21. RENAISSANCE
Some Days Before
Even though there was an
undercurrent of pressure between Aaryan and Deepika, others pretended not to
notice.
The plane landed at precisely
fiveā¦They all checked out, planning to reach the hotelā¦It was still an hour's
drive from the airport.
They hired an Innova, Aaryan
in the front, Neha and Deepika in the middle and Ajay Zubeen cooped up in the
back.
Normal conversations went on.
They reached the hotel at
6:30.
Overall it was a happy affair
ā the hotel was quite luxurious, and the decorations were of fine quality.
The woman in question met
them in the lobbyā¦.She was not fully ready, but eagerness and happiness were
radiating from her face.
Sometime later
Aaryan was standing in the
gallery, which overlooked the pool in the hotelā¦Moonlight was shining on the
crystal speckled water, thousands of bits of silver sprinkled by the moon on
the water.
He felt a presence behind him.
"Piche mat dekhna."
He complied with the request,
standing perfectly stillā¦
After a few moments had
passed, she asked, "Kaise ho Aaryan?"
He nodded mutely, her last
day in the office running in his mind's eyeā¦
From her quickened breath, he
knew she was thinking along the same linesā¦
"Jab maine paper main padhaā¦.Anna Kartoos ke case
ke baadā¦.Mujhe vishwaas nahi hua thaā¦"
He fixed his gaze on the
changing bars of silver scattered on the water surface.
"Maine Deepika ko phone kiya
thaa."
He was going to whirl around
in surprise, but he checked himself in timeā¦.Trying to keep the emotion out of
his voice, he asked, "Kya kaha usne?"
She did not answer.
"Kya tum khush ho Shyna?"
Her voice was tender when she
answered. "Bahut."
He smiled happily, turning to
face her. This time, she did not counter him.
"Main bhi tumhare liye khush
hoon Shy."
"Aur main tumhare liye
Aaryanā¦Take careā¦Aur Deepikaā¦"
He looked at her
questioningly.
She disappeared without
another word.
Aaryan sat on the bed;
analyzing his feelingsā¦He looked into the mirror and smiled at himselfā¦.
It seemed genuineā¦
It was hard, getting over
someone.It was hard, getting on with lifeā¦And it was hard, falling in love once
againā¦
Even though Shyna looked
resplendent in her turquoise ghagra, that night, Aaryan only had eyes for
another woman, who was wearing a simple blue dressā¦
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