A Night of Joy

Charan was waiting for Vivek in his car for the last ten minutes, but Vivek has not arrived yet. Charan came outside the car and looked at his watch. He mumbled, "It's almost time. He shouldn't be so late." Charan was about to go inside, when Vivek came and said, "Sorry. I was helping Arman change Hamida's diaper. He really isn't a good caretaker." Charan said, "Tell Arman to come with us along with Hamida. Our host will quite happy to meet them." Vivek asked, "Will it be safe for her?" Charan smiled, "Relax. We are not going to some gangster party. It is only a small get together between us and our host." Vivek went inside and after another ten minutes, Vivek and Arman came outside the house. Hamida was peacefully sleeping in Arman's arms. Arman asked, "Is it okay for her or we call Maria to look after her?" Charan waved his hand and said, "I don't trust this Maria. She seems quite a thief to me. That day, she was trying to open the safe, but failed and yesterday, she put my expensive watch inside her blouse." Vivek and Arman looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Vivek smiled, "Okay. We will talk about this later." Charan, Vivek and Arman went inside their car and speeded away to the party. Arman asked, "Who is he? I never saw you being so punctual to see someone before." Charan smiled, "He is someone quite special and you two know him." Vivek thought for a moment and said, "It must definitely be Liam. He is the only person Charan trusts more than any of his friends." Charan smiled, "That's a disadvantage of having a smart brother. You can't keep secrets." Arman asked, "So, it's a kind of a get-together?" Charan replied, "Yes. My good friend. It is totally children friendly." Arman smiled. Vivek said, "We should have brought a gift for him as we are meeting him after so much time." Charan waved his hand, "It's only four months and moreover he won't expect gifts from us." Vivek said, "Okay. As you wish." After sometime, their car stopped near a large house glittering with golden bulbs and lamps. Vivek smiled, "So, it's a Diwali celebration night." Charan smiled, "Yes. He invited us all to enjoy Diwali with him."

Charan, Vivek and Arman went down from the car and walked towards the door. The night was quite windy and the flames of lamp were shivering. Arman wrapped Hamida's blanket over her and grabbed more tightly. Charan ranged the bell and after a moment, Liam came and opened the door and hugged Charan and Vivek and gave Arman a side hug. Liam took Hamida on his chest and went inside. Charan asked, "Why did you shifted here?" Liam gently lied Hamida on the bed and turned. He replied, "Police, as usual. Vivek and Arman's mission proved quite costly to some of the rich people who were partners of Captain Black Eye. They forced the local police to retrieve the lost cargo and also catch the attackers, but both the cargo and the ship were quite damaged and they had to accept their loss. I killed Captain Black Eye as to tie all loose ends and then fled my mansion and came here. This mansion's owner was my old friend and he gave it to me before passing away." Arman looked around and asked, "Where is Natalya?" Liam replied, "In the kitchen, making food for us." Arman said, "Let me give her a visit. She must be waiting for me." Arman quickly went inside the kitchen. Liam smiled, "He's quite a man." Vivek smiled, "He knows how to move on, which most of us doesn't know." Liam looked at Hamida and said, "She is going to have a lot of questions for Arman one day and the foremost would be 'Why you killed my mother?'" Charan replied, "Shayana was quite greedy. I know she only wanted to avenge her father, but she should have known that it isn't so easy, especially after what happened with her father. Anyway, she must be with her father, enjoying his company." Liam asked, "So what's your next plan?" Charan replied, "India. I will stay in India for sometime." Liam and Vivek asked together, "Why?" Charan replied, "Alia has a small brother in India and in two weeks, he will become an adult. I promised her that after her brother becomes an adult, I will go near him and give him a life and an identity." Vivek asked, "What do you mean?" Charan replied, "Actually, Alia's father went to India a long time ago, and had a relationship with some woman there and got a son from her. Alia's father ran away from India, before his son's birth and told Alia to keep her brother in good health and care. Alia's father died few weeks later and Alia kept taking care of him and often visited India to see him. But, now that she is dead and her brother has no one to give him an identity, I have to give him an identity." Liam smiled, "It's a good thing. I always wanted someone to keep my accounts intact and I barely trust anyone to do that. I think he will be quite a man for this job." Charan smiled and hugged him. Liam asked, "What's his name?" Charan replied, "Bhaskar Reddy." Liam asked, "Reddy?" Charan replied, "Yes. The woman was Tamil." Vivek said, "I will come with you too. I need to see Shirley's parents once." Charan replied, "Okay." Arman and Natalya brought trays full of food and drinks and kept them on the table and said, "Come and enjoy the delicious food before it gets cold." All of them went near the table and sat on their respective seats and started devouring their food. Natalya looked at Vivek and asked, "You are okay, sir?" Vivek replied, "Yes. It hurts to feel alone, but life must go on." Natalya smiled, "Yes. The man who knows how to walk alone never stays alone." Arman asked, "Why are you so alone?" Natalya asked, "Sorry?" Arman replied, "Do you like boys?" Natalya replied, "Yep. But, why are you asking?" Arman replied, "No, just that I always see solitude in your eyes. Like you are looking for someone." Natalya replied, "I never met anyone interesting enough to impress me. All I saw were idiot, desperate men looking for just sex and no long-term relationships." All looked at Arman and smiled. Arman said, "What if he is someone already near you? Someone who is a little mature than you." Natalya smiled, "I don't like old boys." Arman coughed. Vivek gave him a glass of water and said, "Natalya. One thing that I learned from my life is that you can't expect everyone to stay with you everytime. In one way or another, there will a distance between you and him, it may be intentional or unintentional but there will some. You said that every boy wants just sex and not long relationships, but I say that not everyone is like that. I and Shirley only had sex three times in our whole relationship time. It was not like we were bored or don't liked being intimate with each other but we liked to keep a distance between us. But, Charan and his girlfriend, Alia used to have sex three times a day, even during in prison. It was not like they were only for sex or their love was based on physical satisfaction, but they liked it and no one forced each other to do it, it was with consent and infact, kept their relationship healthy. So, you can't say that having more sex or less sex makes the relationship any better or worse. And another thing, you said you don't like old boys, but to be frank love doesn't know age gaps. My father married three times, my mother was eight years younger than him and my third mother was eleven years younger than my father. My father forced them nor lied about being married, but all my mothers stayed happy. So, long story short, you can't say anyone is wrong just because you think he is wrong." Natalya smiled, "I will try to remember your words, sir." Vivek smiled, "Don't feel intimidated. It is just what I learned from life." Liam broke the awakardness and said, "Come on. Let's go to the bar and wet our throats." Vivek, Charan and Arman waved goodbye to Natalya and Hamida and went inside Liam's car.

Charan asked, "Liam, why did you never thought of another girl?" Liam replied, "Beacuse, I can't and moreover, I don't go to too parties and remain busy in the business." Vivek said, "You really should think about girls. You don't have any member to see your business in your absence. You need someone to be your successor." Liam bursted out laughing, "I am not that old and I can't just go and marry someone, no one can. If I have to find a girl, she must be understanding and loyal to me, she should know that her life will under constant danger and that she can't live an ordinary life like others. Where will I find such a girl among such a large population of women?" Charan waved his hand and said, "Let's leave the romance for some other time. Syman and Francis are becoming increasingly difficult to handle with their current positions. We have to do something or else the day is not far away when we will be subdued by them." Liam smiled, "Don't worry, Charan. Syman and Francis are currently in war with each other and profiting us indirectly." Vivek asked, "How?" Liam replied, "If Syman wins, the Russians won't leave him and revolt against and since Syman has no support from any big crime families, he will soon perish and if Francis wins, which I bet will happen then, the Malaysians will revolt against him as he is a Dortmund and there we will defeat him and takeover his empire."

Vivek said grimly, "There is one man who can make Syman's winning probability higher and stop us." All of them asked, "Who?" Vivek replied, "Alphonso Rubisco." Charan said, "But you said that you killed him." Vivek replied, "But, he survived." Liam asked, "So what? You two killed a lethal assassin like JK, a maniac like Ryan and a powerful crime lord like Mr. Salvatore. What makes this guy any more difficult?" Vivek replied, "Determination. I digged up some information about him and it says that his father was a simple and influential businessman, but Jimmy Law killed him and made an orphan in a raw age of eleven. He decided to avenge his father and became a criminal and soon he started harming Jimmy. But, Jimmy was an old tree and such small interruptions don't even move a hair of his body. He saw our involvement as a good way to get close to Jimmy Law, but killing of Ryan changed his game and then he decided to join hands with Syman. But, he never forgot about us and punished us by killing Alia and burning our office. Then, the rest is history." Charan said grimly, "If you think he is that troublesome, we have to do something about him." Liam asked, "Where is his current location?" Vivek replied, "I don't know is precise location, but must be in Malaysia now as Syman is there." Arman sighed, "I really don't know why this guy is going so deep to destroy us? He should be our friend instead." Vivek replied, "He won't. He wants the throne for himself and moreover, we are going to make holes in his body once he comes in front of us." Liam said, "Okay, guys. For some weeks, there will no violence from our side as both police and big politicians are looking for us. Charan and Vivek, you two go to India and fulfill your promise and Arman stay with me and Natalya and take care of your baby." Arman and Charan nodded. Vivek said angrily, "Once that bastard Syman dies, Alphonso is going to pay for his crimes and I will personally make sure that he dies a painful death." Charan patted his shoulder and said, "We will do that for sure." All of them stopped near a bar and they got out from the car.

Charan looked around and saw a chubby guy sitting on a chair, drinking wine. Alongside him were two armed bodyguards and a young girl was sitting on his lap. Charan looked at Vivek and asked, "You recognized him?" Vivek shrugged. Arman looked at the man and said, "He is Mr. Potter. A shrewd and greedy businessman. He was the most benefitted by the collapse of our cooperation and many people think that he was the one who planned to destroy our name." Vivek looked at him and said, "Well, then. We should give him a visit." Vivek and Arman went near Potter and said politely, "It's a pleasure seeing you here." Potter looked at them and asked, "Sorry, I don't think I know you?" Arman replied, "Of course, you don't. You are such a big man after all. We are employees of the Khatri Industries. We just happened to come here and saw you and thought we should offer our last greetings." Potter laughed, "You mean first greetings." Vivek and Arman smiled, "No, the last greetings." Charan and Liam shot down the guards and Vivek and Arman took out their guns and fired four bullets in Potter's chest and one bullet in the girl's head. Charan looked at Potter and said, "Now, people will know that we are back and start fearing us." Liam said, "Okay. Now leave London as soon as possible." Charan and his friends quickly went outside and rushed towards their house.

Charan and Vivek quickly packed their bags and went inside their car. Charan said to Liam, "Take care and keep your profile low. Potter may be a small man, but his masters will definitely try to avenge his death. I will tell when to attack, till then just live a regular life." Liam smiled and hugged him and Vivek and went inside. Charan quickly started the car and went to the airport, where they boarded the first flight to India. Charan said to Vivek, "Listen. Don't tell Bhaskar about us or mention anything about our profession. Tell him we are just simple businessmen and Alia is waiting for him in London." Vivek nodded and closed his eyes to sleep as the plane hid behind the clouds...