Page 53 of Lawfully Yours

His eyes flicked to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the opposite high-rise. The same apartment.The same couple.

They were there again.

The man stood on the balcony, speaking into his phone. Seconds later, the woman appeared, in a satin nightdress. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and kissed the slope of his back. The man turned, dropped his phone to return her kiss, right there, under the dim golden lights of their balcony, wrapped in a bubble of intimacy.

Kushal clenched his jaw.

Damn them.

Damn that image.

It was the fourth time this week he’d caught himself watching them, envying what he didn’t even believe in anymore.

He grabbed the remote and clicked the blinds shut, wiping the picture from view. But not from his mind.

This had to stop.

Haunted by the thoughts of what happened in the office today between him and Arundhati, he walked out, keys in hand, and drove straight to Raj Verma’s villa. Tonight, he would speak to her, try, at the very least, to untangle some of the knots they’d left unresolved for far too long. Knots that could’ve been eased, if only she hadn’t shut him out before he ever had a chance to make it right.

****************

Raj Verma’s Villa, Delhi – Birthday Party

Kushal walked in, clutching a polished wooden box under his arm, which had a 40-year-old bottle of rare and smoky Scotch Whiskey GlenDronach, something Raj Verma had once casually mentioned was on his‘Unreachable Wishlist.’

Raj spotted him the moment he entered and smiled like a man greeting his own blood.

“Kushal!” the older man beamed. “You made it.”

Kushal stepped forward, bent slightly to touch Raj’s feet, but the elder immediately pulled him up.

“No need for that,” Raj said gruffly. “My blessings have always been with you.”

“This isn’t justyourbirthday, sir,” Kushal replied, handing over the gift box. “It’smyfather-in-law’s, too. And that deserves my respect.”

Raj blinked, touched, and smiled wider as he opened the box and saw the wine.

“Is this what I think it is?” Raj’s voice cracked in wonder. “Oh my God, you didn’t…this bottle... It’s impossible to find.”

“Not impossible,” Kushal said with a faint smile, “Just expensive.”

Raj let out a heartfelt laugh. “I’m saving this. I’ll only open it when we celebrate together. Not without you, my boy.”

He pulled Kushal into a firm hug.

Kushal hugged him back, because in Raj Verma, he had always found something he never had growing up. A guiding voice. A steady presence. The man who gave him the first real chance to prove himself.A family.

His eyes scanned the room subtly over Raj’s shoulder, looking for Arundhati, but couldn’t find her. Maybe she was upstairs.

**************

Arundhati stood by the dresser, biting down on her lower lip, trying to suppress the rising frustration bubbling in her chest. The dull throb in her left arm had returned with a vengeance, turning the simple task of draping a saree into an exhausting ordeal. Her wardrobe at the villa hadn’t been of much help either. Most of the party outfits she had here now hung too loose on her, courtesy of the weight she’d unintentionally shed over the past few months. The only saving grace was this designer saree, paired with a blouse that, thankfully, still fit her perfectly.

The pleats were half done, the fabric slipping between her fingers, her movements stilted and one-handed. It was becoming clear she wasn’t going to be able to manage draping the saree on her own.

With an irritated sigh, Arundhati picked up her phone and quickly dialled her uncle’s number.

“Uncle, could you send Sudha Aunty to my room? I need a little help here.”