Ohas knew something was amiss as he dodged orders thrown at him like honeyed knives by snobbish little hypocrites and followed the direction that Naina had disappeared into, finding himself at the entrance of the mansion. To his surprise, he saw Naina passed out on the ground and Ahanay holding a shady man by his collar. It took every muscle and nerve in his body to stop himself from running out and taking Naina in his arms. What he saw unfold in front of him should have been kept tightly wrapped as Ahanay patted the shady man and let him go as if he had nothing to do with Naina passed out on the ground.

Before Ohas could hide himself, Ahanay called out, "Who's there?" Ohas stepped out in the moonlight, allowing him to see every muscle of his body. But Ahanay didn't confront him, he went on to say dismissively, "Everything's fine here. Just ask the butler to send some wet towels to my room."

Why would he do that? Oh right, he was the waiter here.

Clenching his fists, he watched Ahanay scoop Naina in his arms and disappear towards their bedroom, feeling the silent stillness larger than the millions of thoughts running in his head.

What had happened? Who was the man that Ahanay had patted? And what did they do to Naina?

He heard some shuffling behind him and caught a glimpse of shiny hair and expensive silk, reminding him of the little, rich, snobby girl who had last sent Naina to Ahanay.

* * *

Ohas woke up earlier than most days or rather, he didn't sleep at all. He was going to meet Naina today and his body seemed to be more aware of that fact than his mind. To calm himself, he stood under the cold water thinly running out of the shower above him, his hand going to places that were much explored before by beautiful women. Except, for Naina.

Sighing, he rubbed himself dry and changed into newer clothes, carefully picking a black t-shirt in which he had overheard a few local girls discussing his good looks. As he stared at himself in the mirror, he scoffed. What was the matter with him? He was never to give a damn about his looks, then why today? To prove to himself that he didn't care, he refused to comb his hair, the disheveled bed hair adding to his good looks like a ripe cherry on a cake.

He climbed down the staircase that had paan stains and chalk drawings all over, lighting a cigarette and watching the smoke drift out into the thick smog that lay heavy in the air. Despite the pollution and the unhygienic sewers overflowing with muck and garbage, people went about their day as usual. The ladies gathered near the water pump with large, colorful, plastic pots, the men walked out dressed in their colorful occupations of rickshaw drivers or tea sellers and the children fooled around with old tires while some went to school. He could have afforded to move into a way better neighborhood with all the wealth that he had accumulated, but he hardly cared for money or comfort. This world was the only world that he knew.

He didn't understand why Naina wanted to get out of there, she belonged here with him, not with those hypocrites who promised everything, but their hearts. People here walked with hearts on their sleeves. The ladies would fight at the drop of a pot, the rickshaw driver who was late to work would help a frail boy with his cycle cross the road and the children would pick up each other when they tripped over a Pepsi can. However, wherever they were, they were genuine. Their lives would show on their faces in plain sight, not on the secretive curl of their lips or on the arrogant tilt of their chin.

"Woah, you look hot today," Naina said, her surprise loud and honest on her face as she approached Ohas with a little kid swinging her hand. Ohas didn't get the time to process the compliment as his eyes locked into the kid's that was licking a cone of vanilla ice cream. It looked exactly like that bastard whom Naina had married!

Without another thought, Ohas picked the kid up by its collar and the ice cream fell and splattered on the cemented ground.

"Hey! What are you doing? Leave him! He's just a child!"

"It's that bastard's, isn't it?"

"You can't say that word---"

"You're a bastard!" The kid shouted suddenly at Ohas, having understood the meaning of such words already in its six years of life. "Now put me down before I tell my uncle!"

"It dares to threaten me," Ohas growled as Naina pulled at his arm.

"Didn't you hear? He's Ahanay's nephew, he's just six. You're a grown man, now let him go."

"Yes, let me go, bastard!" The child shouted again and Ohas let go, causing it to plummet to the ground like it was a mere object.

"What the hell?" Naina rushed to the child's rescue that immediately hugged her like a koala. But to Ohas' chagrin, the boy wasn't crying, it looked straight into his eyes and mouthed,

"Bastard."

"This little shit is worse than our kids here," Ohas said through gritted teeth. He never liked rich kids like this one that spent most of their jolly time on iPad listening to English curse words in raps and American TV shows. Where was the innocence of playing with dolls and dice? Where was the innocence of obeying elders? Where was the---

"To be fair, you started it," Naina said, letting go of the kid and patting its head as if it accomplished something. "You shouldn't have held him like that, called him that, and made him fall like-like that! What if he got a bruise? Are you okay, baby?" She said the last sentence in a baby voice and the kid shook its head despondently. "If anything happened to him, Ahanay would have killed me."

"Why do you have to babysit it?"

"Shut up!" The child shouted, a weird accent crawling on those words that piqued Ohas to a great extent.

"You shut up, kid---"

"No, you shut up," Naina cut him off, narrowing her eyes. "What's wrong with you? He's a child. I have to take care of him because his uncle has important business to do."

"Are you his servant to go around doing this?"

"I'm his wife," Naina said firmly, those words standing tall in front of him like strong pillars of defense. "And I'm doing this just because I want to. Do I not have a mind of my own to think and do whatever I want? He has some important work and I wouldn't mind looking after an adorable baby."

Ohas looked at the "adorable baby" that was holding its penis like it was a gun and shooting at him imaginary bullets of hatred.

"We have important work too," Ohas bellowed, his eyes coldly flashing at the nuisance of a child instead of Naina. "Get rid of it or go home."

"Fine." The moment Naina turned back, the kid stopped pretending that its penis was a gun. "Let's go home." Ohas was swelling with anger to stop them, yet he didn't want her to leave. Fortunately, she whirled around with the kid's hand tightly clutched in hers as she said, "Why should I go home? You can't tell me what I can do. I came here to do some market research, to understand whether they want the new towers or not. You're no one to stop me from doing that. You go home if you don't like us. And, don't forget to buy him another ice cream."

"Yes, tell him, sis!" The child cheered, having acquired the last word from YouTube.

"Alright," Ohas barely could say that word, he felt his patience ticking in the nerve that was throbbing in his head. They had important work to do and he wouldn't let Ahanay's minion stop them. After all, this was just the beginning of that bastard's downfall. God, how he hated that word now.

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