, or it might be said, his strike on me. Those days, I was busy establishing my business. Ravi was conspiring to uproot my daughter and me from his life. Even in my wildest dream, I had never thought that Ravi would give me a great shock, which would shake me from the inside and stump me entirely. But I was ready to counter his attack in all respects.

One day, Anurima rushed home in the wee hours of the morning. It seemed to see her as if she was waiting for the morning to break. She was so dishevelled that I could see her husband had dropped her here to drop the piece of news, which caused the separation of Ravi and me. My gut feeling always used to tell me that one day we would be separated no matter what. But I was not prepared for that sort of separation.

Anurima related to me that one of her cousins had paid a visit to her the previous evening. She had shown her the photo of the madam at whose house she worked in Bombay. Her madam was going to move to our city in a couple of months. I, even so, could not get what the reason behind her narrating the story to me at that time was. And I had business with all those things. But what she said to me after that just stumped me and blew my mind. I could not believe my ears. It was as if my ears had stopped working.

Her cousin, Madam, was none other than Ravi's first wife. Her name was Revati, and she had a son named Ravi, who was born before my marriage. Ravi used to keep going up and down, off and on. But see how dumb I was, it did not come across my mind at any point that he would have kept another family also in another city. Then they planned to get settled down there before long. After that discovery, I got the reason behind the sudden change in his temperament.

Yes, I could also remember that he even mentioned that morning that there was no benefit to living together under the same roof when no love existed between the two people. Then I could sense why Ravi could not find out that I was running the business without his consent. He was too engrossed in chalking out some other plan against me to take my daughters and me out of his house and life. It was true that my daughters and I also did not intend to stay with him further; even then, discovering the truth about his side made my heart feel heavy.

Anyway, I could not afford to waste my additional time repenting over my negligence and being overconfident. I could have felt I had a great crunch of time, and I needed to do many things to turn the situation in my favour. It was true that I had already made up my mind that I would no longer stay with him, and I was preparing myself accordingly.

But I was not aware that Ravi could go to any extent to cause harm to me, and I had ignored it. I committed a blunder by not trying to find out what was happening in his life to keep myself updated. I had no intention of being his victim. I was annoyed at myself how I could let anyone fool me for so long.

Although I did not feel shocked for long when she told me about his past, I was surprised and annoyed at myself more. Frankly speaking, if she were some other lady in my place, she would have indeed broken. But I knew I could not behave abnormally; otherwise, Ravi would not take much time to find out that something was suspicious.

Therefore, I gave full stop to the storm of my thoughts and asked Arunima to get back home as soon as possible before anyone else could find her there at that odd hour. After that, I gave her a handful of money and told her what she had to say if someone asked her why she was coming early in the morning. She rushed home quickly.

I restrained her from coming to work that day. I rushed to my bedroom as soon as she left. I lied down on the bed with Ravi as if nothing had happened. I closed my eyes and thought about what sort of character Ravi was. He did not let me know another part of his colourful life. I did not get any suggestions from anyone with whom I talked regarding it and took suggestions. I could not find anyone around me who could guide me on what should be the next course of my appropriate action right then.

My daughters were too small to understand the issue's complications, and I did not want to terrify them more. There was something, which was already perturbing them. I was thinking of all those things, and suddenly I fell asleep. After that, I got up when the alarm went off. I found Ravi had already got ready, and he was sitting in the chair beside me. Immediately, I sat on the bed. He was giving me a blank look.

He intimated that he had made up his mind to put both daughters into boarding school for the new session. It was unexpected news for me, but I did not react or question why he was desperate to separate them from me. I did not take much time to understand why he had made up that bloody plan. His motive was to separate me from my daughters forever. And he assigned me the job of preparing them somehow, going over there, and finishing their entire studies. I kept looking at him constantly while he was speaking.

It surprised me how foolish he thought I was. I felt like I had given him an excellent retaliation in one go, but at the other moment, I bit my lips and eased myself. I could not forget that committing one slight mistake in the state of impulse could put my daughter and me in danger. He told me,

"I am going to Darjeeling for a couple of days for some important work. It can take some more time there. Before I come, I want you to talk to them and convince them to go to boarding school.

As usual, my reply was all right. Ravi was perhaps in a bit of a hurry to go somewhere. I did not know where he was going, but yes, I was sure that he was not proceeding toward Delhi at that time because he was carrying a little luggage with him. I made some excuses to go to the bathroom and made a quick call to Anurima's husband, Hira. I requested him to follow Ravi's car without letting him know anything. He told me I kept him occupied for some more time so that he could reach there.

When I came out of the bathroom after making a call, Ravi was sitting at the dining table for breakfast, and he was in such a hurry that he did not mind serving food on his own. I went downstairs quickly and stood behind him. But my big task was to stop him at home as long as possible. I did not get how I made him spend some more time at home. So Hira got some time to hire a car and reach there. Suddenly, something popped into my mind. For the purpose of making his delay, I bumped into him to make the entire food drop onto his clothes.

He got so furious at me and gave me a hard rap on my face, but God knows how he stopped himself. I was terrified of my actions. He was in an atrocious mood because I spoiled his clothes and made him late. He went to the room straight with a foul mouth and retook a bath out of habit and got changed quickly. The staff had also cleaned up the mess on the table before returning and were waiting for him for breakfast. I just disappeared from there. And he was not expecting me there. He was so much in hurry that he did not understand it was necessary as well. He did not instruct us to take care of his daughters as he used to do. Come what may, I had never thought he would be so indifferent to his daughters. It was excruciating for me to see his sudden indifferent attitude toward my daughters.

That day, he was driving himself and I felt he was carrying more than enough just for a couple of days. To see his bags, I could guess, he had planned an outing for more than a week. And my gut feeling told me that he was not going there alone. His clothes were speaking, he was in a fun mood, and all his preparations told me he was all set to have a great time. My doubt was confirmed when my eyes fell on the cache of drinks, which included vodka.

My heart began to pound faster whenever I caught him doing some misdeed. I was always scared of what if he came to know from my face that I got about him something, which I should not have. And that time, I was a little more careful. I understood it well to pursue silence and keep reasonable control of my emotions. I could do something for my daughter and me. I had to turn his entire plot upside down without making him discover who was behind his misfortunes. I was a frail lady in his views. And that frail lady had promised herself she would not pardon him and let him go smoothly just like that no matter what.

As soon as his car departed from my sight, I went back to my room. I was aware if I rushed to my room, any of the staff could doubt me. And I wanted to play my game safely and successfully. I did not count on any of the staff but Anurima. However, I knew it; they were also not men of Ravi. They were rather more sympathetic to me. I still wanted to watch out. I could not call Hira and check about the advanced development in his actions because I only stopped him from carrying his mobile. At the same time, I was avoiding making a call to Arunima as well.

Hira was moving with every step, taking all the preventive measures. He was following Ravi from a 100-meter distance, so that Ravi could not doubt that someone was following him. Ravi stopped his car on the highway after ten kilometres. There, one man in his middle-aged was waiting for him. Ravi came out of his vehicle and touched his foot.

A brief conversation happened between them. After that, the middle-aged man handed over something in a white envelope. Most probably, it was a pad of notes. Hira did not click his photo, but yes, he immediately penned down the number of his car so he could trace him easily.

The aged man got into his car and moved his car in the other direction. Ravi also advanced down the highway, and Hira kept following him from behind. Then Ravi restrained his car again after 5- kilometre driving. There was already a girl standing there with her luggage on the edge of the road waiting for him. She kept her bags on the back seat without any delay, came forward, and sat next to Ravi inside the car, and then Ravi drove his vehicle straight away.

After that, the car stopped straight before Dhaba, in the place where Hira had to exhibit his skills. Without coming to someone's notice, he punctured the car carefully. He took a few photos of us having tea, laughing, and cuddling together. And eventually, he sat relaxed to see the consequence of his actions with a cup of hot tea. When Ravi discovered his car was punctured, he hurt his face terribly.

So, Hira came to know from their conversation that they were heading for some exotic resort called Nany, which was a further 50 kilometres away from there. He got it. There was no point in staying over here for any longer, and he moved toward the resort. He wanted to get over there before them. Working along with me for the previous six months had made him smart enough. It did not take much to get his room booked for three days.

Ravi somehow reached there by lunch. There, Hira discovered that Ravi had brought a lady along with him as his wife and they shared the same room. She worked for his company only as his assistant, and she was a divorcee, but she was getting enough money from her first husband. Hira knew what he had to do next. On the second day, he checked out from there.

We were indeed moving ahead with our plan, watchful. Hira was careful all the time that he did not come into any CCTV camera directly. Every time he used to change his gait entirely while following Ravi. He kept his interaction with the local crowd as little as possible. He was aware that Ravi would try to go through all those things to find the person who was behind, sending him into the big house.

On the third day, we met in my shop. His findings were more than enough to put Ravi and the girl in their proper place. Then, I approached Amy and asked her for help without getting involved directly, so that in the future, Ravi would not come back to me, connecting all the dots. She assured me that nothing would happen like that.

One of her husband's friends was going to Dubai forever. She involved him in making a call to the police from the local telephone booth and sending all those photos of Ravi with the fake name to the police commissioner. Not only that, the images were circulated on Facebook but also on other social websites in no time.

The local police did not take much time after that and took all the necessary action quickly. They caught Ravi with the girl from the resort and put them behind the bar. I began to get calls in no time of his arrest from every corner to confirm the news's integrity. But I sounded uncertain and confused all the time. I knew they were all a little concerned about him.

They were making me a call to collect more spicy information from me. I was delighted to hear the story of his arrest, and I wanted to enjoy that moment desperately. But I knew I could not afford to rejoice right then. My rejoicing could screw up everything.

I had been waiting for Ravi's call, but he did not make me a call. Eventually, I called him at seven in the evening and asked about his well-being. I was pretending to be concerned about him. My voice was heavy while having words with him, as if I had been crying all day long. He was not ashamed of his actions. But, yes, he was whispering.

Perhaps for the first time, it was happening that he was consoling me. Everything would be correct since our marriage. Again, his voice sounded arrogant, as if he was capable and would handle everything on his own before long. Besides, he did not need me to come out of jail. He was even then making mistakes, treating me as a helpless lady. I showed my desire to pay a visit to him with my daughters. He ceased me from going over there.