Maladies of Pure Affection

It was six in the evening when, the seventeen-year-old, Rafael got up from his hospital bed looking forward to his mother to receive him. Rafael had a personality any guy would kill for. His serene visage, haughty behaviour and the leverage that he was born with were enough reasons to attract every woman he met. After spending a week among those vile walls, now, he could finally go back to his mansion. 

About half an hour later, came a picturesque lady in a classics black gown, whose mien left everyone awestruck, was none other than the illustrious Mrs Ravina Basu. Ravina Basu was gifted with a beauty that blew minds away, deep black eyes accentuated with a perfect eyeliner, her scrawny cheeks, sleek nose and glowing skin could mesmerize anybody in her vicinity. 

 Rafael, as soon as he saw his mother, exclaimed with happiness, "Hey mom, you ready to take me home? Shall we go?" Ravina answered elegantly,"Yes sweetie, just lemme complete the formalities first." turning to the nurse she asked, "Is my son fit enough to leave for home, sister?"

"Fit as a fiddle, ma'am.", replied the nurse, winking at Rafael with a spicy naughtiness that was explicit from her smirk. Ravina didn't take a second to understand what had happened between the two of them the previous night. Since, Ravina had been hearing some tales about her son's onanism from the last few months yet decided to remain quiet, waiting for the right time to talk about it. 

As Ravina walked outside the room and signed the papers, the nurse asked, looking at the documents, "Ma'am, is Mr Rafael adopted?"

Ravina answered, feigning disgust and anger, "What matters is, if he's my son or not and fortunately he is. Rafael is my son, and no other fact can subdue my motherhood and love I have for him. Moreover, this isn't any of your business, is it?" 

Though this wasn't the first time when Ravina was asked this. This question irritated her. She was quite possessive for her role as a mother and never wanted Rafael to know about it as she did not want any bitter fact of past to come between them. 

On their way back home, Ravina informed Rafael suspiciously, "Sandra has been calling me continuously to hear from you. So just.", after a pause, she resumed abruptly, "Will you stop two-timing, at least, if you cannot stop dating such wanton rich pieces of disgust?" Rafael coolly answered, "Mom! We're just hanging out. I don't date.", As if he has had a lot of experiences of such situations. So did Ravina yet she made her fake agreement visible, as always, knowing her son very well. 

It was eight on the clock when the Mother-son finally reached their home, happy to see their relatives offering them a very warm welcome. Everyone was asking Rafael about his health and the accident that he had met a week ago. Rafael admitted, " I was driving a bit too fast while drinking and suddenly lost balance on my bike." He also confessed that he was surprised when he came to know that his mom had undoubtedly suggested something had gone wrong because her son could never be late. 

Rafael's uncle suddenly asked, "Rafael, dear why would you drink and drive during the night?", turning to Ravina, he continued, "Above all, why would you allow him?" 

 Ravina remained silent. Rafael's dissipation had always led the Basu family face such embarrassments. 

After a few moments, everyone resumed their chit chats. Suddenly Ravina said, "Sorry for the intervention but I suggest you guys talk at the dinner table now." 

 Everyone praised Ravina for her sacrifices as a mother and tolerating her son's tantrums without any complaints. Continuing classical dancing in theatres would have been a great way for Ravina to live her life even after marrying Dev, who already had a month old child. But she gave up her career to spend time with Rafael and guide him. She looked even more beautiful whenever she got appreciated for her role as a mother. 

 After everyone was done with the dinner and all their guests had proceeded to leave, Rafael said convincingly to Ravina,"Mom, I am going to my friend's house for they wish to celebrate my vigour. Don't worry; I'll be back by midnight sharp." Ravina reluctantly permitted him for she could never refuse her son. On the other side, she also knew that her son is strict with time and punctuality. 

Ravina passed the time reading magazines while she waited for her son, just to assure herself that he's safely back to the mansion. 

It was one in the morning, and Rafael wasn't back home, Ravina grew more tensed with every second passing by. She called him continuously only to increase her despair. She called all his friends to get any news of her son until she came to know that her son had not met any of his friends. 

"Has my son been lying to me or has he hurt himself again? Maybe he met an accident again?" she said turning to her younger son, Samarth, a little boy of five, not old enough to even barely understand a lot of things in the world. Her face had turned blue with fear. 

 Informing the police about her missing son, she then immediately called her husband, Mr Dev Basu, a business tycoon with a stout physique, callous tongue and known for his firm decisions in the industry, to give him the bad news, and said, "Our Rafael! He's missing!" 

 She then called her sister, Mohini, more than a professional hypnotist who was a caring sister first, to tell her about Rafael and broke down for a minute while talking to her. Mohini, without another thought, came running to her sister selflessly. 

Dev, without wasting a second in office, rushed to his home for his family. As soon as he arrived at the Basu mansion, he saw his wife weeping, sitting beside Samarth while Mohini was preparing food for everyone. He, after a few seconds, noticed Inspector Mishra, sipping his tea and writing points on his pad. 

Inspector Mishra, one of the reputed officers in the town, was appointed for the case. He was a swarthy, pot-bellied person, who usually occupied the daily papers for his ruthless ways. 

Dev always respected Ravina for the love and care she had for Rafael. Even after knowing that Rafael is his son from his previous wife, she never differed between the two children.

Dev walked towards his wife, smiled at the Mr Mishra, and sat beside her. Dev was always in a blazer, a white shirt and a blue tie over black pants and had a prominent moustache. 

Inspector Mishra then questioned Dev about Rafael's routine and his closest friends who might know where he might have been the previous night. 

"Sandra!", Ravina said with doubt, "She is sure to know something.

"Alright!", replied Mr Mishra, writing her name on his pad, he continued,"I'll show myself out now. Thank you, sir, ma'am and Samarth. We'll let you know as soon as we come close to any conclusion." Dev appreciated his concern and the gentlemen shook their hands. 

After the inspector had left, the Basu mansion was back into dark depression. The mansion was silent like never before, Mohini sat beside Ravina requesting everyone to have something, and everyone kept refusing. Dev sat unmoving, as if still under the shock of the bad news. Therefore, to lighten the ordeal, little Samarth switched on the television, only to worsen the predicament, unknowingly though. 

 The news was all occupied by Rafael's missing case and the media defamed their family over their son's debauchery. This made the Basu family even more abashed. 

At about seven in the morning, Mr Mishra called Ravina to let her know that they found a bike on the Hill Road and the bike's number matches with that of Rafael's. This revelation shook Ravina for a second, and she said,"But sir, what was he doing there?" 

The inspector replied,"We inquired here and came to know that he had booked a hotel for three hours in Bandra." 

The inspector continued with a stable voice,"Ma'am, you were right about Sandra. Rafael and Sandra had come to the hotel for three hours. According to Sandra's statement, they had come here to spend some time together and then left for their home." 

Mr Mishra repented,"Therefore, ma'am, according to our conclusion, someone has abducted him on his way back to home from the hotel." 

Ravina politely said,"Thank you, Inspector." The line went dead. 

Poor Ravina started wailing loudly, and all the members of the house came running to her, to calm her down. Dev took her hand and said,"Things will be fine. The Police are working right. They will find him." 

Ravina, looking towards him, said, "Mr Mishra had called." 

"What did he say?", Dev asked. 

Ravina replied with her watering red nose and tears in her eyes that had turned red because of grief," He was at a hotel in Bandra with Sandra and", she wept loudly and continued,"He said that Rafael has been abducted." 

Everyone was silent after hearing this. Dev sat figuring out the people who might want to kidnap his son for any reason. He revised all the employees at whom he had shouted or clients whose proposals he had declined. Ravina wept loudly in Dev's arms, and he calmed her down. Things became even more grievous when the news was being displayed on the television that Rafael Basu had booked a room to spend time with a girl for three hours, and one of the people on being inquired by the media said," They, of course, must not have played chess together for three hours." 

After some time, the circumstances in the Basu mansion bettered. At nine in the morning, Ravina narrated a bedtime story to Samarth and put him to sleep. Dev, too, was taking a nap on the sofa as the family had a terrible night. Ravina sat in the living room, still and silent. Mohini sat in Samarth's room to take care of his needs. 

After a few hours, the telephone rang, Ravina picked up the receiver, expecting the inspector to give her some report of progress in her son's case. But, to her astonishment, an uncanny voice said, "You can have your son in the midnight near plot no. 24, New Hari Niwas, only with an exchange of Rs. 50 Cr. And only his mother shall come there else your son ’s dead." , the line went dead. 

This left Ravina numb for a minute or two, and her eyes were intense and red with severe dark circles under them, her ears turned blue, without a thought she informed Dev and Mohini. 

Ravina, with her hands shaking vigorously, said,"We'll offer him the money to have our son back." She told them that no one than herself would be going to receive Rafael. 

Dev quickly called the police for what should be done now. It was after an hour of argument that Inspector Mishra agreed to stay five kilometres away from the happening spot to avoid any further tribulations. 

Mr Mishra questioned, "Ma'am, what about your safety? What if he tries to harm you or Rafael?" Ravina said confidently,"I'll be safe and if it goes down that way, I have a licensed revolver."

The whole family spent the day waiting for the midnight to come. It was the longest day the Basu mansion had ever had. 

Everyone sat in the living-room, Ravina in Dev ’s arms and suddenly Samarth got up from his sleep and came to his mom and sat on her laps. 

They all just sat in their living room until it was eleven in the evening when Ravina left for her child and said to Mohini with desperation,"it's time." Ravina walked towards the car with a sombre expression. When she sat inside and started the engine, she opened the window, held Dev ’s hand and said, ”I’ll bring our son back.” Dev, in a promising way, kept his hand over hers and said,”I trust you! I know you will.” 

 As Ravina drove towards the place, she sweats as if she had been running for a mile. She saw the police when it was six kilometres to the spot. She finally reached the place and stood there with all the money. She was strenuously trembling, and her neck was wet all sweaty, and her eyes were wide open. 

The police, unknown to what might happen, was attentive and stood there until they heard five shots being fired from a gun which compelled them to run to the place. 

 What they saw was horrifying yet not unexpected for Inspector Mishra. Rafael was shot dead with two shots, and Ravina shot in the leg, wailing loudly, asking her son to come back, from where it was impossible to. Kidnapper lay there dead with a shot on his breast. Inspector Mishra called the ambulance, and all of them were taken to the hospital. Ravina was taken to the operation theatre and the other two to the forensic labs. 

Next morning, after Ravina gained her consciousness, Inspector Mishra visited her to take her statement over the incident that had occurred the previous night. 

Ravina, as if trying to hide grief, briefed him that the kidnapper had shot her son when he was walking towards her and tried to kill her, even, and she shot him in self-defence. Her statement was further rightly verified by the forensic labs too. 

 Ravina rested there in the hospital, still drowned in the grief of her lost son, unknown to anything else. The further news worsened the situation even more.

Mohini came running to her sister and said,"Ravina!", And tears started rolling from her eyes. Ravina, afraid and expecting a bad news already, reading her sister's expressions, asked,"What happened?"

Mohini said with a stammering voice,"Dev…", And she started weeping loudly. This made Ravina more anxious, and she asked timidly,"What happened to my husband. Is he hurt?"

Mohini, with a great despair, replied still stammering," He killed himself and left a note that said "I couldn't be a good father. Therefore, I do not have the right to breathe." "

Ravina suddenly weakened. It took her five minutes to resume to consciousness, finding the news beyond belief, asked her sister, "How did this happen?"

Mohini continued, "In the morning, I knocked the door to offer him breakfast when I saw him hanging from the fan and immediately I came to the hospital taking Samarth with myself. Samarth is waiting outside and doesn't know anything about this." 

Ravina, still not able to conceive the bad news and imperceptibly broken, said, "Everyone, please leave me alone for some time. I guess I need some rest." 

Everyone felt so sorry for the poor woman, even after being a billionaire and a flawless beauty, she lost everything in life, or did she? 

After all of the people left the room, she finally closed her eyes, smiled with satisfaction and thought to herself,"As I had planned, now, no more step-relations in my life and no one to take over my money and property." 

And in her mind, she revised her whole planning and was happy to realize that all her pieces set in place. She summarized her plan that how she had bribed a common thief to abduct her son assuring him that nothing would happen to him. She, then, had a long conversation with Mohini to discuss over every minute way of getting caught and, finally, came a with this meticulous and flawless plan. Moreover, she already knew where her son had gone the night he had been abducted. She was aware of all his plannings when she read Sandra's messages on Rafael's phone while he was unconscious in the hospital a week ago due to the accident he had caused. The messages seeded the plan in her mind. Later, when she had gone to take her son, she threatened the kidnapper, with her revolver, to kill her stepson then killed the kidnapper too and shot herself, on her leg, with his gun and meanwhile, her sister, Mohini, had hypnotized Dev to write a suicide note and hang himself.

Why did she do this? Was it just the property she wanted to take over? Or, was there something else contributing to reasons for her barbaric act?

Ravina felt a strong pang of jealousy for her own son and herself too when Dev decided to write his will and to her disappointment, he had mentioned that everything would be given to Rafael post his death. This made her realize that she won’t be given any right from her husband until she forcibly takes it. 

A vague plan to take over everything crossed her mind about two months ago when Dev came home drunk one night and ordered her in a scornful manner to bring a glass of water. And when she refused he slapped her and shouted, ”What do you think? Why I married you! Because I love you?”, he laughed arrogantly and continued,”I married because you’re a brainless beauty. It’s easier to trick you than a donkey.” Dev pulled her cheeks and proceeded towards their bedroom from the hall, shuddering and falling on this way and violently shut the door. Then, she thought to herself, looking towards the bedroom door with a solemn determination in her mind,”Dev Basu! What matters is who gets tricked in the end. I swear that would be you and I promise you that.”

This incident fortified her conspiracy even more and she decided to implement it that night. 

And now, finally, there's no husband to take over the multi-billion business and property and no stepson to share her motherly love with her son. She said to herself,"It's just me, my sister and my son now."

Finally, she slept breathing deeply, content, smiling to herself, happy for her son and herself for all her hurdles were dead now.