Chapter 37- Frozen hearts...will they melt by Deepti

Chapter 37

Kushi pushed her debit card for the fifth time into ATM machine, just to make sure that she was doing everything right. As she followed the instructions and saw the amount in her savings account, she groaned.

“Until last week I had 5 lakhs in my account. And now, just 100 rupees? How is this even possible????”, she questioned herself.

As she looked through the glass door, she found the man who was waiting for her, pointing his hand to his watch, indicating that she was running out of time. Kushi sighed as she pulled the card out of the machine and walked towards him.

“I guess  something is wrong with my card. Wasn’t able to draw the amount”, said Kushi giving an excuse, as she turned the debit card back and forth.

“It’s getting late, Madam.”, replied the impatient guy, paying no attention to her excuse.

“Okay. I’ll go home and get the money.It may just take an hour or two.If you want, you can come too”, said Kushi trying to negotiate.

“No madam, I don’t have that much time.If you can afford, pay me right now. If not find someone else to get your work done”, replied the man.

“I won’t run away without giving your money.Just give me 10 minutes. I’ll try to arrange something”, said Kushi pleading the guy though she felt like banging his head for being so adamant.

“Just 10 minutes, Madam. If I don’t get my money….then don’t blame me. I will have to accept the other order”, said the guy, threatening Kushi.

“Ooookay”, she said controlling her temper and moved little away from that guy muttering, “Now every other fellow is threatening me…huh. Bad time!!” as she started dialing her father’s number on her cell phone.

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Shashi was in the middle of an important video conference with one of their prestigious clients, when his phone which was on silent mode, flickered. He gave a glance to it and continued his conversation, making a mental note to call his daughter as soon as he is done with the meeting.

One the other side, though she knew that the only time her father wouldn’t attend her calls was when he is stuck in some important meeting, Kushi redialed his number as she was in a crisis.

Had it been any other client, Shashi would have excused himself  to take the call but since that was not the case, he looked helplessly at his phone which was flickering once again. On normal terms, Kushi never calls him back if he doesn’t respond to her call. Then why is she doing it today? Is there a problem? Shashi was concerned. He can’t take the call and jeopardize the deal which he was almost at the verge of closing. And at the same time he can’t ignore his daughter’s call. So he looked at the only other person in that conference room and gestured him to take the call. And as Arnav grabbed the phone and left the conference room, Shashi shifted his focus back to the meeting.

“Hello”, said Arnav taking the call, once he was in the lobby.

“Babuji..what is this!! How can you do like this…”, complained Kushi as soon as her call was answered.

“Hello”, said Arnav, as nothing made sense to him.

“Hello. YOU!!”, said Kushi, recognizing that voice.

As  Arnav repeated his ‘hello’ thinking that the line was not good, ” Why did you pick my father’s phone. Give it to him”, ordered Kushi.

“WHAT THE….I’m not your slave! Don’t you dare give orders to me”, barked Arnav.

“And I answered your call because your father asked me to. Do you get it”, he added on a latter note.

“See I’m  in no mood to pick up a fight with you. I need to talk to my dad and it’s urgent”, said Kushi looking at the guy who was waiting for her.

“Right now he is in an important meeting. He can’t take calls”, said Arnav, as he calmed down.

“When will he be done with it?”, inquired Kushi.

“May be an hour..or little longer. I can’t say exactly”, said Arnav.

“What???An hour???”, said Kushi as her voice cracked.

“Is there a problem?”, he asked concernedly ,as he sensed the strain in her voice.

“Ya. It’s very important that I talk to him right now.It will take just a minute. Can you give the phone to him?”, she asked sounding desperate.

“It’s not possible, Kushi. Tell me what it is. May be, I can help”, said Arnav who really wanted to know what her problem was.

Kushi paused for few seconds. Though he was the last person whom she would never approach to seek this kind of help, she had no other choice. Her father was not reachable nor was Aakash in India. And she didn’t have the luxury of time to go home and get the  money from her mother. Making up her mind she said, ” I need 25000. And I need it right now. Can you transfer that amount to my account immediately?”.

As she waited for him to shoot his questions, she got none from him.

“Hello!You there?”, asked Kushi to make sure that she didn’t lose him.

“Ya”, said Arnav.

“Can you?”, she asked as she crossed her fingers though she highly doubted that he would help her without questioning further.

“Ya. Will do it right away”, replied Arnav, surprising her to the core.

“Okay! Here are my account details”, said Kushi who was stopped midway by him who said, ” Don’t bother.I will take care of it. Will text you once it’s done”.

“Okay!!”, said Kushi after which the line went dead.

“Unbelievable! He didn’t even ask me why I need the amount for?“, thought Kushi as she stared at her phone.

As soon as he was back in the conference room, Arnav searched  for Kushi’s account details in his laptop and on finding them, he  transferred the amount from his personal account. And once the transaction was complete, he sent her a text which read, ‘DONE’.

As he raised his head from his laptop he met Shashi’s eyes which were filled with concern. And as Arnav gave a gentle nod gesturing everything is fine, Shashi smiled and got back to the meeting.

And though Arnav tried to focus on the meeting, he couldn’t help but wonder , ” Why does she need that big amount? And what kind of urgency is it? Is she in any trouble?” . As the questions started piling up, Arnav lost all his interest in the meeting.

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Kushi’s face lit up as she read the text from Arnav. She dashed back into the ATM center and withdrew the money.

“HERE.. TAKE THIS…and don’t ask me for more”, she said, thrusting the money into the man’s hand.

“Thank you, Madam. I will not give you any chance to complain. Now it’s my work that will do the talking “, said the guy counting the 1000 rupees notes.

“Total 25000.Count properly. And if your counting is done, let’s make a move. There is a lot to be done and the time frame we have is very less”, said Kushi complaining.

“You don’t worry about the time, Madam. I will take care of it.  Trust me”, he said with a wide grin.

“Do I have a choice?”, said Kushi who soon followed the guy.

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After two long hours, the meeting finally came to an end. And as soon as he disconnected the call, ” Why did Kushi call? Is everything okay? What did she say?’, asked Shashi.

Arnav looked at Shashi and was amazed to see the concern which was all over his face. The man just cracked a millions worth deal. But instead of being jubilant, he was worried. Credit, the love he has for his daughter.

Hiding the faint smile, ” She wanted to talk to you. She needed money” , said Arnav impassively, as his fingers moved on the keyboard.

“Oh no”, sighed, Shashi nodding his head in disapproval, as he placed his fingers  on his forehead.

“What happened? Is something wrong??”, asked Arnav , looking at the expression on Shashi’s face.

“Much more than that”, mumbled Shashi.

As Arnav looked blankly at him, ” Actually, your father and I closed a deal on a farm house recently. We had to pay the seller the entire amount yesterday and I took care of the transactions. I fell short by 5 lacs, and since yesterday was a bank holiday I transferred the amount from Kushi’s account and made the payment. I thought of putting the amount back in her account this morning. But unfortunately, with this meeting in my mind, I totally forgot about it”, said Shashi taking a pause.

“What’s the big deal, Babuji. You can do it now”, said Arnav not understanding what Shashi’s actual concern was.

“It’s not about the transfer Arnav. It’s about informing Kushi. I should have told her that there is no balance in her account.She must have checked her account today and must have been surprised to nothing in it”, replied Shashi.

As Arnav nodded his head in response, “Let me give her a call”, said Shashi picking up his phone.

When his call was disconnected after the first ring itself, he wasn’t surprised. But when he got the same response after multiple tries, he sighed and said, “Hmmmm….looks like she is really mad at me today.More than what I anticipated”, staring at his phone.

“Don’t worry, Babuji.I transferred the required amount to her account. She should be fine”, said Arnav trying to comfort him.

“Did YOU??? That’s great! But I don’t think that’s going to reduce her anger which will be right on the tip of her nose right now”, said Shashi thinking about his adorable daughter and the tantrums she throws at him even at this age.

As Arnav visualized her face with  her flaring red nose, a faint smile transformed his stern face.

“How much did you transfer??”, asked Shashi, breaking Arnav’s thoughts.

“Twenty five thousand”, replied Arnav, with the grim expression back in its place.

“What! Twenty five thousand??? She never withdraws more than 5000 rupees.She does all her shopping with her credit card.Then why does she need that much cash for???”, wondered Shashi.

Arnav shrugged his shoulders as he was posed with the same question which has been bugging him for the past two hours.

“Okay! Let’s go home. I will talk to her in person”, said Shashi raising from his chair.

“You carry on, Babuji. I need to check the paperwork related to our deal with Jordan’s”, replied Arnav.

“Okay! Then I  will make a move. Need to do a lot of shopping on my way to cool down my princess”, said Shashi picking up his stuff from the table.

As those words rose a curiosity in him, ” Actually, I can complete my task at home too. Let me join you”, said Arnav, closing his laptop.

“Then let’s go”, said Shashi moving out of the room while Arnav picked his laptop and followed him.

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She was so tempted to answer her father’s call,but as the memory of her pleading a guy on the road came back to her, she disconnected the call.

She returned  home and went straight to her room without eating or drinking anything. And as she locked herself in her room, ignoring the stares which she was getting, the women in the house got a faint idea about her mood. And since it was only her father, who was capable of setting her mood straight, they let her be the way she was and waited for Shashi to return home.

As Sakshi gave a call to him,” Don’t worry. I know what’s wrong with her. I’m on my way. Will be there in an hour”, said Shashi.

Slipping the phone into his pocket, Shashi looked at Arnav who was sitting right next to him in the car and smiled saying, “Girls”

“Hmmm. Girls”, repeated Arnav.

First they stopped at the best sweet shop in town, which sells Kushi’s favorite jalebi and  bought a box of freshly made Jalebis. Once done with it, they headed to a nearby mall. On entering the mall when Shashi bought a box of Ferrero Rocher saying, “Her all time favorite”, Arnav made a mental note of it.

He then  picked a bouquet of colorful carnations and looked at Arnav. “She loves flowers”, said Shashi for which Arnav smiled.

At last when they entered a showroom which was filled with soft toys and dolls Arnav was perplexed. “What are we doing here???”, he asked , looking at the toys around him.

“Buying toys”, said Shashi who was busy in selecting the dolls.

“For whom??”, asked Arnav.

“For Kushi”, replied Shashi as he finalized a barbie doll and a cute pink color teddy which had a ‘SORRY’ written on it.

“WHAT? For Kushi?Are you kidding me?” asked Arnav who couldn’t believe that Shashi was buying dolls for a 21-year-old.

“No”, replied Shashi  as he gave his credit card at the billing counter.

” Didn’t she outgrow it? She isn’t a kid anymore”, said Arnav with a frown, looking at the packets which were handed to Shashi.

“SHE IS……to me”, replied Shashi turning towards Arnav.  “AND WILL ALWAYS BE….no matter how old she is”, he added as his eyes moistened.

As this didn’t go unnoticed by Arnav, he tried to understand what a bond the father and daughter share. And he simply followed Shashi without arguing further, staring at the bouquet in his hand.

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As they reached Shantiwan, Shashi went straight to Kushi’s room,carrying all the stuff he bought for her. And while the  women started talking about the father daughter duo and the relation they shared, Arnav sat with him as he started working on his laptop.

When she heard a knock on her door,” “I’m not going to talk to you, Babuji”, shouted Kushi, as if she knew who it was.

“How come you know that its me? Anyways, You don’t have to talk to me but can you at least open the door for me?”, said Shashi on a requesting note.

As she couldn’t stay firm when he uses that tone, Kushi opened the door and went and sat on her bed without even giving a glance to her father. Though he was amused to see her actions, hiding his smile, Shashi walked inside, leaving the door open behind him and sat  next to her placing all the packets on the bed.

As Shashi took out the sweet box  out of the packet and opened the lid, the sweet smell of jalebi filled her nostrils and she understood that he brought them from her favorite shop. Though she was tempted to grab one from the box,she controlled herself and turned her face to the other side.

“Hmmmm….looks like someone is really angry”, said Shashi putting the jalebi box aside.

He then picked the chocolate box and held it in front of her eyes seeing which Kushi’s eyes widened. “Ferrero rocher!! My favorite!! Yum. May be I can grab just one” , thought Kushi as she stared at them.  And as Shashi smiled seeing the look on her face, she gave up her idea and turned her face in the opposite direction with a huff.

“Hmm. This didn’t work either”, he sighed and said keeping the box away.

He then brought the bouquet in front of her and when she gave a glance to it, she literally snatched it away from him. She got up and went to her dressing table and started separating the flowers. Once done, she filled an empty vase with water and placed the flowers in the vase and checked the arrangement. Content with what she just made, she threw the cover in the trash can and took her previous position.

“I took the flowers which you brought,that doesn’t mean I’m talking to you”, said Kushi looking at her nails, to her father who had been watching her all the while. .

Controlling his urge to smile Shashi took out the  barbie doll  and kept it in front of her eyes.

“I’m not a small kid to play with dolls…”, she said turning  her face away from the doll.

He placed the doll on the bed and then took out the teddy. Holding it in his hands he stood in front of her, with the teddy covering him.

And as Kushi eyes fell on the magic word, she couldn’t maintain her aloofness.

“BABUJI”, she literally cried.

“Sorry dear”, said Shashi uncovering himself.

Kushi hugged her father and said, “I was so mad at you…..thought of not talking to you at all. But you do know how to make me talk. Don’t you”, while she was still hanging onto her father.

“Who else in the world can handle my Princess’s tantrums”, said Shashi patting her head fondly.

“Babuji!!”, Kushi yelled as she  pulled herself apart from him.

“I was just joking”, said Shashi.

“You made a big joke of me in the afternoon”, said Kushi as she went and sat on the bed cross-legged.

“It’s not like that Kushi. I didn’t mean to. I used the amount in your account yesterday and thought of transferring it back today. But since something else came up, I totally forgot about it. I apologize for the inconvenience”, said Shashi, taking his daughter’s hand into his.

” Please don’t, Babuji. It’s not about the money. You don’t have to give me any explanation about it.It’s just that  I was in a very bad situation in the afternoon. Had I known that I had no money in my account I would have made other arrangements for it. But since that was not the case I had to literally plead a guy on the main road. I tried to reach you but failed. Had Arnav not picked up my call and had he not transferred the amount…”, stopped Kushi without completing her sentence, looking at the man who was standing at her door.

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