By the time Maya had met Aditya, he was already a top notch criminal lawyer. He was one of a kind—extremely smart and intelligent. He had a unique ability to sense crime which made him very good in his field. He was not fair looking, but he had a way with women. He could make any girl fall in love with him instantly—a very charming nature indeed.
Maya still remembered the day when she had met him first. It was exactly like a Cinderella story. Aditya had come like a prince in her life to rescue her from her evil mother and brother. Beside the fact that it was her own mother and brother, she had been victimized in the same fashion as Cinderella. Her life had turned upside down like an evil fairy tale. She was captured and enslaved behind the four walls of her own room in the greed of money. The greedy ones were none other than her own blood, and the money was the fortune she had inherited from her father. Apparently, her father didn’t trust his wife, and before he died of tumor, he had made Maya the heir to his fortune.
It was the money that had turned her mother and brother into enemies. She was kidnapped in her own house. The grief of her father’s loss and the pitiless family torture had completely broken her. She hardly ate and slept. She was losing all her strength and hope. Very soon she became too weak to walk, and the day later she was in hospital.
She was blanked for a long time; she woke up with severe headache and tinnitus. In a blurred vision, she saw a man approaching her. When he came nearer, she noticed a tall and handsome man with stubble beard. He was wearing glasses; he bent over and whispered, “How are you feeling today?”
“N-not g-good,” she stuttered.
“You will get better, I promise. I am Dr. Sanjay, and it’s my job to make you fine,” he said. Maya forced a smile on her sluggish face. She still looked beautiful.
“Your test results came this morning. Everything is fine; you will be able to go home pretty soon,” Sanjay said trying to comfort her. She didn’t say a word.
Although the test results were positive, Sanjay knew something was wrong. He knew something was troubling her from inside. He had seen the same symptoms in the old people who tend to lose hope to live. But she was too young to be hopeless. Sanjay wanted to somehow find out the reason for her sadness and fix it. He didn’t want such a beautiful person to suffer.
Maya was recovering very slowly. She lingered in the hospital without any urge to go home. She wanted to stay there forever. She was feeling comfortable under the care of the doctor. He seemed like a nice person who showed genuine care. In a world sort of good people, Maya had found a person who was really good at heart. She could trust him, but she knew he could not end her misery. She needed a ray of life which did come like a surprise to her.
“It’s time to pack your belongings, Maya. You are perfectly normal and fit enough to go home now,” Sanjay said feeling her nerves in a happy tone.
Maya wasn’t happy as Sanjay had expected. She said laying on an inclined bed, “I don’t want to go home, doctor. I want to be here itself.”
“Please call me Sanjay now. You are absolutely fine; that no longer makes me your doctor,” Sanjay said trying to add humor with no effect.
“You don’t understand, Sanjay. If I go home, there is a high certainty that I will be back here soon—and this time with a worse situation,” Maya replied sadly.
“I don’t want to pry, but if you are comfortable, you can tell me what is troubling you so much?” Sanjay asked.
Maya narrated her whole story. Sanjay was moved to pity. Kind hearted as he was, he immediately offered his help. He said, “I think I might be able to help you. I know a criminal lawyer. He is my best friend—more like a family. We have known each other since childhood. And fortunately, he is the best lawyer in the town. He will take your case instantly.”
“Do you really think he can get me out of this situation?” Maya asked in a concerned tone.
“Did I not tell you that my guy is a gem? If anyone I know can help, it will definitely be Aditya. I will let him know about you. Here is his phone number; call him before you meet.” Sanjay answered.
A spectrum of hopes ran through Maya. After so long, she had something to look forward in her life. She said happily, “I don’t know how to thank you. I am so fortunate to have met you. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Save it for later. Aditya will be your real savior. I just showed you the path. But I forgot to warn you; my friend is a flirt,” Sanjay replied in a laughing tone.
“There are more problems in my life now than to be bothered by a flirt. First let me deal with the evil ones, then I will deal with a flirt,” Maya said smartly.
Maya called Aditya and went to meet him the same day. Sanjay had already briefed Aditya of the situation. When she reached his home, he looked too relaxed. He asked her to sit, and after she was comfortable, he offered her tea. He took a sip of his tea and said, “I don’t understand what took you so long to come forward. Your case is very legitimate. As far as I am aware, all the property is yours, and they are the ones who are living illegally. It is as simple as a pie—you can force them to leave whenever you want.”
“You mean to say there won’t be any external affairs? Won’t I have to run court every time to get final justice?” Maya asked naively.
Aditya smiled and said, “Your property is not in a state of dispute. It is rightfully yours. I will send them one day notice to vacate the house, and then it will be totally yours.”
“What if they still decide not to move? What will we do in that case?”
“If they disobey court’s order, police will interfere. It’s not your job to worry anymore. Everything will be taken care of. You just need to relax.”
“I can’t relax until I get out of that hell. But I don’t want anything harsh to happen to them. I’ll offer them a new house. I just don’t want them to live with me,” she said innocently.
Her innocence and kindness moved Aditya. He thought, how a person can still offer a nice life to those who literally ruined her everything! She must be an angel. He already started liking her. He said softly, “It’s up to you what you want to offer. But you are really kind; I don’t get this type of client every day. I will book you a hotel nearby. You can stay there until you get your house back.”
Aditya got Maya everything back in next couple of days. He didn’t ask anything in return except for a dinner. A dinner led to few more dinners. Few more dinners led to a date, which further led to a love story. In a glimpse of time, they had completely fallen for each other. And before they could know, they were married.
But not all love stories end with, And they lived happily ever after. Not at least this one. This story took a sharp U-turn by an unfortunate chain of events. This chain of events was triggered when a business magnate’s case was referred to Aditya by Sanjay.
Tanya Thakkar was charged for harassment by her own brother-in-law. She was a vice-president of one of the most famous multinational IT Company, and her brother-in-law worked under her. Although there were many accusations by him, no one would believe that she could harass anyone. After all she was the hottest woman in the industry. She was bold, beautiful, and confident lady with an impressive style. Her looks were enough to catch anyone’s attention; her swagger would make people go mad. Every woman wanted to be like her, and every man wanted to be with her. She was a perfect combination of all the hot elements. And these hot elements can easily make a woman envious and a man disloyal.
Aditya and Maya were no exception. Ever since Aditya took the case of Tanya, his life style started to change. One could clearly say by his airs that he was a different man. He talked differently, he dressed differently, and he even laughed differently. He was working on just one case of Tanya, and he was working all the time. He came home late, and even at home, he was absorbed in his own thoughts. These things were enough to arouse curiosity of Maya. Very soon that curiosity turned into doubt. When she started doubting, many things started forming a new dimension—a dimension of mistrust.
“Aditya, we need to talk,” Maya said one day while he was leaving for office.
“Can’t we talk later? I am already too late for office,” Aditya said ignorantly.
“Too late for office, or too late to see that woman.”
“What are you talking about? What did Tanya do to you now?” Aditya frowned.
“It is you whom she did everything. Look at yourself, you are not the same man I fell in love with,” Maya said seriously.
“I am the same man whom you are trying to look differently. Please spare me now, Maya. I will talk everything later,” Aditya said and tried to leave when Maya held his hand, and said, “If you leave now, there will no one to talk to.”
“What the hell is this bullshit,” Aditya threw his bag in a corner and said angrily, “Come on! Speak! What on earth do you want to talk about? Even I want to see how much evil thoughts you have got.”
“Don’t you tell my thoughts evil when you are yourself doing all the wrong things,” Maya shouted.
“What wrong things are you talking about, Maya? Why don’t you tell me clearly?”
“You are hiding something from me, Aditya. I want to know the truth.”
“What truth do you want to know? Tanya is just my client; you are my wife. Why is she troubling you this much?”
“Aditya, please! I found a woman’s perfume on your shirt the other day. How do you explain a client’s behavior in this?”
“Maya!! It was a perfume I was trying in the mall. I wanted to buy it for you, but I thought you wouldn’t like it,” Aditya explained.
“You are not good at lying, Aditya. Please don’t do it, and what defense you have for all the love texts in your phone?”
“I don’t know about those texts. They are just random texts from an unknown number. Even I don’t know who he or she is,” Aditya replied innocently.
“For a moment, let’s believe whatever you are saying is true. What about the receipt I found which says you bought rubber last week? Don’t you lie you bought it for me?” Maya asked dominantly.
“I really don’t have time for your irrelevant bullshits,” Aditya banged the door behind and left. Maya was in a state of disarray. She was feeling hopeless once again in her life. She wanted to find the entire truth, but she had no one to look up to except Sanjay. She knew he would help her. She called him immediately to meet her. When he arrived, she explained him the whole situation.
“What the hell is going on between my husband and that bitch?” Maya’s patience was at its lowest ebb and she was ready to burst.
Sanjay knew that she was serious. “Look, Maya. There is nothing going on between the two of them. Just a little bit of healthy flirting, I’d say.”
“Flirting? Healthy flirting? Really Sanjay . . .” she rolled her eyes in disgust. “That’s what you men call it? There is nothing healthy about flirting, Sanjay, not for a married man.
Healthy flirting is a term introduced by perverted men who want to lend legitimacy to their extramarital dalliances. Flirting invariably has a sexual connotation to it.” She got up from her seat and walked around the room gesticulating and muttering something to herself. Suddenly she stopped, turned back, looked at Sanjay and asked, “Did my husband sleep with her? You are his friend. Did he ever tell you anything about it?”
“I am confident that there is nothing as such…”
“Don’t defend him, Sanjay,” Maya interrupted and said, “I want to catch them red-handed. Tell me whether you can help me or not?”
“Of course, I’ll help you, Maya. But…”
“Yes or no?” Maya demanded.
“Okay. I’ll help you, but I want to stay out of this. All I can tell you is, they have a daily meeting at hotel Ellanor from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in room 306. You do whatever you got to do. I am out of here,” Sanjay said and left.
Aditya didn’t come home that night which gave Maya even a stronger will. She was restless the whole night, and the morning next she could hardly wait till 10 a.m. She knew her husband was with that bitch. She took out the safety gun from drawer and left for hotel at six. Without knowing what she was going to do, she was there knocking at room number 306 in hotel Ellanor.
What happened next, completely blew her mind. When the door opened, she saw Tanya half-naked standing behind the door. Sanjay was sleeping on the bed wrapped in a bed sheet. She pointed the gun at Tanya and said, “You better explain everything before I blow your brains out.”
Tanya was there thunder struck, and before she would say anything Sanjay jumped out of the bed towards Maya. Maya smartly fired a shot in the ceiling and said, “I won’t miss it second time.”
That scared the hell out of both. Sanjay blurted out immediately, “Maya, it’s not Aditya who is sleeping with her. It is me; we are both lovers. We wanted to frame Aditya for this, and the reason for everything is none other than you, Maya. I had loved you truly but you didn’t even think once about me before marrying Aditya. Do you even remember why you are alive? No one could have saved you other than me when you were sick. I treated you with all my heart because I had fallen for you at first sight, but you ignored me, Maya. You betrayed me. I sent you to my best friend to get help, but you chose him and not me. I wanted to take your love from you too, that’s why we had planned everything. I still love you, Maya. I really…”
Maya had already left. She had got what she wanted to know. She had no further time to listen to his selfish love. She had more important job to do: find her husband and tell how sorry she was to doubt him even for a second.