by Ruchi Singh
"Well, I didn't have anything else... er... suitable."
"You don't have to justify. It's yours."
"Will Nick come back tonight?"
He nodded, sipping his drink.
"I want to go back to Mumbai," she blurted.
"Why? Is there a problem here?"
"No. I don't—"
"Vikram, are you still talking work?" Urvi sauntered looping her hand through his arm. "Come on, you should relax a little. Mamma wants to talk to you. Ms. Sinha, you can enjoy too. By the way, Reema was looking for you."
With that remark, Esha was deftly reminded of her place in the hierarchy of the Seth empire. Urvi pulled at Vikram's hand. He resisted but gave up when he saw his mother coming towards them and allowed Urvi to lead him into the thick of the action.
Esha saw the tableau of the rich enfolding, and was reminded about the wide gap between her world and theirs. Why did she choose to wear his gift? What was she thinking? It was all a dream. She kept the glass on a little table near the door and left the hall. A breath of fresh air and then sleep was what she needed at this hour.
As she walked in the gardens, the pointed heels kept sinking in the gap between the stones on the paved path, so she took the stilettos off. Dangling them between her fingers, she walked towards the stable instead. The cold earth cooled down the indignation simmering all over her body.
Her phone rang. Vikram was calling, but she ignored it.
The sound of people talking in muted tones fell into her ears, but her curiosity piqued when she heard a feminine voice. The same eerie feeling that she had experienced in Jindal's office crept up on her, making her shiver. Her heart beat accelerated. She had to know the source, only then would she would be able to breath normally.
In a hurry to locate the source of her unease, Esha knocked a bucket kept at the entrance of the stable. The voices stopped. Immediately, she heard a set of footsteps running away and another one coming towards her. The feeling intensified. She slipped her hand in her pocket and curled her fingers around the cold, hard metal of the Glock. Robin snorted and shuffled on his feet. She was glad that she had taken her sandals off. She took off the safety clip of the gun still in her pocket.
A small round figure stumbled across her path and fell down at her feet. The eerie feeling faded away at the same rate it had crept on her, one second at a time.
"Aah..."
"Oh daija... are you all right?" Esha pulled her hand out of the pocket and lifted the old woman up. "Hope you aren't hurt." One of the stable hands came running as he saw them.
"No... no..." The old woman panted and tried to straighten but couldn't. She sat on the ground again with a moan. "I was just talking to the staff about the horses. Very cute creatures. I like them."
"Yes, of course. But I think you have sprained your ankle." Since the lady couldn't walk, Esha made her sit on a rickety stool that she found nearby. "Take it easy. I'll call someone." Esha called Reema over the cell and relayed the mishap.
Daija sat there and pulled up her sari a bit to examine her rapidly swelling ankle. A bruise was building up on her shoulder too, on the side she had fallen. She also had a tear in her blouse. Though Esha couldn't see clearly, the old lady had a tattoo on her shoulder. Partially visible, it was green in color, the way villagers got it done in India from time immemorial. When she caught Esha eyes on her shoulder, she became conscious and pulled up her sari pallu covering herself.
Reema came along with Chhotu who took daija to her room.
Esha's phone rang. Vikram's name flashed on the screen again. She let it ring. If she could she would have switched the phone on mute, but that was against the security protocol. She went on to explore the grounds instead, waiting for her instinct to pick up a scent of whatever had triggered the creepy cold feeling. Nothing happened.
She returned back to her room after a long, unsuccessful hunt.
* * * *
October 31st
Alibaug, Mumbai
31st October, 7:45 AM
"Where were you the whole evening yesterday?" Vikram snapped the moment he saw Esha at the breakfast buffet. She hadn't expected to see him so early in the morning after the late night party.
"Just here and there." She continued to serve herself moved away from him.
"I thought since you've rested the entire day we'll be able to spend a few hours together in the evening but you took off and didn't even take my calls."
"I thought this weekend was an off for me."
"Of course it is, and I'm not talking about work dammit, Esha."
Esha stared at her plate, fighting off her anger at Jindal's insinuation, fighting her jealousy with Urvi and Karisma, and fighting her attraction to him. She felt helpless even though she knew that none of these people deserved a place in her mind. She had lost Samar because of her family and now she was exposing herself to another heartbreak.
Vikram took a deep breath. "Listen Esha, I—"
"Was there any girl in the past who would want to take revenge?" The idea had been taking root in Esha's mind since the time she had seen Koel with that man at Marine Drive.
His eyebrows went skywards.
"Someone you had hooked up with who'd be mad enough to try to kill you or hire someone to kill you?" Esha clarified when she got no response from him.
"Hooked up with?" Vikram held her arm and glared. "What do you mean?"
"I meant—"
"You mean to say that I sleep around with anyone and everyone? What impression you have of me? That I don't have any scruples or morals?"
"I don't think about you or your kind... at all." She bit her cheek at her rudeness, but the words had done the damage.
"My kind! My kind..." He snatched the plate from her, handed it to a passing maid and pushed her against the wall. She flinched when pain seared in her shoulder. He released her immediately but placed his hands on the wall caging her from both the sides. "Esha, many a times, and I mean many... I feel like wringing your neck." He closed his eyes and exhaled. "I have not thought about Karisma, since the time you barged into me."
"As if I give a damn—" This was going out of hand.
He glared at her, enough to make her squirm, then straightened to his full height. "Fine. I'm sorry I bothered you with my... my unwanted attention. You'll always have my gratitude for saving my life. Hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation."
With those parting lines thrown at her face, he stormed up the stairs.
* * * *
Vikram wanted to smash something. No, he wanted to shake some sense into Esha. Why couldn't she accept that he cared for her? Why was she so stand offish? Always? He had thought he was making some kind of headway during the drive yesterday, but no. All his intuition, his experience had failed to tackle their relationship. Relationship? Hah!
Raised voices from his mother's room pulled him away from his frustrations.
Vandana di said something, to which his mother had replied with a sharp 'no'. Vikram had never heard his mother be so harsh to his sister. Why was she angry with her? As it is, di was going through a bad phase with Jindal fooling around with other women.
"I asked you a question," di shouted.
"Ask away, but I'm not obliged to answer any stupid question that you throw at me," his mother replied.
Vikram couldn't remain a moot spectator any longer and entered the room. His mother was ready for the day as usual, but di was still in her night gown.
"What is it? Is Gautam bothering you again?" he asked.
"I don't know what's got into her!" His mother exclaimed, as she sat behind her working desk. She picked up a file and began studying it.
"Nothing has got into me, please..." Vandana raised her hand. "Vikram... Have you ever felt that there is something wrong with our family?" she added hurriedly when he raised his eyebrows. "I mean, wrong as in unnatural... not normal... specially mamma and dad's attitude towards me?"
"She is talking nonsense," his mother said without lifti
ng her head from the file in which she was making some notes with a pencil.
"Why are you saying this, di? Of all the things... that too about dad..." His worry increased on seeing her so agitated. He prayed that she wasn't coming down with another anxiety attack.
"I have to ask, Vikram. Look at me properly. Do you think I resemble anyone?"
"What kind of question is this? Of course you do..."
"No, I don't!" She slapped at his hand. "You are lying... mom is dark... I'm fair. She is so tall, magnificent... strong. I'm so weak. I'm unable to handle anything in my life. Even my kid is being brought up by daija. Don't you think we are as different as a rabbit and a panda?"
Vikram let out a forced chuckle to normalize the tense atmosphere. "What an example, di! Are you fishing for compliments?"
"Don't change the subject. Aren't we? Different, I mean."
"Who has filled your head with such nonsense?" Mrs. Seth slapped the pencil down on the ornate table. "Why are you so low on self-esteem? Have you forgotten that you were crowned the 'Miss India'? You manage all branches of the Jindal Charitable Trust along with being the brand ambassador of one of the finest and most popular perfume brands. Do we need to remind you of your accomplishments every now and then?"
"I have done all these things with your help." Vandana was on the verge of losing her cool again.
Vikram sighed loudly.
"What I have done for you is not called 'help', it is called 'parenting'." Mrs. Seth smiled when Vikram made the truce sign with his hand behind di's back. "Come on Vani, you are being too hard on yourself. Enjoy life as it comes, don't think too much."
To their relief, Vandana's phone rang at that moment. The number flashing on the screen brought an instant smile on her face. Silently apologizing to them, she hurried out of the room.
"What brought that on?" Vikram asked his mother.
"If I had my way, I would have fired that nanny of hers. I don't know what Vani sees in her. She is a complete imbecile and fills Vani's ears with all the village mumbo-jumbo."
"Why, daija is a harmless little being?"
"Well, I have a different view on that."
* * * *
Kamathipura District, Mumbai
31st October, 11:00 PM
Nikhil watched the men exchange the packets—a large and a smaller one, money and drugs, he assumed. Reluctantly, he looked away. He had come with a purpose to the dark, tiny pub. Keeping up the pretense of a middleman, he took a swig from the cheap whiskey that was being served and tried not to wince. He didn't know what kind of germs he was subjecting his body to.
Nikhil looked at his watch. It was eleven thirty. The man had promised to meet him at eleven. The contact was to be initiated by them. Nikhil figured they might be scoping him out from a camera. He was in a subtle getup, just in case someone recognized him. Not that he was much in the media, but still it was a precaution he had taken. He looked his watch again and thought to wait for another ten minutes.
No one came. The whole day was wasted. Leaving a reasonable sum of money that would cover the cost of his drink and some tip, he left the dark, sultry place.
He sat in the taxi. The driver turned on the ignition.
Boom!
Nikhil didn't feel a thing. His last thoughts were about Vikram and his security. In his single-minded goal of Vikram's safety, he had left a loophole. He didn't get a backup for himself.
He never thought that he would become a target.
* * * *
Part Three: Crescendo
October 31st
Alibaug, Mumbai
31st October, midnight
"Vikram... Vikram... don't go out." Esha took a step towards him.
"Don't." Vikram whirled around and raised his hand, his eyes stone cold. "Don't mess with me, Esha. Just... just leave me alone... just go away." Vikram walked with hurried steps to the beach, as if by racing fast, he could leave the pain behind, he could cheat the raging storm that was about to engulf him in its wake.
Esha nodded at the three security guards and spread her hands wide, instructing them to fan out in a semi-circle behind him. She herself stood at ten paces behind him on the beach scanning the perimeter, ready to take action in case of any danger to his life from land, water, or air.
The area was well lit and the dogs, though leashed, prowled with their handlers. Everyone had left by five in the evening. Vikram and Esha had stayed behind because Vikram had a meeting on Monday with a construction company about a new resort in Alibaug.
The news had come later in the evening.
Esha watched him watching the ocean and knew nothing would ease the pain, except the passage of time. All of a sudden, he screamed out aloud, head thrown up, and his hands fisted on his side. The guards started towards him, but she shook her head and they went back to their positions.
She felt his agony, his pain, his loss and blinked back the tears filling up her eyes. He needed this privacy to mourn the loss of a close friend, a much needed time he might not get once he was back in the rut and under the glare of the media. After a while, he went and sat on a broken bench under the shelter of two palm trees. Esha went and sat beside him.
Vikram was looking down, the salty sea breeze ruffling his hair. Esha followed his line of vision and saw a tiny little crab digging its way inside the sand and then coming out and doing it all over again. She kept her hand over his on the bench. He turned his palm and clasped hers tightly.
"He was like a brother to me," he whispered. A tear fell down on his thigh and got soaked on his trousers. "He was that one corner of my life that was untouched by any expectations, ambitions, demands, or greed. He was that one corner where I could be in peace, be myself without any conditions or pre-conceived notions. Free of all stress and worry." Another tear fell from the other eye.
It was scary to see a person as strong as him cry. She pressed his hand and swallowed her own grief and pain caused by his anguish. In that moment, Esha knew that she was totally, irrevocably in love with him. Her heart jolted with the realization. Goddamn! Oh, what a heady feeling! She felt like taking him in her arms and soothing the pain away. Goddamn!
"Why?" He looked at the sky and swallowed the rest of his tears. "It should have been me."
"Don't... don't let guilt drag you down. Death doesn't need a reason. It comes when it has to come."
"Hah...! Just empty words to ease the weak. I'm going to find those bastards and kill them with my own hands." His hand fisted in her palm. "No. I'm going to feed them slowly to the sharks, limb by limb, as they did to him. They tore him apart... so that... so that I couldn't even see him for one last time and give him a proper send off." He sniffled.
"Vikram please..." Her eyes watered again and this time she was unable to stem the flow. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Esha didn't want him to see her cry and wiped them on her shoulders with a subtle tilt of her neck. Vikram, however, sensed her move and turned to look at her.
"Oh! Don't cry Esha, please. I'm sorry I made you cry, sweetheart." He took her in his arms and patted her shoulder.
She hugged him hard and his dam of grief broke down too. He burrowed his face in her neck, drenching her in the flood of tears and unhappiness. They sat holding each other, each one taking solace from other, bound by a beautiful soul, a dedicated friend, and a wonderful human being.
Totally spent, he released his desperate hold on her and moved away.
"I'm sorry," he said after a moment, as he fidgeted a little, taking a deep breath.
"You aren't expected to be stoic all the time."
"Yeah..." He smirked. "I don't remember the last time I cried like this. Couldn't cry when dad went, keeping a strong façade in front of mom, di... the media... not a single tear came. It was, as he would have expected from me."
"My grandmother says tears heal the soul faster."
"Do they? When did she say that?"
"When my elder brother died."
He frowned. "Oh yes, you had an elde
r brother. What happened?"
"We were going in an auto, my father, brother and me, for my school admission. It was I who insisted that he should come along, I worshipped him like anything. Our auto was hit by a bus. My brother died on the spot, my father lost one of his legs, but I didn't get a single scratch on me." Her voice thickened as she relived the memories and bared her soul to him, something she had never done in front of anyone since the accident twenty-three years ago. "I tried to become the son my father lost but he never forgave me for surviving. My grandmother somehow sensed my guilt and pulled me out of the grief."
He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
"It's okay. It was a long time ago," she said.
"I got to know right now." He pulled her to him and stroked her shoulder looking at the horizon. A few tears sneaked out again.
* * * *
After making sure the house was locked and secured, she peeped into his room. He was reclining on the La-Z-Boy with his arm on his eyes, nursing a quarter glass of whiskey that sat on the side table. Looking at the color of the liquid, she gathered he was drinking neat. She did a round of the dressing room and the bathroom again, before she checked his gun, the battery of his watch, and the mobile phone.
"I'll be in the next room."
"Esha..."
She stopped near the door.
"Stay with me..."
Her heart stopped, then expanded in her chest. If she refused, he would not ask again. And her heart didn't want to deny anything to him. Not today. Not when he was in this condition.
It was complicated. She was getting entangled more and more in this whirlpool of emotions. She turned and moved towards him knowing it was suicidal. But she had no option. He needed her.
