Page 23 of Forged By Fate

“You can’t do this to Aisha, Sue,” hissed Sufi as the plane landed and slowly came to a halt.

“Shh! First, help me break it to Viren,” I insisted.

But I didn’t get a chance to tell him anything. Viren disembarked first, with Sufi at his heels. I followed them more slowly, worried sick that I was going to mess this up terribly. We walked into the terminal, and it was only when I bumped into Viren’s hard back that I realised he had come to a sudden halt.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” he barked, and I knew he had spotted Dhruv waiting for me inside the terminal.

“He’s here for me,” I said softly, and Viren turned around to meet my eyes.

His own were unreadable behind his dark glasses.

“What does that mean?” he asked carefully.

I gulped at the menace in his voice.

“It means that I’m not going home with you…with you guys.”

“You’re going home withhim?” Viren asked in disbelief.

I shook my head.

“He’s taking me to a hotel. We’ll figure it out, Viren. I need to move out of the house at some point…”

“But why now?” he asked sharply.

I shrugged in reply.

“Why not now?”

Before he could reply, Aisha came running to us.

“Chachu, I see Naani,” she cried, waving at her maternal grandmother, who was walking towards us slowly.

Sufi and Daya Bua formed a protective circle around the child as we stared at the elderly lady in horror.

“What on earth is she doing here?” asked Viren.

Since Aisha’s maternal uncle had started a custody battle to gain control of her inheritance, Viren’s first act after he won her custody was to refuse her uncle any visitation rights because he hadn’t missed any opportunity to convince her to sway her into telling the judge she was unhappy with us. He had warned her grandparents that they were on thin ice, and if they did anything to mess with his plans to adopt Aisha, they’d never see her again.

But we all knew it wasn’t as easy as that. She was all they had left of their dead daughter. They had the right to stay in touch with her as long as they did not cross the boundaries of basic decency.

“I’ll go and check what she wants. Sunaina, please stay with Aisha until I get back,” he ordered.

“Of course,” I murmured.

I wasn’t leaving her side until she was safe. Dhruv began walking towards us with a questioning look, but he stopped when I shook my head. I pulled out my phone and texted him to tell him to stay where he was, explaining the delay. I didn’t want Tahira to make any snide comments about him in front of Aisha when she already had to deal with her other grandmother.

I had told Dhruv nothing when I requested him to help me out today except that I didn’t want to return to Chaudhry House. He had agreed to help me immediately. And now I was making him wait like a driver. I felt like an absolute heel for treating him like this, but I really needed a friend who was not part of the Chaudhry universe. And when I met Dhruv after all these years, I still felt the same connection I had felt when we were in school. He was still the same sweet, kind boy he had been then.

I was very relieved when he texted me back and told me he’d wait. But that relief turned sour when Viren returned. He looked grim when he joined us.

“Viren, what’s the delay? Why are we still here?” asked Tahira petulantly.

“Because we have company,” replied Viren.

I wondered if he meant Dhruv. But it was even worse than I expected.

“Aisha’s Naani wants to make up for the time she’s missed with Aisha.”

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