Shape of the Sun

Lost Frequencies

A week later. Reddy Mansion.

"He said what?!"

"Keep your voice down, Nirali."

"Okay okay, sorry. He said they found what?"

Bhairav's expression turned sluggish there.

In all honesty, he didn't want to answer this question, even if it was Nirali's. The words were stuck in his throat, refused to come out of their own will.

But he wasn't complaining.

His wife was.

"Bhairav, please talk to me. What did the hotel manager say, for goodness' sake? This is my son we are talking about here?!"

Nirali sobbed at the end of the latter statement. No one could imagine how stressed she had been these past few days. Rajkumar had come back, only more taciturn, and any efforts to get him to speak were futile.

It was only two nights ago after her routine prodding that her ten-year-old burst into tears, crying that he had been assaulted by his chaperone, Eloise.

Nirali had thought that her entire world was wrecked to pieces, ground to dust as she cried and held the trembling body of her child, promising him justice. She hated herself and even Bhairav who had their flights from Europe delayed and were stuck in transit. She hated her cousin who had lost him on the train and suggested he'd stay over at the hotel until they were in-country, that he was safe there.

If they had just gone ahead to buy another return ticket, if they hadn't let their worries be allayed, buoyed on by old miserly habits dying hardest, her Rajkumar wouldn't have been in so much pain, scarred forever from this painful event.

This was her child, her baby. She had waited for too long before having him and his sister.

Nirali hugged her son tighter and promised him that she'd punish those who hurt him, Eloise and that hotel, complicit charlatans she was sure. Bhairav had left his phone in the office, in a meeting, so she left him an emotionally-charged message narrating what Rajkumar had told her, anxiety rising each minute after that.

It kept rising - until it didn't.

Nirali's anxiety shot through the roof when Rajkumar fainted at noon. He had been in the study with his friends who had come over, an idea she put out in a bid to cheer him up. But when it didn't and instead turned topsy-turvy, Nirali felt she was going along with it. That was why it killed her waiting for Bhairav's return, expecting her husband to be as shattered as she was, solid steps already taken to get justice for their son.

She wasn't expecting this.

Nirali wasn't expecting to hear what she heard from Bhairav, a statement with underlying tones tipping another tale, his calm yet oddly tense demeanor to boot.

"Bhairav, what did the hotel manager say for heaven's sake?!"

Her husband gently patted her shoulder in a bid to comfort, a complicated look in his eyes. What he was about to say felt bitter in his mouth and even more then, when he had been ready to let all hell break loose, a devastated father.

Bhairav lowered his voice to a whisper. Nirali had to strain her ears to hear.

"He was lying."

"...Who?"

"Raju. Raju was lying."

He missed the figure concealed in the narrow crack of the doorway.