What?” I shook my head in disbelief at the lawyer smartly attired in a fancy suit, who was apparently briefing me about “my role” in this charade.
He tricked me. That immoral rogue.
Standing outside the police station at 3 am in the morning, I felt utterly outraged for falling for the words of that silver tongued devil.
Little boy, arrested for petty offence. About to be sent to the detention centre unless there’s a guardian, he’d told her. He needed someone, an unknown face to the officer in charge, decent enough to be deemed fit to excercise charge over the neglected juvenile. In short, none of his men and specially, not him.
I took a sharp turn and immediately spotted him, leaning against his car, barking orders to someone over phone.
Call me childish but I walked to him literally stomping my feets on the ground.
“Did I missed the part where you told me that the said child was arrested for drug trafficking?” Anger made my hands fist.
He wasn’t surprised by my reaction. His indifferent, almost bored expression told me that he’d anticipated this.
“Drug trafficking is. No. Petty. Offence. Mr Raghav Rao. Do I need to tell you that it a crime. And I am not bailing any criminal.”
That got his attention. Good. A frown made it’s way on his forehead as he regarded me with his dark, dark eyes.
“You’re making it sound like a favour. Do you need me to remind you that it is not?” his voice carried no hint of anger his eyes reflected.
Fine. It was low on my part to ask him to grant me free run of the part of our house that was stamped “off limits”. But it wasn’t entirely selfish. I was curious, alright, but I also wanted to know what about that place bothered him so much. And wasn’t he the one who told me not to spurn opportunities and never take them for granted.
“ But I’m so not doing it. Being your wife has garnered me enough notoriety to last a lifetime. I don’t want forgery and perjury to be added to the list” I said with conviction.
“Not even for...”
“No...” Before I could elaborate my monosyllabic answer he picked me up and dumped me on his car bonnet, not so gently.
“Look here, Ms High and Mighty” he leaned, caging me by placing his hands on either side of my hips. “It ain’t no school drama where you say yes one minute and then back out the next moment. So, spare me the dramatics. Like a good girl, you’ll walk in there, play your part, get the kid out and in return I’ll keep my end of the bargain.”
Was he serious? He was, dear lord! Was he not enough that, now, I’ll have police chasing me all around Hyderabad.
“Raghav...” I tried to laugh but it came out like a cry for help. Damn this man. He’d managed to scare the life out of me in a crowded place, no less in front of a police station.
“Please... listen to me” I used my best diplomatic voice trying to reason with him. Touching his shoulders, cautiously, I looked directly into his eyes. I wanted him to see reason not red. Not that he’d harm me, at least not physically.
“I know you don’t care about morals and ethics but it’s illegal too. Do you want to see your wife behind bars? Was that your scheme all along?”
I know, I suck at being cute but, desperate as I was, I tried anyway.
“Do you not trust me Pallavi? You seriously think I’ll put you in harm’s way?” Okay! His puppy eyes worked better than my lame attempt at trying to be cute.
Trust him? That... I did. Ours was a marriage of convenience. Expectations were as dangerous as the man I married. But protecting me was a full time job he never seemed to mind. No matter how clumsily I walk, I’d never fall or crash into things if he’s in the vicinity. No matter the number of bullets flying around, if he’s there not a single one could graze my shadow.
I settled, comfortably, in his almost embrace. A slight, but genuine smile spreading over mouth.
“You won’t let any harm come to me, I know. But what of other people? You’re suggesting we let a drug distributor loose on the streets. Ruining lives of thousands of people just because you felt some twisted sympathy for the boy”
“And what do you suggest?” he cocked a wry brow.
“Let him go to Reformative Home. There, he’ll reflect on his mistakes. And the... the world outside would be a more safer place.”
He looked away and my hopes of dissuading him from committing this folly diminished.
“You mean abandon a sixteen year old to spend the best part of his youth in... what did you say.. yes, a Reformative Home? The place you mentioned is no home, princess. It’s dark, dingy cell where children are worked to their bones, fed on schedule like dogs and it doesn’t take them long until they forget what home actually looks like” Something dark has roughened his voice. I sensed an unhappy history there.
I was drained, exhausted but not done. Nowhere, near it. I wasn’t going to be bullied by this man into doing something my conscience doesn’t attest to.
“Stop playing Robinhood Raghav just to please your inflated ego. He’s just getting what he dished out. Nobody forced him” I asserted.
“Hunger is a more potent force than any other you’ve read in your school science book. Of course, you wouldn’t know it. In your little pink world, decorated with morals and principles, you failed to see beyond pleasing your skeptic father. You wouldn’t know how it feels to struggle for the basic necessities in life”
Was he delirious? Did he just accused me of being a rich, spoiled brat. Because I wasn’t rich, not by any standard or spoiled or brat for that matter.
“Raghav stop twisting everything I say into insults. You know it well that I didn’t mean..”
“You didn’t mean what? You think I don’t understand the language you speak in?Your sarcastic undertones? Those sideway disapproving glances? Never read the fancy literature like you do, but I understand it just fine. You think I don’t get it when I see yearning in your eyes, for me, and then the calculations of morals and ethics, right and wrong going on in your head making you take several steps back. I see it all, darling, clear as a blue sky.”
Was it hurt I sensed in his voice. An unpleasant embarrassment itched through me. I could’ve played dumb, acted like I didn’t get what he meant. But by doing so, I’d have cheated us both.
“I’m just confused... A little... scared” I confessed. My voice strained and chin trembling.
“You don’t have to be... I’m almost done achieving what I had in my mind. Then I’ll be able to afford morals, ethics, principle and every other damned emotion out there, that your gentle folks complain,I lack.”
I laughed, despite the tears threatening and his arms closed around me.
“Until then... I’ll just bear with the judgements, pain, prejudices... but not guilt. I’ve had enough of it to last a lifetime. Exhausted it’s quota, actually.”
I blinked away the tears and gave him an encouraging smile. Failing to convince him, I decided to give him a chance to persuade me. That’s the least I could do.
“The boy... he came up to me. You know... regarding that custom thing... I refused him thinking to be another underage student looking for easy money. Somehow, that fool managed to land himself in real trouble. Those lowlifes hired him in guise of a delivery job. I won’t say he had no inkling about the illegal aspect because no decent job would pay a minor that hefty. But for a kid with four jobs and no sleep, a chance to get more than dry bread and stale water in the name of meals mustn’t have left much room for conscience.”
He sighed. Interlocking his fingers with mine.
“Do it for me, Pallavi. Please...” he pleaded resting his head over my bosom and I stilled. Heart, mind and body - altogether.
“He won’t do it again, I promise. I’ll make sure to keep him off streets- well fed, well clothed. If today, he gets presented before Juvenile Justice Board, it’ll take me years to get him out.”
God help me! I was ready to follow this man, my husband, to the doors of Hades himself.
“I’m on your side.”
There. I said it. I’d officially lost my mind and... heart and was perversely proud of it.
I was. On his side. With all my heart. Then be it the side of outlaws and perjurers.
“Next...” the rude announcement made us jump apart like guilty teenagers.
“That’ll be you” Raghav helped me to my feet and gave me a slight push towards the door ehere his lawyer was waiting for me.
My heart was drumming harder with every step as the lawyer manoeuvred me inside. Many figures were crowded in the ungenerously sized room. Nobody paid me any attention, everybody minding their own work.
My eyes flicked back, his dark silhouette, against the dim light entering through the doorway, alone was keeping me from buckling on my knees. I mean, it’s not everyday that you go against law, perjury no less. I was nervous as hell, rightly so.
But ,somewhere back in my mind, I had this uncanny confidence in that man, who considers himself above law, that he’ll move heaven and hell but won’t let any harm come to me.
“Rishabh Sharma..” the bespectacled lady officer sitting behind the desk called and a boy, overly tall but painfully emaciated for his sixteen years, pushed through the crowd to stand in front of her.
“And you madam?” she asked me without lifting her head.
“I...I’m...” I was at a loss, not just words, I felt my courage deserting me at such a crucial time.
“A cousin... My distant cousin” the boy replied without a trace of fear or hesitation in his voice.
I extended the forged documents towards her dreading the moment she’ll realise the folly. But she dumped the documents on the heap of papers at the side of her chair without giving it a customary glance.
“Since you’ve paid the fineand it was his first time, I’m being generous keeping his clean past record in mind. But if he repeats the offence...”
“He won’t...” I was quitck this time making her head snap up for the first time since I entered the room. But it was another pair of sunken, wild eyes, brightened with tears of gratitude, that made my heart swell with sorrow. I winked at him, right there, in front of the officer, which earned me a sigh from her and a tight lipped smile from the boy.
I signed the papers failing to make out anything other than the clause regarding counselling sessions and mandatory community services. As we turned to leave, I gasped at the sharp change in the entropy of the room. Gone was the dramatic peace and orderliness. People were running in every direction making it impossible to walk without crashing into someone.
Ready to scream, I was, before the boy stepped in front of me. He led me out, cleverly dodging people and stepping in a zig zag fashion.
Once out of there, I felt Raghav’s arms wrap around me like a cloak of warmth blocking the rest of chaotic world outside.
“I’m never coming back here” I snuggled deeper into him and felt his body shaking with laughter.
“It’s all over now. You’re safe now.” he rubbed my back and arms in a soothing way that finally made me release the breath I was holding.
“And you punk...” he addressed the boy releasing me.
“If you’re half as smart as I deemed you to be, you’d stay away from those maggots until I’m too old to beat the crap out of you” he thundered.
The boy kept his head bowed.
“Am I clear?”
The boy flinched at his harsh tone and I latched onto Raghav’s arm. I felt his muscles twitch as he curled and uncurled his fists trying to tame his temper.
“Clean up well before you visit your Ma in the morning. She’s been shifted to a nursing home. And make sure your siblings don’t miss the school. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”
This time his voice was calmer. The boy nodded his head vigorously and sprinted into the darkness but not before sending a gratified look my way.
“Shouldn’t we...” I started behind him but Raghav held me back.
“He shall be fine...”
Since the day Raghav has entered my life, it is no short of a thriller movie. No day is mundane, no night ordinary. This was also a thrilling experience but a greatly satisfying too.
The smile on Raghav’s face was priceless and the thought that it was me who put it there made me jump with joy. Such an accomplishment, it was.
“You know how awestruck everyone was... when I entered the room in full swagger. My confident answers left the officer spellbound. She couldn’t take her eyes off me. Did you notice that hero worship in the kid’s eyes.... He thanked... I mean nodded at me in that grateful manner... not you. Oh Raghav... you should’ve seen me taking that room by storm... it was so..”
I am not going to let him live it down for years to come.
“ Yes, Pallavi. You did so well” he patted my head like you’d do to your favourite pet.
And I was too tired by this early morning adventure to give him a hard time about his unenthusiastic response to my heroic deed......
PS : Raghav is such a multi dimensional character that his life doesn’t need OTT villains to make it interesting... I’d love to see more of a reformed outlaw’s problems instead of typical plans and plottings... But no complaints though... I love seeing them whatever they do..l🤗
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