"Where are you guys?" Geet asked in desperation to find out any information on their whereabouts. Her energy level was near zero after having gone through an hour and half of nerve wrecking phone calls which had all gone directly to the voicemail box. The last call had been successful and Rishabh had picked up his cellphone when Naini had tried. Unable to resist the suspense until Naini could put the phone down and tell her about the conversation, she had grabbed it in an involuntary move.
"I don't exactly remember the floor number, but it's a long ledge and there is swimming pool..."
She heard Maan interrupt him on the other side of the call asking him to tell her that they were at the 17th floor sit-out and that she would understand. And that if they were to come, he wanted ice. She placed her free hand on her hip and she went livid hearing his words, albeit she was partially relieved that they were close to home. They had ignored her questions about what they had done in the hours they had gone missing and so she and Naini hurried to the gym sit-out. In the elevator, she apologized to Naini for grabbing the phone from her and being rude, but Naini knew better than to indulge her with the topic. It was the last thing on Naini's mind too.
Maan saw Geet and Naini approaching them and quickly called to Rishabh's attention.
"Do me a favor...just act drunk" Maan said and Rishabh was confused at first. However his confusion was short lived, when he saw the anger and concern in Naini's eyes. Geet was right behind and she was silent at best just like the other times she was raging mad at her husband. It was just as Maan had expected.
"You guys have been drinking?" Naini asked, pointing her index finger at the bottles of Absinthe and Glenfidditch they had lined up on the pool side table.
"Not me...just him" Maan said and Rishabh acted all drunk slipping up on the grip of his plastic cup. Maan saw Geet folding her arms and lean back on the ledge, her eyes focusing on him the entire time.
"Why is he drinking?" Her voice with a tinge of ire, made Rishabh look up with amazement. Since when did Naini worry about his drinking? He asked himself, for his wife had always known him as a social drinker.
"May be he thinks he has wife..I mean life troubles he can't handle" Maan snickered. Naini glowered at Maan and questioned him back. "Has this been happening regularly? I thought he is only drinks at parties" Rishabh was now clear about Maan's intentions and he chided himself for not thinking of it before. Her concerns for him were etched in stone with those last words and he wanted to hug and kiss her on the lips, but he refrained from acting on his intentions.
"What the F..." Naini started but Maan cut her off.
"Naini...stop it. A lady never uses three words when she only needs two. Whatever his mistakes are, I only care that you don't make matters worse from your end to have him point fingers back at you" Hearing Maan, Geet straightened from the wall, and Naini jumped back from the sternness in his tone.
"I only wanted to know what happened after you guys left, but yes I didn't have to resort to profanities" Naini responded with a low sounding voice with her gaze lowered to the ground.
"Never mind, I jumped to conclusions that you were referring to Rishabh, but I want you to think through whatever I said" He paused briefly, filling the glass in his hands with scotch and water and added "As for what happened...Rishabh will fill you in if you are in a hurry. I need to talk to Geet first" Maan said and waited for Geet to join him. The couple moved away from the edge, to the same pool chair where they had first held each other's hands, leaving Rishabh and Naini behind.
Maan sat down stretching his feet and crossing them at his ankles on the long pool chair, when Geet sat by his side, with his back facing him.
"Why couldn't you call me?" She turned and blurted the words out, unable to hold her concern in any longer. He took a sip and placed the cup on the nearby table, with his free hand trying to reach her hand that lay close by.
"Forget it" She said, shrugging away his hand. He smiled and grabbed her upper arm and hauled her closer. She didn't resist this time and let herself rest on his chest.
"Did you guys get into a fight or something?" She asked not meeting his eyes, his finger tracing around the button of his shirt. There had been little doubt that it wasn't the case, and she only wanted him to confirm her fears. When he hesitated to answer, she examined his face, turning it left and right and then took a look at his knuckles. Not wanting her to derive her own conclusions, Maan answered.
"There was some punching involved, but I didn't. Rishabh is really not all what he seems. He is more hot-headed than I thought he was" Her eyes went wide with surprise, however she was troubled at the mention of punching than at her husband's inference of what was uncharacteristic of Rishabh.
"I want to ask you something and I don't want you to blame yourself for that" She met his eyes once again and wondered where her husband was getting at. Maan was convinced that she was going to break apart upon hearing what he had to say, but he was glad it was sooner than later and that, that was no reason for him not to take his time and give her the news as gently as he could. And so, he went right back to the time where it all started.
"You are sure he really just wanted to get married for the sake of having a companion in his life. I'm asking this because it's unlikely for an educated man like Dev to settle for any girl, when the intended bride was not sitting next to him in the mandap, don't you think? Didn't it occur to you that he was under some desperation?"
She listened to him more intently albeit her confusion was obvious in her face.
"He never did care to make anything decent of the relationship either. And those were your words too"
"What did he say that you have to question back everything I said?" She was getting it all wrong and he hugged her close. Why does she never doubt anyone? Even with some misplaced sense of good will, he thought.
"No love...why would you say that?" He lifted her face and found her beginning to tear up. He wasn't expecting an answer for his question and he continued "Ok...I'm giving it to you straight...He is as gay as they come..."
"What?" She gasped, closing her mouth at that. Her eyes blinked trying to catch the words that had escaped his lips and the entire time, only two questions rang in her ears. Had she been living a lie all the while he was with him? Blaming herself for everything that didn't happen?
"Ok listen...its over" He shook her up gently, noticing she was as still as a sheet rock on him. Now that the actual moment had come and gone, he felt a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. Nevertheless, he wasn't prepared for what or how he could bring her back to being normal. Her shock was understandable, he thought to himself.
"When did you know this?" She asked in a stutter as her shock held her words back.
"I only guessed it the first time you wrote me that letter, but today, he confirmed it, but not in so many words"
"Oh!" she let out the breath she had unknowingly sucked in for a long time.
"Geet...It really doesn't matter what you found out now. That life is only a figment of your past" He once again lifted up her cheek and met her eyes. She was wilting as each second passed by and while the words registered in her head she went limp over his body.
"Let go love. Think of it this way...that you had to go through those bad times to get to the good ones. I wish I could have done anything to erase them out, but I rather you do it. With or without this detail about him, it is still only you who can achieve closure with that part of your life" She didn't answer at first, but she maintained his gaze and the tears started to dry up upon hearing him, which was a positive sign in itself.
"I'm so proud of you that you come this far. It's only one more step" He said, kissing her on the forehead and this time, she pulled herself closer to him for a hug that followed.
When she didn't speak up for a long time, he moved her out of his arms. "Don't ever blame yourself for everything. I think the rascal was careful to the extent he even created false illusions of him flirting with other females, when he was among his office associates. Naini was one such trap" She nodded and the expression in her eyes, told him she hadn't caught onto those facts yet.
"Only good thing, Naini herself didn't fall for it. Poor thing she went running back to Rishabh when she thought he made a pass at her. I didn't stop Rishabh when he punched Dev for that. Don't you think he deserved it?" He asked her hoping to make light of the situation.
Maan chuckled, "Now I don't want you pitying him for the broken nose that Rishabh gave him"
"I won't" She spoke finally after what seemed an eternity to him. He smiled now more fully, seeing his wife wipe down her tear strains that had unnecessarily smudged her kajal.
She tried recollecting the last time her mind had gone truly blank and she couldn't think of any. There were too many emotions she was going through to grasp one and dissect that. Perhaps, it will all come to her with time, she decided. For now her husband's words were the only ones she could clearly think of. How true? She thought, as she once again doodled on his words mentally, that it was only she who could give closure to the shadows of her past.
"I know" He said in a low whisper, hugging her tight at the efforts she was taking at the moment to come across indifferent.
"I love you..." He kissed her on the lips.
"I love you more..." She said, tugging her hold on his shoulder. He was relieved that she was responding now and he knew it was going to at least take one night for her to get back to being her usual self. She shifted comfortably, moving into his arms and stretched her feet, right next to his. It told him, she wanted to stay there for a while and he mighty obliged her.
Back at the ledge, Naini was still recovering from the initial shock she had got from hearing what Rishabh had recounted. She had kept her silence, from not wanting to chat up Rishabh or from the surprise element, Rishabh couldn't tell. However, he kept their conversation to the showdown of the night and did not dare venture into their own issues.
"I couldn't keep myself from punching him. He was for starters giving too much attitude and secondly he had falsely created an image with you and me, to keep his own skeletons in his closet. That just isn't fair" He said, following it with a gulp of Absinthe. It was his second shot of Absinthe and Naini knew that it was one of the strongest hard liquor on the face of earth, which was never meant to be taken as a shot or undiluted.
"Have you eaten? Or are you drinking on an empty stomach?" He was touched by her care. It didn't matter that she wasn't meeting his eyes nor did her voice soften to carry her old gentleness for him. Her words were enough, for now, he thought and he smiled at that. Without his knowledge he came to stand in front of her. She was leaning on the ledge and was lost at the day's happenings, when she heard his voice coming from a mere few inches off her face.
"But baby, this entire time, I never doubted you. I know you told me everything about his flirting. I was only jealous that he got to spend so much time with you initially" His words slurred off his tongue and that told her, that he was indeed drunk as a doorknob.
"And later...later when he flirted with you, I was angry that you never took him out of the partnership" His head slid down onto her shoulder as he stumbled, making her uncomfortable, but above all she was more upset that he was turning to drinking over their separation. She held his cheek and balanced his face to look at her.
"Abhi, I couldn't have. There are legal complications. You know his contract doesn't end till October" She hesitated as she thought of what she was about to say "I didn't think you doubted me either. I always knew you were possessive. It's not easy to forget you beating up Arjun to a pulp, just because he sat next to me in that football game" A small smile escaped her lips, at the memory of visiting a bandaged Arjun at the hospital and forcing Rishabh to apologize at a later time. But she soon sobered, noticing her husband's eyes that began to light up.
"Really...you always knew I was possessive like that? But baby, you hate me when I act like that" He made a face and fell back on her sounding rhetorical. This time, he made an attempt to hug her loose.
"Abhi, get back home. I mean...wherever it is you have to go. For the record, which woman doesn't like her husband...I mean her man being possessive" He jerked as he hiccupped and held her even closer.
"You need to go bed Abhi, I'm taking you home" She took his hand around her shoulder and started walking towards the elevator.
Noticing Naini and Rishabh, coming their way, Geet straightened up. Naini informed them that Rishabh was drunk and that they were retiring for the night.
Maan keenly waited for a wink or any sign from Rishabh indicating that it was only an act he was putting up for Naini. They crossed over to the elevator and when his head drooped while he slipped at the entrance, even Maan was a bit concerned. Geet was much occupied with herself to understand what was going on with Naini and Rishabh. She got under his chin, and lay beside him once again, making him shift his thoughts for Rishabh, "One down, one more to go" He muttered more to himself. Since when did closure become extraneous to oneself?, He pondered. If only closure was sought 'per se'...
Ok, do let me know, how this one went. I know there was already one guess that was correct, but I do want to hear more. People, its true that NY times is ending, but there are more updates for the denouement. As for Rishabh and Naini...Are you kidding me gyus? I'm not leaving them out for sure. They will get their much needed closure, the immediate chapters that are to follow (Part 94 and some part of 95 updates) are all about them. And of course everything and everyone else too 😉 will get their closure. I guess we made a lot of progress in the last three days. I will be off for a couple of days with assignments and work. So see you all soon. Special mention to Fatima, Libra and Ramhari. THANKS to everyone who are dropping by for comments. I will write a note for all of you soon (This is a pinky promise )
comment:
p_commentcount