25

Khushi and Anjali visited the lawyer. He was a very senior person having handled enumerable cases of such type, the Public prosecutor was with him to brief Khushi and Anjali about the hearing. In fact senior lawyer could give only the advice, the prosecutor would conduct the case.

"Look, you got to be ready for any type of questions. The defense lawyer will ask some nasty, irrelevant questions! Don't lose your composure and answer the questions. The public prosecutor will ask straight forward questions but the cross examination will be testing for you!" he said.

He briefed them about the charges levied against Sham and their role as principal witnesses. Anjali and Khushi both were tensed up when they got up to leave.

"Mrs. Raizada... I had a call from my friend Mr. Dasgupta, from Kolkata, yesterday! He wishes to talk to you before your deposition!" said the lawyer. Khushi nodded. "I will call him in the evening!" she said.
They were on their way home, not talking much to each other. Both of them were worried about the hearing. The lawyer had said this would go on for days, even for weeks! Khushi wanted to get off it as early as possible. The police had taken enough time in framing charge sheet, then applying for a fast track hearing which was rejected. Now the case was on board. 

Sham was moving free on bail. He would be presented in the court at the time of hearing. Surprisingly he had remained dormant. 

Khushi had a scary feeling that he was up to something very disastrous!! Arnav had ignored her fears.
"Khushi, we will go to Mandir!" said Anjali. Khushi nodded. She parked the car and helped Anjali get down. They were crossing the road and she saw a car approaching. She held Anjali's hand. She recognized Arnav's SUV. The SUV turned at the corner and she could see Lavanya sitting in the car. Khushi was puzzled. She tried to push the thought away but couldn't. They were returning from the Mandir and she called up Arnav.

"Khushi..," came Arnav's deep voice. "Hello..!" Khushi started off in a high tone. "Hello .. we went to the Lawyer" she gave him the information.

"Ok." He said .. "Hello, where are you?" she asked with bated breath.
"Office!" he said calmly. She was surprised. She had seen his SUV and she knew he never gives his SUV to drive to anyone else. 

"Ok!" she said disconnecting. 

They came home. She called up Dasgupta, the friend and lawyer of Papaji. 

"Uncle...!" she was in her room. "Khooki..(Baby)!" came a pleasant response from the other end.
Dasgupta sometimes called Khooki when he was in good mood! 

"Uncle, I visited our lawyer!" she said. "Oh yes, I had asked him to give you the message... Khooki, I am busy right now with something else but I will call you in the night!" he said and disconnected.

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

Arnav came home late in the evening. Khushi was in the kitchen preparing for the dinner. She prepared tea for Arnav and took it to the room. He had changed and was taking out a new laptop from his bag.
Looking at the new one, Khushi got scared. She kept gaping at the laptop. 

"Khushi....!" Arnav placed his hand on her shoulder. She shuddered. "I got a new one. My old one is gone. But the service center said they can extract the data... so don't worry!" he said looking at her frightened eyes. She took a sigh of relief.

"Lavanya took the laptop to the service center...!" he continued turning his back on her. She stiffened! "Aakash had a meeting and he took her along!" he said.

"In your SUV?" she asked in a bear whisper. 

"Yes!" he said casually and after a while asked turning suddenly, "How do you know?" Khushi got nervous. She came nearer and putting her arms around him placed her head on his chest. Arnav, surprised by this sudden change in mood, hugged her almost lifting her off the ground!

"Khushi...!" he blurted in huskily. 

“So no punishment for me!” She sighed on his chest.  “Only because I got my data back, doesn’t mean you can escape …!” he said lifting her chin with his fingers… “Vasuli…!” he said shutting her mouth…! She moaned with a mock struggle…!

Khushi's phone rang. They broke apart. 

"Khooki...!" Dasguapta uncle was still in a good mood.

"Uncle.." she said in response.

"Listen... Narrate the incidence precisely and correctly! Your lawyer must have told you what to say and what not to say. Be brave!" he said seriously. "Balwindar had asked me to attend the court. But it may not be possible. But I will surely be there at the time of your cross examination!" he assured her. She nodded.
"Khushi.. look ... in cross examinations... don't give any explanation... don't elaborate on any question. You should answer in only six phrases... remember....'I know', 'I don't know', 'I remember', 'I don't remember', 'it is true' , 'it is false'...! Any of these six should be your answers. Understand?" he told her. She said "Yes!" remembering the six answers for cross examination. She knew Dasgupta's experience would never fail her! She had a smile on her face. The day had started with the disaster but peace was restored at the end of the day!!! She was happy. 

She disconnected the phone and turned in a jerk to bang on her husband, who was waiting behind her to grab her!! 

"Careful, Khushi!" he said pulling her closer. 

"Dinner is ready....!" She said and ran towards the kitchen. 

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

"Dada..!" Ramani had called on the landline. 

"Papaji listened to him for a long time, without uttering a single word!"

"Thik hai! Ok!" at last he spoke. 

"Dada... I am hoping to get more information on this. ... Dada I will do anything to get it for you!" said Ramani.

"Be careful and be discrete!" Dada warned him.
"Ji... Dada!" he said disconnecting the phone. 



"Arnav and Khushi....!" He sighed. "What a divine and devil intervention...!" he took a deep breath. "I should find out more!" he said to himself.

*******  ****  ******

Khushi was reading a suspense novel that night. "Gade Murde ka Rahasya!" (Mistery of buried skeleton) She wanted to blow away her nervousness. Next day was her deposition. She was in tension.

"Khushi.....! Wake up...Khushi!" Arnav was shaking her. She was muttering in her sleep. 

She had a very weird dream. A girl was walking down the street along with a tall boy. They entered the Mandir! The scene changed to the river bank. The girl had climbed the tree and the boy was standing beneath shouting at her for the fear that she might fall down. ... The girl and the boy were running for their dear life down the narrow lane...
"Don't worry! We will find a way out!" the girl was assuring the scared boy. Someone came and took the boy away slapping the girl.
Khushi screamed covering her cheeks. "Don't beat ... don't !" she was crying. "No.. I am not coming without him..!" she blabbered. 

"Khushi....!" Arnav woke her up. She looked lost. 

"What? What happened?" Arnav had sat up in the bed and was asking her. "N...Nothing.. dream... !" she stuttered. 

"I told you not to read those stupid novels! Don't you have better things to do?" he was annoyed. 

She sat up in the bed. "You know what? I saw a weird dream. A girl and a boy were running..." She started off.

"Oh! Shut up Khushi, let me sleep! Come!" he pulled her muffling her voice. She could not sleep for a long time. She was thinking about the funny dream. 

"May be the suspense thriller novel I was reading " she thought to herself and snuggled in his arms.