Chapter 2: Be My Mistress

Samaira stood frozen to the spot, the time had stopped ticking as an eerie silence enveloped her and the place where she stood. She could only hear the sounds of bird’s chirping over the trees in her huge garden, the trees were planted by her father Ram Khanna, when she was a small kid, her father made her sit next to him as he planted the saplings into earth, telling her why plants are important and why we should always give back to mother earth.

Right now, as Samaira stood there cemented to the spot, in front of those same plants which were now big trees, her father lay on ground, in the lap of mother earth that he so loved to give back to, bit by bit, he lay there in front of her feet, giving himself up to the same mother earth, amidst a pool of blood that had splashed across her face and dress

He looked up at Samaira, his eyes held a tinge of pride

“Sam.. darl..,” he struggled to speak as Samaira stood in stupor, not believing what she was seeing

“Sam, trust me, I.. I did.. not...do,”

he struggled more as blood gushed out of his mouth,

“Mo.. he is the cu..lp..rit.. culprit, papa lo..loves yo..you,”

There were no more movements, no more sound and no more struggle.

The next day, city was hit with headlines

“Ram Khanna, commits suicide in guilt and shame,”

“Ram Khanna admits he raped by committing suicide as unable to face his daughter and world,”

The world had become a dark place for the Khanna’s overnight

At Khanna Mansion:

Ram Khanna’s body lay stiff, wrapped in a white cloth, Samaira’s otherwise hot and handsome papa lay cold and stiff before her and her family. Her elder brother Ajay cried inconsolably, so did her mom and her 7 year old little nephew Shain, yet Samaira stood stiff, not a single tear she wanted to shed for her beloved papa, he had abandoned her, he had left his family in a lurch, he had cowered under the pressure of lies and gave up his life, she would never forgive him, yet she would find the truth as his last wish was the same, only then will she gift herself the privilege to cry out the pain he left her with today, atleast that's what she thought now..

Few people came to pay their last respects, but what surprised Samaira more was that none of her papa's two best friends, uncle Kapoor and uncle Nitin were present on such an occassion, the three were extremely close knit and them not being here was a bit strange

“Are you mad, looking for trouble ha, let us go in asshole or we will call the cops,”

Suddenly there was a huge commotion at the entrance of the hallway

Samaira and others looked up at the cause of commotion, a thick stout man walked in confidently followed by a lawyer and a few body guards

“Uncle Mohan,” Samaira looked at him quizzically

“Mrs. Khanna,” he straight looked at Samaira’s mom who was still crying over her husband’s body

“Uncle Mohan, mom is not in right frame of mind, please tell me what happened?”

Samaira had thought that Uncle Mohan, her father’s another very close friend had come to pay his last respects to her papa, but his unusual behaviour said otherwise

Ajay walked up to Mohan, gesturing Samaira to handle mom who was still wailing

“Ajay, I know this is not an appropriate moment but I have to do this now, your father had mortgaged this mansion to me, now that he is dead, there will be no one to pay his loan, I want to take over this mansion right away as I have a buyer who will pay me the amount upfront,”

Samaira and Ajay stood aghast

“Dad never mentioned about any such thing uncle,” Ajay was shocked

“uncle, there must be a mistake, this house was built by my papa and mom with love, right from scratch, not for anything would he ever trade or mortgage this house,” Samaira was stupefied too

“Are you trying to say that I’m lying,” he bellowed with no consideration to where he was and that the house was in mourning

“Hey Mr. lawyer, what are you ogling at, show them the papers,” he yelled at the lawyer who was lost in drooling over Samaira, she was a superstar and lawyers like him never got an opportunity to come this close to superstars like her

“Uh!, ya sure, here are the papers, your father had indeed borrowed a loan from my client Mr. Mohan and had mortgaged this mansion in return, we have all the rights to confiscate this property right away,”

Samaira took the papers and saw that her father had indeed signed them and mortgaged the mansion, her eyes flickered as she tried supressing her tears

“But uncle, even if this is true, you have to give us sometime, you know we have to cremate dad and mom is heartbroken too, please give us some time,” Ajay requested

Samaira looked at her brother incredulously, 'how could he simply ask for time, what did Ajay want time to think about,'

“No way, we will not give this house up just like that, mom is emotionally attached to this place, we have memories of mom and papa, besides, he never told us anything about this,”

She looked in disdain at the man who had enjoyed thousands of dinner nights and parties at this same mansion, who used to call himself her papa’s close friend, and this same man was here ready to snatch their abode in a jiffy,”

“Uncle Mohan, how much is the amount that papa borrowed?” Samaira asked

“He he he, you really wanna know baby girl?,” he looked at her sinisterly

“it is $ 10 billion only,”

He sneered as he looked at the sibling duo’s shocked faces

“Now do you think you have that kind of money to pay me right now?”

Samaira looked stunned, that kind of money was nothing for her papa, but if he had borrowed it, that only meant that they didn’t have the money now, she was a superstar, but she had just started her career, she may have upto 5 to 6 billion, but it was difficult to digest the fact that her papa borrowed so much money and had abandoned them so easily

“Now that you know you cannot pay me, pick your stuff and this body and leave my house,”

It is said that the true colors of a person shines only when the night is dark, situation determines who is your true ally and truest enemy

“NO, NO.. NEVER,”

all three turned to look at Mrs. Khanna who had broken out of her initial shock in face of another

“YOU CANNOT TAKE AWAY THIS MANSION FROM US, THIS IS OUR HOME, YOU, MOHAN, GO AWAY, YOU BACK STABBER, JUST LEAVE,”

Mrs. Khanna screamed on top of her lungs and wailed louder, Samaira’s heart pained to see her mom like this

“Mom, don’t cry,” she rushed to hold her mom and hugged her

“Well,” Mohan cleared his throat, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Mrs. Khanna

“You may continue to live in this house on one condition,”

Samaira and her mom looked at him with hope in their eyes

Mohan continued staring at Mrs. Khanna, she was about ten years younger than Ram, still in her thirties, she was an epitome of beauty, lean, tall and slim, she looked like a young girl no less, he had always lusted after her and today was his chance to grab hold of her, the look on his face turned ambiguous

“Mrs. Khanna, if you agree to be my mistress, I may consider allowing you to live in this house,”

Samaira, Ajay and Mrs. Khanna were appalled at what they just heard from the man who used to be one of the best friends of the head of this family... now just a body awaiting cremation.

In testing times you find pain, in testing times you find truth,

yet in testing times you find your courage..

All Hearts !!