"Call me when you arrive. I will send you a car," suggested Bong-Cha in an excited voice.
"No need. I prefer coming on my own," Ashma rejected her offer rudely.
But Bong-Cha was not discouraged. She replied, "as you wish, at least you are coming. I have your number; I will message you the address."
"Okay, thanks."
"No, thanks to you, coz you listened to me and are coming here."
"Hmm." Ashma had no idea how to reply so she just replied with a single syllable.
"Bye," greeted Bong-Cha sweetly.
"Bye, good night. Go to sleep," commanded Ashma.
"Yes."
Ashma removed the phone from her ear to disconnect the call but before she could disconnect, she heard the word 'Unni' from the other side of the phone. She again placed the phone near her ear to scold her, again, but the call was disconnected by then.
"Why does she keep calling me Unni?" wondered Ashma.
She looked at the time on her phone, exhaled loudly and went to her desk to complete her work. For more than an hour, she sorted everything and mailed it to Priyanka and the rest of her team. Her phone kept chiming but she ignored every notification. After she was done with her work, she yawned, cracked her knuckles, and stretched and pandiculated her body. It was almost 1 in the morning, and she had to get up at 3 for getting ready to leave for the airport at 4. She still had to pack her bags.
She took out a trolley bag, filled it with her papers and documents first. She then selected a few outfits for mornings and pyjamas for nights. Her bag was packed within minutes. She set an alarm for 3 in the morning and threw herself on the bed with a thud.
She thought of resting her eyes for one or two hours, but sleep was miles away from her. She tossed and turned thinking about what would happen when she would meet the man who was her biological father. What will be her mother's reaction? What will be the reaction of his family when they see her? Why did that annoying girl call and no elder from that household? What would be the reaction of that annoying girl? She suddenly remembered that she must have received a message from the girl, whatever was her name.
She picked up her phone that was attached to the charging cable and looked at the notification. There it was, a message from a familiar number. She opened it and the name of the girl, and her address appeared.
"Park Bong-Cha
5G, 954, Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul"
"Do I need to save her number? Eeshh… it still is unbelievable. How come I have a sister and a brother? No, no, they are no one to you. You have no other family. Just your mother and grandfather and Madhu Maasi. Be strong, be firm." She gave herself a pep talk.
While pondering and waiting for sleep, the time flew by. Her alarm started ringing. She crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom. After getting ready she came downstairs with her trolley bag, laptop bag and purse. She chose a cotton kurta and paired it with a palazzo for comfort.
The lights of the kitchen were on. She went inside and saw Madhu preparing breakfast for them in a hurry. Ashma ran to her and hugged her from behind.
"I am sorry for screaming at all of you yesterday," said Ashma in a guilty tone.
Madhu turned around and hugged her back. "We can't even imagine what you are going through. We are very sorry for hiding such a big thing from you."
"I am trying to understand the motive behind it, but I fail every time. You all should have informed me about everything from the beginning," said Ashma.
Madhu released Ashma from her hug but kept holding her shoulder. "We were trying to protect you."
Ashma closed her eyes and sighed to calm herself down. She then replied, "I understand that."
"Forgive her," blurted out Madhu.
"Maasi!"
"Why was it easy for you to forgive your grandpa, me, but not your mom?"
"Because she is the main culprit, you guys were just accomplices. You were following her wish."
"She had your best interest at heart."
"I understand that too. That doesn't mean I cannot be angry at her. I just need space from her to get my mind in the right space."
"Yes, you can be angry at her, take your time, but make sure you forgive her," pleaded Madhu.
"I am trying, Maasi," nodded Ashma.
"My sweet child!" Madhu exclaimed and kissed Ashma on her forehead.
Vidhi stood at the kitchen entrance and saw and heard the exchange between Madhu and Ashma and tears started streaming down her face. She understood that her daughter was hurt because of a decision few people took years ago. She wanted to grab her daughter and embrace her tightly, say sorry to her with all her heart but all her daughter needed was some space and time. She wiped her tears and went inside the kitchen.
Madhu noticed the arrival of Vidhi and said, "good, you both are here. Have something to eat and then leave. She served them two plates of light breakfast.
Ashma and her mother were eating breakfast in silence when Surya woke up.
"Are my girls ready?" He broke the ice.
Vidhi nodded but Ashma just blinked once while looking at him. Before anyone could say another word, Ashma's phone rang. She looked at the number, her eyes widened with surprise. "Why is she calling at this time?" she thought.
She picked up the call and said, surprisingly, "you are awake? Did you sleep or not? Why are you awake at…" she looked at a clock, "5.30 in the morning?"
"Did you sleep?" inquired Bong-Cha.
"Are you going to answer, or did you just call to waste my time?" scolded Ashma.
"I slept with an alarm. Woke up to ask you the time you would be arriving. I didn't ask it last night."
Ashma understood why she was asking for the time, "I told you, you don't need to send a car. I can come on my own." Surya gestured towards Ashma and mouthed, "who is it?"
She gestured back and mouthed, "no one."
"I know. I am not sending a car for you. I just need to know the time," explained Bong-Cha.
"Why?" asked Ashma in a firmer tone.
"Just coz," said Bong-Cha casually.
"What?"
Bong-Cha changed her strategy and spoke, "if you don't want me to annoy you your whole journey, just tell me the time. Else I will keep calling you every hour."
"I will shut off my phone," rebuked Ashma.
"Busy and famous people like you never shut off their phones," Bong-Cha pointed out.
"Ahhh…" she growled and then continued defeatedly, "we will arrive in Korea around 9 tomorrow morning. Happy now?"
"Great, see you then," Bong-Cha said impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah." Ashma instantly disconnected the phone and shook her head in annoyance.
"Who was that?" asked Madhu.
"The girl who calls herself my sister," said Ashma, indifferently.
"Then why were you rude to her?"
"I was not rude to her. I just don't have any feelings towards her."
"But…" Madhu wanted to lecture her, but Ashma stopped her mid-way.
"Okay, enough, we are getting late, let's move." She looked at her mother and spoke.
"You will drive yourself?" asked Surya.
"Um, yes. I will inform Priyanka to ask someone to get my car from the airport. Just give her the spare key, Maasi," she instructed.
"I will do that. You two have a safe and happy journey." Madhu hugged both of them.
"Happy? I doubt that," scoffed Ashma.
"Ash!" shouted Madhu and Surya in unison.
"What?"
"Just be safe both of you," Surya too scoffed and spoke.
Everyone said their goodbyes and Ashma and Vidhi started their journey. The whole drive no one spoke. She parked the car and they went inside the airport. They sat in the plane after all the formalities.
As soon as she sat on her seat, she fell asleep. The bonus point was this gave her an excuse to avoid talking to her mother. She plugged her earphones and slept. The whole journey from Kolkata to Bangkok, she spent sleeping in planes and lounges. It was becoming annoying for her as she couldn't sleep last night and continuous change in flights and disturbance from air hostesses was not letting her sleep soundly. Already annoyed and frustrated Ashma was getting crankier.
She roamed for seven hours at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok to pass the time and also to avoid her mother who was resting in the hotel. The seven-hour haul went away somehow and they boarded the flight to Icheon. Again she spent the whole overnight flight sleeping, yet was feeling drowsy in the morning.
The pilot made the announcement of arriving in Korea at terminal one of Incheon Airport. The huge airport had 111 boarding terminals with 44 terminals in Terminal 1 alone. They deboarded the flight and spent hours in customs inspection port, arrival passport inspection counters and arrival security ports.
They were waiting for their luggage and Ashma did everything to avoid talking to her mother. She even read the pamphlet about the airport. She had no idea how to talk to her mother but she knew everything about the airport. She didn't know that her mother was feeling bad but knew that airport had a golf course, a spa, an ice skating rink, a casino, a museum and whatnot. She didn't know the number of feelings her mother was experiencing but knew how many terminals were there in the airport.
She picked up the luggage from the conveyor belt and dragged them behind her.
"Let me," her mother offered.
"No, I can carry them," but she refused. She didn't realise it but she completely changed during the duration of travelling. She left the sweet, kind Ashma in India, and rude, arrogant Ashma came to Korea. She was ready to fight with anyone and everyone.
She went towards the exit while Vidhi was following her. A sweet-looking old man had her placard in his hands. She approached him.
He bowed down and said, "Welcome to Korea, Ms Dewan. My name is Hak Dae-Hyun."
"Thank you. Nice to meet you," she answered stoically.
"Let me take the luggage," he offered.
"No, I am fine, just open the trunk, please." Suddenly her rudeness went away. She talked politely with him after seeing how polite he was. They placed the luggage in the car together. Then, she signalled her mother to sit inside.
"You know the address I sent, right? I don't have to use GPS," she asked Dae-Hyun.
"That is a very famous place, Miss. Every driver in Korea knows that address."
"What?" She was surprised. She wanted to ask more from him but she controlled herself.
"Young-Soo is one of the richest and most famous people in Korea," Vidhi whispered.
"I have no interest in knowing about him. Please keep your facts to yourself. Thanks, mom," Ashma whispered back.