Chapter 26
Mantra was in the restaurant kitchen when her phone started to ring. She was surprised to see her mom calling her. The last time she had spoken to her mother was on her birthday. Her relationship with her parents suffered after her brother passed away, and her dad disowned her when she decided not to go to medical school.
Sloka had been her savior while she figured out her psychology program and until she got the funding she needed.
“Ma… everything okay?”
“Mantra, your father and I need to talk to you?”
Now what?
“Dad?”
She hadn’t talked to her dad after the outburst he had when she broke the news about changing careers. She was caught off guard when she heard her father wanted to talk.
“Give me one minute. I’ll go to my office.” She gestured to the manager on the floor and walked up to her desk set up in Yash’s office.
“I’m here,” she said taking a deep breath.
“Mantra, we are worried about Sloka.” Her mom’s shaky voice came through the phone.
“What? Why?”
“She is going through domestic abuse, and we need to help her.” Her dad’s worried voice came through the phone making her want to comfort him immediately.
“Dad, don’t sound so worried. I will find out what is happening.” She assured her parents.
“We found out a couple of months back she was unhappy in her marriage, and a few weeks back we find out she is on a sabbatical for no reason and… we think she is taking on more than emotional abuse.”
“Easy, easy… let’s take a step back. I talked to her a few days ago, and she was totally fine. Yes, she is taking a break from work, and that’s not a bad thing. And, Rajeev is the nicest guy, and he loves her. You don’t need to worry about him hurting her.” Mantra wondered where her parents might have gotten the information about Sloka and what triggered the phone call.
“We are worried about her. We can’t let anything bad happen to her. I can’t handle losing another child.” Her mom wept. She heard her dad groan like he was in pain and that made her sick to her stomach.
“Ma, Dad, please. Sloka is fine, and I am meeting her later for dinner. I will check on her.”
“Mantra, your sister has injuries she is hiding with makeup.” Her father’s voice shook.
“Dad, I’ll talk to her. Don’t sound so worried.” Mantra ended the call after a few more words of comfort and wondered what caused the alarm for her parents.
Sloka and Rajeev had a reservation for dinner later that night, and she hoped to talk to Sloka about her conversation with her parents.
Mantra: Sloka, we on tonight?
Sloka: Yes, can’t wait.
Mantra: Text me when you get here.
Sloka: I’m going there with my husband, not you.
Mantra: I know, text me.
Sloka: Okies.
Sloka: Do I get to meet your hot rod today?
Mantra: Maybe.
Later that day, Mantra was in the control room checking on the dinner set up when Yash came up from behind. He ran his arms around her and ran his lips along the side of her neck. “Are you hiding from me?”
“Yes, hiding from you in your restaurant.” She ran her fingers through his hair tilting her neck to open up for his invasion.
“Why are you here? You don’t work here anymore,” he groaned against her neck.
“Thanks to you, my sister and her husband are in the private room tonight.”
“Is that tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Are you spying on your sister?” he teased.
“No, I’m not… well, I’m observing.”
“Why?”
“I’m not at the liberty to discuss my work with anyone.” She turned her face to brush her lips on his.
“When do I get to take you to the private room?”
She smiled against his lips. “I’ll see what I can do to get you on the waiting list.”
He laughed pulling her into his arms. “I may help get you to the top of the list. I know the guy who owns the place.”
She nibbled on his chin. “That guy… such an ass.”
“An ass, crazy about this hot ass,” he growled digging his fingers into her flesh making her moan.
“Yash… later tonight,” she pleaded.
He loosened his grip on her, and she looked up into his eyes. “Can we stop by the private room to say hi to my sister?”
“Isn’t that weird?”
“Yes, but my sister has been after me to meet you.”
“Sure. We can swing by if they are fine to see us.”
“Do you want to hang out at home till they get here?” He nuzzled her cheek.
“You know I don’t like interruptions. Why don’t we meet my sister and then we can…” She smiled as his lips grazed over hers.
Her walkie-talkie went off almost at the same moment, and the hostess messaged that her guests had arrived.
“Okay, they are here, and she was supposed to text me, and she didn’t.” Mantra picked up her phone to check if her sister had and she hadn’t.
“Why does she have to text you if she is with her husband?”
“Well, my mom and dad called after like a year to talk to me.” She beamed.
“Really, that’s something… right?”
“Yeah, after a long time they sounded like normal parents, parents who are worried about their daughter.”
“About you?” Yash looked alarmed.
“Nope, Sloka. They are worried about her.”
“How much do they know?”
“Not a lot and what they know is no longer an issue,” Mantra said wondering if Sloka’s best friend had said something to her parents and that’s how Mantra’s mom and dad found out.
“It looks like they are settled in. Do you want to go say hi?”
“Yes… thank you, Yash,” her voice was a whisper.
“You don’t need to thank me. We just used up our pre-blocked slot, no big deal. Let’s go.”
Sloka and Rajeev were huddled together deep in conversation when Mantra knocked on the glass opening before pushing open the sliding door.
“Mantra!” Her sister jumped on her feet and put her arms around Mantra.
“It’s so good to see you, Sloka.” Mantra pulled back and took a moment to inspect her sister, and she didn’t see anything off. “Sloka, this is Yash, Yash, this is Sloka and Rajeev.”
After the initial pleasantries, Yash and Rajeev delved into a conversation and Mantra took the opportunity to pull Sloka to one side of the booth.
“Mom and dad called me today.”
“Oh my God… for real?”
“Yes, and what’s exciting is they called me about you.”
Her sister scrunched her nose. “What about me?”
“Mom and dad know how it was until a few weeks back, and my suspicion is it was your bestie telling her mom and her mom telling our parents.”
Sloka cursed under her breath. “It explains how they found out, but they called you to help me with therapy?”
“Interesting you say that.” She didn’t think of the fact that her parents may be hoping to get Sloka some help, help in Mantra’s capacity as a therapist.
“What?”
“Never mind, but they are more concerned about you being abused domestically.”
Sloka laughed so hard both men who were lost in their conversation about technology stopped and looked at Sloka.
“Don’t mind me, please continue.” Sloka laughed.
“Sloka, talk to me,” Mantra whispered.
“So, over the weekend, Mom and Dad decided to show up at our place giving us only thirty minutes’ notice.”
“And?”
“In the past, it was okay because we weren’t doing anything, but lately, we are always busy.” Sloka turned to look at her husband and blushed making Mantra feel happiness overflow from within.
“Keep talking,” Mantra urged impatiently.
“So, we had a full-on… kinky set up right in the middle of the living room, and we had to move things around in a hurry.” She laughed and continued, “I had a cut lip from our fun, and I used the brightest lipstick to cover it. I realized after they left that I had bruises on my hands from you know…”
“Sloka, I am so happy for you.”
“Mantra, I’m so happy. Rajeev is completely off porn, and we talked about boundaries for the kinky stuff… I’m having the best time of my life… I love him so much.” Sloka wiped the moisture at the edge of her eye and ran her fingers through her hair.
Mantra’s eyes went to her sister’s neck and the telling impression on her creamy skin. “Is that a hickey? And it looks very recent.”
Sloka put her palm on her neck and smiled sheepishly. “We had time before we had to leave for our dinner reservation.
“See, I told you, you didn’t need therapy.”
“No… I needed you… not the sister but the person who wants to help a couple in need. I only wish you had gotten to Vedh sooner,” Sloka said solemnly.
“Sloka, stop looking so sad. This is your special night, and I’m gonna go.”
“So, this hot rod of yours seems very sweet.” Sloka smiled looking at Yash and Rajeev converse.
Mantra laughed. “I like him, he is interesting, and we can talk about everything later.”
“I don’t think we can break up those two anytime soon.” Sloka laughed when she realized the men were discussing technology.
“Yash…” Mantra attempted to interject.
“Mantra, Rajeev is the guy I’ve been looking for, for months.” Yash laughed making her wonder what he was talking about.
“Huh?”
“Rajeev’s company can build the equipment I’ve been working on as an idea for almost a year now.” Yash sounded excited.
“How exciting!” Sloka chimed in.
“That’s very cool. I’m glad your date worked out with Rajeev. Now let him be on a date with his wife,” Mantra teased.
Mantra and Yash left the happy couple to enjoy the rest of the evening.
“You hungry for any of this?” Mantra asked pointing at the menu for the day on the wall.
I’m only hungry for what I see in front of me,” he groaned pulling her to him.