That makes you all the more tempting.
Rivanah couldn’t help but smile at the message. It momentarily made her feel good about her otherwise confused self. It wasn’t that the stranger wanted to have a physical relationship with her. That she was confident about, otherwise he would not have spared her the night he tied and stripped her. Does it mean that he intends to be more serious with her? And in the past whenever he was helpful to her, was it because he wanted to make her feel emotionally accountable towards him? Was this all his grand plan to make her fall for him? Rivanah’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard the kids scream out with joy as the roller coaster turned upside down. She forced a smile and thought she would tell him straightaway she wasn’t in any mood to cheat on Danny. She was about to type a message when another came in:
Forget Danny.
Rivanah didn’t like the tone of the message. She didn’t reply but once she came home after dropping the kids at their place, she showed the message to Ishita. The latter gave her phone back after reading the message and turned quiet. Rivanah had intentionally brought her up to their building’s terrace lest the stranger heard them talking. It was humid outside and from time to time, she could see Ishita wiping the sweat off her forehead while Rivanah allowed her perspiration to soak her.
‘Are you going to say something or not?’ Rivanah said feeling impatient.
‘I think you ought to stop it,’ Ishita finally said.
‘Stop what? I never started anything,’ Rivanah argued.
‘Why did you have to respond to the stranger in the first place?’
‘I thought he was harmless. And he proved to be harmless and quite helpful. You know that! In fact he did some beautiful things to me which I wouldn’t have done myself and which I shall never forget,’ Rivanah said. There was no denying the fact that there had been a remarkable change in her since the time she first came to Mumbai and the reason for that difference was the stranger.
Ishita knew about the kids Rivanah used to teach every Saturday. Rivanah also told her about Ratna and how it made her believe that the stranger was a good human being.
‘Tell me, what happens if you don’t respond to him from now on? Can he harm you in any way?’ Ishita asked.
Rivanah thought about her clip that showed her recording Prateek in a compromising position. Ishita read her mind.
‘The clip right? Even if we suppose he hasn’t deleted it, how does it matter? You are not naked in it. If it comes out, you can always say Prateek was blackmailing you. And where is Prateek anyway?’
‘He left the company a few months back.’
‘So? That’s even better,’ Ishita wiped her sweat again and said, ‘For God’s sake we could have had this conversation in our air conditioned room as well. Asha is also not there.’
Rivanah swallowed a lump.
‘The stranger can hear us talking.’
Ishita was quiet for a moment trying to understand what Rivanah meant and then she dashed out of the terrace. Rivanah joined her soon as they took the stairs to reach their flat. Ishita started searching for possible mikes in the flat while Rivanah closed the main door and stood beside it watching her roomie go berserk. Ishita was doing what she had done the first time she learnt the stranger could hear her. But all in vain. Twenty minutes later, Ishita had still not found anything that looked minutely suspicious.
‘How can he hear you?’ Ishita said exasperated.
Rivanah immediately put a finger on her lips urging her to be quiet. Ishita realized her mistake. She typed in her phone and showed it to Rivanah: How? Rivanah whispered in her ears, ‘No idea.’
Ishita whispered back, ‘This guy is dangerous.’
The doorbell rang. The two girls exchanged a nervous glance. Ishita quickly went to her room and returned with a bottle of pepper spray
‘Open the door,’ she said mentally preparing herself for a surprise attack if need be. Rivanah unlocked the door and peeped to see who it was. Ishita’s grip on the pepper spray tightened. When the door full opened, both girls relaxed. It was Asha.
‘Close the door,’ Ishita said. Rivanah complied. Asha gave both the girls a skeptic look.
‘Our flat is bugged,’ Ishita gasped.
‘How do you know?’Asha asked looking at both of them with a confused expression on her face.
‘We just know,’ Ishita said.
‘Did you guys check?’
‘We did but found nothing,’ Rivanah said. This was the maximum Asha had talked to them in the last ten months.
‘Where all have you not looked?’ Asha asked in a whisper.
Ishita looked at Rivanah and after a thoughtful pause said softly, ‘I didn’t check the bathroom, the toilet, the attic above, and behind that wardrobe. There are a lot of cobwebs and cockroaches behind it.’
Asha started with the toilet then the bathroom. She brought a stool and stood on it to have a look at the attic above the bathroom. It was dark and covered with dust, dirt, and cobwebs.
‘Give me a torch,’ she said. Rivanah switched on the flashlight in her phone and handed it over to her. Asha flashed the light into the attic but could see nothing suspicious. She stepped down and went to the kitchen. The same result. The last place that remained was the tiny space behind the wardrobe. With the help of the others, Asha was able to move the heavy teakwood wardrobe. They could see a thick layer of dust on the base of the floor, clearly telling them that the wardrobe had not been shifted since a long time. Asha peeped back and saw a network of cobwebs. Give me a duster. Ishita soon handed over a piece of cloth that they used to dust the flat with. Once Asha dusted off some of the cobwebs, she saw a cockroach. Behind the cockroach were a couple more like him.
‘Be careful,’ Ishita remarked.
Asha tried to scare off the cockroaches but none of them moved. They were deadstill in fact. She found the whole thing weird. She stretched her hand and reached for one of the cockroaches. There was still no movement. The next instant she held it by its antenna and brought it out. Both Ishita and Rivanah shrieked out.
‘What are you doing?’ Ishita cried out looking at Asha who was dangling the cockroach in her hand. Then suddenly she threw one of them at the girls. Both scampered inside the other room screaming. The next minute they peeped out and saw Asha had a whole lot of cockroaches by her feet. She squashed one of them. The girls couldn’t believe their eyes. As they came forward nervously, they saw there were other squashed ones too and each of the cockroaches, which were clearly made of plastic, had a tiny mike hidden in its belly.
25
Danny had ordered pizza for the girls on his way to their flat. By the time the delivery came, he too had arrived and had gone to his flat to freshen up.
Once the girls smashed all the plastic cockroaches and ripped out the mikes from them, Rivanah made them promise they would keep the discovery to themselves.
‘But why?’ Ishita was confused. Someone tried to compromise her private space and yet Rivanah was not ready to do anything about it. By then Asha had retired to her room.
‘I agree he shouldn’t have bugged our flat but he hasn’t harmed me yet. Have you forgotten how he helped me get the clip from Prateek?’
‘I remember all of it but…’
‘Then I think we should give him one chance,’ Rivanah pleaded.
‘Are you sure you aren’t suffering from some kind of Stockholm syndrome?’ Ishita asked. Rivanah gave her a clueless look.
‘It’s a syndrome where the victim falls in love with her captor,’ Ishita clarified.
Rivanah remained quiet. Ishita was about to say more when the doorbell rang. It was the pizza delivery boy. And behind him stood Danny.
‘Girls, it’s a pizza treat from my side. I’ll join you in two minutes,’ he said exhibiting his typical charming smile. Ishita took the pizza while Rivanah closed the door and said, ‘Ishu, please try to understand.’
‘It’s okay. I won’t tell Danny anything about it unless you want me to.’
‘Thank you.’
‘But between the two of us; if you don’t do anything soon, you will be in a situation which you will be unable to handle. If you know what I mean,’ said Ishita and kept the pizza on a table.
‘I do. And don’t worry, nobody can take me away from Danny. I love him.’
‘I hope that’s enough.’
‘It is.’
The pizza dinner went well. The girls gave no hint to Danny about the discovery. Once done, Danny went to his flat while the girls took to their respective beds.
Rivanah didn’t know what time it was when she woke up hearing the doorbell ringing continuously. She called out to Ishita and Asha but neither came out from their room. She soon realized the peculiar thing about the doorbell. It was gaining decibel each time it rang. How could that be possible? Rivanah climbed out of her bed and went to open the main door. She was dumbfounded. It was her own self by the door who was pressing the doorbell with a noose around her neck. As the two Rivanah’s eyes met, the one with the noose gave the other a diabolical smile. Rivanah opened her eyes wide, feeling herself soaking wet with perspiration. It had been some time since she had last seen the nightmare. But this time she felt the chill of it the most. Before her mind could calm her down, her phone’s alarm started ringing. But why at midnight? she wondered and checked her phone. The alarm screen showed her the note she had once put but forgotten to delete it.
My shona’s birthday, the alarm note said.
It was Ekansh’s birthday. She wouldn’t have remembered it had the alarm not buzzed. But the alarm did what she had once wanted it to. She held her head down knowing well that now the memories of last year would stalk her, torture her, bleed her, and won’t leave till they had emotionally raped her. She tried sleeping but couldn’t. Ekansh’s smiling face was in front of her. In the end, she thought of giving in to her urge of checking out Ekansh’s profile on Facebook. That was her only link to him. She logged in to her Facebook profile, unblocked Ekansh, and went to his profile. The last time he had a photograph of him with a girl as his profile picture. It was the same girl Rivanah had caught him with. This time he had a single picture. She clicked on it but it didn’t open. She clicked on the message option and as it opened she could well see her last message to him which was thirteen months back. It read: Not able to call you. Missing you. Call me back asap. He had indeed called her within minutes of that message. Her fingers, quite involuntarily, started scrolling down the inbox and she spent the next two hours reading all the twelve thousand, seven hundred, and eighty eight messages they had exchanged in the last four years of their relationship. Her fingers didn’t come off the laptop’s mouse scroller till she reached the first message which was from Ekansh: Thanks for accepting my friend request. How are you?
Those all-day-long messaging, late night phone calls, bunking classes to meet up, going for secret dates, the naughty acts in movie theatres, convincing the parents about fake college trips and what not. They meant nothing now. In one of the messages she had written: I won’t ever be able to live without you. And he had responded with: Me too. Rivanah laughed out amidst tears in her eyes. The break-up had happened and she was indeed living. And so was he. On an impulse she wrote: ‘Happy Birthday asshole. You are such a pain in the ass.’ Immediately after sending it to Ekansh, she realized she shouldn’t have done it. It would only tell him that he still mattered to her. She was about to close her Facebook message inbox when her eyes noticed the ‘other’ section where sixty five unread messages were present. She clicked open the section and went through some of them which were from boys who wanted to be her friend on Facebook. The messages were written in terrible English and projected equally funny thoughts. Some of them had even attached their Kundali for marriage while some had written poems in praise of her photoshopped profile and cover pictures. Rivanah had a constant smile as she read the messages one by one. The smile totally dried up when she reached the forty seventh message. It read:
Hi Rivanah, I made this new id of mine because you have blocked my other id. Happy birthday. I hope you are doing fine. Take Care. Ekansh.
He did remember her birthday earlier in the year. Did it mean he missed her too? Did his message mean she still mattered to him? Did it mean he was willing to stage a comeback given a chance? Or did it mean he only wanted to make her life miserable by sticking on to her like a predator? Rivanah cursed herself for having opened the other section. The message doesn’t mean anything just like she didn’t mean anything to him, she told herself. The past can be a part of us but not the whole of us, she reminded herself. After refreshing the page, she noticed that he had changed his profile picture a minute back. It meant he was online at the same time as her. She could connect to him with one click of her mouse but she held back. Rivanah didn’t know if he had seen her message or not but she did look at the new profile picture of his: a selfie with a girl she didn’t know. They were beaming. She realized the picture was not locked and thus she quickly dragged-dropped it on her desktop, opened the paintbrush application and blackened all their teeth. She blocked Ekansh next, logged out of Facebook, and messaged Danny on Whatsapp. There wasn’t any reply. She checked the time: 2:30 am.
Rivanah stood up, took out Danny’s duplicate keys from her bag in the wardrobe, and went to his flat. In the darkness, she could see Danny lying on the mattress in the room on his back wearing only a pair of Jockey knickers. She went to him and gently lay down on his back holding him tightly. The touch of his skin relaxed her. Danny woke up but didn’t budge.
‘Is it a dream or a reality?’ he asked with a sleep-heavy voice.
Rivanah kissed his ears softly.
‘A dream,’ he quipped.
She bit his ears.
‘Reality!’ he shrieked out.
Still lying on his back she said, ‘Do you miss your ex Danny?’
‘Which one?’
She bit his shoulder.
‘Ouch. Okay, I don’t.’
‘Why? Have you forgotten them?’
‘Can anyone forget a person with whom you once had a serious relationship?’ he said opening his eyes and looking at nothing in particular.
‘Then?’
‘Then what?’
‘Then how come you don’t miss them?’
‘Maybe because I’m at peace with whatever happened between my exes and me. Maybe because I know for a fact that nothing else could have happened.’
‘Hmm.’
Perhaps he was right, Rivanah thought. She was yet to be at peace with what Ekansh had done with her. But the question was: will she ever be at peace with it?
Danny’s phone vibrated.
‘Who is messaging you so late?’ Rivanah said and picked up his phone.
‘1218,’ he said aloud the password. It was his and her birth dates together. With a smile, she unlocked the phone. There was an MMS link. She downloaded it. Her blood froze the moment it started playing. It was from the night when she was attacked by the stranger. It showed her all tied up, stark naked, with a piece of cloth in her mouth.
‘Who is it?’ Danny said groggily.
Rivanah couldn’t speak. The message was clear. If the clip can go to Danny’s phone, then it can go to anybody’s phone.
‘Danny...’ she said. The fragility in her voice made him sit up.
‘I need to tell you something.’
This time it was her phone that beeped with a message from an unknown number.
Forget Danny. I love you more.
26
Neither Danny nor Rivanah slept that night. After she told him everything that had been happening with her since her shift to Mumbai, Danny couldn’t help but rebuke her for the first time since their relationship.
‘What were you waiting for?’ Danny said after giving her a patient hearing.
‘Does it also mean that you went to Tiger Point on your birthday not because you guessed it was me but because you thought this psycho called you there? You went just like that? Or
did you guys have a real date and I spoilt it for you?’
‘It’s nothing like that Danny. You know I love you and won’t do anything to compromise it. I haven’t met him. I don’t even know what he looks like.’
‘And still you hid him from me Rivanah. And all I know is this isn’t how a healthy relationship progresses. How could you not tell me? This guy attacked you inside my flat and you still did not tell me about it? Don’t you trust me or what?’
I did not want to disturb the equilibrium I have developed with the stranger, Rivanah thought, but didn’t say so lest Danny concluded she was mad.
‘I fought for you with my parents,’ she said instead. ‘So please don’t say I don’t trust you. I know I shouldn’t have hidden it from you and I’m sorry about it. Now can you please tell me what I should do?’
They both waited quietly for the morning to arrive. And by then they had decided: they would go to the police.
Rivanah called inspector Mohan Kamble around nine in the morning.
‘Yes Miss Bannerjee, what can I do for you?’
‘I need to meet you, sir.’
‘Regarding?’
Rivanah glanced at Danny once and then spoke on the phone again, ‘There’s someone who is harassing me.’
‘Come to the police station anytime. I will…’
‘Can we please meet elsewhere, Kamble sir? The person I’m talking about follows my every move.’
‘You mean a stalker?’
‘Yes, you can say so. I don’t want to give him an inkling that I’m going to the police.’
‘Hmm,’ Kamble seemed to think for some time and then said, ‘Let’s meet at your office then. I’ll come in plain clothes. Fine?’
‘That will be great sir. At what time?’
Kamble met Rivanah at the smoking zone of her office around one in the afternoon the same day. She couldn’t show him the video that was sent to Danny’s phone, not only because of the obvious reason, but also because she had deleted the video immediately on a whim. She didn’t even remember the phone number through which it was sent. After she briefed Kamble about what the stranger had been doing, she showed him the messages she had saved on the phone and also gave him all the unknown numbers that she had received messages from in the last eleven months or so. Kamble tried calling on a few of the phone numbers but each one of them was switched off.
Marry Me, Stranger Page 17
