Anya's POV

By the time I reached my abode at Mehras' Villa I decided on not letting the guy from the canteen affect me. He was a stranger and I didn't want to waste my time and energy thinking about him. The best course of action for me in this regard was to ignore that guy and his attempts to get my attention and talk to me. I cleansed my body and my mind of unwanted things and it made me feel fresh from inside out. I thought of calling my brother since it had been a long time since I spoke with him. But as soon as I took my handphone in my palm, there was a notification waiting for me, a message from Mr. Hijacker. I opened his message and was shocked after reading the first few sentences.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]m

There is nothing ordinary about you Ananya. You are special. To me.

Mr. Executive!! I will take that as a compliment, even though I sense the underlying pinch of sarcasm. By the way I like this name much better than the other one, you know Hijacker. Will you answer me if I asked you the reason behind these names?

I am glad that you agreed to help me regarding this issue with Ray. It is nothing serious yet it is not that simple. At least for me. Well let me explain the situation then.

I tried to make him take a nap in the afternoon and came across a hurdle in my efforts. I thought of approaching my parents for help, but decided against the idea. As you know they are already worried about my sister-in-law and contacting them regarding Ray would only add to their worries. Since you are the first person to cross my mind when I thought of approaching someone for help, I contacted you.

However, if I am disturbing you, I want you to be frank and tell me so. I'll try to find some other solution to this problem.

P.S.  I am not sorry if I am troubling you because it is you.

After reading the message the thought that was ringing in my mind was when this man would stop astonishing me. Every moment in this bizzare relationship of ours,if one can even call it a relationship, I always encountered pleasant surprises. Even though he jumbled my thoughts and emotions, he never creeped me out with his actions or inactions. He always invoked strong feeling of safety and a pleasant sense of security in me. Though there wasn't any plausible explanation for him to play such a significant role in my life it appeared that nothing Kai did had any reasons. He was a person surrounded by air of charm and mystery.

What did he mean by special? No matter how strong my attempts were  to divert my mind from thinking about him, I was unable to succeed in them. The harder I tried to push him away from my mind and heart, he was settling more concretely in my thoughts. He was definitely not beating around the bush. He didn't have a bone of subtility. He was very vocal. He was most definitely not direct also. I was glad for that because I didn't know how I would have reacted if he expressed what he was feeling for me in clear words not shrouded by underlying meanings.  One thing was for sure, SJ International definitely made a good choice by recruiting this smart guy. He was a wolf alright, a big bad wolf and I felt like a little red who was going to be his prey. An excited prey with no brains to think that she was digging herself into a pit from which there apparently might not be an escape.

I slapped my palms but not too hard on my cheeks to get out of his ensnaring charm. " He might be a wolf Anya! But you are not the little red. And why are you so excited about what he would tell. May be you are special because you named him Hijacker. I mean who would say that to another person and expect that person to forget you. That was all he meant. Don't feed unnecessary things to your mind. Show that big bad wolf that you are not gonna fall for his trap." After my prep talk with myself I decided to reply him. With boosting confidence I asked him about Ray's problem, completely ignoring his gauntlet. It was a cowardly way but it appeared to be the safest way for me then. Even while I was typing the reply there was a nagging at the back of my mind. It said," You may feel safe for now Ananya but it would simplify the things and would soothe your anxious mind if you realised that there might not be an escape from him. Also ask yourself if you truly wanted to escape from him." I was flabbergasted by what my brain was trying to tell me. I ignored it's rant and looked at the message I sent to him.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]m

What was the hurdle?? Does Ray have any problem with sleeping?

I agree that it is better not to trouble your parents with this issue now. If we cannot resolve the matter then you can approach them as a last resort. As I said I am glad to be of any help to Ray.

What about Ray's father? Did you try to contact him?  Don't you think he would be a better choice than me to help you with this issue? Even though you cannot approach his mother because of her fragile condition, I am sure you can approach your brother regarding this.

As soon as I finished rereading my reply, there was a ping on my handphone notifying the arrival of a new message from Kai.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]m

Ray's parents are no more in this world. We have lost them two years back.

This is my second sister-in-law who is pregnant now. She and my brother live in London. Ray lives here in Singapore with my parents because of some situations.

The problem with Ray is that he cannot sleep without listening to a story. And my story telling skills are very poor. I wouldn't even bother attempting to tell him a story.

So, can you help me now?? I tried reading him a story but he rejected that saying that they are not interesting. I tried to play him some audio clips of the stories but they made him fussy. Do you have any solution for this problem?

I was saddened after reading his reply. Even though Kai was not aware of it, I could relate with Kai more than anyone. I could understand what that small boy might be going through everyday. I decided to help Ray in not only making him sleep but also healing his pain. I didn't know what prompted to arrive at such a big decision but I knew that this decision was very significant in both Ray's and my lives.

I video called my Sister in law after few minutes. When she answered the call after a few rings, I talked to her."Hi Bhabhi, what are you doing?"

" Hi Anya!!! I am preparing dinner. How are you? How is work going on?"she replied me.

"I am fine and work is very exciting. Actually I have a small favor to ask." I directly jumped to the point without circumventing.

"What is it Anya? Is everything alright? Do you want me to get your brother? He is at home only." My ever caring sister in law expressed her concerns. I smiled at the worrying look on her face and nodded in negative response.

" There is no problem Bhabhi. You don't worry. That frown line doesn't suit you. And if Vikrant sees you worrying he will rain down hell on me." I attempted at a joke to make her smile and it worked out.

" Thank you God you smiled. Now I am safe. So coming to point, do you remember those stories which Rikki used to listen to before going to bed when he was small? Do you have them with you?" I asked her about the stories which were actually the stories my mother told me and Vikrant during our bed time. I wanted to give Rikki something special on his third birthday, so I translated all the stories I remembered from my childhood and recorded them for him as a legacy from his grandmother.

" Yes, you need not even ask about them. Your nephew listens to them till date every night before going to bed without a miss. Why are you asking about them all of a sudden?" My sister in law told me.

" I need them now. A nephew of someone I know is unable to sleep because he has a habit of listening to stori s before going to bed. So I thought may be these stories could help him in getting some sleep." I answered her truthfully without divulging about Kai and his relationship with me. I hoped that she would not get into the details of who that someone was. If she got a wind of Kai and his presence in my life she would pour all her efforts to bring us together. That is something which I wanted to avoid.

" I will forward those audio clips to you. They will definitely fetch that child some sleep.

So this ' someone ', is he a man or woman? And where did you meet this ' someone '? " My sister-in-law dashed my hopes and asked about Kai. I tried very hard to maintain a neutral expression on my face while replying her but she somehow found that something was going on between us from the expression of her face.

"Who is he Anya? I have never seen that expression on your face. I would like to meet the man who drove away the shadows from your eyes and filled then with such wonderful emotions. I don't know who he is or what he is to you, but I pray to God that whatever  that guy was doing he never stopped it. God bless his soul." She exclaimed with Misty eyes before I could reply. She always stood with me even before she became family. Her words confirmed something I was trying to run from, the truth that Kai was driving away my demons and helping me in braving away my fears. This truth scared me because of the possibility that when he would no longer be a part of my life, the demons will come back with vengeance and I didn't think if I could survive that situation without losing my sanity.

" Please don't say that Bhabhi. Please, I beg of you. He is an executive where I work, and there is nothing between us. Please don't impart such significance to his presence in my life. Let's leave this topic here and not talk about it again," I expressed my fears to her.

She wiped her eyes and looked at me with sympathetic eyes but nodded her said as if agreeing to what I asked of her. " Well, I will wait till you are ready to talk about it. And if you never want to talk about it, that is alright with me. But I just want you to remember that running away from the truth won't change it. You know it better than anyone. I need not remind you what running from truth might lead to. You saw first hand what it did to your brother when he tried to run from the truth that he loved me.

I will send the audio clips after disconnecting the call. Take care Anya. You deserve every happiness in the world just like your brother. And remember we are always here for you."

She disconnected the call and then there were pings of the incoming messages. I opened them to find the attachments of the audio clips. I downloaded them to my handphone's memory.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]m

I am sorry for your loss. How is Ray coping with this loss?? It must be very hard on him to understand what is going on.

I have attached some audio files. These are the bed stories which my mom used to tell me and now these are my nephew's bed time stories. They are in Hindi. You try one story and see if it is effective. If it works , I will send you the rest.

P.S. Do let me know if I can be of any help to Ray at anytime in the future.

I sent the message attached with the audio clips and waited for his reply with a bated breath. When I looked at the time, I observed that I still had an hour before I went for dinner, so I  decided to read my mother's journal during that one hour and took it out from its resting place.