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He woke up suddenly from a deep sleep. Looking around, he noticed her sitting far on the sofa.

"What happened? Didn't you sleep?" he asked her.

Nodding her head, she said - "Raghava is no more. Got a WhatsApp message from Sarala."

He knew Raghava very well.

"Did you inform Anu?" She nodded her head again in reply.

"I plan to fly to Hyderabad. If Anu wishes to join me, we travel together..."

"When did he die...?" he questioned.

She replied, "last night."

"I searched online for Hyderabad flights. There is one at 8:30 am, and many seats are available. I waited for you to wake up. I want to visit along with Anu. I wouldn't have made it had I been in America. We are all here, anyway. At least I can pay," she stopped abruptly.

"We already planned to go to Mysore early morning tomorrow," he discontinued the last words.

"Just a visit for a couple of hours. We will return by tonight."

"As per SWMBO, I have to accept the travel plan," he murmured to himself.

He opened up his backpack and took out the laptop to book the tickets.

"Don't worry. I will book the tickets. You go and inform Anu first. Meanwhile, I will call Sarala to keep the body till we come," she said while getting up from the sofa.

He got up and opened the door adjacent to the room while she started booking the tickets.

After ten minutes, Anu came out angrily and said, "Mom. He is dead. Glad we are out of his shit. Anyways, I am not coming..."

She didn't utter a word. He was staring at them, confused about what to suggest.

"If you don't want to come, fine. But don't talk rubbish..."

she said angrily.

She knew that Anu was not in a mood to comprehend the situation. Raising her voice, she said, "Booked the tickets for the 8:30 flight, and we will be back by evening. Get ready!" and she headed towards the bathroom.

***

"I tried my best to convince Anu to pay the last respects," breaking the silence, he said when the car was heading towards the airport.

"It's up to her. I wanted to go since we are here in India. Otherwise, I have to regret all through my life for not paying him last respects. I can't bear the guilt."

She continued, "Raghava loved me crazy. Too much possessiveness to bear. I hated it. That's what that made me detach from him. He is not a bad guy but an idiot. Anyways, he is gone. What I don't understand is that why Anu hates him deeply. In reality, Raghava loves her the most. More than me..." She opened up her thoughts.

"I never expected you to make this visit. Anyways, it is a fractured relation. Irreparably broken link all the way," he said, looking out of the car window.

"As I said earlier, a pang of little guilt inside prompted me to make this visit. It was Raghava who was responsible for our meet. I am not mad at him. At the same time, I can't stand him either. Unbearable suffocation for me..." she said exhaling heavily.

"You mean to say, you haven't forgotten him in all these twelve years of separation...?"

"Can't lie to say I have forgotten him either. He has been in my thoughts all along. I pretend like forgetting him. It is so easy to break a relation effortlessly. But not easy to sway away from thoughts and past experiences. I just moved on..."

"You are brutally honest…!"

"Raghava was my favorite writer during my college days. I was just mad about his writings. I was after him, and he fell for my good looks. Reality is stranger than fiction. Love is different. So is life. Beauty and allurement are its investment. And earnings are its flip side. Moreover, frustrations break emotions. There are many moments we get frustrated to fall into this love trap. We may not say it aloud…to me, pure love is a big myth," she said heavily.

He guffawed pretty loudly.

"Is it the money the only reason to get away from him...?"

"Yes and no. But it is my beauty that separated us. Raghava got a chance to work in a movie. He thought he would make more money there. Working for a magazine had meager earnings for us. Once he took me to a movie shoot. The hero of the movie was after me, this annoyed Raghava. His male ego got siphoned uncontrollably. He started suspecting and then tried to restrict my movements. But he never abused me physically. I was unable to bear him anymore. Then I met you at a relative's marriage function. That's the story. One thing I can openly admit - as a dad, he loved Anu the most. He used to bring whatever we wanted. That way, I pity him the most. But, he is gone forever..."

The car entered the Bengaluru Airport parking.

***

Around 7 pm, he went to the airport to pick her up on the same day.

"How was your visit?"

"It's like any death visit anyone makes. Nothing special. Sarala cried her eyes out when she saw me. She told me Raghava had a liver failure and was bedridden for many days. He was desperate to see Anu one last time before he died..." she abruptly stopped.

"Has anyone got surprised to see you there...?"

"I saw a few writer friends over there. I didn't greet any, though I know them well. I just placed a bouquet on Raghava's body. As I said before, I went there for my sake. Not for anyone else. I pity him more—no love or affection. I felt like Anu could have made it to see her dad. Just for the last time. Perhaps she might feel guilty like the way I had now..."

He noticed her voice got choked a bit. She turned her head sideways.

"Was it true? I heard he locked you in a room..." his voice changed.

He was indirectly pointing out, it was more than a question - why didn't you tell me this earlier?

She guessed from where he had the information.

"The movie hero was after me. Did I tell you that one, right? He made a few visits to see me when Raghava was at work.

Raghava got to know and locked me indoors while going out for work. He brought presents for Anu, costly dresses. Anu was upset about this. She started hating him more for this act. But one thing, he never abused me in any manner. I mean physically. We started arguing on silly matters ever since. Haven't you read Raymond Carver's story? Our bloody relation is nothing more than that," she convincingly explained to him.

But—she didn't want to disclose the physical relationship with that movie star.

"Little gal Anu was upset about him...I can understand her feelings too..."

"His health took a toll after we left him. All these twelve years, Raghava was mentally depressed. But he never displayed any anger or annoyance with Anu."

She opened her handbag and took out some documents. Nodding his head, interest popped out of his eyes.

"These are property documents of Raghava's ancestral property in Vidyanagar. He transferred them to Anu's name."

"I don't think Anu will accept this property..." he said vehemently.

She mutely looked at him. After arriving home, he handed over the documents to Anu as the ancestral property from her dad.

"He is not my dad. You are my dad," Anu forcibly threw away the papers.

"What…! Don't do that. That is your inherited property. It may be worth around two crores now. He explained patiently that the front yard itself is too big to build a big home," he said.

Anu took two steps forward, bent, and collected the papers on the ground. Our happiness often revolves around materialistic and wealth-centric things, though we pretend to have values; inheritance has many shades. She smiled.

Endnotes:

*SWMBO – she who must be obeyed.