My Nepenthe

Chapter 13

"Ouch" Karan yelled as Gauri tried to apply an ice pack to his bruised face.

"Now you scream. Why were you goading him? Are you mad Karan ji? Omkaraji ka gussa humesha naak pe baitha rehta hai. Ek baar Nandi swaroop lelenge to sab ko sata denge. (His anger rests on his nose and if annoyed, he is not one to meddle with)"

"You know what Gauri? I like playing Khatron ka Khiladi, especially acts like bull fights. Your husband really serves the purpose."

"Ha ha ha... (ye joke tha?) is this a joke?"

"Tha too... I was just doing my job"

"Since when did provoking people become your job profile?"

"Listen Gauri. This secret or whatever you called it till now had used up a lot of my brain cells. You don't eat the remaining part. Give me that ice pack and go from here before your guy comes to punch me again."

"Are? What did I do now? Your nose is bleeding again Karan ji, you continue to apply pressure, I will put the ice pack. How will you do both?"

"Then don't scold me again"

"Fine!! I won't talk" she said proceeded to do her task making a cute pout.

Karan smiled at her haughty response.

Only a dumb guy can not like you woman... he thought with longing.

"Gauri," he called her coaxingly and she hummed.

"The only lead you gave us was that Pinky Oberoi might be involved in the conspiracy" he started to explain and she listened to him in silence, continuing to apply the pack.

"When I asked Shivaay to think of anything that his brothers or his wife might have spilled unknowingly, he said he could remember bits of conversation he had with Anika a few days back when he was drugged."

"Naam, khuun, khandan and Kamini were the words he could remember. Now I know he was a bit obsessed with the lineage thing but it wasn't a great lead to follow. But when I enquired more about this Kamini who was in close contact with Pinky Oberoi, I got to know that she had been Shakti uncle's mistress."

"I just spun a story with the clues I had in my hand. That story seemed the most plausible because Anika wouldn't have told Shivaay that he was an illegitimate son."

"Basically, all we had was smoke and we had no proofs to back it. In fact, I had a doubt on your choti maaji since the start. I even asked your bhaujai if she needed help to cross check the facts but she blindly believed in her mother in law. I had to make that woman talk and Shivaay came up with the idea of the 'properties' drama."

"So, you need to provoke Pinky maa ji. Why were you against Omkara ji?" she argued.

"Gauri, when you want to yield the truth, you wont target your main victim. You should play smart and goad any other person to make the target believe they aren't being focused. Omkara seemed to be a very emotionally vulnerable guy and he served a good bogus. I was just trying to sound confident and clear otherwise, she wouldn't have opened up."

Gauri nodded her head in understanding and he chuckled.

"To speak the truth, provoking your husband has become my favorite pastime these days. You should just see his face becoming red when I talk your name."

"Red? Why?"

"What why? Of course he becomes jealous"

It was Gauri's turn to loudly laugh this time.

"Jealousy and Omkara ji, that too when you take my name? You are mistaken Karan ji. He must have just gotten angry listening to the word 'Gauri'."

Karan looked at her in disbelief as she continued to laugh at her own joke for some more time.