The Devil's Harem

“Ahemm... Hello,” Alex greeted everyone with a weak and nervous smile.

“I don’t know what to say. Rebecca here has said it all in such a sweet yet concise manner,” Alex said, pointing out Rebecca, “Never knew you had such a convenient talent at your disposal. Kudos to you, little girl. Your sister will be proud of how mature at least your words are,” Alex praised Rebecca. But Rebecca knew it better than anyone that his insides must be churning with every word of praise he spoke for her.

“Speaking of her sister, for the next few months, we all are going to stick together. From sharing rooms, food, joys, burdens and everything else that comes our way to fighting over the use of bathrooms, we will share it all with one another, like a family.”

“... Now a family has its problems. Every family does. Even we might be head butting each other by the end of these few months of staying together. But as long we don’t lose sight of our end game, we will come out on top of every obstacle that comes our way.”

“... We need to look beyond just ourselves and think about others around us as well,” Alex said as he turned his head towards Veronica, who was sitting in front of him with Mr Lulu in between them.

For Alex, a family was something that stays together, eats together and is there for you on your good or bad days, but Veronica changed his views about a family. For her, the family was not limited to just the physical presence of the family members. It was way beyond that.

.....

~ ~

“Hey... Just a minute,” But before Abir could continue, Alex interrupted him again, “What about her mother, I mean Mrs Johnson? Did she never ask her if she had a guy she was involved with? If she was, did you guys bring him home as well?” Alex asked when he heard the weird remark made by Abir. Surely, in a just society, Mrs Johnson should be given the same opportunity as Mr Johnson.

“Well, Mrs Johnson never had anyone. We don’t what would have happened if she did, but for now, she didn’t have anyone of that sort,” Abir shook his head.

“Okay, so what happened next?” Suddenly this weird tale though a bit cringe, has turned interesting.

“This time, my mother did not really hide, so it was quite easy for my father to find her,” Abir continued, “Veronica came to our house herself and invited us to their house. It was more like an order that even my mother could not refuse. It was also the first time that I met her.”

“Veronica is not the one to beat around the bush and does what her heart tells her to do,” Abir spoke about Veronica, “But you see, more often than not, every action of hers had a reason behind it. It may not seem like that in the beginning. But it has been the general case.”

Abir then leaned a bit towards Alex, “Don’t ever fall for her innocent and naive act. She is way more shrewd than that.” Abir whispered, “But that’s only for business and people she does not like. To be fair to her, Veronica does not even care about what is going on in someone’s life. If she is putting in efforts to be nice and caring about you, then either you are family or someone she really cares about. For family and friends, she is the nicest person you would want to know.”

“... So when we visited their house, I still remember that she made us sit on the floor, all six of us, My mother, me, father, Mrs Johnson, Veronica and grandmother. We all sat on the ground forming this circle,” Abir was lost in the narration, but Alex could not help but interrupt him once again. Now even Alex felt bad for interrupting Abir every other sentence, but what can he do? While in the beginning, Alex felt why would Abir tell him about his family problems, it had turned interesting all of a sudden, and he did not want to have any loopholes in the story.

“Why is the grandmother still alive? Shouldn’t she have kicked the bucket?” Alex asked at the mention of the grandmother.

“What do you mean, why is she alive? Why would you want to kill my sweet grandmother?” Abir looked strangely at Alex, not very pleased with his choice of words.

“Hey, don’t take me wrong,” Alex waved his hands when he saw Abir look not very pleased with his comment, “Why would I want her gone? I am just asking, wasn’t she ill? Terminally ill at that. How did she make it past that? Yup, that’s what I am curious about,” Alex rephrased his words.

“That... She faked it,” Abir was embarrassed to say it loud, “She wanted my father to get married and settle down, but he would always brush it off.”

“Didn’t she know your father had someone he liked?” Alex asked.

“She asked him, but when he denied having anyone, she did not go forward with snooping around,” Abir told Alex.

“Well, if she did, things would have been different,” Alex chuckled.

“But I things as they are right now,” Abir disagreed with Alex.

“Oh well, so what did you guys discuss in that round table conference?” Alex asked, not wanting to comment on their family unity any longer.

“It was all Veronica. She was the one taking the lead,” Abir continued, “The first thing she asked was if my mother was in a relationship with anyone.”

“... And you know, there is this unique charm about Veronica, you can’t lie in front of her, and even if you manage to lie, she won’t believe you until she confirms that what she wants to hear is really not the case.” Abir praised Veronica.

“... So when my mother said that she did have someone, she turned towards me and looked in my eyes. She did not say a word but put her hand over my shoulder and, in all seriousness, asked me something else.” Abir said as if remembering that day itself, “I was only five years old that time, so I had no idea about relationships and stuff. So, Veronica asked if I had seen any uncle visit their house regularly, or someone who frequently stayed the night at our house...”

“... And clearly that was not the case,” Abir shrugged, “From the moment I had got conscious of my environment, I have always seen my mother care only about me, and no one else.”

“... That was only the beginning,” Abir laughed, “My mother was caught, and Veronica was not someone whom you can fool easily.”

“... in the end, Veronica was the only one talking, and all my mother and I did was answer her questions. While my father, Mrs Johnson and my grandmother were silent spectators.”

“... Without holding back, Veronica asked everything she wanted to,” Abir continued, “Even that if I was the child of you know...”

“Directly? Not even a subtle inquiry?” Alex was surprised. It would have been an awkward conversation even for the adults, let alone a fifteen-year-old girl.

Abir shook his head, “So, in the end, my mum admitted, and the episode of my father and mother at that reunion came to light, but apparently, Mrs Johnson knew about it.”

“So?”

“We were asked to move into the family house,” Abir finally came to the conclusion, “Mrs Johnson remained the legal wife, but my mother was treated the same way.”

“But why do you call her Mrs Johnson then? Don’t you guys get along?” Alex asked.

“No... No... No... it’s the other way round. Mrs Johnson and my mother are like best of buddies, Veronica may boss me around, but she cares about me a lot as well. It’s just that we did not want to mess the way we addressed our mother, so Veronica decided upon this.” Abir told Alex.

“So all in all, you have a big happy family, and I don’t know about others, but your father is like the ultimate winner. Two wives, totally approving of each other, loved by their children. What more could he ask for?” Alex pointed out the fact.

“You can say that...”

~ ~

As Alex thought about his conversation with Abir in the morning, he could not help but look at Veronica in a new light. Because of all the interactions he had with her all along, she came out as nothing but a troublemaker for others around him.

So when he talked about everyone present in the room as a family, he inadvertently looked at Veronica.

“Now, I wouldn’t want to bore you guys with my nonsense any longer. So not wasting another second, help me welcome Mr Lulu and Miss Lily, our director and assistant director.” And there was another wave of applause from the people.

“Now... Now... don’t tire yourself out just yet, because we have another lady who is as beautiful on the outside as she is from the inside, the main lead of our drama, the beautiful and talented Miss Veronica.” This time the cheers were even louder. The heartthrob of every heart was being introduced, but what surprised Veronica more was the way Alex introduced her. He had never been this kind with his words for her.

“Sadly, we don’t have our male lead here with us today,” when the cheers had died down, Alex continued, “But hopefully, he would be here by tomorrow, and I hope you won’t shy away in your reception when the time comes.”

And with that, the night was spent welcoming everyone that was worth mentioning, including Abir, the ex-favourite of Alex, because now someone else stands at the top. Abir is still the second among everyone present there

* * * * *