The Promise (SAMPLE ONLY)

Chapter 9

Vishal woke up to the sounds of shouting from outside. His watch indicated it was five in the evening. Frowning, he got up from the bed and went out.

There was quite a racket outside the house. Men were shouting, and in between the shouts, Vishal heard the calm and collected voice of Suryaprakash Gulati.

Frowning further, Vishal went to the front of the house. Several people were gathered. Most of them stood outside the gate watching and listening to the spectacle.

In the front yard, there were at least six furious men who were shouting, and one of them was the loudest. "I know she's involved in some way or the other. And she needs to pay for what she did!" The man who said that had a half-shaven head and mustache.

"My hair and my mustache were my pride!" the enraged man continued. "She made me a laughing stock!"

Suryaprakash looked at Lakshmi who was standing at a distance and watching quietly. "Go get Bhanu," he said before turning back to the group of men. "Let's resolve this calmly."

"How can we remain calm?" another man who was standing next to the half-shaven man demanded. "This isn't the first time you and your granddaughters have made a spectacle of us and dragged us to the streets." He turned to look at Sangeeta who had joined her grandfather. "She was supposed to be my wife. But you thought I wasn't educated enough for your precious doctor granddaughter and got her married to a nobody from your village." The man had an ugly glint in his eye as he gave her a smug look. "That fool didn't even have enough sense to remain alive to give her a child. Marry me and I'll give you a child within nine months."

Suryaprakash's hands clenched on his walking stick. Vishal was about to intervene, but his brother beat him to it.

"That's enough," Vikram said in a commanding tone. He was standing next to Suryaprakash.

The group of men fell silent all of a sudden and looked at Vikram. Vishal knew even in the garb of modest clothes, Vikram still held an aura of command.

"Who are you?" the man who had been trash talking asked.

"That's none of your business. But if you want to remain here in Mr. Suryaprakash's house, you will keep a civil tongue and show respect to his family."

The men looked like they wanted to argue. But when they saw the glares from the people standing outside, they grudgingly stepped away.

"You called for me, Grandpa?" A sweet voice of a woman interrupted the tension-filled silence.

Vishal turned towards the soft voice and almost choked on his tongue. It was the woman whom he had a confrontation with in the barn room. With most of her clothes on, she looked very different. Especially because she was wearing traditional clothes.

And more than the clothes, the meek attitude was miles away from the aggressive woman who was ready to scratch his eyes out a few hours ago. He somehow knew she was putting on an act, and it amused him. An involuntary laugh escaped him, but he somehow turned it into a cough.

The woman's eyes fell on him, and for a brief moment, he saw a flash in them which promised murder and mayhem before she turned her eyes away from him and looked at her grandfather.

"Bhanu, where were you this afternoon?"

The woman had a confused and puzzled look on her face. "Where I usually am during the weekends, Grandpa. At home. I was in the garden, helping Lakshmi, and later, I was in the barn room, helping clean it." Bhanu's eyes fell on Vishal. "Ask our new driver. He saw me cleaning and even lent me a hand at the end."