Page 42

Story: Tainted Bride

“Avishka Sinha, daughter of Kailash Sinha, who was a clerk in the bank, did not leave any stone unturned in the education of his children, and both his children, Advait and Avishka, were very good in their studies, as well as in etiquette and manners; this information came from their relatives."

Prakram's eyes are closed, and he is thinking about Aashi at this time. He doesn't have any particular issues with Avishka, as she has been Aashi's nanny for two months, and Aashi now refers to her as her mother, which has led to her showing her some affection. He has also stopped denying her because he knows that it has become difficult to explain anything to Aashi, and if she calls Avishka her mother, then it does not make much difference to him. Especially since he has seen the girl very well, who is not at all harmful to him or his daughter. In fact, she is very much in love with Aashi; everyone has accepted this.

After two months, Armaan has returned to discuss whatever knowledge he may have because Prakram asked him to know everything about Avishka.

“Her father died due to cancer, and a few days after his death, a fire broke out in the house, in which her mother and brother were killed. Avishka was hospitalized because she had a miscarriage. The doctor stated that Avishka's miscarriageoccurred as a result of her grief over her father's death and excessive stress."

Prakram opens his eyes and looks at Armaan as he emphasizes his last words. Armaan understands every question of his very well, so he immediately says.

"Sir, all this is the theory of the hospital and the theory of her relatives, because no one knows the inside story at all. They are saying family members are very happy because of her wedding; everything happened within 6 months of marriage. Even though everyone is saying she is very happy with her husband, I don't see her happy at all."

Prakram looks at the time on his wristwatch. He is currently in England because he came here five days ago for a very important meeting, but due to increased work, he has to stay here.

"Sudden deaths one after the other is not a small thing, sir; you know this as well as I do: fire in the house, Avishka's miscarriage, and after that, Avishka and her husband have a terrible accident in which both of them were killed in the eyes of the world. The accident led to the discovery of Rajeev Saniyal's body, but no one found Avishka's. I tried very hard but could not discover at all where Rajeev's postmortem report was.”

Prakram turns to face Armaan, pulls out his cigarette, begins to blow rings of smoke into the air, and speaks to Armaan.

"Strange… This girl is not bad; I am confident that she has no concern for anyone else because she likes to be around Aashi all the time. She is highly educated but keeps a veil on her face, as if she wants to hide herself. It seems as if she has started hating her own beauty. It is confirmed that this girl is not from any suchbackground that we might have problems, but her husband's background does not seem right to me."

"You are absolutely right; nothing special could be known about Rajeev Sanyal, but Sanjeev Sanyal, his elder brother, who is now managing the entire business and house, is being informed about his contracts with big politicians, the mafia, and everyone, and more importantly..."

"And…"

"He is searching for Avishka... Even more importantly, his wife has been missing from home for the last year.”

Prakram immediately fixes his gaze on him, while Armaan sets aside the file and begins to explain.

“All this is not out in the open, but our men have this suspicion that her in-law's family members do not believe at all that Avishka is dead; that is why they are searching for her. After a period of one and a half years, they continued their relentless search for the girl. I couldn't understand the reason behind this belief, but I sense that there's something significant at play."

"Hmmm… keep searching… I just know that this girl should never become a threat to my daughter.”

Prakram takes out his mobile and sees Aashi's smiling photo. He immediately smiles and calls his daughter. Aashi also suddenly picks up the phone as if she were sitting near it.

"Papa..."

"Oh, my sweetheart..."

"You told me that you would come soon, but you have not come yet.”

“My princess, Papa, has a lot of work. I will try my best to reach my daughter as soon as possible.”

"When will you come?”

"My work will be finished tomorrow.”

"So you are coming tomorrow.”

Prakram smiles because he knows that just as he waits eagerly to meet his daughter, his daughter also always waits for him.

"Yes, I will come tomorrow.”

"Mumma... Papa is coming tomorrow.”

Prakram suddenly stops smiling when he hears this sentence and starts listening to Aashi; in the meantime, he also hears Avishka's voice.

"Very good… Now that you are a good girl and go to sleep quickly, Papa will come tomorrow, so you have to meet him, right?”

Prakram listens to her voice very attentively; her voice is very calm. It is clear that she is happy with Aashi and has no interest in returning to her life. He has come to know very well that she does not have parents and no brother; the husband has also died; the husband's family is searching for her for reasons which he still does not know; some things are troubling him, but he doesn't even know the reason why. He diverted his attention to his daughter.