Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 169 - I'll Be Right Over

"A New Year's party?" The woman on the other end of the
line sounded hesitant. "I just came back, I still have a lot of
data to process, numbers to crunch. I may not have the time..."

"Is that so?" Deepika smiled. She angled the phone towards the garden below and pressed the Record button.

Five minutes later, Deepika sent the short video she had just recorded to the person on the other end of the line.

In the video, a woman was standing beneath a plum tree, her head tilted backwards to admire the plum blossoms, which were in full bloom. A handsome middle-aged man in a military uniform walked over to her, stately and dignified.

He smiled at the woman.

The woman was wearing a rose red suit; the elegant, tasteful cut of the dress complemented the woman's milky white skin beautifully.

The man said something to the woman. She blushed prettily, and gave a slight nod.

The man extended a hand, snapped the most beautiful plum
blossom off the tree, and handed it to the woman.

The woman accepted it and smiled at the man. She quickly
turned and walked towards the garden archway. When she
reached it, she suddenly stopped to lean against the archway. She bowed her head, sniffed the plum blossom, and looked towards the man, a beautiful smile on her face.

The man in the video was Sidharth's father, Anand, director of the Military Political Department. The woman was Rita, who had lived the life of a secluded hermit for many, many years.

The woman on the other end of the line was silent for a long
moment, unable to process what she was seeing. Finally, she asked in an incredulous tone, "Rita recovered from her illness?! When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"

"No, Aunt Kirat, you're mistaken. Mrs. Singhania hasn't recovered;
she's still sick." Deepika gave a small laugh, but it rang out, cold and mirthless. "So are you coming to our New Year's party?"

"Forget the New Year's party, I'll come over right now. Rita looks so much better now. We should act on it, quickly, and hopefully find a cure for her." With that, the
woman on the other end of the line promptly hung up; "Aunt Kirat" was clearly a no-nonsense person who had never wasted a minute of her time.

Deepika looked at her phone, her lip curled in distaste. She put away her phone and folded her arms across her chest. Her eyes lingered briefly on Anand and Sidharth in the garden below, before moving on to Shehnaaz, who was straining on tiptoe behind Sidharth, trying vainly to pluck a plum blossom off the tree.

Deepika watched Shehnaaz for a while. She waited until she was sure Aunt Kirat was about to arrive, before heading downstairs to the rear garden. She interrupted the conversation between Anand and Sidharth,
smiling as she said, "Second Uncle, Cousin Brother, sorry to
intrude, but there's something I need to tell you-to Second Uncle, specifically."

"What is it?" Anand was in his military uniform, having just returned from a meeting. His temples were speckled with white, but his graying hair did not detract from his looks. He cut a handsome and majestic figure,
standing under the plum tree.

Deepika shot a glance at Shehnaaz, who was standing behind Sidharth. She smiled and said, "Miss Gill, can you please leave us, just for a minute?"

Shehnaaz turned to look at Sidharth.

Sidharth gestured at her. Shehnaaz nodded in reply, and said, "I'll go see what Auntie Rita is up to then." With that, she walked towards the archway in the garden.

Deepika watched Shehnaaz's retreating back for a moment, before turning back to Anand and Sidharth to say, "Aunt Kirat just returned from her research
expedition. She is very happy to hear that Mrs. Singhania is getting better, and insisted on coming over to see how she's
doing, right away."