For five days now Imlie has been avoiding Aryan, the only time they get share a space is while riding to the office in the morning. Imlie always leave the office before Aryan and take rickshaw home which miffed Aryan. It was on the third after close of work that he instructed his driver to come take her home and he did that for the rest of the week.
Aryan wasn’t having it well, though he always sneaked into her room every night to spend sometime watching her sleep, he still was not feeling good not having to hear her chatter and irritate him while riding to work or even at work, she was clearly keeping a distant from him and he had a plan up his sleeve to end the weird silence between not until they had an unexpected visitor during the weekend.
Imlie on her own side was trying her best to investigate the Arvind’s case and was close this close to finding the truth but there is a missing puzzle. She wanted Aryan’s help in order to find out who could have possibly been in contact with the Rathores and Purandas as at the time the incident took place, but she couldn’t approach him in private neither could she speak to him at the dinner table not to upset Kaki Maa or Arpita but she was avoiding him, she was not understanding what happens to her entire system whenever she was close to Aryan alone hence avoiding him was the best option for now. It was already difficult for her to ride to the office with him every morning.
It was on a Saturday mid-morning; everyone was present in the sitting room. Aryan was working on his laptop sitting on the couch as an excuse to stay close and steal glances at Imlie instead of working from his study, while Imlie was sitting on the dining busy with school work, Narmada and Arpita discussing.
The security guard called on the landline requesting permission to let in an unexpected guest which Narmada was surprised to hear of but she permitted them to let the guest in.
“Aru baby!!! Came a voice from the entrance of the Rathore mansion, everyone looked towards the door to a lady entering the house with a 3 years old child a boy precisely. Shortly one of the guards followed behind with her luggage
Everyone seemed to be happy to see her except Aryan, after pleasantries and welcomes they sat on the couch. Imlie was still seated at the dining occasionally staling glances at the gorgeous woman who just arrived.
Imlie had some strange feeling towards which she didn’t understand but hey she is about to find out what that feeling is.
Narmada: Preeta dear ever since you travelled back to be with Neela you never came back to see us for years now, what happened?
Preeta: Aunty I am sorry it was never my intention to disappear just like that, but my condition as at then forced me to leave, I was ashamed of myself.
Arpita: what happened BD did we offend or neglect you in anyway?
Preeta: No not at all sister Arpita, I… I was
Narmada: talk to us Beta what was the problem and who is this lovely boy.
Preeta: Aunty he is you grandson, I was pregnant when I left 4 years ago.
Everyone in the room was shocked to hear this news.
Preeta: Aunt I found out I was pregnant for Aru baby, I didn’t know how to break the news to anyone giving the tragedy that struck at that time so I left, when I found out all relocated to Mumbai I was still skeptical if I should reach out or not.
Everyone back then knew that Aryan and Preeta were dating back then so the news of them having a child didn’t seem strange.
While the rest of the discussion between the ladies was going on Aryan was still unmoved and unaffected by the news that was just released, the only time he looked up from his laptop was to steal a glance at Imlie and he couldn’t help but feel grateful for what his eyes saw. Imlie had tears building up in her eyes which she tried very hard to hide although no one else saw her.
Before now Imlie’s tears burn like fire in Aryan’s heart but this very tear he saw didn’t make he total born for some reason he felt a pang of happiness, if Imlie had tears in her eyes that means she feels something for me and this news of me having a child didn’t go well with her.
Imlie composed herself and wiped her tears which didn’t go unnoticed by Aryan.
While they were still discussing and Arpita was looking towards her brother to react to the news but he seemed uninterested, suddenly the little boy Purav ran towards the dining. Imlie left her sit and went towards the little boy kneeling in front of him holding him by his shoulder she said with a broad smile
“Hi little, what’s your name”
“Purav” the little boy replied
Before she could utter another word, she heard Aryan’s voice
“Imlie stay away from the child”
“Why ABP I was just…
“Imlieee” Aryan called with a warning tone to the shock of everyone present.
“Aunt who is she, is she a maid?” Preeta asked scrunching up her face in disgust.
“No Preeta Imlie is not a maid she is an employee and a paying guest”
“Aww she does look strange though”
“Hi Preeta dear my name is Imlie, Imlie from pagdandiya it’s really nice to meet you. By the way your son is very cute” Imie said with a smile stealing glances at Aryan.
“Hmmm thanks” Preeta replied still uninterested.
“Everyone I will be in my room” Imlie said working back to the dining table to gather her books. Aryan noticed the sadness in her face as she was about to walk Aryan stood up with hos laptop in his hands and said.
“Preeta if you are going to stay in this house, you’re going to show maximum respect to everyone who stays under this roof and when I say everyone, I mean everyone” he walked away without commenting on the arrival of his dear son much to the disappointment of his mother and sister.
The rest of the day Imlie was looked in her room sad but still she couldn’t explain the reason behind her sadness.
After dinner that evening, she went into her room and was about to shut the door when Aryan forced the door open, went in and shut the door behind him. Imlie was surprised to see him.
“What’s this, why are you here?” Imlie asked looking up at him
“To see you”
“Why”
“I wanted to know how you are doing you haven’t been speaking to me properly”
“ABP, don’t you think there is someone else you should be more concerned about instead of me?”
“That’s not the answer to my question Imlie”
“I am fine”
“Are you sure?”
“shouldn’t I be?” Imlie asked looking straight into Aryan’s eyes, Aryan returned the gesture without blinking reading her with his eyes and he could tell she wasn’t all that happy.
“Sit I want to speak to you” Aryan spoke pointing to the couch and Imlie agreed. She sat down and Aryan sat beside her on the couch.
“Imlie, I don’t mean to be rude or talk down on you in anyway, but what I am about to say is important. Have you heard about the saying that “the way you dress, is the way you will be addressed?”
“Yes” Imlie replied nodding
“Good, Imlie clothing can communicate your position anywhere, in the society, in a home and at workplace. You are no longer in the village Imlie, you are in Delhi, you are now an independent woman and I know for sure that you earn well.
You need to welcome some changes in your life, I am not saying you should change yourself I am saying you should improve and enhance yourself. Don’t let people talk down on you because of your appearance”
“Are you saying I dress bad”
“No, you don’t, but there are places where your dressing still don’t fit in, it was okay when you were in the village but now you are in the City, you need to step up”.
Imlie was silent for a while and so was Aryan.
“I don’t like people giving me handouts, I don’t like people doing me favors when it comes to my material things”
She knew exactly why Aryan was saying all this. Arpita bought her a whole lot of new outfits and dresses which she has never worn on her birthday. In fact, Aryan always sneak into her room to add new clothes he bought to her wardrobe some of the night when she was asleep although she doesn’t know.
“Imlie nobody is doing you any favor, there is nothing you receive from my family that you don’t deserve. You deserve all the love you get from any of us”
Imlie was quiet and refused to say anything, she clearly understood that Aryan was right although he didn’t come straight to tell to her face that he wanted her to change her dressing sense. She decided to change the topic.
“ABP I need your help with something”
“Is it about your investigation”
“Yes” Imlie replied
“I have been wanting to ask you, I figured you will would need a help at some point”
“Yes, I do” this time she was smiling, she stood up to pic up her laptop and a file containing a good number of documents.
After a 20 minutes discussion with Aryan going through the documents and her findings, Aryan realized that his jiji’s death was a well planned conspiracy, the one issue Imlie was having was accessing the call records and emails of 3 persons, one was the person who sent Aditya the evidence, second was the person who was with Arvind before he entered the car on that day and third was Purandas who made a quick move employ 3 former workers of Arvind and shortly after his death.
Looking at everything Imlie had found out Aryan asked her to mail him all the details and lie low for now. He had a very strong suspicion and he hoped what he was thinking was wrong. Imlie had mentioned that was close to the family was giving out information about Arvind plans of action to Purandas which made it possible for him to always have a counter action set in place, but who could that be.
“One last thing Imlie” looking at her while standing up to leave
“I asked you to stay away from that child and I mean it”
“Why, you don’t seem to be happy about their arrival?”
“Some suddenly reappeared from no where with a child after disappearing for 4 years without a word living her so called boyfriend and family in their grieving time and you expect me to be happy on their arrival”
“ABP she gave her reasons” Aryan took her hands helping her to stand on her feet, he looked into her eyes
“I don’t go around impregnating women Imlie”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Aryan smirked and thinks ‘so she is going to act like she isn’t affected’
“Because I am your Boss and you are my employ and I don’t want my employee having a wrong impression about me again I don't want you going to get attached to that child” Aryan replied with a straight face.
Imlie smiles and thinks in her mind ‘liar when did you start caring about what anyone thinks about you’
liar
Aryan greeted her good night and left the room and Imlie locked her door and felt like a huge burden was lifted off her shoulder.
As Aryan was living Imlie’s room Preeta saw him, she has been looking for him around the house and never thought he could be in Imlie’s room of all places. She quickly ran after Aryan with the intention of speaking with him, she called out to him as soon as he climbed the stairs heading to his room. Aryan hearing her call out to him ignored her and went into his room slamming the door on her face leaving her dumbstruck.
The next morning at the dining table, everyone was present except Imlie, Aryan being the last person that arrived called out to her
" Imlie !!! Come for breakfast we are getting late for work"
Arpita mumbled under her breath "they are always late for work even when they are not late"
Dolly who was serving breakfast heard her and giggled.
While everyone was seated eating their breakfast Imlie stepped out putting on one of the new dresses Arpita bought for her on her birthday, a yellow salwar suit with straight leggings, flying her hair . Aryan saw her first and smiled to himself unnoticed by the others on the table, he was glad she listened to him. As Imlie approached the Table Narmada spoke " Imlie beta you look sooo good today"
" Thank you Kaki maa it's Arpita didi hanwork"
"Good job Arpi" Narmada said tapping Arpita .
Imlie sat down and everyone continues to eat their breakfast until Preeta broke the silence.
"Aru baby I was thinking we should go get Purav enrolled in a school, I was thinking we should go look around for a nice school today"
Aryan arched his scared eyebrow looking at her with a question mark written over his face before he spoke
"And why ?"
Arpita nearly choked on her food.
"Because we are his parents Aru"
Aryan stopped eating and dropped his cutlery
"Preeta I will say this only ones, so listen to me and listen very carefully, I have never had any plans of bringing any child into this world, if you got pregnant and ran off without letting me know and still decided to keep the baby I think you should take responsibility for it and don't expect anything from me not even my name"
Standing up and grabbing his phone " if you need money for anything, for old time sake and the fact you are my Aunt's niece I will gladly make some funds available for you. Imlie let's go to work I have a meeting'
Narmada couldn't believe what she heard, " Aru what do you mean by that?"
" Maa I am late for work see you later"
He left the dining room, Imlie slowly gulped down her juice picking up her bag and their lunch box from Dolly she greeted everyone and left.
Aryan and Imlie's drive to Bhaskar times was not a quiet one, Imlie chattered all the way. Aryan was happy but his facial expressions gave away nothing and he looked forward to an exciting day.
DO YOU THINK ARYAN WAS RIGHT, HE HAD SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PREETA YEARS BACK, IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT PURAV ISN'T ARYAN'S SON ?