The next day Aalok arrived. Aditi wondered how to inform him that she won't be able to do the medical camp this time, but she need not have worried. Her Dadaji put his foot down and explicitly forbade her to go. She was to stay within a hundred meters of her room - it was a matter of tradition, his pride, and naturally, her safety. Apparently, he didn't want her limping through her wedding ceremonies.

Aditi grimaced. Neither Dadaji nor Darsh understood her need to do the camp. It was the last thing she wanted to do in her mother's memory, the only thing she could think of now that everything else was taken over by Darsh. But it looked like her Dadaji and Darsh were of one opinion on this. They had already decided how she was going to spend her last week in Palampur, and she had no say over it.

Heart clouding with disappointment, she sat at the dinner table that night as Darsh and her Dadaji discussed yet another project. As usual, Darsh sat on Dadaji's right, a place previously reserved only for her father. The place on the immediate left was occupied by Mohit as Ravi Chachu was least interested in business talks. Instead, he was at this moment sitting furthest from his father giving Aalok a colorful account of the past three weeks, right from the day she fell at the racecourse to the trip to Badari, to Darsh's proposal, and lastly the engagement. Vivaan's incident too found a mention in the story making her cheeks flame further with embarrassment. Aalok's quizzical eyes kept darting towards her every now and then but she kept her head low focusing on her food. She knew he was surprised and skeptical, but she had no explanation. She could not tell him the truth, nor could she explain her falling in love in three weeks.

Moreover, she was keenly aware of Darsh's attention on the conversation. It felt like he was on the edge since when Aalok's arrival. Their introduction had been very brief and cold. Darsh hadn't wasted a moment turning back to resume his conversation with Dadaji. Aditi chewed her lips as she glanced at Darsh. It was not his fault really. It was only natural that he was wary of her friends in the light of past events. It would take time to thaw the ice, she just had to be patient.

Shaking her head she raised a bite to her mouth when Aalok's question stopped her in her tracks.

"So did you see Sam that night? How is he?" Aalok asked turning to her. "I tried to call Neil but it feels like he's disappeared off the face of the earth. His phone is always switched off and I cannot get hold of any of them. Did you get in touch with them afterward?"

The question was simple, nobody paid any attention. Well, nobody except the two people at the head of the table. Their conversation stopped abruptly as they turned to look their way. Her Dadaji's face turned ashen, his fork dropped onto his plate with a clang as his fingers quivered with anger. His mouth opened to say something, but no words came out. Instead, he gave a piteous whimper and clutched his heart launching into another dreadful bout of coughing. Darsh pushed his chair back and shot up rubbing his chest and consoling him but not before throwing a furious look at Aalok. Aditi ran to her Dadaji her heart wrenching in fear.

The next few hours were frenzied. Aditi watched numbly as Dr. Wadhwa and his new assistant struggled to control the situation. The night felt long and cold. The house was quiet as if already in mourning.

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, Balwant settled and they let out a sigh of relief. All through this, Darsh held on supporting them like an anchor in the storm. Aditi stopped counting the number of times he had helped her. It was becoming clear he was a godsend, a savior without whom she would have sunk long ago.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

*****

As Balwant became bed-bound, the baton of responsibility passed seamlessly over to Darsh, the only other capable man in the house. Ravi didn't mind as his life continued as before with Aditi transferring more money to him so as to stop him from pestering Balwant. Only his eyes became hungrier, it was not much time now when his father would finally drop dead and he would get hold of his share in the property.

Mansi too looked like she was waiting with bated breath. She had been unable to find another benefactor after Dalpat Raisingh and her husband's debts were mounting. Aditi was helping but Mansi knew it was not going to last long. Soon she would be married and the control of her wealth would pass to her formidable husband who already looked too shrewd for Mansi's liking. Although the man was capable and his new projects in Palampur were a great launching pad for Mohit, Mansi wanted him gone asap. With Darsh and Aditi finally out of the way and Balwant bed-ridden, they would finally have the freedom they always craved for.

With Balwant indisposed and Darsh being the groom, the wedding preparations passed to Mohit and Aalok. Nehal too stepped up filling in the little space Mansi was supposed to fill, or maybe her mother would have if she was still alive. Aditi wondered how different it would have been if her parents were alive. But everything around her reminded her they were not, and she should be grateful for her lot and move forward.

And grateful she was, she agreed heartily, for her good fortune that she had met Darsh. That he was here to take care of her family and support her Dadaji. And that her family too was somehow being nicer, barring Mohit, she had not expected any of them to participate in the preparations.

But the good luck did not last long. Bad news came in the form of Balbir, Grandpa Raisingh's groom who'd handled the horses on the day of her fall. Now that grandpa Raisingh had folded his stay in Palampur, the young man needed to find another employment.

"Of course, you can work in our stables," Aditi assured him as he sat in the living room. "Or you can work at the racecourse if that's what you prefer. I can talk to the manager..."

"No no, Aditi Di. I have already found work. I only came to..." He looked around surreptitiously to make sure they were not overheard. Aditi frowned.

"What is it? Is it about Ratan Chacha's health?"

"No Aditi Di," he shook his head. "It's about your fall that day at the racecourse. I found the reason why the horses misbehaved. It was..." He stopped again to purse his lips uneasily. Aditi waited patiently wondering what was it that made him so anxious.

"That day you said there was nothing wrong with those horses. You were with them all the time right?" she prompted him gently. He shook his head.

"Yes, Di. I was with them all the time and there was nothing wrong, nobody messed with them while I was there. It was only after your fall when I took the horses for grooming I noticed they had burn marks."

"Burn marks? You mean they were sunburnt?" Aditi frowned. That must be it as she remembered it was an exceptionally hot day. The poor horses must have suffered in the heat.

But Balbir shook his head. "No Aditi Di. They were not sunburnt. Those marks looked more like... they were from a laser gun. It looked like someone was messing with the horses as you rode them. The first two you rode escaped lightly but the third one had a large mark on his hind leg."

The man's voice turned to a whisper as his face paled. Aditi listened in stunned silence. Someone had tried to sabotage, they had caused the accident deliberately. She didn't know what to think of it. For a cynical moment she felt relieved that it was not her fault, but the next moment the seriousness of the situation hit her like an ice blast. It was unbelievable for such a thing to happen in her own village under the nose of her own Dadaji!

Someone had tried to kill her that day. She would have died if Darsh hadn't been there at the right time to save her.

Minutes passed as she sat in stunned silence. Her heart thudded with fear but soon overcame with relief. The incident was well past. She was safe. And no one had attacked her after that, luckily she had met Darsh who'd helped her at every step.

Ten minutes later when Balbir left, she had warned him to keep his mouth shut.

She couldn't risk her Dadaji knowing it, neither did she need her fiance to go even more berserk.

***** *****