FF: Chupanke Ki Saaza Last Part Pg 52 [Jul 7,'12] - Page 37

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Ermm… no. But I need to see him urgently… I'm Jai Walia's wife."

 

The receptionist looked at Bani, debating no doubt whether to send her in or not. Finally, after what felt like eons, she nodded and gave her instructions to Tarun's office.

 

Bani hurried through the glass doors, butterflies flooding through her stomach. As soon as she left the hospital, she went home for a quick shower and was then found racing to the only man who could help her now. Yes, she finally picked a side… it was Jai's.

 

While her decision was expected, she finally seemed to have come in terms with her sister's death. She learned to let go, because the no matter how much anger and grief she went through, there was no way of getting her back. Moreover, as she repeatedly learned in that last month, the pain of loosing Pia, was nothing compared to the pain she would have, if she lost Jai. It was actually a very simple equation. So what Jai did and what Pia did, didn't matter anymore. She had to be selfish, if she wanted to save herself a lonely life!

 

And so, she rushed to Tarun to cancel the divorce. It was more than a month since she came back to Jai's life and she was worried that it was too late to change anything.

 

"Come in," came Tarun's voice, when she knocked on the door to his office.

 

Bani entered the room in hesitation. Even though she heard endless things about Tarun from Lakshmi, she never talked to him alone; it was very nerve-wrecking. As she slowly entered the office, she couldn't help but notice that like Jai, even Tarun liked his office spotless. Everything was neatly ordered and organized. Not even a single piece of paper was amiss.

 

"Bani?" Tarun said, surprised. She was last person he expected to see.

 

"Hi Tarun," she said timidly. "I needed to talk to you about something…"

 

"Okay," he replied, nodding to the chair infront of him. "Take a seat. I was just leaving for the hospital… How is the baby?"

 

"Beautiful," was the only word there was to describe her. "She is really one of a kind."

 

Tarun smiled. "Thank god! Lakshmi was freaking out… We went to visit my parents and only managed to come back this morning."

 

"Oh…" She had no idea what to say.

 

"So," he said, adopting a business-like tone. It was like she was a client coming for a consulation. "What can I do for you?"

 

"Tarun," Bani said, taking a deep breath. "I want you to cancel the divorce."

 

The duo stared at eachother for a moment, before Tarun cleared his throat and said, "what divorce?"

 

"The divorce… you know…" When he continued to have a blank look on his face, she asked "you are Jai's lawyer, right?"

 

"Yes," he replied slowly, not understanding where the conversation was heading. "But he never talked to me about a divorce."

 

Bani was confused. Never talked… then how did Jai file a divorce? "He never mentioned anything about me and him?"

 

He shook his head in denial.

 

Maybe… it was another lawyer? She thought seeking for alternatives. But she was running out of time. It was already two weeks past the deadline Jai set for her. What if the court already approved the divorce?

 

Don't be stupid, her mind told her. Things don't work like that… even if it is approved, its not like you can't get married again. It's just a piece of paper after all!

 

"Bani," Tarun called, cutting through her thoughts. "Is everything alright?"

 

"Are you sure you are Jai's lawyer?" she asked again. "I mean do you take care of all his legal issues?"

 

"Yes, I do. But-"

 

"But if he hired another lawyer," she continued. "Then-"

 

"Then I will know about it. Nothing slips past me. Now, can you please tell me whats going on?"

 

So… so, does that mean there is no divorce?! Her mind whirled as she tried to process the new piece of information. If Jai never filed a divorce from any lawyer… then, all this time…

 

"Okay," Tarun said. "You are scaring me now. Are you and Jai getting divorced? Is this what its all about?"

 

Bani shook her head in disbelief. All this time, she thought she was leaving Jai… that they were on a deadline, but there isn't even a divorce?

 

"I have a question," she said, not noticing Tarun's panic-striken face. "So, if two people want to get divorced, then is it a requirement that they have to live together for a year?"

 

"No," he answered automatically. "If both the parties are in agreement with the divorce, then the court allows them to sign the papers almost the same day. But why are you asking me all this?"

 

She didn't reply. So he lied to me! There is no divorce… we didn't have to live together. It was all a lie…

… to make me stay, her mind finished. Bani began to recollect the show down she had with Jai when he cancelled her passpirt. And suddenly, she could see the lie behind his cool and calm posture, which at that point irritated her. While his remarks hurt, his eyes clearly showed the care he had for her. She was just too angry to notice!

 

"I'm calling Lakshmi," Tarun said finally. He was seriously worried.

 

"NO!" Bani shrieked, coming back to earth. A smile was beginning to appear on her face as she finally understood what her husband was trying to tell her all along. "Don't call her… everything is fine."

 

"Then will you care to explain?!"

 

"Its…" how was she supposed explain the accident, the letter and most importantly the fake divorce? Taking a deep breath, she said. "Its just a misunderstanding. I got confused… that's it. But thank you so much Tarun."

 

She stood up to leave, almost jumping with joy. She couldn't wait to rush home, back into Jai's arms, this time with no inhibitons whatsoever.

 

"Wait," he said, his tone once again serious. "I have to talk to you."

 

Bani stopped in her tracks, wondering what the city's biggest lawyer wanted to talk to her about.  Slowly, she resumed her seat.

 

"I am going to be honest with you," he said frankly. "You and Jai are going through a tough time these past few days…"

 

Tell me about it, she thought.

 

"And I wanted to know what went wrong. I have known Jai for a while now, of course not as well as Ranveer, but still. And I couldn't help but think why he was trying to ruin his own marriage, while we all know for a fact that he can't live without you. So, I went digging and there are some things I found which I think you, especially, need to know."

 

Bani had no idea what Tarun was saying. "What do you mean?"

 

"I know what happened to Pia," he said simply. "It wasn't an accident."

 

Bani froze, as her thoughts buzzed with Pia's last letter, which was still a secret to the world. She was sure it was a subject Jai never wanted to be associated with, and she intended it to keep it that way. But she didn't like to even think about what would happen if Tarun got a whiff of that incident. He wasn't the biggest lawyer of Mumbai for no reason.

 

"I don't know how much you know about Pia," he continued.

 

"I know everything," Bani interrupted. She wanted to steer away from this topic as soon as possible!

 

"Then do you know there was someone, a guy, who was obsessed with her during college?"

 

"What?"

 

Tarun nodded, expecting her reaction. "Yes… he used to follow her everyday. Pia thought he was just a regular guy flirting, so she ignored him, until she saw him beating up a boy, who gave her a rose for Valentines. You could say he was psychotic."

 

"No," Bani said scrunching her eyebrows. "That can't be true… Di would have told me if there was such  a guy."

 

"You were in Canada at that time."

 

"So?" she fired back. "We used to talk everyday."

 

"Then obviously Pia didn't seem to think it was important enough to tell you."

 

Bani was stumped at his answer. How could she explain the bond she shared with her sister? The promises they made to eachother? The Pia who used to tell her the smallest things like getting a paper cut, would hide being stalked by a psychotic  guy? It just didn't make sense. Deciding it was fruitless to even attempt explaining, she asked, not caring for the answer, "How long did it go on for?"

 

"Two years," he answered. "However, once Pia started realizing how possessive he got of her, she tried avoiding him. She even lodged a police complaint against him."

 

"Then… did he stop?"

 

"Not really," Tarun said, matter-of-factly. "He was in jail for two months, during which Pia graduated and started modeling. But once he was out, he began stalking her again. Annoyed and somewhat scared, she finally asked him what he wanted."

 

"What did he want?"

 

"He proposed to her," he said. "He said he wanted to marry her. Pia obviously said no, but it didn't end there. He continued to follow her… sent her flowers and gifts and what not. Eventually, she and Jai got engaged."

 

"I don't get it. Why are you telling all this? What does this have to do with anything?"

 

Tarun stood up from his chair. "Well… think about. There was a guy, a psycho, who was obsessively in love with your sister. What would he have done as soon as he heard she got engaged to someone else?"

 

Bani gasped. "Jai… did he try to… kill…?"

 

Tarun shook his head. "Jai is almost always surrounded by security… even if he tried, it would have been unsuccessful. But my point is this: Is it really a random chance that the bride has an accident on the day of the wedding with a psycho, who previously has been proven to be violent, obsessed with her?"

 

Bani stared at Tarun, the words slowly sinking in. But the answer was already at her lips. "No."

 

"Its not," he agreed.

 

"But why are you telling all this?" she asked, trying to keep her heart from falling apart. She vaguely wondered for how much longer she was going to react like this to Pia's death, for each time the topic was brought up, she only felt more deeply of her loss. "Regardless of how, the accident did happen… s-she is gone."

 

"And that's why its important for you to know," he said. "Do you know what the cause of the accident was?"

 

Bani blinked, trying to remember the reason the police offered when they arrived at the mandap of Jai and Pia's wedding. "Didn't she hit a tree? And the car caught fire because of some engine problem?"

 

"You are right," he said, with a nod. "Except, the body's post mortem report says it was a male. Not a female."

 

Silence followed his revelation as Bani stared in disbelief. When she finally found her voice, she asked, "But… but how can that be? I saw the reports… I…"

 

"You never saw them," he said confidently. "A copy was never sent your house, and your parents were too much in grief to ask for it."

 

"Fine," she replied,  but still not accepting his point. She just couldn't believe what she was hearing! "They didn't ask for it, but the police… they would obviously notice such a big mistake…"

 

Tarun shook his head. "It was not a mistake… I personally talked to the doctor who did the report, and he was sure. Obviously, to him it doesn't matter if the body in the car was male or female. And to the officer in charge, it was much more easier to close the case than investigate what happened."

 

"But a big thing like that?" Bani asked unconvinced. "They can't close the case with something like that…"

 

Tarun almost smiled at her innocence, but he was used to the ignorance most people had regarding these issues. Of course, he was well aware; it was an unofficial requirement of his job. "If someone offered you ten lakhs to not investigate an accident case, which was both a waste of time and has absolutely no significance to you, what would you have done?"

 

"Do you even know what you are saying Tarun?" she said, putting together the bits of info he was dropping on her. "Someone bribed the police to not look into the accident of my sister! Why would anyone do that?"

 

"Can't you think of someone?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

 

And then it fell into place… all of it. The lines on Bani's forehead cleared as she understood what he was trying to tell her. "You mean that guy… the psycho… he made it look like an accident?"

 

"Yes."

 

Bani's head spun as she tried to process the information. A psycho stalked my sister… on the day of the wedding, he staged an accident to make it look like she died… he bribed the police to close the case…

 

The more she thought about it the more unreal it seemed. Why didn't Di never tell about him? If she even complained against him… why is that I don't know? Maybe she told Maa? So, if it was all staged where did the letter come from?

 

And suddenly, Bani relaxed. There was no way the accident was fake, when Pia had written her letter of suicide. Tarun was definetly mistaken!

 

"No," she said out loud. "That doesn't add up. Di committed suicide… there has been some misunderstanding."

 

Tarun raised an eyebrow. "What? Why would Pia commit suicide?"

 

With a sigh, Bani pulled out her sister's last letter from her purse, which she kept with her at all times as token of her memory and began to explain everything from the beginning. She couldn't hide it any longer.

 

Tarun shook his head she finished her story. "But I already knew all that…"

 

"How?"

 

"I looked at the security footage of the Walia Industries," he said absent-mindedly, as if it was very normal thing to do. "I knew Pia came to visit Jai right before the accident, but that has nothing to do with anything you are saying!"

 

Bani handed him the letter. "She committed suicide," she repeated. "Because Jai never loved her…"

 

Tarun quickly read the letter, his mind working away at the new piece of information. "But this doesn't prove anything," he said a minute later.

 

"What do you mean?" she asked, baffled at his words. "It says clearly that she is…"

 

"Where?" he argued. "Show me where it says she is going to kill herself?"

 

Bani stared wide-eyed, failing to understand why he couldn't grasp what she was seeing.

 

"Honestly," he continued. "To me it just looks like she is saying goodbye… afterall, I don't think she planned to ever meet Jai again, especially when he so bluntly told her he didn't want to marry her."

 

Bani was now completely perplexed. "But… she meant…"

 

Tarun sighed. "Bani… I think you misunderstood."

 

"But the accident happened because she wanted it."

 

"No, it was a coincidence. You found the letter after the accident, so its natural for you to think like that. But if the accident didn't happen, would you have read that letter and think Pia went to commit suicide?"

 

Bani looked at the floor as she began to see reason through his words. Her mother's words, uttered long ago, suddenly came to her.

 

Tum khud soocho, Kiran's voice said, from the stairs of the temple they once sat on. First of all, Pia never explicitly said that she was… killing herself. Maybe it was really just an accident.

 

She was once again caught in a whirlwind of thoughts she recollected the events leading up to that terrible accident. And with each tick of the clock, one thing became very clear; Jai was innocent. If what Tarun was saying was correct, and as she thought about it now, it very much seemed so, she blamed Jai all these days with no fault of his!

 

It was quiet in the room, as Tarun gave her time to reel from the onslaught of information. He sat down, and patiently waited for her to catch up. He knew it wouldn't take her long to connect the dots and sure enough-

 

"Wait," Bani said suddenly, sitting up higher in her chair. "If you are saying that the accident was fake… then, doesn't that mean Di is alive?!"

 

Tarun took pity on her, as he saw the hope engulfing her eyes. He wished he wasn't the one delievering this news to her. "Yes… it adds up to that."

 

"Then where is she?" Bani asked, her voice rising with each word. It was as if she was seeing the sun after months of imprisonment!

 

"That remains to be the mystery," he replied, a little sadly. "Because if she is alive, then why didn't she come home?"

 

Bani struggled to answer, as horrible thoughts quickly impanted themselves in her mind. "Maybe the psycho locked her up… maybe he is torturing her…"

 

"Maybe," Tarun said, as she began to trail away with endless possibilities. "But there is no proof. And I recently found out that the police discovered a body, which matched with him."

 

"So he is dead?!"

 

Tarun nodded. "Yes, there was a riot in a village not far from here, where they found the body. Unfortunately he doesn't have any family, so no one can identify him, but I think it is him."

 

"Then where is my Di?" she demanded, not wanting to believe that they were indeed clueless. "If he is dead, then she should be free right? Then why didn't she come home?"

 

"There could be two reasons," he said, pressing his fingers to his forhead. Bani could tell he worked a lot on this issue for the past few days. "Either she is no more… or she doesn't want to come back. But there is no report of a body, so its mostly likely the second reason."

 

"No!" Bani said, her voice higher than she intended. Her head tried to find an anchor of reason she could hold on it. What Tarun was implying couldn't be true. The sister she mourned for, for more than a year now, was faking her death all this time? That just wasn't possible!

 

 "Di would definely come home…" she reasoned. "Maybe she is in some trouble. Maybe she is kidnapped... maybe…"

 

"Then why haven't the kidnappers called yet?" he challenged. "There is only one logical explanation!"

 

"It doesn't make sense that Di doesn't want to come back! Why would she run away?!"

 

"Well wouldn't she? The man she is in love with is married to her younger sister."

 

Bani gaped at Tarun as the truth hung in the air like a whiplash. It was the very thing she dreaded of from the first day of her marriage… the fear that she took her sister's place, and finding out how she died just confirmed that she came in between two people. And just as she was finally about to move on, from this baggage she carried on her shoulder every single second of the day, it is once again dropped on her like a bombshell.  

 

Bani suddenly felt exhausted. The more she tried to run away from this mess, the harder fate pushed her back. Would she ever be able to walk away from the scars of her sister's death? Mustering all the strength she had left, she began to reason once again. "But she wouldn't know-"

 

"Your wedding wasn't really a private affair. It was all over the news Bani."

 

Bani's head began to throb as she realized that Tarun was correct about his theory… again. She looked at him, trying to understand from where he gathered so much confidence.  The Pia she knew would never stay away for this long… she promised to always stay with her, take care of her… she would never break the mutual vow every sisters swear on… to stand with each other, come what may.

 

And yet, she couldn't ignore what was put infront of her either. All the facts added to up it.

 

She never told you about the psycho, her mind whispered slowly. She never told you about loving Jai… she never told you she was breaking off the marriage and you were right there with her… maybe, the Di you know doesn't exist…

 

"Just put yourself in her shoes," Tarun said quietly, watching her dilemma "Would you come back?"

 

"No," she answered truthfully. "I wouldn't. But this is Di we are talking about it. She was always understanding and-"

 

"And what?" he asked, when she suddenly paused. Somehow, she didn't believe that Pia was honest anymore. Something broke within her at that moment and she doubted, she will ever be able to love her sister as much.

 

Bani suddenly wished she never heard any of this. It was much, much easier thinking Jai was at fault for her sister's death, than knowing that the same sister deserted her when she needed her the most. That she was selfish enough to only think about herself. She was selfish enough to put them all through the pain of losing her so that she could remain happy.

 

"But there is no proof of all this," she said finally in a hollow voice. There appeared to be a void inside her, which seemed to be eating her away.  

 

Tarun sighed gravely."No… we only know she wasn't in that car when it caught fire."

 

And that was enough. It was enough for her to somehow stand up again and begin walking.

 

Right now she only cared about owing an apology to her husband, who also happened to be the only one who could understand the anguish filling inside her. What her 'maybe-dead-sister' did or did not do, was not of importance. And even if it was, there was nothing left that she could do about it.

 

"Tarun, can you do me a favour?" she said, pausing at the door. "Please don't-"

 

"I won't tell anyone," he assured. "Its not my place to anyway. I just told you because I thought you deserved some truth. Hopefully, now you won't feel that you barged into Jai's life without permission. Because you belong there Bani… we all know it, and have seen it too. Pia, Annie, and however else there might be... they can't replace you and that's a fact."

 

Bani nodded, too overwhelmed to say anything and surprisingly, Tarun didn't need an answer. And from that point onwards, both held an understanding that no one, but they themselves understood.