Page 52 of The Redemption
We walk the remaining stretch towards the helipad together, the sound of the wind picking up slightly as the open cliff comes into view. The helicopter is already stationed ahead, its blades still against the pale morning sky, waiting.
“I wish you could’ve stayed a little longer,” I tell him quietly.
Baba looks at me with a faint smile. “Trust me, I wished that too,” he replies easily. “Next time, I promise I will. And anyway, you are coming to Mumbai soon for Meher’s baby shower.”
I nod, already aware of that commitment. We take a few more steps towards the helicopter when Baba suddenly stops.
“You’re still not going to talk to me about Siya, are you?” he asks.
F*ck!I had hoped he wouldn’t bring her up.
I hold his gaze, carefully measuring my response before I finally speak.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I say. “She’s a guest at RK Estate. That’s all.”
“Stop fooling me, Raghav,” he says calmly. “And more importantly, stop trying to fool yourself.”
I don’t respond immediately. Not because I don’t have an answer, but because I choose not to react to that statement.
Baba studies me for a moment before asking,“Siya is the same woman whose sandal Meher saw you carrying nine months ago in Mumbai, isn’t she?”
How did he figure that out?
When I remain silent, Baba simply shakes his head and exhales lightly. “Okay, look,” he continues. “If you don’t want to talk about her right now, I won’t force you. But don’t ignore what is right in front of you either.”
I hold his gaze silently.
“In the little time I spent with her,” he goes on, “I saw enough to understand the kind of woman Siya is. She is grounded, respectful…”
And a mafia princess.
I swallow as he goes on. “But more than that, I saw the wayyoulook at her,” Baba says, watching me carefully.
My jaw tightens instantly.How do I look at Siya?
“You think I wouldn’t notice?” he asks, almost amused now. “During the entire vineyard tour, your eyes barely left her. You told yourself you were there for me, and I know a part of you was. But your attention was clearly somewhere else.”
I let out a slow breath. “You are reading too much into it,” I say, flattening my tone just enough to draw a line.
“No,” he replies. “I’m telling you exactly what I saw.”
He pauses before continuing, “I’ve watched you around people for a couple of years now, Raghav. At family gatherings,with friends, at events. You’re always present. You respond and do what is expected of you. But your focus has always been… selective.” A small smile touches his lips. “The rest of the world exists around you, but it doesn’t reach you. Ever.” His gaze holds mine. “This time, it did.”
I neither interrupt nor agree. I just stand there in silence, letting him say what he has clearly been wanting to say from the moment he arrived here.
“If Siya were just another guest, you wouldn’t even spare her a second glance. Forget noticing her, you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did when she nearly lost her balance in that wooden vat.”
He steps closer and places a hand on my shoulder.
“I have lived long enough to recognise where something is headed, even when the people involved can’t see it yet,” he says. “You will understand it in your own time. I won’t rush you. But when that moment comes, don’t let it slip away simply because you were too busy convincing yourself it meant nothing.”
That lands deeper than anything else he has said so far, and I don’t like it. Because this isn’t about just any woman. He’s talking about Siya. A mafia princess. A woman from the very dark world I left behind for good.
“Someone like her,” he continues, “someone who fits into your life so naturally without even trying. You don’t find that twice, Raghav.”
His hand squeezes my shoulder once before dropping it.
“Think about it,” he says finally.
