Page 142 of The Circle of Exile
“Zuvzuv,” he held his arms out and dived down into hers. Iram caught him — “Aah, time for dinner. That’s why zuvzuv.”
She had already kept his food ready and cooling on his high chair near the window. The view outside was dark but some fireflies were circling their garden since the last few nights. She hoped they would circle again tonight and entertain her son enough to eat.
“You want to go up and shower?” She asked Atharva as he helped her slide their son into his chair and buckle him in.
“If I shower, I will sleep. Let’s finish feeding him, eat and then I’ll go up.”
Iram sat on a chair in front of Yathaarth and picked up his carrot puree and rice slurry. He looked hungry, and a firefly circled close to their window.
“Look, look, Arth,” she pointed. It took him a moment to fixate, and once he did, she brought the first bite to his mouth. It opened, and he liked his food. This was the first time she was introducing carrot into the mix. He did not complain, eyes all for the firefly.
“What happened?” Iram asked.
“Nothing happened,” Atharva perched his backside on the side of the windowsill and crossed his arms across his chest.
“Then why are you so exhausted?”
“Because I did not sleep last night.”
She looked at him, spoon mid-air. “You went to sleep before I did.”
“I woke up in an hour and then couldn't sleep.”
Her mouth pursed.
“Atharva, what she said yesterday…”
“Is a real threat. And instead of building walls, now I am making a preemptive strike.”
“You will come down with more force on her Amrohi Associates?”
“No, his case will go on as it is. No change. I have gathered momentum on an old corruption file of hers. When I joined office, a developer from here approached me offeringgoodwill. We trapped him and got him to give us Awaami’s and Momina Aslam’s goodwill records instead. I am working to get that file ready for a counterattack.”
“But that will mean you have accepted her allegation.”
“Iram, I am not going to sit quietly and take her ramming her head into my family. I do not submit to blackmail, and right now the only way to respond to it is by counter blackmail. Bullies need to be punched in the nose.”
“What will you do? Release the file?”
“No. I’ll do what she did. Quietly let her know that I have this. But I won’t be as tactless as her in delivering the news.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her own spies will take this information to her.”
Yathaarth’s mouth opened over her spoon, his head craned.
“Sorry, sorry,” she fed him, going back to scoop some more.
“Janab’s appetite is growing.”
“It’s winter. He is eating his weight in vegetables and I love it,” she fed him another spoonful. “Atharva?”
“Hmm?”
She cleaned Yathaarth’s jaw of puree and glanced back at her husband. “This will work?”
“I am tightening the loopholes in my paperwork, I am having her know that we have dirt on her too. At best, she could go silent for a while and give me more time to dig deeper. At worst, she could start escalating this and I would immediately have access to her sources. The more quickly an opponent moves, the higher the chance they make mistakes.”
