‘Why would he do this to me?’ Shreya said as she sat near Gaurav. ‘Who would do what to you?’ he asked. ‘You don’t know what happened here?’ ‘All I know is that you lost that painting.’ ‘Don’t call it ‘that painting’, Gaurav. It’s Rochelle. It was supposed to be the centre piece at the exhibit! Sarah is going to kill me for losing it! Believe me, since the time I met him, every disaster, every tragedy in my life has a direct or indirect line to him!’ she said as she looked at her folded hands and tried to remain calm.
‘It’s okay. I mean, you could get a better—‘he stopped because of her stare, ‘but still it was wrong. What’s he going to do with it anyway?’ ‘God knows and maybe Ranveer too.’
‘Where is he? I don’t see him.’ ‘There with the Mukherjee’s!’Flirting with that Samaira! She thought ‘Anyway, I’m gonna go and you?’ she said. ‘No, I’ll stay.’ ‘Alright I’ll meet Mrs. Solanki and get out of here!’ she said and stood up.
She met Mrs. Solanki and giving an excuse for her poor health she bailed out. ‘Can I drop you?’ she turned back. ‘No, thank you, Mr. Shaurya. I have my own car and a driver too.’ ‘Perfect. Then your driver can drive your car home and I can drive you. Home.’ He said with a smile. ‘Hey, I’m sorry for bidding against you but I couldn’t have let you get it.’ ‘What!?’ ‘You can take that painting from me anytime, all you have to do is ask.’ ‘Mr. Ranveer Shaurya, will you--’ ‘Ask me at our home and Rochelle will be delivered to you.’ The driver was holding the door for her. ‘Goodbye.’ She said and closed the door.
**
She lay on her bed thinking what to tell Sarah now. She knew that she’ll have to pay a visit to him. But the pain of the past renewed in her. The ignorance that she had faced, the bitterness that had come between them. When he had proposed, she had thought that he’ll change. She didn’t want to lose him; she loved him too much to walk away from him. She did try to adjust for a couple of years but when she realized that with every passing moment she was becoming nothing more than a doll who had to be taken to every event, she knew that she had to walk away because she could love him with every fibre present in her body but she knew that she won’t get the love that she deserved in return. Now, he may ask her to come back to him but there was a fear present in her that he loved the chase and not her. Once she’ll be back, he’ll take her for granted and then history would repeat itself and she didn’t have enough courage to walk away again!
But then what harm could one meeting do? After all, all she has to do is ask and then I’ll be on my way and he on his. So it was decided that a 10 minutes visit will be paid to him. Only 10 minutes.
**
She wore a white top and blue jeans. She let her hair loose. Her cell phone buzzed. ‘Hello?’ ‘Shreya, Ms. Bansal wants to talk to you.’ ‘Maya, tell Sarah that I’ll have Rochelle for the exhibit!’ ‘How? Because I heard you lost ‘Ripples Underneath’ to Mr. Shaurya.’ It was Sarah. ‘Sarah, Rochelle will be at the exhibit. I promise you this.’ ‘Shreya, it better be there because ‘Ocean’ is incomplete without Rochelle’s masterpiece!’ ‘It will be there, Sarah. I can—‘ and Sarah had hung up. Typical of her, Shreya thought.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Calm, composed and casual, no nervousness at display! Let’s get Rochelle, now.
**
The car was at the gate, when after identification, the guard opened the gate. ‘Welcome back, ma’am.’ He said to her with a smile. She shrunk a bit more in the back seat.
She got down and stood at the porch, thinking if she should ring the bell or should just enter. As if the house recognised its mistress, the door opened. Meena, the maid, was standing in front of her. ‘Welcome back, ma’am. Do come in. I’ll get you a glass of orange juice, ma’am.’ ‘Meena, where is Mr.—‘she paused, cleared her throat ‘Ranveer?’ ‘Shaurya sir is at the office, ma’am.’ Of course, he is at the office. He is always at the office. She should’ve gone straight to the office, not home. She started to go. ‘Oh please, ma’am. Do not go, at least have a glass of juice. Do not leave so early. You’ve barely been here for a while, ma’am. Just think what will sir say to me, ma’am if he—‘‘its okay, Meena. I’ll have a glass of orange juice.’ She smiled at her trying to calm her down. If things went on like this, Meena will soon have white hair followed by a heart attack!
She looked around. It was 10:30. He won’t come back before 5. She looked around. There were no changes. Everything was same. She went to the back of the house. The water of the swimming pool was luke-warm, thanks to the June sun. She took of her shoes, dropped her feet in the water, closed her eyes and laid back. I’ll have to look for the painting in the house, I can’t risk calling him to ask because then he’ll be home and I want to avoid any confrontation with him, she thought.
‘Will you like orange juice or should I send it back?’ She started. ‘You!’ ‘You! I never thought you’d come’ he said and smiled. ‘Meena, here take it back!’ ‘She called you, didn’t she?’ she tried to avoid his gaze. He took off his shoes and socks and joined her. ‘You blackmailed me to come to you by buying Rochelle and now you’re surprised!’ ‘I call it persuading, not blackmailing.’ ‘Anyway, how come you’re here? I didn’t fix an appointment with you. Don’t tell me that you came back for me! That’ll be like snowfall in the Sahara!’
‘I’m afraid that tribes of Sahara are in for a shock. Because I am here for you.’ ‘I’m here for Rochelle. There was no need for you to come back from your Disneyworld.’ ‘And I’m here to talk to you. There is a crucial need to convince you to come back because—‘ he looked at her, she was looking down at her folded hands ‘because even hell’s fire seems sweet compared to what I’m going through without you.’ ‘You could always have company in bed!’ ‘You think that’s the only reason why I’m asking you to come back?’ She looked at him. ‘Then what is?’
‘Shreya, I want you back because I know that I can trust you, I can love you and can hate you, at the same time for putting me through this. I want to be the sole reason behind your happiness. I want all your love, baby and I promise that you’ll get double of it in return. I want you to be the first face to see when I wake up and the last when I sleep. I want to be a part of your world and I promise you, that I’ll try my best to be that.’ ‘The last time you tried, you almost destroyed my world!’ she said. She wasn’t prepared for this monologue of his. ‘If you give me one chance to prove, I can assure you that I won’t do that again. I won’t make the same mistake twice, Shreya. It’s not only you who is the sufferer here!’ She took a deep breath. ‘Can now I get Rochelle?’ ‘Follow me’ was all he said and got up.
He took her to the bedroom. ‘You kept it here?’ ‘Yeah’. There was Rochelle placed against the wall, opposite to the bed. The bedroom is the last place she wanted to be in the whole house!
‘Shreya, just tell me exactly what I’ll have to do to convince you that I’ve changed.’ ‘Ranveer, you don’t get it. It’s not about how much you’ve changed. It’s about me. What if I came back to you and you turned back into your old self after some weeks or months. Then what? I don’t think I’m ready to go through all this for a second time. It’ll be too much for me.’ ‘I love your optimism. Now, if I ever became my old-self, then you can make me aware of that and I assure you that you will not get another chance of complaint. So, what do you say, Mrs. Shaurya?’ ‘Ranveer, I...I don’t know. It’s—‘‘Let me help you, then.’ he said and moved closer to her. He kissed her. ‘Come back’ he murmured between the soft kisses. She knew she would give in. After two years, this closeness, this kiss is too much to say no to.
‘Promise me, that you’ll never leave me alone, like you did before!’ ‘I promise.’
Unwillingly, she woke up to the alarm. What if this dream didn’t come true? Then what? I’ll always love him and yet hate him!