Part 6
Gopi woke up at her usual time the next morning, few minutes before the alarm to go off, she reached up to shut it off, before it starts to beep and wake Ahem up.
She lay back down after she switched the alarm off; she looked over her shoulder to make sure he was not awake. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his even breathing to indicate he was still sleeping.
How many nights had she spent like this, watching him sleep? Too many to count, that's for sure. Her Ahemji had managed to confuse her last night.
What had made him change his mind about their marriage? What had happened in the last three months that had brought on this change in him?
Whatever it had been, they still had too many things to sort out, to be worrying about their marriage at this moment.
Gopi managed to get out of bed without waking Ahem and rushed into the bathroom to get ready so she could be out of his way when he woke up.
Ahem woke up to find the other side of the bed empty. It had been a while since he has had an undisturbed sleep. He sat up and stretched his arms above his head and thought finally his life was back on track. He quickly got out of bed to get ready, he had a feeling there were few more revelations coming his way.
He needed to get all the information from Gopi so he could pass it on to his private investigators. He also needed to check up on his mom.
Ahem stopped in his tracks. Should he tell his mom he had found Gopi, or should he wait and just take her home with him?
He decided to wait until he had all the information that he needed. He went in the bathroom to shower.
Thirty minutes later he walked out of the room and walked towards the kitchen.
Gopi was in the kitchen making breakfast; he stopped and watched her for few seconds. She was giving breakfast her full concentration and did not realize he was standing there watching her.
After a while she must have felt his gaze on her, because she looked up and stared at him, they were so lost in each others eyes, she didn't realize breakfast was burning until she smelled the smoke.
She quickly took the pan off the stove, slightly burning her fingers.
At her hiss of pain Ahem rushed to her side and took her hand in his, he checked her fingers for burns, but he saw that they were only red; she didn't manage to burn them, he walked her to the sink in and gently washed her hands with cold water.
Gopi tried to pull her hand away. "Ahemji, its not that bad, I didn't burn myself; I just scorched it a little."
"shhh..let me be the judge of that." He continued to wash her hand under the water.
They were both reminded of the Diwali incident when he had helped her when she burned herself lot worse than minor burn she just suffered few minutes ago.
Gopi finally managed to pull her hand away. "Why don't you go have a sit at the table, I'll bring the breakfast out." She said all this without once meeting his eyes.
Ahem frowned as Gopi started getting the food ready. His Gopi has changed in last three months; she is not the same scared nave girl anymore. Had her experience with the attempted kidnapping done this to her? Or has it been something else?
It used to be he could read every expression on her face, but not anymore. She didn't even smile when he helped her she just pulled away from him.
Before you wouldn't even give her the time of the day, and now you want to rush everything. Have patience, just because you say you want to work on your marriage with her doesn't mean she believes you. Haven't you ever heard, "once bitten, twice shy"?
Ahem sighed, for once he agreed with his inner voice, he needed to take his time getting to know and understand Gopi to convince her to give him another chance.
Ahem followed Gopi's instruction, went to the table to sit and wait for her to bring breakfast. He needed to think about how to talk to Gopi about returning to Modi Bhavan.
Gopi brought out the breakfast and served him first, then sat across from him.
"Mr. Thakkral called, and he wants to see you at the main house after breakfast." Gopi told Ahem as she sat down and served herself.
"Gopi, can I ask you something." Ahem was watching her closely.
Gopi looked up at Ahem, "Ji kahiya."
"Didn't you miss us?"
If Gopi was surprised by his question she didn't show it, she put her spoon down and folded her hands in her lap, not looking up. "I missed everyone, especially-" She stopped herself before she said "you".
Ahem waited for her to continue, when she didn't say anything further he raised his brow and said "Especially?"
Gopi didn't continue, but looked at him. "We should finish breakfast so we can go to the main house, everyone must be waiting for us."
Ahem was disappointed she didn't answer him.
*~+~*
Gopi and Ahem walked to the main house side by side, both lost in their own thoughts.
Once at the house Gopi was greeted by a young girl, about age of sixteen, "Gopi didi, I missed you last night, I didn't have anyone to study with, and I kept falling asleep because you were not there." Gopi gave Ahem a nervous look.
Ahem was surprised by first the girl and then by what she said. He kept watching Gopi, and waited for her response.
Gopi hugged the girl and turned her towards Ahem. "Shreya, meet Ahemji," she then turned to Ahem. "Ahemji, this is Shreya, Mr. Thakkral's daughter." Sherya gave Ahem a shy smile that reminded Ahem of Gopi.
Ahem returned Shreya's smile and they all walked in the house.
Everyone gathered in the hall and greeted each other.
After a while Mr. Thakkral took Ahem to his home office to discuss business.
Ahem sat across from Mr. Thakkral, waiting for him to talk about the project, but Mr. Thakkral surprised him by pulling out some files.
"So Ahem I am sure Gopi didn't tell you everything." Mr Thakkral waited for Ahem's response.
"She told me how she disappeared three months ago, but she didn't tell me why she didn't contact us after she was safe."
Mr.Thakkral nodded his head. "She wanted to, but once she told my wife and my mother little bit about her childhood, they stopped her from contacting you."
Ahem frowned. "But what did that have anything to do with not contacting us to let us know she was ok?"
"Ahem you really don't know your wife that well, and that was obvious to me when I met her in Switzerland, you looked uncomfortable with her. Gopi never told us about your marriage in these last three months, but I already knew all was not well in your marriage, and I wanted to be sure that Gopi was safe and protected if we sent her back."
Ahem was confused as why the Thakkrals' took so much interest in Gopi.
"Mr. Thakkral, why did you want to help Gopi?"
Mr. Thakkral looked pensive. "Ahem you met my daughter little while ago, what did you think of her?"
Ahem thought for a minute. "She is shy and reserved, she kind of reminds me of Gopi."
"Exactly, when I met your wife the first time she reminded me of Sherya, shy, and introverted, it took lot of courage for her to go in front of those people and make that speech, you should have been proud of her, but like I said, you just looked uncomfortable.
Ahem thought about Mr. Thakkral's earlier comment about Gopi being safe and protected. "Why do you think Gopi wouldn't have been safe had she returned to Rajkot?"
Ahem realized he was changing the subject, but he didn't want to make excuses for himself to Mr. Thakkral, it seems he already knew everything about his and Gopi's marriage.
Mr.Thakkral handed him a file. "This is all the information my security has come up with regarding Gopi's mami, I think you should read it."
After handing the file to Ahem Mr. Thakkral walked out, leaving Ahem alone to read.
*~+~*
Thanks everyone!😊
