The air between them was dense. Jim pulled on his best neutral face, and yet failed miserably. The cold shiver that ran all the way through his shoulders and to his legs, made Miya feel feeble as well.
"Zaila was weak by birth," he told her, still fixing his eyes on the wall in front, "because of some complications in my mother"s pregnancy. She was frail and constantly needed to be put in a doctor"s care. I think that was what sparked all our concerns, and the Chairman and I paid her more attention. Taking care of her was never a liability though. In fact, it was fun. Spoiling her was the best part of it.
But then, she spoilt us in her weird ways too."
Jim almost choked now, and very slowly, his eyes watered.
He remembered her small, mischievous face, when she would make a random call to father and say she had tried cooking eggs, and she wanted him to taste them first. Then she would force Jim to eat spoonfulls of it, and tell him the same thing. Jimmy remembered the Chairman taking holidays from work just to be with her. That, when the man never, ever took a leave.
There were times when the Chairman would be rough on him with his stupid lessons. Zaila would then scream into the night to save him and claim headache. They would all rush to her, worried and panting. And then, quietly when everyone was fussing over her medicines, she"d wink at him. Ask him to say thank you.
Father, too, would make the lousiest of excuses whenever he came to see her in the middle of work. Jim always knew the truth. He would even make fun of the excuses with her afterwards.
He swallowed.
"It was a different time…" Jim said, his voice almost giving way "one that was surreal. She made the environment of the house cheerful in a way I can"t describe, Miya. It felt alive back then."
Miya was somehow afraid to know more.
Involuntarily, she tightened her hold on him.
"Zaila… was an accident. She wasn"t planned… by my parents. And when my mother found out she was pregnant, she once again left. I – I don"t know what went on between father and her. I was told she had agreed to have me because the Chairman had needed an heir. But having Zaila was not an option. She was vehemently against it. And so, when she left, Chairman Simon Hunter did what he always had done: he chased her. We located mother in a far off village, where she was taking care of some elephants in a nearby zoo.
She returned with us, and father convinced her to keep the child. The pregnancy was complicated, but when Zaila was born she was too weak. And mother left the next day, without even a word."
Miya frowned.
Left the next day after giving birth?
This woman.. Jimmy"s mother. What kind of a person was she?
And the Chairman… how did he deal with all this?
Jimmy…
He must have been just a child.
"Senior Hunter never told me if he ever looked for mother when she went away. Or kept tabs on her. But I knew he did. She was like an obsession to him, one that he couldn"t get over. That was one reason my mother never became much of a public figure, despite being married to the Chairman of Hunter Corporation. Father wouldn"t let his reputation be tarnished, as he told me. But I know it was to protect his own position and the company more. My mother was his weakness, and with her gone most times, he would have been vulnerable to attack. It was an added advantage that mother never really wanted to be known too."
Jim let out a sharp breath before speaking again.
"Father decided to hide Zaila"s ident.i.ty from the public too. In the initial years, the doctors weren"t very hopeful of her survival. And mother had gone again, so the Chairman told us that Zaila would remain a close knit secret, and she would be initiated into the society only after the doctors had stabilized her condition. He didn"t want her to be targeted or for rumours to spread around her. Zaila didn"t walk or utter a single word for two whole years.
And then one day, mother came back.
Two years after leaving her own daughter, she returned. Father didn"t ask her a single question. I"ll always remember her rough and haggard appearance back then. She simply walked into the house as if she had never been gone. And she took to nursing Zaila too. A week after that, Zaila walked. And a week after that, she said her first word.
It was Mom."
The expression on Jimmy"s face blackened.
"My sister"s entire fate was sealed in that one word of hers, Miya," he said darkly, his voice turning to poison now, "The girl came to love our mother like no one else. And my mother… this time she stayed put. For two years straight. I had learnt to not expect anything from her, but I couldn"t see Zaila"s heart break. I kept as close a watch as I could. But when mother didn"t leave again, I began to believe she had indeed decided to stay with us.
Zaila had worked like a charm for me and father after all. I stupidly believed she had had the same effect on my mother.
But then, two years later, she did leave. I wanted to kill something back then, but she also promised Zaila to return soon. I tried my hardest to explain to Zaila that that was the way it was – the woman wasn"t going to come. But then, mother returned again.
She started leaving more frequently, but this time, she didn"t go for long. She kept coming back. Time and again. Again and again. I had already made my distance from her. But I couldn"t keep Zaila away. My sister had inherited mother"s love of the wildlife too, and she was the happiest when mother was around. And just because she was so happy, I never really tried to keep her apart.
Somehow, she was also much stronger with her.
I did talk to father, but I never came to know what he thought. I could only do so much – I had begun to prepare for my graduation back then. And then one day, what I feared did happen.
In 2003, mother left again. She promised Zaila to be back in a few weeks, and we believed her. She had never lied to Zaila before after all. And well… she didn"t."
Miya"s heart began to rock against her chest, a strange feeling clawing up her skin.
Jim"s voice dropped to a hiss.
"Zaila waited. She fell sick, and then she fell sicker. But she waited. It tore at my gut, watching her ask about mother every time. Then one night, she was running a high fever. I used to sit beside her day and night, but that particular night, I fell asleep, Miya.
It"s a horror I will never forget. She somehow got out of bed, screaming for mother. I jolted awake too, only to find her running out of the room. I chased after her. She was sick, burning from the fever. She began to run down the stairs like a haunted girl. And- And before I could catch her, she missed her step.
She fell down the stairs."
Miya gasped.
She sat up straight, horror filling her eyes as she put both her hands over her mouth. Hot tears had flooded Jimmy"s eyes.
"There was so much blood," he gulped, "She was in the hospital for two weeks. She grew weaker every day, I watched her die a little in front of my own eyes. When it finally happened, she was in my arms, Miya. But no, that isn"t the worst part.
The last time she was conscious, she had asked me something. Her last words still blast in my ears some days. Do you know what she said, that girl? Two simple words.
Where"s mom."