Artful Deceit & Love

16.Futile Attempts

"Don't be formal, Beta! I am friends with your father...you should call me uncle!"

I nodded at his words. He then asked about my parents which I politely answered and then about Leela. I just complained about her being a workaholic. I don't know why I said that but I felt comfortable talking to him. No wonder he could get such large crowds to listen to him.

"So...do you want help in a case, Beta?"

And then I remembered the main reason why I was sitting there.

"Is Uday here...? I wanted to talk to him!"

"You are friends with Uday!" His surprised voice told me he was taken off guard by the question.

I am not friends with him...but I can't say that to his father. So, I simply nodded.

"Uday is not here, Beta. He left last evening for one of our factory construction sites. He said he needed to be there immediately. Did you have some work with him?"

I fished out the envelope from my bag and forwarded it to Senior Shekhawat...sorry...uncle.

"Can you please give this to him...? And also tell him to call me as soon as he is free?"
Uncle eyed the pink envelope and then back at me.

I knew pink was the wrong choice but the store ran out of white envelopes. It held a 'sorry' card with a handwritten note of me apologizing to him in it.

He cleared his throat and merely nodded.

"I should be going...it was nice meeting you, sir...I mean uncle!" I smiled and ran out of there before he could ask me more questions.

~~~~~~

As I entered my office, I was greeted by the sight of Vaibhav sitting on the other side of my office desk. I sat on my swivel chair while muttering a small hello.

"I am actually here to talk about the case!" He said with a serious voice. I nodded and picked a blue file from the end of the desk. I opened it to confirm the date the magistrate had given us.

"We have a hearing after three days!"

"But it should be an open and shut case then...why the hearing?" He asked as he shifted a little ahead in his seat.

"That's not how it works...Dilip is accusing her of cheating and that it is the first time he raised his hands on her...!

We were interrupted by the knock on the door. Bhavin Dada entered the cabin with two cups of coffee. Vaibhav got up and took the tray from his hands while thanking him. He served us the coffee and then went back to his seat.

"He is defending himself that he raised his hands in a fit of anger. Because he saw her with another man..." I said after I thank him.

"You have to tell me what exactly happened?"

I saw him settle back in his chair while resting his hands on either side of the armrest.

"You know this by now, that Dilip works for me...their house is in one of the buildings where our workers live. That day, Dilip was a bit late...I tried calling him but he didn't pick up his phone. And let me tell you that he never misses picking up my calls. I was worried...so, I went to their place... the door was half ajar...I could hear some muffled voices so I entered the house..."