Bleeding roses

Two

(Evening,Yadav Mansion)

Anu opened her eyes to find herself lying on the bed with a masculine figure in a black shirt and blank pants in front of her. She was so distressed that she didn't even change the clothes and somehow being immersed in thoughts she fell asleep.He was hugging her so tightly that it appeared they were glued together.It was Rishi; resting his thin, well-shaved chin on her head with his eyes closed,he patted her back lightly.

She looked at his face and asked coldly,with no expression on her face"When did you return?" Opening the eyes he lowered this head and said brightly-"I was worried that your health might deteoriate so I took the flight and returned as soon as the meeting got over.".He suddenly shifted his expression to that of a concerned one and said -"I heard from the maids you didn't had lunch,are you ok?"Anu controlled her anger and said calmly-"I didn't feel like eating."Rishi bent his eyebrows and asked -"Is that so?"he gave a smile and continued "Then if I make dinner today,you will eat right?"She faked a smile and nodded her head in yes.Placing her head on his chest she started recalling a moment when Rishi was cooking his special dish.

Rishi was preparing chicken stew when two hands slided through the space between his arms and waist, wrapping his abdomen. He readily realised by the touch,it was Anu so he said with a calm voice-"Happy Anniversary Mrs.Wife."She implemented a kiss on his cheek and said softly -"Same to you Dear" and continued further playfully -"Is your special soup ready?"

She released him and grabbing an apple from the fruit basket, jumped on the kitchen slab beside the oven, trying to please her appetite before the food's done cooking.Rishi said with a smile -"The soup's ready ,Wanna try it?"When she nodded her head, he brought the soup-filled ladle closer to her, blowed it lightly to avoid burning her mouth.He brought it extremely close to her mouth and had a sip before she could taste it,then he adjoined his lips to her, transferring the liquid in her mouth.Both of them closed their eyes and sucked the soul out of each other in form of a passionate kiss.When they parted, she lowered her head in shame and her cheeks turned red .

In a seductive tone Rishi said -"Well,want to taste some more soup?"Anu slowly lifted her face and hit lightly on Rishi's chest out of embarrassment.Both of them laughed aloud .

"Anu?..Anu?"-called Rishi in a confused tone.She came back to present when he called her name and said hesitatingly -"Yeah I was ...just zoned out." Rishi continued to talk about his trip and business but she didn't care to listen his words, instead she tried to figure out who the other woman could be.

To think of it, Rishi had a good relationship with many female politicians,company heads, actresses and clients due to his work.He was equally famous among common citizens for his extravagant donations therefore he knew many females in total.To identify his mistress among all of them won't be easy but she still made up her mind to find her homewrecker out.

              ***
The first place that flashed in her mind was their home library,from where she could gather evidence about the affair.Though the room was never locked but there were clear instructions for all the maids,not to enter the room.So definitely some secret burried there but why won't he keep it it locked then?Was there some other kind of security to alarm him?

By god's grace,that particular night she overheard Rishi speaking on phone about repairing the CCTV inside the Library.It was practically the first time she heard about the CCTV camera in the library.The service man was to come by noon next day so Anu had a wonderful chance.She shouldn't let go it,she decided to check the library. Next day she crept inside the room when Rishi was not in house.She was grateful to the Universe that he didn't lock the room even if the cameras were out if order. Probably he trusted the man in charge of repairing so he kept the room ready for him, making it easier for Anu to collect evidence.

The room was small with two large book selves, opposite to each other ;each with six slabs.A small round table and an old chair at the corner gave it a further cozy look.She first checked inside the table's drawer for any files but couldn't get any.She hoped to get something hidden behind the books or maybe some photo or address hidden inside it.She considered starting from the uppermost slab of a self.She dragged the chair and fixed it close to the shelf but even after standing on it, her height fell short of reaching the topmost slab so she rose to her tiptoes and tried to balance.Picking up some books when she tried to get down,she lost her balance and was about to fall.The books fell down from her hand and she somehow held the edges of second wooden slab to balance herself on the chair.She was left huffing due to the unpredictable incident.

She suddenly noticed something strange on the second last shelf.The creases or the faded covers of all the books on that shelf were evident of them being old except one, it was as small as an A5 size paper with a covering made of red velvet cloth and nothing written on the cover.It appeared, probably that book had been wrapped with a new cover time to time.Sure enough to get some data from the well adored book she tried to pick the book up but it tilted in a sixty degree angle and a sudden uncomfortable sound of shifting something heavy was heard.

  She turned around to find that the second shelf had shifted from it's position a little, making a small passage. She quickly got down the chair and walked through the passage to find a secret room. The key to that room was perhaps given the appearance of a book to deceive people.It was dark as night,she switched on her mobile phone's flashlight and couldn't see area beyond which the beam of the light fell.It was a white washed room with no windows and entirely empty with a table in the centre.

The walls were filled with pictures of his two ex-wives' and articles about their accomplishments, charities and deaths.All of them died miserably.A small portion consisted of the information about Anu as well, including news regarding her accident.

She felt very creepy so she filmed the entire thing on her phone.On the table there was a small safe with digital lock on it.The lock consisted of numbers from 0-9 and at the very bottom was a RFID lock code.Suddenly remembered,she had seen Rishi carrying a white card in his wallet which could be the unlock key.Anu didn't even dare to try decoding it as he might be aware.She arranged everything in it's place and was about to leave when a sudden call startled her.It was from Rishi.

She felt disgusted about the man but eventually decided to handle the situation calmly and took the call~

"Hello"-she said.

"Where are you?Adil said you left!"-asked Rishi in a worried manner.

"I'm home."-Anu replied uninterestedly.

"What?Is your health ok? Shall I send a doctor?Shal I..."-he spoke hurriedly and dripping concern from every spoken word.

She cut him in the middle -"I'm fine.."she lied,she had to-"I..I carried the wrong file to office so I came to exchange it.Don't worry!"

"File?The driver could have brought it,why did you took trouble?"-he said

"It was in my cupboard,he wouldn't have found it...I got it anyways, I'll be just back!"-she added.
He sighed anh said-"Fine. From next time don't vanish away without uttering a single word.I was worried!"

She couldn't believe, someone who cared so much about her was cheating?Was it all act?

She coldly said-"Hmmm."and hung up.Problems of couple working in the same office is whatever one does in the workplace,the other will always know.

Before leaving the room,she turned back and had a glance of it from corner to corner.No one would ever suspect that inside a library there could a secret room. No doubt,the safe locker had some valuable documents in it that's why it was kept hidden but the only question that Anu could think presently was how to get the key from Rishi.

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