Flaming Sun Collection 1: Happily Ever Afters from India Box Set (The Malhotra Bride; Meghna; The Runaway Bridegroom)

by Sundari Venkatraman

  Mohan and Meera were mighty impressed with all this. But that still didn’t solve their problem.

  “Er—Vidyasagarji, can you please check Veerendra’s horoscope against Chanda’s?” requested Mohan, in a soft voice, handing over his daughter’s horoscope to the old man. Meera nodded her head vigorously, in total agreement with her husband.

  Vidyasagar gave Chanda’s horoscope a passing glance as he already knew it by heart. “I was just coming to that. The two of them got married very young but never had the chance to stay together. But of course, that wouldn’t have been possible. See the position of Shani Maharaj in both their horoscopes.” Vidyasagar looked up at his clients, above the old-fashioned spectacles that stood on his sharp and slightly curved nose. He was pointing to the horoscopes. Meera and Mohan nodded, not quite clued in as they knew nothing about astrology.

  Vidyasagar nodded his head wisely as he said again, “Yeah, it wouldn’t have been possible for them to stay together. Their very horoscopes wouldn’t have allowed it. And despite everything, if they had stayed together, it would have resulted in one of their deaths, mind you,” he said.

  For the astrologer, predicting the future and charting the past was a daily occurrence. But to the couple in front of him, his reading came as a shock. It seemed that God’s hand had been at play in their lives throughout.

  “Does that mean that Veerendra and Chanda should never have got married?” asked Mohan anxiously, uttering the words that were trembling on Meera’s lips.

  Vidyasagar shook his head vigorously. “You must understand something very clearly. Something that was not meant to happen cannot happen. Veerendra and Chanda were meant to get married. It was a wedding fixed in heaven. But, they were not meant to stay together at that young age. That’s why they didn’t. Veerendra must have left home when he was very young. He wouldn’t have been in a fit state to take care of a child-wife. But now, he is all grown up and it would be ideal for your daughter and son-in-law to set up house together. In fact, as I mentioned to you the other day, the two of them are definitely placed very close to each other geographically, if not in the same house.”

  Mohan and Meera were very impressed with the astrologer. “You have helped us so far, Vidyasagarji. Only you will have to advise us how to go about locating our son-in-law,” said Mohan.

  Vidyasagar bent down to the horoscopes once again, studying them longer while Meera and Mohan waited anxiously for him to come up with a solution.

  Fifteen

  Chanda opened her eyes and took a few seconds to recall where she was. She sat up yawning and stretched her arms wide to shake off the remnants of sleep. She had slept like a baby - for the first time since meeting Ranveer, in fact. A small smile broke out on her lips as peace and happiness crept into her system.

  What an evening it had been! The party had been exciting and so had been the ride to Ranveer’s home in his company. After realising that he lived alone, Chanda had expected to remain awake the whole night. But she had gone to sleep the moment her head touched her pillow. And she had woken up after - Chanda turned to look at the small table clock next to the bed - seven hours of uninterrupted sleep.

  It was 9 am and the silence was simply blissful. It was a luxury unavailable at the hostel where there was constant chatter as someone or the other of her roommates was awake all the time. They were either talking to one another or were on the phone chatting up with someone. Chanda moved back to relax against the bed head, enjoying the silence for a few more minutes.

  She slowly got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She had a shower and tied the bathrobe tightly around her slim body after towelling herself dry.

  Should she borrow some more clothes or wear her evening dress? Chanda decided that now that she had taken one set of clothes from this lady, she might as well borrow one more. She walked to the floor length wardrobe and checked out the clothes hanging there. She found a short skirt in checkered cotton. It was in blue and white. She searched some more before finding a white collarless t-shirt. She wore them and found that the short skirt was not so short after all. It reached an inch below her knees. Chanda brushed her hair till it shone, applied some cream on her face, a touch of brown lip gloss and left the room to look for Ranveer.

  UNLIKE CHANDA, RANVEER had had a terrible night. He hadn’t been able to sleep a wink with Chanda put up in a bedroom so close to his own, right under his roof.

  He had been up since 7 am and walked out of his bedroom when he heard movement outside. Chanda was up and she was looking so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed that Ranveer could only feel envy.

  Chanda was startled to see the dark circles around Ranveer’s eyes and wondered at it. But she was too shy to ask him about it. She thought that maybe that’s what happened after a drink too many. She gave him a hesitant smile, not able to sense his mood.

  Ranveer smiled back before he said, “Good Morning Chanda! Did you sleep well?”

  “Good Morning Ranveer! Yeah, I did, very well,” answered Chanda enthusiastically.

  They both walked down the staircase by mutual consent and Chanda followed Ranveer into the kitchen as he set out to make coffee.

  She watched in fascination as he filled the electric filter with coffee grounds, added water and switched it on. He seemed to know his way around the kitchen as he removed mugs from the cupboard and set a tray with sugar and spoons. He removed milk from the fridge and kept it to boil on the gas stove. This was a totally different facet to Ranveer, the boss.

  Chanda was hungry. She asked him, “Shall I make something to eat?”

  Ranveer turned to look at her. “Of course, do you eat eggs? I have those and bread. I can make an omelette—”

  Chanda raised a hand to stop him in mid flow. She couldn’t imagine a guy making her food. That would be so strange. None of the men at home knew anything in the kitchen - not her father, none of her brothers.

  She said, “I can make the omelettes, Ranveer.” She hesitated before saying, “I hope you don’t mind,” a wary look on her face. Maybe he wouldn’t like her to do anything in his kitchen.

  Ranveer shrugged his broad shoulders before saying, “Of course not. You go on. You’ll find all you need in the fridge. If you want to use onions, they are there,” he pointed to the cane basket kept in the corner. There were onions, potatoes and garlic in it. ‘Not bad at all, for a bachelor pad’, thought Chanda.

  With quick and easy movements, suggesting that a kitchen was not unfamiliar territory, Chanda set out to work on her speciality - masala omelettes. While her parents were pure vegetarian and eggs were not used at home, Chanda had learned to make them at a friend’s house in Jaipur. She loved the taste of eggs and had learned a few recipes.

  She chopped onions and tomatoes quickly. As she was cooking the omelettes on a skillet, she deftly toasted bread slices in a toaster. Breakfast was ready in twenty minutes and the two of them sat down to eat at the kitchen table. It was cosy and Chanda enjoyed Ranveer’s company even though he was quiet throughout. It looked like he wasn’t a morning person.

  Chanda looked at Ranveer surreptitiously, as he hid himself behind the newspaper, his right hand reaching out for the coffee cup. She wondered whether this was what happened if a person lived by himself. He probably wasn’t used to having company and hence didn’t talk much.

  A small sigh broke through from the depth of Chanda’s system before she could stop it. Ranveer heard it and wondering what it was all about, he lowered the paper to look at her. Chanda was a mite embarrassed when he found her staring in his direction. He caught her gaze before she could look down.

  Chanda had no control over the hot colour that bloomed in her cheeks.

  Sixteen

  Ranveer stared in fascination as the colour spread on Chanda’s cheeks. She looked so beautiful and so young! A spontaneous smile broke on Ranveer’s face as he continued to look at her.

  He realised that he was behaving like a boor, not uttering a word. After
all, he had brought her home to spend time with her; to get to know her better. And how could that happen if he hid himself behind the newspaper? But Ranveer had been quite disturbed by the sleepless night he had spent thinking about Chanda. He had got quite scared by the depth of attraction he felt for her.

  Ranveer folded the paper that he had been reading and decided that some sort of an apology was due. His smile turned sheepish as he said, “I’m sorry I got carried away reading the paper. I very rarely bring anyone home and—,” he shrugged, letting his gesture speak for itself.

  Chanda wondered at what he said. He rarely brought anyone to his home. How come he had invited her here then? It was on the tip of her tongue to ask, but innate shyness stopped her from uttering the words.

  “And so, how do you spend your weekends? Do you guys go out a lot, catch the movies, go clubbing, or—?” asked Ranveer, genuinely interested.

  Chanda swallowed her coffee before saying, “We have a lot of projects that we tend to do in the weekends. I love watching Bollywood films, but none of my roommates are keen to go to the theatre and watch them. They prefer DVDs. I don’t enjoy watching films on the small screen. There’s nothing to beat watching a movie in 70mm, don’t you think?”

  Ranveer nodded his dark head, caught by her enthusiasm. Ranveer enjoyed films too, but was not exactly a Bollywood buff. He caught an occasional one, maybe 3-4 times in a year. Due to Dave’s influence, Ranveer had gotten used to watching Hollywood films. To begin with, Dave ensured that there were subtitles available so that Ranveer could understand. Slowly, over time, Ranveer had acquired a taste for English films, as he began to understand the language and the many accents as well.

  “I s’pose so. And who’re your favourites? Wait, let me see, Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir, or,” his brows drew together as Ranveer tried to recall the names of actors other than the Khans. “Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham?” Ranveer’s right eyebrow went in query.

  Chanda smiled as she said, “You’ve forgotten Hrithik Roshan. He’s quite a hunk and I think he’s a great actor.”

  Ranveer decided then and there that he didn’t like Hrithik Roshan. He vaguely remembered reading news about some film where the actor had played a paraplegic. His lips curled in disgust, but he quickly managed to hide his expression.

  “I think Deepika Padukone’s sexy,” he said, hoping to make Chanda jealous.

  Chanda’s smile turned into a wide grin as she replied, “Oh yeah! I quite agree with you. Deepika’s absolutely hot.”

  That shot in the dark hadn’t worked, much to Ranveer’s disappointment. “Do you play any sport?” he asked next.

  ‘What was this? Twenty questions?’ wondered Chanda as she looked at his handsome face. His velvety brown eyes were watching her as he waited for her answer. Chanda couldn’t believe her luck as she answered him. She pressed a surreptitious hand to her heart as if to calm its rapid beat.

  “I love to play football.” She raised a hand in defense as he was about to interrupt. “Yeah, I know it’s basically a guys’ game. But that’s what I got to play with four brothers at home,” said Chanda.

  “Oh, not cricket, the Indian favourite?” grinned Ranveer, enjoying the conversation. He wasn’t too fond of cricket either, another influence of the Americans who had brought him up.

  Chanda shook her head, her black eyes shining with mischief. “Not cricket. It was war getting someone to bowl while each one waited for his turn at batting. Football was taken up as it’s best for warriors,” she winked at a startled Ranveer. “We could all fight dirty. And during the rains,” Chanda’s eyes turned inward as she recalled the games that she played with her brothers, “we used to play like crazy. Mamma gave up on us while Pappa used to egg us on.”

  “And you, how’d you manage to play such a rough game with boys?” asked Ranveer, having missed out on his life with siblings. He could still remember playing with his elder brother Jeetendra. But then, Jeetendra had stopped playing from the day he got married. Ranveer recalled playing with Jaggi and other friends throughout the day. He so missed those days although he had deliberately left it all behind.

  Chanda’s dark eyes glowed. “Oh, it’s such fun. Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan are my brothers. A couple of their friends also usually turn up for the game. My girlfriends thought it wasn’t very feminine and never joined us. They called me a ‘tomboy’, but,” she shrugged slender shoulders, “I wouldn’t have missed the fun for anything. Yeah, it was rough and I used to tumble very often. What’s with a few knee-scrapes? We had a ball. Even now, we play a few games every time I go home during the holidays,” she reminisced. Chanda stopped to take a breath before asking, “What about you? Do you play cricket or football?” she asked.

  “I’ve played a lot of football and some cricket. Nowadays, it’s squash at the gym and I like table tennis. We have a table at the office, in the gym room. You do know that we’ve a gym, right?” he asked, quite proud of the facilities that he had set up at his office.

  “Oh! I didn’t,” squealed Chanda in delight, quite surprised to hear that. “That’s simply awesome. And I’d love to play TT. Not that I know how. But I can always learn. I’m sure someone—”

  Ranveer interrupted her in a hurry. “I can teach you,” he offered, not at all keen that she learn the game from someone else.

  “Wow, thanks. That’ll be nice. You’re sure that you’ll find the time from your busy schedule?” she asked, a small frown puckering her eyebrows.

  Chanda knew that Ranveer was a busy man. She had heard the other girls complaining that he never had the time to even give any of them a second look. They couldn’t believe that it was simply because he wasn’t interested. It was true that Ranveer worked hard and long. But he always found time for doing things that he liked. He did take adequate breaks and while on holidays he made it a point not to touch his laptop. In fact, he had an ordinary cell phone that he used for making calls and sending rare SMSs, despite being a techno-geek. He liked to keep his private and work lives separate. Actually, the first time he broke that rule was in bringing Chanda home, if one didn’t count accompanying Shikha to her friend’s wedding. That had been a mistake, Ranveer realised. He had been hoping to escape his attraction for Chanda by spending time with Shikha. He had been aware deep within that it was never going to work.

  Ranveer nodded. “That’s not a problem. My work is very well organised and I can manage some time every day,” he smiled, looking forward to teaching Chanda TT. Right now, what he wanted most was to spend time with Chanda and get to know her more.

  “So, do you want to go to a film today?” Ranveer asked. He hoped it would be interesting.

  “Hey, that’d be lovely,” said Chanda as she took the newspaper from near him to check out what was showing.

  “Well, there are no Hrithik Roshan releases,” teased Ranveer.

  “No Deepika Padukone films either,” came the pat reply as Chanda smiled at Ranveer. “Shall we go to see Kahaani? Mamma saw it last week and simply loved it. I’ve been so wanting to go.”

  “Okay,” said Ranveer. Before he could say anything else, Chanda said in a hurry, “Vidya Balan is the heroine and I think she’s the only main character. It’s a thriller and I’m sure you’ll like it.” She kept her fingers crossed, keen to watch the film.

  Ranveer could see that the main attraction was the film itself and not him. Not having much of a choice in that, he hoped that spending more time with Chanda would make her find him more interesting.

  What he was unaware of was that Chanda’s heart was ready to burst forth from her chest with the sense of anticipation that she was feeling. Twenty four hours back, she had never imagined that she would be spending so much time with Ranveer. Now, she was in his home, having made his breakfast; he had plans to teach her Table Tennis and over and above all that, they were both going to do something that she loved the most - watch a Bollywood film. She was having a difficult time controlling her excitement.

  Ranveer got up
from the breakfast table. “Okay, lemme organise the tickets on the internet. There’s a show at 12 noon. We should be able to catch that. Are you okay with that?” he asked.

  Chanda turned towards him, her black eyes brilliant with happiness and nodded. “Absolutely!”

  It was a glorious day and Chanda just knew that she was going to have the time of her life.

  Seventeen

  Chanda had thoroughly enjoyed the film. While she had been totally aware of the man sitting beside her, she had still been able to lose herself in the screenplay.

  Ranveer had found the movie quite absorbing but his companion even more so. He found himself watching her from the corner of his eyes quite often. Chanda’s face was very expressive and he enjoyed that experience more than watching the film.

  They got out of the theatre and reached the car. Ranveer waited for her to get in before seating himself behind the wheel. As he started the ignition, he asked, “Do you’ve any preferences for lunch? Oh, by the way, do you eat non-vegetarian food?”

  Chanda shook her head vigorously. “No, just eggs. Do you?” she asked.

  Ranveer nodded. He didn’t want to think about what his parents and grandparents would have to say about it. They would probably kill him. But then, living with Dave and Jane, he had got used to that quite easily.

  “So, where shall we go for lunch? Hmm—let me see. You game for Italian cuisine? Or Chinese? Do tell me if you’d prefer Indian.” He gave her the choice.

  “I love Italian food,” said Chanda, her eyes glowing. That would be an amazing treat indeed - having an Italian lunch with Ranveer. She had been counting the minutes as the film was coming to an end, believing that she would be saying ‘goodbye’ soon. It looked like they were going to spend some more time with each other.

  “Let’s go to Nirula’s Potpourri at Connaught Place. Have you been there before? The food’s yummy.” Ranveer moved the car out of the parking lot as he said that.