He came back to the kitchen when Karishma didn’t reappear for half an hour. She was sitting on a chair with Kirti asleep in her lap.

“She was tired. She fell asleep,” she whispered to avoid waking her up, “I should leave now. Could you call me a taxi?”

“Why? Let’s just put her to bed in one of the rooms. Can you lift her without waking her?”

She obliged and followed him. As they came out of kitchen, they ran into Sunidhi.

“Dada. Baba has been looking for you,” she said.

“Can you take Karishma to my bedroom? She will put Kirti to bed there.”

“Wouldn’t one of the ground floor rooms be easier?”

“Too much noise on this floor. Take her there.”

“Okay.”

His bedroom!

After Sunidhi left, Karishma put Kirti gently down on bed and patted her for a while until she was comfortably asleep again. Then she arranged pillows and cushions all around her to prevent the child from falling.

Finally, she stood up and looked around the room. Large, spacious, minimally furnished with solid wood furniture, one wall occupied by a cupboard, another sporting a door of the same wood as the furniture that most likely opened to a bathroom. A floor-to-ceiling glass door opened onto a terrace. She looked at the four-poster bed, then ran her hand over a post.

Could she imagine living here? With Siddhartha?

When she turned towards the door, she found him standing there. Perhaps asking the same question in his head.

She stopped in her tracks. He came in and stood in front of her.

“How do you like it?” he asked, his voice sibilant.

“It’s nice,” she replied, her voice trembling.

“Does it look real, dependable? Can you–”

“Who is Kalindi?” she blurted, and then bit her lips. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean–”

But he interrupted, “My brother is a duffer. But are you jealous?”

She didn’t know where to look. Why had she reacted so foolishly? “I– I didn’t–”

“If you are indeed jealous, that gives me a lot of hope. But I am not going to play games with you, Karishma. You haven’t had a chance to know about everyone in my life yet. Especially outside of family and work. But we can start right away. For some reason everyone in my family has taken it into their heads that I am in love with Kalindi and have been shying from getting married all these years because of her.” She was now looking at him intently. He continued, “That is not the case at all. She is a good friend. We studied together since childhood. But there has never been anything romantic between us. Trust me, there can’t be.”

She smiled and asked, “Why can there not be? She is so beautiful.”

“For one thing, she can’t read five pages of even a romance novel in one go, let alone fifty pages of contracts,” he grinned.

“Come on,” Karishma chuckled.

“But if you really need an airtight proof–”

“I don’t need a proof.”

“You shall have it anyway. There is a reason she isn’t staying in or coming back to India. She is a lesbian. India isn’t a great place to be.”

“Oh!”

“Nobody else here knows, including my family. She is uncomfortable in telling them; so–”

“Nobody would know of it from me.”

“Come. We can take five minutes or so and then we should get back.” He led her to the terrace. They stayed there silently looking out into darkness until he whispered, “Let’s go back.”

“I will also not play games,” she said suddenly, “I confess I was jealous.”

He gave her a triumphant smile and led her out.

“Last few days have been busy,” he said before they reached the hall to join others, “And next few days are going to be too. Could you meet me early tomorrow morning? For breakfast?”

Getting Kirti ready was the only challenge. But she would do it. “Sure. Where?”

“I will text you the address. Take a taxi.”

“I always do take a taxi now.”

“Thank you,” he replied in a low voice, pressing her hand as If it she was doing him a favor by taking taxis and he was grateful for it.

—

“You should drop me at her pre-school,” Karishma said as she settled in with Kirti in her lap, “There is a parent-teacher meeting. It will take some time. I can walk to the office from there.”

“Okay Boss!” he grinned, “We will not go to the office together.”

But she grew embarrassed, “You have been very patient with me. But the situation must annoy you sometimes, doesn’t it?”

He shot her a concerned look, “What makes you think so?”

“Well you had asked for one week and–”

“It has been almost three. Let it become thirty, Karishma. I am happy. I had asked for one week in the hope that it will become more.”

“I just wanted to let you know that I am aware, fully aware that I have kept the situation in such a limbo. In fact, given my own hesitations, I don’t even have a right to feel jealous or to–”

“Karishma! I am aware that I may not have all the rights, but I have given you every right. And the more you exercise them the more hope I have for me. But I am never going to take it for granted, rest assured. I do push you about one thing. Taking a taxi. And that’s perhaps selfish. I do it because it gives me such peace of mind knowing you are comfortable and safe. But for everything else, I will happily wait. It isn’t meant for you to feel bad. My hope is that it makes you feel in control. Because you are in control. I will go as far as you allow me. And I will stop if you don’t. That’s the deal. And I intend to keep it. Well even for taxi if you want–”

“What is one thing you would want if I allowed it?”

“One thing?”

“Well, one, two, three, whatever. What is next for you? And don’t ask me what I want. I want to know what you want.”

“Well, for one, I would be really happy if you allowed me to buy a child seat for this car. It will be so much more comfortable and safer for Kirti.”

She gave him a helpless but knowing smile that conveyed that she knew he would come up something silly and sweet like that, “Fine! Go ahead and buy a child seat. And while you are at it, may be find her a babysitter too so that–” Here she abruptly stopped.

“I would, actually, like to do that. We do need to spend time alone and I understand that we can’t depend on your mother to babysit her for long. But why did you stop?”

She shook her head and didn’t say anything.

“If you wished for it, it wasn’t anything bad, Karishma. If you can build a happier life for yourself, it isn’t bad for her. That will make you a better mother too. I firmly believe so.”

Her eyes brimmed over as she said, “Thank you.”

—

Karishma came out of the pre-school dazed. After the meeting with the teacher was over, she had met the principal. The principal had seen Siddhartha drop her and Kirti.

“Wasn’t it Mr. Siddhartha Sen who was with you this morning, Karishma?” she has asked.

The question had taken her by surprise, but she had confirmed that calmly.

“So, you finally know the mystery of your daughter’s scholarship.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh!” she had blanched, “You didn’t?”

“Are you saying Siddhartha is providing scholarship for Kirti?”

“Forget that this conversation happened. I am glad Kirti is doing well here. I am sure she will ace her school admissions when the time comes.”

She was still dazed when she walked into her office and slumped on her chair. Then Soumen appeared and she tried to gather her wits together.

“Hi Soumen! Eh, today… let me check your calendar–”

“There is nothing on the calendar today.”

“Oh! You want–”

“Karishma! I want to talk to you.”

“Okay,” she sat up, “Yeah. Tell me.”

“Karishma! I, I still– When you had said ‘no’ the last time, did it mean forever? Couldn’t you at least give me one chance?”

“What! Soumen – I thought we were over it. What are you–”

“One chance is all I ask for.”

“I can’t, Soumen,” she said, in a tired, resigned tone.

“Why not?”

She stood up abruptly, “Because…” her eyes brimmed over, “Because I am in love with someone else and I must—I am sorry!” She ran away.

—

To be continued