The shark and the saint

9. Mrs Bajaj1.0

Other than that moment, the party went pretty well for Prerna. She made friends with moms and wives and enjoyed celebrating with Kukki. Kukki didn't want to go to bed that night, but Prerna convinced her that they could play after changing into pajamas. While Kukki was playing with her new gifts, Prerna got her a glass of milk and settled her down to write thank you cards quietly. It didn't take her long to sleep after that.

After putting Kukki to sleep, Prerna finally went up to her room to change and rest. She found it confusing why Kukki's room wasn't near Rishabh's, since he clearly worried about her a lot. She entered he room to find Rishabh putting away files in a drawer in their wardrobe.

"Sorry, ek minute. I'll just grab my things and go," Rishabh started grabbing his files.

"It's okay. Abhi bohat raat ho gayi hai, aur aap tired bhi honge. Aap yahaan stay kar sakte hain. I'll manage," she stepped up once Rishabh had moved and grabbed her clothes out of the wardrobe, going to change in the bathroom.

As she changed, she remembered how Anurag had left without the files he'd come for. Now she knew where Rishabh kept his files, and planned to take Anurag's files out tomorrow after Rishabh was gone.

When Prerna came out of the bathroom, she found Rishabh asleep on the arm chair, files dropping from his hand. Prerna shook her head and picked up the papers, putting them on the table beside him. She grabbed a blanket off the bed and placed it over him, fixing his hair as it got blown by the blanket. Prerna caught herself and pulled her hand back, ignoring her thoughts as she went to bed. She was sat up against the headboard, staring at the wardrobe as she fell asleep.

Prerna woke up in the morning, finding herself lying comfortably in bed, blanket over her shoulders. As she realized how this could have happened, she quickly sat up, startling the bedside table. Something wobbled on it and Prerna turned to find a glass of water and two pills on a plate. She was about to be angry when she noticed the box near the end of the table; prenatal vitamins. Prerna sighed and took the medicine before getting up and going to get ready for the day.

When she woke up, the housekeeper told her Rishabh and Kukki had already gone. She had her breakfast by herself, where the kitchen aide brought her herbal tea.

"Maine yeh nahi mangwai," Prerna said, confused.

"Mr. Bajaj ne kaha ki aapko breakfast ke saath yeh de dun. Subha ki sickness dur karti hai," the girl said with a smile. Slowly it came to her that the household may know about her pregnancy. But no one mentioned it.

After breakfast, Prerna planned the lunch menu and went upstairs to sneak through Rishabh's files. Thankfully, it wasn't locked. She felt a string pull in her heart, that her legal husband trusted her to not poke where she shouldn't. She wouldn't have to if Anurag had just taken the files. She wouldn't have to do anything if Mr. Bajaj hadn't married her.

Prerna was going through a pile of files, searching for ones titled The Basus. After a deep search, she found it. But she also found something else. A file that said Mrs at the corner of it. Prerna put Anurag's file on the bed and pulled out the file she was interested in.

Mrs. Bajaj, Siya.

This was Kukki's mother, Prerna wondered. She cursed herself, feeling wrong to pry through his personal files when he hadn't told her anything. But as the new Mrs. Bajaj, she defended that she had the right to know what had happened to her predecessors.

Sighing, she opened the file, revealing the picture of a beautiful woman. Prerna felt slightly jealous. Siya Singha had been a senior accountant at some firm, a business card told her. Rishabh had started at a lower level job at that office, and worked his way up.

They looked so happy together in their wedding picture. That's what a married couple should look like, Prerna thought as she recalled her haphazard marriage to Rishabh. She continued paging through the files and saw a sonogram. Prerna smiled, assuming it was Kukki's. As she was looking it over, she saw the date. After Kukki. Prerna gasped; startled by the house comms.

She put the file on the bed and went to answer the bedroom door.

"Sorry to disturb you, ma'am. I'm Mr. Mehta, Mr. Bajaj ne bheja files lene ke liye."

"One minute," Prerna answered, fixing her appearance before she opened the door to Rishabh's manager.

She watched the old man purposefully walk about the room, knowing where to get whatever he was here for.

"A-aap Mr. Bajaj ke saath bohot time se hain na?" Prerna asked.

"Ji. Main sir ke saath start se hoon," Mehta replied as he got the files he was here for.

"Toh phir, aapko Kukki ki mom ke baare mein pata hoga..." Prerna sheepishly brought it up.

Mr. Mehta froze. "A-ap Mr. Bajaj se poochiye. Main kuch nahi bata sakta," he said and was quickly about to leave but Prerna stopped him.

"Please. Agar unhon ne batana hota to abh tak bata chuke hote. Agar aap mujhe bata dein ki Kukki aur unke saath kya hua, to mein Kukki ki ziyada help kar sakungi."

Mr. Mehta sighed. After a few minutes he took a seat at an arm chair and made Prerna sit as well.

"Toh phir suniye..."

Siya Singha was a senior accountant at the first firm Mr. Bajaj had eventually bought. She had showed him the ropes around the business, and was with him every step of the way from his entry position to when he had bought majority shares. They had gotten married when Mr. Bajaj became owner. They had Kukki after three years.

When Kukki was five, Mr. Bajaj had left them home to attend to some foreign business. Siya couldn't travel then. Some enemy sent goons to his house, throwing Siya down the stairs of their mansion. Kukki had seen, and shock of seeing her mother fall and die made her mute.

Mr. Mehta told Prerna the whole story, and she sat crying as she listened. Prerna stood up as Mr. Mehta got up to leave.

"Mr. Bajaj ko batane ki zuroorat nahi hai."

Mr. Mehta agreed and left. Prerna was getting late to pick up Kukki from school, so she returned all the files to the drawer and went to pick her up.