Lethal Secrets by Anju Gattani

Author:Anju Gattani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Indian Fiction
Publisher: scarsdalepublishing
Published: 2021-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Letting Go

That afternoon, Sheetal and Yash waited on the Fulton Whites for the driver to return from an errand and take them to Mama’s while Naina and Mummyji argued at the Bradford Browns. Sheetal attempted to read an article in the November issue of Vogue, but couldn’t focus over Naina’s yelling. Sheetal closed the magazine and gazed at the thick anklets on the elephants’ legs. An all-boys’ dormitory with perverts? Surely, the staff underwent a background check before they were employed. Rakesh was probably making up stuff so she’d cave in. Or maybe he was trying to—

Mummyji and Naina’s argument escalated.

She could barely think.

“No husband. No one to answer to,” Mummyji shouted, “doesn’t give you the right, I tell you, to do whatever you want. How long will this sitting by the phone all day go on, as if Ajay will call. He divorced you, remarried, and has two children now. He got on with life, but you still keep waiting for that Ajay to call like he will want you back.”

“Maybe he will.” Perched beside the black telephone, Naina rolled a plastic medicine bottle back and forth between her palms.

Yash looked up from his book.

“A lone woman gone wrong. That’s what you are.” Mummyji stood and towered over Naina’s skinny frame. “Society has no place, I tell you, for a woman without a husband.”

“Like you, na?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re alone, you answer to no one either, na. You keep dumping me on the servants and Bhabhi.” She screwed the cap off the bottle and tilted the open mouth against her palm.

“I cannot, I tell you, spend the rest of my life running after you. I gave you a chance to marry and settle down.”

The Dhanrajs had gone beyond a chance. They’d bribed Ajay Malhotra into marrying Naina with an ostentatious dowry. Though Sheetal had disagreed with the plan, the relief of Naina’s absence had felt like a blessing.

“Janvi!” Naina yelled. “Water.”

Janvi hurried in with a glass of water, placed it on the table beside Naina, and left.

Naina tossed a pill in the air, cocked her head back, opened her mouth, and swayed right. The pill landed on her tongue and Naina downed it with water. “Look, Yash!” She repeated the feat, missed several tablets, but caught another.

Yash’s jaw dropped.

“Look, Yash.” Sheetal pointed to a photo spread of a fluffy brown dog in a dogfood advertisement, but Yash showed more interest in Naina’s antics.

“No shame, playing with those medicines like they are some toy. No value for anything, I tell you, because you’ve always had everything. Never had to work or live on that-side-of-town surrounded by filth, dirt, heat, and little to eat and wear. No, Sheetal?”

Why was Mummyji drawing her into their argument? “Not everyone is born a Dhanraj.”

“Exactly what I say, I tell you. But not everyone understands. How can you appreciate what we have if you have never lived without our life of plenty? No, Sheetal? You would know.”

So, Mummyji was on a mission to openly

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.