72. An Idiot?

Anika’s PoV

I still wonder how his mind works? He is an emotional man rather than an intelligent man, I should say. All this is too much to my little heart to contain so I decided to mail the stalker about everything that is happening right now. I just couldn't register the fact that he takes his words so seriously to the next level of insanity.

“Alright, now call Praveen or her parents to know what exactly happened.” I told him once he got off the phone from Preethi.

“Didn't you hear that I said I will not call anyone? She talks like she would do anything to harm herself. Given the place she is in right now, she may just jump off if she gets to know that I called her family.” Arjun said. Yeah, she was on the Napier bridge. If she jumps in, it may cause serious injury for sure if not death.

“But Arjun, don't you want to know what happened? Aren't you curious?”

“Saving her life is more important that your stupid curiosity.” He said impatiently and dropped me out in front of my hostel.

“Take care, I will call you once I sort out everything. I will bring all the prescriptions to you in the evening.” He drove off with that.

What would be her deal now? I now know that Preethi is in no way connected to Anamika's disappearance. From Arjun, it was clear that Preethi did nothing to sabotage my married life. All Preethi does is to look out for Arjun. She is obsessed with Arjun just like Nilesh said. Obsession as in possessing Arjun for herself? I don't think so, if that was the case, then she should be the cause of Anamika’s disappearance and should have stopped Arjun from marrying me. She did neither of that, instead she tried to be nice with me. Then what is her obsession with Arjun all about?

I could not contain my curiosity to know what is happening around Preethi. Whom should I call to know what is happening? Praveen? Yes, he should be the one but what if Arjun gets to know that I was snooping around? He would be mad for sure. Do I want to take up his madness? No, I don't want to. Is that curiosity worth facing Arjun’s anger? No, it definitely is not.

‘Hello Stalker,

How are you? Hope you are doing good. I just wonder why you didn't reply to my previous mail. But that doesn't stop me from bothering you again. My life is chaotic. Now I am kind of happy because I am pregnant.

I want to share this with someone because if not, my head would burst. My husband’s ex was a transgender. My husband has an enormous heart that forgave his ex. Not only that, he is now taking care of all the expenses for the gender assuring surgery and is being a moral support for him as well. The respect and love I had for him just grew out of this universe.

But can you imagine a very compassionate man being so stupid? My husband is an idiot. He doesn't know that he has been cheated. Even after so many instances, he is still very caring and loving. It hurts me so much to see him getting hurt big time. I just wish I could save him from it but he wont allow me to. I tried to stay away from him but he wouldn't let me do that and I couldn't do it as well.

Just wish me luck and courage to go forward. I wish all good things your way.

Regards.”

I hit the send button with a heart ache. After talking to Harish, I know that Preethi is doing something very suspicious. I know very well that if I say this to Arjun, he will not listen to me and even worse, he will be mad at me again. For now, all I have is speculations and not proof. I would need proof for my speculations to present it to Arjun for him to believe me. I replayed the conversation I had with Harish.

“Harish Anna, how are you?” I asked him as soon as I picked up the phone.

“I am good, Anu. How are you? How’s the baby?”

“The baby is so good. Tell me, what is the matter?”

“Anu, Preethi resigned from her work. She said she won't need this job anymore.”

“What? But why would she do that? Did she tell you anything like she got a different job?”

“No. I just wanted to let you know this. I also want to tell you another thing.”

“What is it, Anna?”

“Preethi knows that you are pregnant. I am so sorry, Anu, I told Shivani as soon as I went back to work. I could not contain the happiness. But I didn't know that Preethi was behind me when I talked on the phone.” He said with a regret in his voice.

“Did she act like she didn’t hear it or did she ask you about it?” I asked him to know more about it. She has always been a mystery to me, always a factor of doubt hanging around her.

“She asked me straight. She sounded like she was happy. She even wanted to ask Arjun but I stopped her saying you wanted to confirm with a scan first and you will inform her yourself. She went out immediately and came back with an ice cream cake to celebrate your pregnancy.” Said Harish.

“Oh, but she didn't ask about it to me and Arjun never talked about her so far. So I doubt if she had talked to him yet. Anyways, it's not a big deal, anna. We are planning to tell everyone this weekend.”

“Ok, Anu. Take care. Be careful with Preethi. She was behaving weirdly this morning when she came to the office to give her resignation.”

“Ok, Anna. I will be vigilant. Bye.”

Why would her family send her out for no reason? Why would she resign her job now, when she needs it, of all times? Wait a minute, that call from Arun on the day when we were in the car! It was just after we came out of the clinic, precisely just in time for Preethi to have overheard Harish talking to Shivani after he got back to his office. The timing is exactly in pitch, this means that all my intuitions and doubts on her were true. She may not be the reason for Anamika’s disappearance but she surely is the reason for the intrusion Arun is causing in my life. She must have asked Arun to make that call. But yet again these are all my speculations. Just speculations.

Arjun called me in the evening to come out to the reception. I ran down to him and he was standing there with the prescribed medicines. He was grumpy and I didnt know if it was because of Preethi or something else.

“The prescriptions have details of when to eat what. If you have any doubt, call me anytime. We shall tell our family that we are pregnant tomorrow, if that is ok with you.” said he.

“I am ok, are we going to your house tomorrow?”

“Yes, I can come and pick you up at 8.30 AM. I brought your dinner too.” He gave me a bag.

“Thank you, Arjun. Um… is Preethi alright? What happened?” I asked him after so much hesitation.

“Not out of curiosity, just wanted to know if she is ok.” I said hurriedly when he looked at me with a suspicious look.

“She is fine, I am yet to talk to Praveen. But Preethi doesn't even want me to talk to anybody. She is completely disturbed and crying all day. I picked her up but she refused to go to our home, so I took her to our farm house. She is fine.”

“Oh, did she tell you what happened?”

“Yeah, looks like Avni played with some of our wedding pictures and she used paint on it. Sharanya has said that it was not Avni and it was Preethi who did that. Even though she tried denying it no one believed her it seems. They have called her to go to a psychiatric doctor to get it solved. She is very devastated, Anika. When she tried to take Avni and go out of the house, they took Avni from her.”

“Oh, do you believe her?” I asked him. His worried face tells me that he is really worried for her.

“Yes, I do believe her and I am not an idiot just like you think. I know very well who cheated on me and who has real love towards me. Preethi trusts in me and I believe her.” He said with a sarcastic smile. I just wanted to bang my head on the wall hard.

“Ok, then. What are you going to do now?”

“Nothing. I am going to talk to Praveen. Just put some sense into him and ask him to take her back.”

It is not Praveen who needs some sense, it is Arjun who is in need of some sense in him but who is gonna tell him that? He left with a little nod. I am damn too curious to know what is happening and if any of this concerns me. Preethi is definitely up to something and I for sure think that it involves Arjun and I. Just when I finished my dinner, I got a call from an unknown number. Nowadays, I am way too careful in attending the calls from unknown numbers. I decided to leave it unattended.

‘Hi Anika, this is Sharanya, I am Praveen’s wife. This is urgent and I have to talk to you. Please attend the call or call me back.’

My phone pinged with this message. Wow, Preethi’s sister in law wants to talk to me about something urgent. I checked on the display picture and confirmed that it is Praveen’s wife because it was a picture of her and Praveen with Anvi. I remember this little girl from our marriage. I called back immediately.

“Hello, is this Sharanya?”

“Hi, yes, Anika. This is Sharanya. How are you?”

“I am good, thank you. How are you and Anvi?”

“We are all good. You may be wondering what this is all about. I have been wanting to meet you for so long but the circumstances were not favorable for us to meet.”

“Oh, may I know what this is regarding?”

“Yes, it is about Preethi. I think Preethi is not well in her mind. I don't know if she acts like it or she is really unwell but something is up with her.”

“Why do you want to talk about her to me?”

“Because she wants to harm you.” She said which actually is not a surprise to me but it did send chills down my spine.

“What? Why?” I tried to reason out with her.

“Where is Arjun?”

“Um… He said he wants to talk to Praveen. I am not sure but he is not home.”

“I called you to warn you not to be with Preethi in the same house, It is not safe for you. Is there someone with you?”

“How do you know Preethi is with us?”

“That is not a secret. If she purposely left the house, it is only because she wanted to be with Arjun and you. It is better to go home immediately. That way aunty, uncle, Priya will all be there with you.”

“Can you please tell me exactly why you think she is going to harm me? Shall we meet in person? I mean I can come and meet you.”

“No, not in my house. Everyone here is angry at me for chasing her out of the house. But the truth is she already had plans to go out and I happened to be her scapegoat. Meet me at Fareen Cafe in 30 minutes.”

“Ok, I will be there.” I hung up the call and ran to the room to get ready. I am finally going to get answers for all the questions that have been pestering my mind.

I booked a cab and waited for it outside the hostel. Luckily, the cafe is just 15 minutes away from my hostel. I hopped in as soon as the cab came and waited impatiently to meet Sharanya. Will this give me the answers I am expecting for or is this an idiotic move on my side?