He would leave behind something good, and finally shed the burden of having carried his mother’s horrid words with him since he was a boy.
He would prove her wrong.
He just hoped that he didn’t lose his patience before achieving this goal, because truly, Leela Shetty could drive a saint to murder.
While he may not have been present to suffer her tantrums and outrageous demands this time, his restaurant staff was.
An altercation between his mother and a waiter at the main branch of The Mumbai Map, his beloved restaurant, had Rian leaving his new Singaporean venture under the watchful eye of his project manager.
Rian would have loved to stay back longer. The Singapore Map had been in the works for over two years, and was finally on track for a winter opening. Had his mother not injured Ankit, a long-time employee of The Mumbai Map,Rian would have never thought to return early to his home city.
Though it was Ankit who had required stitches to his hand, Leela had been heard making threats of reporting him to the cops for trying to hurt her. What had Ankit done wrong, you ask? He’d held her hand when she’d waved a butter knife in their manager’s face for not serving her the best bottles of wine, and for daring to charge her for her meal.
Which meant that Rian’s presence became necessary to protect his employees from his entitled harpy of a parent.
He yawned once more.
The noise must have alerted Raju because he spoke up just as they pulled into the parking lot of his high-rise apartment building.
“We are home, Bhaiyya. You can rest soon. I didn’t see Nanamma today, so I did not get a chance to tell her that you would be back.”
“That’s fine. I’ll surprise her in the morning.”
Rian grabbed his backpack and luggage from the trunk, waving off Raju’s attempts to help.
Nanamma,he thought fondly, dragging his suitcase into the large elevator and pressing the button for his floor.
He’d been trying to get his grandmother to move in with him for years, but she’d refused. Despite her age, Chitra Shetty loved being independent and had not been ready to leave the home she had shared with her husband in the twilight years of his life.
Velas, the small beachside town that she still called home, had become a safe haven for his friend, Kaya Sharma, when she'd been estranged from her family.
Now that Kaya, known to everyone else as Kaveri, had moved back to Mumbai to live with her husband, Arjun Rathore, it seemed that Nanamma had finally begun to feel lonely.
Begrudgingly, she’d agreed to spend a few months at a time living with Rian, insisting that she would go back to Velas in the rainy months to get away from the infamous Mumbai floods. Contrary to her plans however, she’d ended up coming back earlier. And not alone.
A temporary houseguest.
When she had last spoken to him, she’d explained that the grandchild of an old friend had been accepted into a specialty medical program at a nearby hospital and needed a place to stay.
Rian hadn’t questioned why this person couldn’t rent an apartment or why Nanamma had to be here to chaperone him. He’d assumed that this ‘Adi’ that Nanamma had mentioned was a young man-child. The typical, spoiled son of an overprotective family who’d had everything done for him and was incapable of an existence independent of help.
Regardless, since his grandmother rarely asked him for anything, Rian had acquiesced and allowed the use of his home to house this boy.
He supposed the presence of this Adi would not impact him anyway. Rian would be busy with his work and would categorically decline babysitting said man-child.
He punched in the code to his apartment. The answering ping and whirr of the electronic lock announced his success. He wheeled in his suitcase, stepping into a wide entryway with a side closet where he dumped his shoes. Leaving his luggage behind, he walked to the end of the foyer, which opened into an enormous kitchen and living space. The far end of the wall was completely made up offloor-to-ceiling windows, which brought in enough brightness that he didn’t need to switch the lights on. Beyond the windows was a sizable balcony that led to a sweeping view of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link—a 5.6 kilometre long, eight-lane-wide cable-stayed bridge that linked the busy Western Suburbs of Bandra with the upscale locality of Worli in South Mumbai, where he now lived. As busy as it was by day, the bridge was a breathtaking sight at night, lit up to dominate the dark Arabian Sea over which it stood.
He slid behind the white quartz-encased island, a massive twelve-foot structure that he had commissioned. He loved cooking here. It was a departure from the black cabinets and black stone counters that lined the rest of his kitchen, drawing one’s eye to the true heart of his home. He grabbed a drink and took a look around him, his sights inevitably drawn to the outside again.
Rian had splurged on this apartment once he had made enough money. Something about being this high up, and seeing the city lights blinking constantly made him feel okay, if only for a short time. Like he wasn’t alone.
He slapped the bottle back down on the counter and walked towards the massive sectional that dominated his living room. Tired and wanting to rest, he unthinkingly leaned over the back of the couch and dropped onto the seat, belly first.
“Amma!” He heard a shriek, just as he realised he’d made a mistake.
The next instant, it was chaos. Thrashing, kicking, squirming, and screaming ensued.
He felt a sharp jab on his side and with an oomph, he began to roll off the edge, his surprise and confusion robbing him of the ability to fight. As he fell, instinct kicked in and he grabbed at whatever he could to halt his descent. His hands connected with warm skin and despite not meaning to, he brought down the weight of whoever or whatever was on his couch.