The Kabir Singh Story

LWYMMD-Priyanka

It was un-normal for her to act so idiotically, even when she had a hunch for a lead she would act methodically because she knew any little screw up could cost her an entire investigation. But the night she barged into Dr. Singh's apartment, it was like some crazy version of myself had taken over her body. Daada had been able to escape an embarrassing and unhygienic catastrophe as she rushed him into the bathroom and he relieved himself. But that entire night nothing was able to calm down the anger bubbling inside of me as she thought of what the imbecile had said. 

Euthanize him. 

That's what he threatened to do to Daada. Though she knew there was no way he could actually carry out that threat, it still sickened her that he let those words come out of his mouth. The fact that he was an actual doctor made it sicker. So after she put Daada to bed, with the help of those handy sleeping pills, she barged over there and the rest was history. 

He seemed to have gotten the message because they hadn't run into him the past two weeks. That may have been a result of efforts on their side as well. She'd been doing the most to try and avoid him as well and luckily there had been no elevator run-ins since that day.   

She was embarrassed of how quickly she'd lost control over the situation but more so because of how she had let myself respond to him. Sure it had been awhile since she'd got some but that was no excuse for my body responded to his. It wasn't an excuse for why she was still thinking about it two weeks later. 

She was depraved and clearly the move had taken a toll on her. Dr. Singh was not the type of man she would date let alone sleep with. His personality was repulsive and the fact that girl after girl had been visiting his apartment everyday the last two weeks was disgusting. 

All the ladies in the building were talking about it. She had the pleasure of hearing all about it when she went to my first BLA meeting at the request of Mrs. Grover. She was a young, heavily pregnant housewife who had moved to the city when she got married but her husband worked a lot and she was clearly desperate for friends. She didn't know anyone in the building either and figured there were worse ways to spend my time especially since her social life would be more constricted here because of Daada. 

The ladies were all sweet but the moment they realized she lived in apartment 3C all the questions turned to Dr. Singh and his escapades. Apparently this wasn't unusual behaviour for him. She heard countless stories of him getting into fights with some of the ladies husbands only to pay them off for the "damage" they incurred. She heard about how he terrorized the children who made the mistake of crossing path and she already had personal experience about his interactions with the elderly. 

Nobody was a fan that much was clear and yet she was curious about him. But her curiosity ceased to have cause after she received a call from her friend, Inspector Rajesh, in Delhi. They had worked together on many cases, either her reporting helped him or she got the exclusive on the cases he worked. They had had a great symbiotic professional relationship until she had left. She had called him to ask if he could look into whether Dr. Singh had any connection to the Deccan Chronicle or knew anyone who worked there. He'd called back in a few days to let her know there was no connection between them and she was relieved to realize his animosity had nothing to do with her past. 

He was just an asshole with a vendetta against the world. 

Like she told him before, she had seen his type so many times. He wasn't special and yet she was curious to know his story. It was probably the journalist in her, at least that was what she told myself. 

The past two weeks had been very peaceful and if they were any indication of what my time in Mumbai would be like she was very pleased. She had started to get some freelance writing jobs and they kept her busy when she wasn't preoccupied with Daada. They played chess together(though they'd yet to complete a full game), watched tv, and on some good days even cooked together. 

Today, they had made a big pot of spaghetti bolognese and since they had made far too much for two people, she decided to invite Mrs.Grover, who insisted she call her Jaya, to eat dinner with them. 

She greeted the heavily pregnant woman at the elevator with a hug. 

"Wow, its like you get more pregnant every time I see you" I said jokingly.

"Its any day now" she said out of breath from walking to our door from the elevator " I'm due in a few weeks but carrying twins becomes more work with each passing day"

Pri laughed at her joke and paused before opening the door to our apartment " I just want to warn you, Daada has been doing really well the past week and especially today but you never know what could set him off so if you ever feel uncomfortable or like its too much, I'll completely understand if you need to get up and leave". 

She smiled at me kindly. "You are far too accommodating for your own good. I'm just excited to eat a meal with other people for once, and spaghetti bolognese is a favourite of mine". 

The evening went off without a hitch. Daada was pleasant and even talkative at times. She knew Jaya was going to make a good mother because she was so patient with Daada and didn't show annoyance when he was slow or confused. After they finished their meal Pri took the dishes to the sink and sat both Jaya and Daada in front of the TV with a bowl of fresh cut fruit. 

The evening was going by smoothly and peacefully, until in the middle of drying a pot she heard Jaya scream. She ran over to them and immediately knew what had happened before Jaya spoke. 

"MY WATER BROKE" 

And the night was just getting started.