Secret wife

Chapter 4

"I can't. What will people say?" she asked him.

"I think we are too old to think about that", retorted Rajiv.

Finally she gave in.

Rajiv along with the boys had gone to visit Mahadevan, who was shifted to a room. He was thrilled to see the boys and they talked for sometime. Before leaving Rajiv mentioned about Leena shifting to his home annex. Mahadevan asked the boys to go out and said, "I understand that it is the best decision for the time being. But keep in mind one thing, as long as she is not living as your wife, under your roof and your boys are not calling her Amma, she is another woman. Do you get my point?" he asked.

Rajiv looked at him in confusion.

"I used to like her and took special interest in her. Then later I came to know that she was your wife, and I did everything to protect her as the daughter-in-law of our family. Tongues started wagging in our office after that. So when she is living in your compound and working in your office, be respectful, don't defame her! If you are not understanding this, let me put in simple terms, don't let the world see your pent up hormones and desires. It doesn't take much to disrepute a woman, so be careful and be professional in the office", he whispered.

Rajiv gave an exasperated nod and said bye to his uncle and he and the boys drove back home just in time for dinner.

While having dinner, Rajiv decided to introduce the topic of Leena shifting into the annex.

"Amma, I had given permission for one of our staff members to stay on the annex until an alternative arrangement could be made", he said to Gomati.

"When is he shifting?" asked Gomati. It was rare for a staff member to shift to there, but it had happened before.

"Amma, she will be shifting tomorrow", said Rajiv.

"She? Its a woman? How old is she? Is she married?" asked Gomati.

"Amma, she is old enough to be their mother and no she isn't married" replied Rajiv looking at the boys.

"What? An unmarried woman, living in the annex? Are you crazy? Why do you have to be responsible? Can't you put her in a working women's hostel or a PG?" she asked.

"We have to give her security for sometime", said Rajiv, trying his best to find some reason. Even the boys were looking curiously at him. They liked their privacy, the only people who lived in their home apart from their grandparents were Mani chettan and his wife Janaki chechi , their servants who had gone to attend their niece's wedding. They lived in their quarters behind their home.

"Who is she?" asked Padmanabhan.

"Leena Mathews, the assistant manager from Mahadevan uncle's office. She will join us next week in my office", replied Rajiv.

"Oh, I get it", said Padmanabhan, turning to Gomati, "Its that woman who was assaulted in the stock room by the manager whom we fired, Vyshakh. Its our responsibility. Vyshakh came a couple of times and bothered her and the other staff after the firing. Maybe she feels threatened by him".

Rajiv was stunned. He did hear from Guruprasad that someone had bothered her, but did not know the details and felt an insane amount of rage coursing through his veins. He wanted to just go and phone her, but stopped because Ravi was looking at him intently. Once dinner was over he went back to his room and called Leena.

"Hello Leena. What happened with Vyshakh?" asked Rajiv.

Leena sighed and said, "Hi Rajiv, how are you?"

"Answer me please" said Rajiv impatiently.

"He was constantly making passes at me for a few months and about a month back he cornered me in the stock room. There were some crates of Bordeaux wine that came in and he had asked me to check the inventory because they were expensive. I did not know that it was a trap. He cornered me in there and tried to assault me. But a delivery boy came and rescued me", she replied in a matter of fact way.