by M. V. Kasi
“Be nice, Harsha,” he said absently, more on habit.
“Or what? You’ll tell Jo? That is quite a threat. She might actually kill me. Simply by conversing with me for an hour, or rather lecturing me about what is possibly wrong with me and my life.”
Ajay frowned, still staring at the cards in his hands. “Harsha…” he warned.
But his friend as usual chose to ignore it.
“I seriously don’t know how you ended up choosing her as your would-be fiancée, Jay. It’s Jo for heaven’s sake!”
Ever since Ajay had gotten unofficially engaged to Jo two months ago, Harsha had been discussing or rather whining about the same topic, over and over.
“Jo has been my best friend for a long time. We connect well, and we have the same life aspirations, and we also work well together,” Ajay replied automatically, his mind most on trying to decide which invitation card to pick.
Deciding to forgo the heavy ornate gold-plated one, he picked up the simpler card that informed the guests of the event, and provided them with the logistics.
“Would you listen to yourself man?” Harsha interrupted. “You are killing me here. You are twenty five, not thirty five! And that nonsense sounds like something Jo would mouth. Have the same life aspirations and work well together? Who on earth chooses their life partner based on that!”
Ajay sighed at his friend’s rant. “Harsha, don’t give Jo a hard time when you meet her tomorrow, alright? Last time, she took your little joke to heart and is still mad at you.”
Harsha, Jo and he had known each other since they were twelve. They grew up together in the same neighborhood. But Jo had always been closer to him. And these days due to Harsha’s pranks, Jo barely tolerated him, saying that he never took anything seriously in his life.
“You used to join me in teasing Jo. I don’t know what the hell happened to you during the past two months. You still have time to back out, Jay. You don’t even look at Jo the way a man in love…or even a man in lust is supposed to look. “
Ajay was beginning to get irritated with the conversation that seemed to be getting too repetitive over the last two months. “Stop it, Harsha. I already told you. I love Jo, and I know she loves me too. That’s what really matters.”
Harsha snorted rudely. “Actually, it doesn’t. I do agree that you do love her. But as a sister. A bossy and a busybody one at that. It’s so very obvious that there’s no passion or urgency between the two of you. If you are getting married, then at least marry someone you have the hots for. Someone to look forward to spending the rest of your life with—gag!—just one woman.”
A woman’s face flashed in Ajay’s mind at the words—passion and urgency.
He shook his head to get rid of the other images that particular woman’s face brought.
“I’ll meet you at ten, Harsha,” he said, picking up his car keys, getting ready to head to Jo’s house. “Oh, and by the way, we also need to discuss the Shah and Co account. They want security extended to ten of their new branches. I’ll give you information about the store codes while I—” he broke off midsentence when he saw the intercom phone buzzing.
With an image of a woman flashing on the screen.
“Harsha, I’ve got to leave now. I have a…visitor.”
Before Harsha could ask him any more questions, Ajay hung up, and answered the new call. His building security asked him if they could send a woman up to his place.
Snapping out of his trance, by peeling his eyes away from the woman’s beautiful, somber face, he said, “Yes. Send her up,” and then waited by the door impatiently.
And when the doorbell rang, he opened it almost immediately, simply to see if his mind was playing tricks on him.
But it was really her.
It was almost like his mind had conjured her in person, simply because he had thought of her a few minutes ago.
CHAPTER THREE
SIA STOOD CASUALLY at the doorstep with her usual unreadable expression.
“Hello Ajay,” she greeted politely. “Congratulations. Heard you are getting married soon.”
Ajay didn’t reply.
She looked at the car keys in his hands. “I didn’t really want to interrupt your plans this evening, but I had to drop by to let you know about something important,” she said.
When he didn’t still respond and looked at her stonily, she decided to rip the Band-Aid off. “I’m pregnant,” she blurted.
Her statement made the man in front of her look like he had been punched in the gut.
“What?” he asked in shock, finally responding.
“I’m pregnant. And the baby is…yours,” she said in a flat tone.
Ajay didn’t move. He stood at his doorstep, looking stunned. As though he was trying to figure out whether or not this was really happening to him, or if he was simply trapped inside a nightmare.
‘Welcome to my messed up world,’ she thought as her hands began to shake slightly.
Even though she had received the news of her pregnancy a month ago, she still felt shaken.
She thought she had plenty of time before she had to tell Ajay about it. But when she heard the news of his impending engagement to some other woman, she had to move quickly with a plan B. And so far, plan B had several holes in it.
She hated any kind of surprises in her well-planned life. But fortunately, she was quite sure she would be able to manage someone like Ajay.
Ajay still kept staring at her. And when he didn’t ask her in, or move away from the doorway, she walked inside his home.
She sat on one of the sofas. And to distract herself, she looked around his penthouse.
She had been to his place before. Two months ago, to be exact. But that particular night, she had been too busy being consumed by the man in front of her to be able to observe the finer details of his home.
At least not the living area. His bedroom and bathroom, she remembered pretty well…
Tearing her thoughts away from that night, she continued her perusal of Ajay’s place.
The penthouse looked like a typical bachelor pad with lots of leather furniture and modern electronics. A huge, brown, leather sectional recliner was placed at the center of the room. It faced a large television set that was surrounded by even larger speakers. And on the opposite side, a tall glass window covered almost an entire wall.
She had vaguely remembered seeing a breathtaking, brightly lit city view that night. Before Ajay had pulled her inside his bedroom and kicked the door shut.
She moved her gaze to his kitchen.
For someone who was a bachelor, Ajay’s kitchen looked well-equipped with several modern appliances. A tall bar counter height dining table was placed next to a long breakfast island. It was large enough to accommodate over a dozen people easily.
Ajay probably entertained a lot. Because unlike her, he was the kind who would love having people over.
The exterior of his apartment building screamed exclusive and high-end. But the entire decor of his penthouse was veering towards comfortable, and it was tastefully furnished without screaming look-at-me, or I’m-so-successful.
It suited him.
It looked normal and inviting without being sprinkled with useless, expensive showpieces.
The walls had several framed pictures of him with other people. In some of them, he appeared to be quite young. He looked happy in all of them, flashing his dimples with a naughty smile.
She didn’t have a single picture of her own childhood memories. Her aunt—who was actually her adoptive mother—hadn’t been interested or the type to take pictures. All she had were a few class pictures from the various schools she had to change…
“Mrs. Sampath, while we are indebted to you for the large donation to our school, we cannot continue having Sia at our school. There are way too many complaints—”
Her aunt looked towards her angrily for a brief moment, and when saw the usual blank expressionless look on her face, she turned back to speak with the
school principal.
“Sia is just adjusting to her new school. She has already changed schools twice this year. If you let her go, I don’t know if anyone else would be willing to take her in.”
The school principal looked sympathetic but shook his head. “I’m really sorry, Mrs. Sampath. But we can’t allow other students to be exposed to that kind of behavior. Our school is one of the best private schools in Boston, and we take our reputation very seriously.”
“Sia is a good girl. Her grades are excellent. She only acted that way because she had a few crushes on some of those boys. I’ll make sure she doesn’t repeat it again,” her aunt promised.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Sampath. But it’s not just about having a few crushes. She had sex with ten different boys within three weeks of school,” he stated.
Her aunt inhaled sharply with shock. But she continued trying to convince the principal. “Please, I’ll increase the donation. You must know that teenagers are usually hormonal—”
“Mrs. Sampath, Sia is not a teenager. She’s only twelve! We don’t want to risk accusations of statutory rape, even though the boys were under aged too. They all swore that Sia had insisted and coerced them to perform those acts with her.”
At the age of twelve, she had been diagnosed of having sex addiction.
And later, as she grew older, she had other addictions added to the mix.
She recalled seeing a few pictures of herself during that time. And most of those pictures were taken by others, and uploaded on the social media, bragging about their booze and dope filled parties.
Clearing her head to get rid of those memories, she continued looking around. Her eyes stopped and fell on the cards lying on a side table next to her.
They appeared to be Ajay’s engagement invitations.
“We used protection that night,” Ajay’s voice interrupted her.
She dragged her gaze away from the cards to look at him. He looked as though he was finally managing to pull it together.
“Condoms are not effective always,” she murmured, looking back at the cards with a lot of interest.
There was a loaded silence.
“I’ll need proof that the baby is mine. I’ll also be picking the doctor and the hospital to get the paternity tested,” he stated.
Sia nodded, still looking at the cards in utter fascination. “Of course. Whenever it’s safe enough to do the test, I’ll let you know.”
Peeling her eyes away from the cards, she looked at him expressionlessly. “Look Ajay. This visit was only to inform you. You don’t have to worry about being responsible in any way,” she said, subtly stressing on the word, responsible.
She had known Ajay for only eight months. But during that time, she had gathered enough information about him to know what made him tick. And what triggered his protective instincts.
“What do you mean?” he demanded with a frown.
“Exactly what I said. This is more of an FYI visit, rather than me trying to claim some rights or support for my unborn child.”
His jaw clenched slightly. “It will be my unborn child too, and I will want to do more than simply support. We both need to—” he broke off when his phone began to ring loudly on the coffee table between them.
Ajay’s fiancée’s face was flashing on the screen.
Jyotika, his pretty fiancée was a complete opposite of her. The one time they had bumped into each other, she could feel the warmth and love radiating from Jyotika towards Ajay.
In a perfect world where life was fair, Ajay would soon be married to Jyotika, and they would live a happy normal life, like a regular happy couple.
Unfortunately, life was never perfect. Or fair.
“I know you must be busy. I’ve got to leave as well. I’ll keep in touch,” she said, and then paused deliberately. She stared at him with a serious look on her face. “Or maybe not. You really don’t have to be involved in any way with my child, Ajay.”
“Of course I want to stay in touch and be involved,” he gritted.
She nodded slightly at the look of annoyance on his face. She had come here for a purpose, and she was done.
And now, it was his turn.
She stood up to leave, but she suddenly felt the ground tilt below her. The added stress and her usual nausea were making her feel dizzy from the past few weeks.
Seeing her sway, Ajay rushed to her side to hold her arm firmly.
“Are you okay?” he asked gruffly in concern.
“Yeah. Slightly dizzy, that’s all. A little food and rest, I’ll be right as rain,” she replied.
“Sit down for a while. I’ll get you some water and food—”
“No. I don’t want anything. Just give me a minute to recover.”
She sat back on the couch, and pulled out a few dry biscuits from her purse. After having a couple of them, she felt slightly better.
Ajay was frowning at her. “I’m not comfortable with you driving in this condition. And it’s pouring outside. Let me drop you—”
“I’m fine, Ajay. I didn’t drive. Someone else drove me here. Please carry on with your call and whatever plans you have for the evening.”
Right on cue his phone began to ring again.
She got up from the chair. “No need to see me off. I’m really fine,” she repeated.
But Ajay ignored her, and followed behind her as she walked out of his penthouse. And before she could say anything, he pressed the elevator button, and stood waiting next to her.
And when the elevator arrived, she didn’t get in. She stood still, looking at him, making it obvious that she was waiting for him to get back inside.
But when he didn’t react, or indicate in any way that he was going to leave, she raised an eyebrow at him. “I think I know how to operate an elevator and find my way down without your help,” she said, turning away from him. She kept her back ramrod straight, and raised her chin up, giving him the impression that she was dismissing him.
She had the knack of knowing how to rub people the wrong way. At first, she had used it as a defense mechanism. Later, she used it to get people off her back.
Even with someone like Ajay—who was usually pretty chivalrous and easygoing—it worked. He looked at her for a while, and then nodded curtly before getting back to his penthouse and closing the door shut.
When she was quite sure he wouldn’t be returning anytime soon, she sighed in relief.
She moved away from the elevator and began to walk towards the stairs.
Her legs, which had been shaky at the thought of taking the elevator, became slightly steady again.
She hated taking the elevators.
And even when she was forced to take them sometimes, especially in high rises or for some other occasions, she would discreetly rock back and forth, staring at the control panel, praying that the elevator didn’t stop to let anyone in.
Stairs were better. But only slightly. Because they weren’t the safest places either. Most gruesome scenes and attacks could happen on the staircases too.
The only good thing about Ajay’s building’s stairs was that they were visible from the main doors of the other residents’ homes.
She could scream, and someone would see her. She could escape relatively easily.
She kept repeating that thought in her paranoid head. But her heart never slowed from its panicked thudding, and she felt even more breathless because of it.
Luckily Ajay’s penthouse was only five floors up. And so by the time she walked outside towards the car, she was only slightly breathless.
She was getting out of shape. And also weaker.
A month ago, after learning that she was pregnant, she had to give up her intense workouts. She had settled for some light exercise regime, which she hoped would keep her fit until she could get back to being strong.
She shook her head slightly, to stop the world from spinning, and especially to get rid of those more persistent paranoid thoughts that were waiting to rush into her mind.
Maybe she should have stayed at Ajay’s place a little longer until the dizziness went away completely. But he wasn’t thrilled to see her again at his home. And neither was he thrilled to hear the news she had delivered to him.
She knew she could have let him know about her pregnancy in a much tactful way. But however tactful she could have possibly gotten, there was no way that particular news would have been received with calm acceptance from his end.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the blinking lights, and a short car horn in the parking lot.
She went towards it and opened the door. “You okay, Sia?” asked the woman who had driven her here.
“I’m fine,” she replied, even as her hands trembled slightly, remembering how closely she had escaped taking the elevator.
Claustrophobia.
It was one of the several phobias that she still suffered from. Along with paranoia.
According to Dr. Patel, they should slowly disappear once she began to ‘heal’. But what exactly was healing, she didn’t know. And how can someone who had suffered what she did, ever recover or heal?
Sighing, she closed her eyes to rest briefly while the car drove across the city, heading towards her house in the suburbs.
Ajay’s words swam through her head. I’ll need proof that the baby is mine.
Any other woman would have shown proper outrage at that statement. But she hadn’t. She couldn’t. Maybe she should have at least pretended.
But Ajay was quite intuitive, even though he didn’t know enough about her. He didn’t know that when it came to her former life, it was an extremely plausible question.
“What is wrong with you, Sia? I told you I loved you, and that I wanted to spend my life with you,” shouted a distraught guy.
Krish was his name, and he had caught her in bed having sex with his roommate. She had known that he would be back to his dorm at that time, and had deliberately planned to be caught by him.
“Spend our lives?” she laughed at him, not bothering to cover up. But the other shocked guy next to her on the bed pulled the blanket over her, and them himself in a hurried manner.
