The Devil's Harem

“Alex... Hello,” As Alex sat by his pool, Abir walked towards him from behind the trees.

“Yo!” Alex was pleased to see Abir, “So you are here as well. I guess Veronica pulled you here along with her. Don’t tell me she made you carry his luggage here as well.” Alex laughed as he pat beside him, gesturing Abir to sit.

Abir smiled hearing Alex but did not answer his question. He rolled up his pants and sat beside Alex dipping his feet in the pool.

“You know I was quite surprised to find out that Veronica was your sister,” Alex leaned back with the support of his hands and looked up at the sky, “When I was reading your file during that court trial, the part where it was written that you were the brother of some famous celebrity was torn off,” Alex told Abir.

“I tried to guess who could it be, but it was of no help. There are quite a few with your surname,” Alex shook his head, “On top of that, when I met you, you were just too polite to be linked to any one of them, especially Veronica. I didn’t know much about her, but well, you guys don’t resemble much to each other, not that I am suggesting something...”

“It’s true,” Abir nodded, “We are not blood-related or anything,” To Alex’s surprise, Abir was quite upfront to admit it. Abir, in Alex’s eyes, has always been the shy type, always minding his own business. Such people tend to keep everything to themselves. So it was not something he would admit so easily, but surprisingly he did, “Well, not entirely blood-related, but part of it.”

.....

“Uhmm...” Suddenly, Alex was at a loss for words, “Aghmm... It happens. There are all sorts of things happening in the world. It’s not like step-siblings are something new...”

“My mother is not really my father’s wife. He already has a wife,” Abir interrupted Alex, “My father and mother were college sweethearts. They were in love and wanted to marry each other. But my mother, so to speak, had no background. You may not know this, but these business, and political families try to marry their children off to someone of the same stature, or in a very unlikely case, with someone who has a promising future. And my mother had nothing of that sort. She was an orphan.” Abir suddenly started narrating the love story of his parents.

“So my father was looking for the perfect moment to introduce her to the family. Well, they were in college at that time, so they decided to wait until they graduated. But maybe the wait lasted too long. Months before they were about to graduate, my grandmother announced the engagement between my father and Mrs Johnson.” Abir sighed.

Alex knew who Abir was referring to with Mrs Johnson. Going by the story so far, it should be Veronica’s mother. But one thing still did not click with Alex, why was he being narrated the story? He had no stake here.

“It’s sad,” while Abir paused to take a breath, or maybe Abir was hoping to hear some kind words from Alex, but Alex took this chance to intervene, “It’s sad, a tragic end indeed. But... Uhmm... Do you think we are close enough to... You know... divulge such secr...”

“My father wanted to elope with my mother, but my mother was against it. You see, my father is the only child of my grandparents. My grandfather departed for the heavenly abode long back when my father was still a child. So my grandmother took on the role to, you know, run the business and take care of the family. But that proved detrimental to her health, and by the time my father was about to graduate, she had fallen seriously ill.” Abir continued to narrate the events ignoring the concerns from Alex. He was quite a bit into it.

‘Departed to the heavenly abode? Bro, are you sure you are in the right day and age?’ Alex looked at Abir seriously. What’s with the choice of words.

“So my mother decided to leave. And without saying anything to my father, she moved to another city,” Alex looked a bit sad and helpless by this time, “My father searched for her all he could, but he could not find her. He had no idea where to even look at. They didn’t have things like cameras and other stuff at that time that would help search for her.”

“... In the end, after months of searching for her, my father finally gave up. It was partly because of my grandmother as well. The doctors had given up on her, and no one knew which breath would be her last.”

“... To fulfil her last request at that time, my father agreed to marry Mrs Johnson. They got married within a year of my mother leaving the city. It was a piece of big news and was covered nationally. My mother also read about it in the newspaper.” Abir did not take the slightest pause and continued to narrate the story. And for Alex, it was something not that new. Well, a lot of couples face this issue, so there was no originality in this misery. And Alex hoped that Abir would soon skip to the good part.

“Sorry to interrupt you, but if you know all about this, then you were born by that time. So by that logic, you should be older than Veronica, shouldn’t you?” Even though Alex was not very much interested in the plot, he was kind enough to pay attention to his story and point out, “But that does not seem the case.”

Hearing Alex, Abir scratched the back of his head, “I was about to get at that...”

“Ahh, sorry. Continue then,” Alex said, “You were just too engrossed in the narration that I had to ask.”

“My father took over the business and ran it successfully. Mrs Johnson was an interior designer and had her own practice. And soon they were blessed with a baby girl,” Abir looked at Alex, “That was Veronica.” Alex nodded.

“On the other hand, my mother had also started working as a professor. None of them had any contact with each other until they met at the college reunion about a decade later,” Abir got a bit embarrassed as he spoke, “That evening, they crossed the line. My mother had been alone all those years, and maybe...” Abir paused and could not help but sigh.

“... Well, as a result of that, I was born,” Abir looked at Alex, and there was a tinge of excitement in those eyes, “But my mom chose to hide it from my father. She refused to keep any contact with my father and even hired a guy to act as her partner a couple of times when my father tried to visit her. Of course, it was all an act, but for some reason, my father believed her.”

“But things suddenly took an unexpected turn,” Abir chuckled, thinking about it, “I mean, I have never heard anything like that happen before.”

“... Veronica, when turned fifteen, asked father if he had anyone he loved before her mother, “Abir smiled, “Well, children do ask their parents about this stuff. And father initially refused, but Mrs Johnson spilt the beans. You know, my father has never hidden anything from Mrs Johnson. He told her about my mother before the two of them got married. Maybe that’s why they have quite a bit of trust between them.”

“So what happened next,” Alex found the story a bit bizarre but at the same time unique now.

“Veronica ended up throwing tantrums, and she even went on to give up eating,” Abir smiled.

“Why would she do that?” Alex asked. Curiosity was getting the better of his rationale.

“She wanted to meet my mother...” Abir shyly said.

“Pffftt...” Alex, who had just drank a mouthful of the guava juice, sprayed it all in the pool. Wiping what was still left of the juice on his face, he looked at Abir in confusion, “Why would she ask of something like that?”

“It’s still a mystery to us,” Abir shook his head, “Whatever I am telling you is something talked about by all of us once. How else do you think I would know the back story? Someone has to tell me that, right?” Abir raised his brows at Alex. .com

“But why would you all talk about your father’s... I am sorry, but why would you guys talk about your father’s infidelity as a group discussion?” Alex could not wrap his head around many things.

“It was something Veronica asked us to do,” Abir shrugged, “We never questioned it.”

“So you guys do everything Veronica asks of you?” Alex asked.

“Pretty much,” Abir nodded, “But you have jumped a few important things in the story. I need to tell you that before we get back to the how I got to know about the story,” Abir tried to bring Alex back to when Veronica asked their father to bring Abir’s mother to meet her.

“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 could not help but ask.

“That...”

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(A/N: You should also check out my Fan-Fic, Against The World, All Alone)