Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Two days later ,Janani received the DNA tests results that declared her nephew was indeed Armaan Verma's flesh and blood.

Did she ,even for a minute wished the test results would be negative??

How could she be so selfish!!

Armaan had searched for 10 months to find his child. He wanted Advi.She have to stop be so selfish.She had to take a step back.

She had  barely set the documents down when her phone rang.

"Armaan Verma" Her called imparted with a warning edge to his harsh tone. "I would like to meet my son today"

"Yes Mr Verma.What time suits you?" She asked politely

They made polite arrangements for his security team to collect Advi in an hour.

******

"So could I have a lift with you upto the city??" Janani asked the nurse who had accompanied the security team cheerfully

"I assure you a lift is all I want and my being in the car will make it easier for you to get to know Advi.I can brief you on his routine" she added smiling brightly

"Er...I..-" The nurse who had introduced herself as Lisa who hovered at the doorstep looked at the tall bulky bodyguard.

The bodyguard dug out a cell phone and punched in a number and Janani got the obvious message: nothing could be done because no plan would deviate in the smallest way without Armaan Verma's approval or permission

She scolded herself for thinking that she was being clever when she had come up with the idea.

Yet she truly wasn’t trying to interfere with Armaan's day with Advi.

She simply wanted to be accessible if necessary.

"I just thought I could use the opportunity to do some shopping " she babbled out as the bodyguard kept talking through the phone.

"Mr Verma makes all the arrangements. I dont want to make him angry" Lisa smiled apologetically

"Miss Rao??" The bodyguard handed the phone to the nurse

Janani watched the woman stiffen and straighten her shoulders and pale as she received her sets of instructions

She then extended the phone to Janani

Realising that it was now her turn to receive her orders, Janani laughed out loud, stunning her companions.

"So glad you’ve found something to laugh about today" Armaan drawled

"Oh, please don’t take it like that" Janani babbled in dismay. "I promise you that you won’t see or hear from me today. I just want to be in the city ...to...er...shop—"

"I can hear the lie in your voice—"

Her blood ran cold in her veins.

"You got a sixth sense or something?"

"Or something. Tell me the truth or I will not consider the idea"  he told her coldly.

"I wanted to be within reach...you know, in case you needed me. That’s all."

At his end of the line, Armaan gritted his perfect white teeth.

Where the hell did she get the nerve to bug him like this? He expelled his breath in a hiss of impatience.

"Why would I need you?"

"Not you, him " Janani stressed.

"And dial back the tension, Armaan. Advi can be very temperamental. He works best with calm, quiet and soothing—"

Armaan was incredulous.

"Let me get this straight—you are telling me how to behave?"

"But not in a rude way, in a helpful way" Janani emphasised.

"You are irritating me" Armaan growled soft and low.

"Ditto." Janani groaned out loud, having forgotten her audience.

"Less  of the growly stuff would be nice but not if you replace it with the rave-from-the-grave voice."

The rave from the grave, Armaan  mouthed in silent disbelief. She was actually telling him that he irritated her.

How dared she? A thieving whore...but the mother of his son...

"You can travel to the city with them and accompany Advi back again at five today. Pass the phone back to Khanna..."

*****

Janani was strolling through the city munching on some chips when she heard her phone ringing and she immediately snatched it.

"Advi is ill.....Where are you?? I will have you picked up" Armaan demanded

Her frantic queries did not elicit any response beyond the reassurance that the baby is not in danger.

" I thought you were going to stay within reach!" Armaan  roared at her as she came through the front door.

Janani was used to dealing with distraught and often angry parents whose child had become upset at school or had suffered injury and at one glance she recognised that Armaan fell into that category.

He was a powerful man who controlled everything around him but Advi's illness had made him feel powerless and that anger was the fallout

She could hear Advi’s distressed choking wails echoing through the apartment and was not in the mood to waste time sparring with his anxious father.

"Where is he?"

"The doctor’s with him" Armaan gritted, placing his hands on her lower back to usher her in the right direction.

"Not that he’s been much use!" He added with an edge to his voice.

Lisa was pacing the floor with a wailing Advi and looked as though she had been through the wars.

Earlier that day she had looked immaculate. Now her long hair was falling down untidily and her shirt was spattered with food stains.

An older bespectacled man, who could only be the doctor, overlooked the scene with an air of discomfort.

"What’s wrong with Advi??" Janani asked worriedly.

The doctor studied her anxiously. "A touch of tonsillitis...nothing more—"

"My son would not be making such a fuss over so little"  Armaan began wrathfully.

"Oh, yes, he would." Janani threw Armaan a wryly apologetic glance.

"He makes a real fuss when he’s sick. He’s had tonsillitis a couple of times already and I was up all night with him."

With a yell, Advi unglued his reddened eyes and, focusing joyously on Janani, he gave a frantic lurch in Lisa’s hold.

The other woman crossed the room in haste to settle him into Janani's arms.

"It’s obvious he wants his mum."

"Perhaps you could explain to...er...Advi’s father that this is not a serious condition. The baby has a mild fever and a sore throat and possibly some ear pain."

Exhausted, Advi moaned against Janani's shoulder, his solid little body heavy against her as he slumped.

"Try to get him to drink some water to keep him hydrated" the doctor advised with a wary glance in Armaan's  smouldering direction.

"Within a couple of days and with the medication he’ll soon be back to normal."

"Thank you" Janani said quietly as she sank down on a comfortable leather seat and accepted the baby bottle of water Lisa helpfully extended.

She studied Advi and glanced across the room at Armaan.

So, she finally had first-hand evidence of whose genes had dealt Advi the theatrics and the fireworks, she thought wryly.

Ignoring Advi when he twisted away his mouth from the bottle. "Do you want your cup?"she asked.

Advi looked up at her, dark eyes cross and shimmering with tears.

Janani dug the baby cup out of the bag and proceeded to pour some water into it while still cradling Advi

"Seems that he is one little boy who knows what he wants" Lisa remarked.

"You’re spot on." Janani watched the baby moisten his lips and then try a tiny sip. Forced to swallow, he grimaced and sobbed again while she praised him and told him what a brave, wonderful boy he was.

Armaan watched the performance unfolding with blazing dark chocolate eyes, angry frustration assailing him.

He knew when he was facing a fait accompli.

Janani handled Advi beautifully, clearly knew him inside out and responded smoothly to his needs.

He himself and the highly qualified doctor and nurse had failed utterly to provide the comfort his son had needed.

He wondered if little boys were programmed to want mothers over father figures.

He coped without a mother...didnt he?

He wondered tensely how his son would cope without a mother, particularly when they are so damn attached to each other.

Or so Janani had planned!! He thought broodingly

Bemused by that flood of concern and the sort of deep questions he normally suppressed, Armaan grated his teeth together in frustration and called someone to show out the doctor.

"It is only a mild illness" Janani remarked quietly. "Relax"

"How the hell am I supposed to relax when my son is suffering?" Armaan lashed back at her in fierce attack.

"Sometimes you can’t fix things and the normal childhood illnesses fall into that category" Janani pointed out gently.

Armaan strode to the door, raking an impatient hand through his long glossy hair.

"The nurse will put my son in his cot for a nap now" Armaan announced. "We have to talk."

"What do you want to discuss?" she asked stiffly once Lisa had lifted a sleeping Advi from her and left the room

Armaan shot her a chilling appraisal.

"Oh, please, don’t come over all naive on me now. I prefer honesty. You’ve made it clear that you want to make the most profit you can from having brought my child into the world" he pointed out with unconcealed contempt.

"But I simply want what makes my son happy and it is patently obvious that in the short-term at least Advaith will not be happy if you suddenly vanish from his life."

Janani studied him, surprised he was willing to admit that possibility.

"Although there is nothing I can like, respect or admire about you, Janani...my son is attached to you" he said in a grim tone of finality.

"I do not want to damage him by immediately forcing you out of his life. He deserves more consideration from me. After all, he did not choose the unusual circumstances of his birth—I did."

He thought she was Saanvi and while she faked being Saanvi she had to own her sister’s mistakes and pay the price of them too.She acknowledged silently.

Armaan watched her porcelain-fair skin wash a guilty pink

Those eyes and that full, soft pillowy mouth were something that any man would zero in on, he told himself, his attention widening its scope to encompass the full swell of her breasts below the simple kurti she wore.

He wondered what colour her bra was and marvelled at the stray thought.

What was he? A randy schoolboy?

He had access to many sexual choices and almost any one of those women would be classier, safer and more beautiful than Janani Trivedi, he reminded himself impatiently.

Even so, it was his son’s mother who was making him hard and taut and needy where it mattered, when he was all too often indifferent to female fawning and flirtation.

But then possibly what annoyed him most about Janani was that he had yet to see any sign that she was making the smallest effort to sexually attract him.

She did not appear to be wearing make-up and her plain kurti was loose on her while she sat with her legs neatly and modestly folded to one side.

It was like a simulated virginal act, he reasoned in exasperation.

Possibly she had already worked out that hooker heels and too much exposed female flesh were not his style.

"I’ve decided that I want you to accompany us to Mumbai as a nanny for my son" he finally said into the silence leaving Janani speechless