Rivanah talked with her mother for the next fifteen minutes. Many a time she thought of sharing her fear about Danny with her mother, but realized there came a time when you couldn’t share everything with your mother, no matter how close she was to you. Being a grown up, you have to drink your poison yourself, she thought. Was it time for her to accept the fact that, at twenty-three, she was a lonely soul? Something she had never thought was possible in her wildest dreams. In the evening Rivanah went to a lonely flat, had a lonely supper because Danny was still out and she didn’t care where Nitya was. At around eleven at night she got a call from Danny asking her to come to Hype, a nightclub in Bandra. Just when she thought she would have to resign to her inner loneliness, there was a spark of hope. Rivanah dressed up quickly and took a cab to Hype. And there she saw Danny and Nitya waiting for her.
‘Tomorrow is Nitya’s birthday. So I thought we’ll celebrate it here itself,’ Danny said and realized the surprise wasn’t well received by Rivanah. Nitya excused herself to go to the washroom and he tried to explain, ‘Baby, I know I didn’t tell you about this before. And trust me, if Nitya wasn’t single and hadn’t done the shit she tried to do, I wouldn’t have done this . . .’ Rivanah didn’t bother to hear the rest.
‘It’s okay, Danny,’ she said.
They cut the cake at midnight. Rivanah not only had to force herself to smile constantly but also had to click a lot of pictures of Danny and Nitya where both were either hugging or the latter kissing the former’s cheek or, worse, had to pose between Danny and Nitya with the latter clicking their selfies. Once they were done with the photos, Nitya asked her, ‘May I ask your boyfriend for a dance?’
Rivanah was pissed off but nodded with a tight smile. As they danced, she went to the bar with a mild headache. She ordered her drink and considered going back home when she heard a man’s voice.
‘You remind me of someone.’
She was emotionally vulnerable and his timing was right. To add to it he was drop-dead handsome. She couldn’t resist the urge to accompany him on the dance floor. She hoped Danny would leave Nitya and come to her, at least out of jealousy. He didn’t. In fact he flashed a smile at her which infuriated her and made her desperate to get out of the place.
‘Do you mind taking a stroll with me outside?’ the handsome guy spoke in her ears. It was like he read her mind. Rivanah instantly agreed.
Outside, she felt better till the handsome guy showed her a magic trick she wasn’t prepared for. Excusing himself, he went away and then appeared right behind her. Then he went backwards, disappearing at the bend of the road and reappearing in front of her. Rivanah stood awed at what was happening. Next a car came and stopped right in front of her. The handsome guy was beside her, inside the car by the steering and sitting in the back seat as well—all at the same time. By the time she understood they were triplets she was pushed into the car. The loud music from the car’s stereo muted her cries. She fought hard but before her fear paralysed her to surrender herself to the look-alike beasts, the car came to a screeching halt. The three looked in front of the car. The triplets’ faces paled one by one while a bright smile appeared on Rivanah’s face. There was a jeep in front of them. A siren was flashing above it. Two policemen were standing by the jeep. One of the triplets started backing their car but was soon sandwiched by a police vehicle from behind. Four policemen—two from each vehicle—came towards the car and knocked on the darkened windshield. By then the two guys had let go of Rivanah inside the car. She unlocked the door and got out, almost kicking out one of the guys who looked as if he had peed in his pants. The policemen took the three guys inside one of their jeeps. Rivanah meanwhile kept looking all around as if she knew he had to be around.
‘Are you all right, madam?’ asked one of the policemen.
‘Yes. Who informed you?’ Rivanah asked, still looking around.
‘Someone named Hiya Chowdhury,’ said the policeman.
6
Fate is a smell, Mini. Follow it hard and you shall reach me.
Rivanah had kept all the white cloths she had received embroidered with the messages from the stranger in her cupboard, with the last one on top. The message . . . Hiya’s laughter on the doorbell . . . her nightmares . . . these were the dots which she had not been able to connect at all. And before she could ask the stranger about it he had vanished from her life.
Last night when the policeman had mentioned the name Hiya Chowdhury, her jaw had dropped. But the answer to her next question revealed the reality.
‘Did she say anything else?’
‘She? It was a man.’
And Rivanah realized who it could be.
‘What did he look like?’ she asked.
‘We only received a call at our control room. The details say it was Hiya Chowdhury, a fifty-year-old man living in Byculla. The address is . . .’
Rivanah didn’t bother to listen. It had to be a wrong address. But the phone call also meant the stranger had been keeping an eye on her like always, though without making his presence felt. On the one hand she didn’t know why he had become so dormant suddenly—was it due to the police threat?—while on the other hand she was happy too, because she suddenly knew she wasn’t as lonely as she thought. The stranger was around . . . somewhere near her. Rivanah didn’t tell Danny about the incident right then. One of the police jeeps had dropped her back at the nightclub. It was the next night, when Danny and she retired to bed, that she said, ‘What will make you jealous, Danny?’
‘What do you mean?’ Danny was lying sideways, looking at her, resting his head on his hand.
‘How did you feel when you saw me dancing with a guy the other night?’ Rivanah was lying on her back, looking at nothing specific on the ceiling.
‘How am I supposed to feel when you were having a good time?’
‘But I wasn’t having that good time with you.’
‘But you were having a good time, right?’
The fact that Danny still didn’t get what she was trying to imply irked her. Don’t you get it, Danny?! I was jealous seeing Nitya and you dance, Rivanah framed in her mind how she would say it, and I don’t want to see the two of you together again, no matter how much of an emotional catastrophe she is in.
‘Yes, I was having a good time,’ Rivanah said aloud. She didn’t know why she suddenly couldn’t be honest about her feelings with him. Was it because, if she said it, there was a possibility that Danny would judge her? Or was it because she judged her own self?
‘What happened? You sound disconnected.’ Danny placed his hand across her bosom.
‘How long will Nitya stay here?’
Danny understood the subtext of the query. He came closer and said, ‘A few more days. Once her medication is over and the doctor tells me it is okay for her to stay alone, everything will be the way it was before.’
‘Promise?’
Danny planted a soft kiss on her forehead and said, ‘Promise. But I’m sure you will agree she isn’t much of a trouble.’
Rivanah took her time before she said, ‘Yeah.’ She turned towards him and both of them closed their eyes together. After some time Rivanah opened hers and kept staring at Danny as if she was trying to understand herself by looking at him. She had no idea when she fell asleep.
The next day Nitya had to shop for some outfits for the stylist she was working for. She was heading from her stylist’s office in Andheri to Phoenix Mall in Lower Parel. She called Danny to ask if he could drop her. He agreed to. Just prior to that Rivanah had called him for lunch at Indigo Deli in Andheri. Danny called her and asked if she could come down to Phoenix instead.
‘Phoenix? That’s so far from my office. Indigo is fine, Danny.’
‘Actually Nitya needs to buy some stuff and she doesn’t know the place well and I’m free so . . .’
Rivanah suddenly found she had no option. She could have asked Danny to skip meeting Nitya and meet her in Indigo instead, but she knew there would be numerous calls from
Nitya which would make Danny rush through the lunch and leave even before she was halfway through hers.
‘Let’s meet at Phoenix,’ Rivanah said resignedly. She immediately excused herself from her team leader saying she wasn’t feeling well and had to go to a doctor. Sridhar let her leave for the day. Of late, he had found her focus at work wavering. He wanted to tell her that he found her sudden unwillingness to go on-site rather weird, and would have actually tried to convince her against her decision, if he didn’t have other equally qualified contenders ready to pounce on the opportunity.
Rivanah joined Danny in Andheri after which they picked up Nitya from her office. Then together they headed towards Phoenix Mall. Though Rivanah tried to help Nitya choose the dresses she needed, Nitya’s queries were all directed towards Danny. Soon she got tired of butting in with her opinion. The way Danny’s suggestions were appreciated by Nitya hurt Rivanah even though she knew it was possible they weren’t intended to hurt her. It was the language of insecurity that made her read their behaviour in one particular dimension only. While Danny was involved in suggesting something to Nitya, Rivanah took a couple of steps back. She saw that Danny didn’t even notice it; he was so engaged with Nitya. Then Rivanah went outside the store and looked at them through the glass from a distance. The indifference in Danny triggered a sudden and strong urge in her to get his attention. As if that was the only relief she knew of to the itch that her insecurity had become. She looked around casually trying to think of a plan of action to make Danny run to her. Soon she knew what exactly she had to do.
Rivanah headed towards the lingerie section in an adjacent multipurpose store and picked up three bras and three matching G-strings. She went into one of the trial rooms and quickly stripped off her kurti and leggings and her bra. She put on the purple-coloured bra which she had brought with her and clicked a selfie with a pout. She WhatsApped the picture to Danny immediately and waited desperately for him to come online on the app. Half a minute later, he was online. He messaged back: Where are you? Rivanah had a mischievous smile on her face. Next she sent a picture of herself in the purple G-string. Danny immediately called up on seeing the picture. She cut the line without answering, smiling all the while. She then sent him yet another picture wearing another set of lingerie. This time when he called her, she picked up and in one breath said, ‘The adjacent store, first trial room. I’m waiting.’ Within seconds she could hear footsteps coming towards her. Then she looked down. From below the door she could see a shadow moving close to the trial room. On an impulse she unlocked the trial room’s door and pulled Danny in by his tee. Before he could speak her lips were on his. His hands were on her butt over her G-string while hers were cupping his face. She smooched him with a deep passion that emboldened Danny to get into the act as well.
‘I didn’t tell Nitya that—’ Danny tried to break off from the smooch for a moment to speak but Rivanah kissed him again. As their tongues slurped each other’s his squeeze on her buttocks tightened. In a flash her hand was at his groin and he felt her hand massaging his semi-erect penis over his jeans. Danny had never seen such aggressive sexual behaviour in Rivanah before. On the one hand it aroused him and on the other he was worried about Nitya since he had rushed off without telling her. Danny wanted to break free but he heard Rivanah say, ‘Suck me, baby.’ And all he could do was rip off her bra and take her right breast in his mouth, sucking hard at the light-brown areola. Rivanah’s eyes were shut tight. It had been some time since they had made love. The urgency of it only excited the sexual flame within. Their kiss broke for a moment and there was a sudden eye-lock.
‘Fuck me, Danny,’ Rivanah rasped.
Danny quickly unzipped, took out his fully erect penis and pulled the string of her G-string. It dropped to the ground. He turned her. Rivanah could now see both of them in the mirror in front. Her own self never aroused her more than it did at that moment. Danny slowly inserted his penis in her wet vagina. A moan escaped her. He was about to start his thrusts when they heard something: Nitya was calling out to Danny in a helpless, forlorn tone.
‘Damn! I knew it,’ Danny mumbled under his breath, sounding worried and crossed. He pulled out of her instantly.
‘Danny! Finish what you started,’ Rivanah said. But he paid no attention. In no time Danny was outside the trial room. A highly frustrated Rivanah didn’t move for some time. She looked at herself in the mirror. A loser was staring back at her. She took a deep breath and then put on her dress. She went out only to see Nitya crying profusely, holding on to Danny in a tight embrace, resting her head on his chest and telling him that she thought he too had left her like her boyfriend. Rivanah didn’t know what to make of it. The salesgirl who had taken Rivanah to the trial room came to her with an annoyed expression. Rivanah gave her a hundred-rupee note for allowing Danny inside the trial room. The moment she did so Rivanah heard Danny shout out Nitya’s name. The latter had fainted.
In the hours that followed, Danny rushed Nitya to the doctor with Rivanah quietly accompanying him. She had never seen Danny as worried and tense as he was in those few hours. It scared her because she wasn’t the subject of his worry. Rivanah knew she was being acutely selfish but she didn’t know what to do if not be herself. The doctor found that Nitya’s blood pressure had fallen. She was admitted to a nursing home for some time. By evening she seemed fine. It was the same doctor who had treated Nitya after her failed suicide attempt. He was angry with Danny for being negligent and strictly asked him to keep her out of any kind of emotional turmoil. While taking Nitya back home, Rivanah asked Danny if they should inform Nitya’s parents about her condition. Danny gave her a stern look. It was only when they reached home and Nitya was asleep that Danny spoke to Rivanah.
‘Nitya doesn’t have a father. And she isn’t in touch with her mother because her mother married her husband’s business partner, which Nitya didn’t like. So all she has right now is me.’
They were in the drawing room while Nitya had been put to bed in their room.
‘Oh! I never knew that.’
‘But you knew that she is emotionally unstable right now, didn’t you?’ he said, glaring at her.
Rivanah was taken aback by his accusatory tone.
‘I did. So?’
‘So what was the need for that stupidity?’
‘What stupidity?’ Only her mouth was moving. The rest of Rivanah was pretty tense.
‘Calling me into the trial room?’
‘When did I call you?’
‘Yeah? Why else did you send me your hot pics?’
‘I just wanted to share them with you, Danny. Am I not allowed to do that?’
‘Of course you are allowed to. But why did you have to do it when I was with Nitya? You didn’t even tell me before you went to the other store.’
‘Since when do I have to take your permission before doing something?’
‘It’s not that. All I mean is just don’t make it tough for me.’
‘Tough for you? Do you know how tough it has been for me since I came back from Kolkata and saw Nitya putting up here?’
‘Why would it be tough for you?’
‘If my best friend was a guy and I brought him here to stay with us for whatever reason, then wouldn’t it be tough for you?’ Rivanah felt she could cry any moment. Their spat was fast taking a dangerous turn.
‘Nitya isn’t here for whatever reason. I think I told you already but it seems you didn’t listen properly or try to understand. But now I’m saying it again. Nitya tried to kill herself!’ Danny raised his pitch to an extent that jolted her. He had never spoken to her in such a high-pitched tone before. It reminded Rivanah of her cousin Meghna and Aadil. That, she knew, was bad news.
‘Why are you shouting at me, Danny?’
‘Because I have tried to be gentle and you still haven’t got the point.’
‘What’s the point?’
‘The point is Nitya is not well and we shouldn’t be selfish.’
‘E
ven if it eats into our relationship?’
Danny gave her a searching look and said, ‘Till now it hasn’t. But only till now. If you continue to behave like an imbecile then it very well may,’ Danny said and walked out of the flat, leaving Rivanah in tears. She felt weak from within, just like she did when she had seen Ekansh with another girl a year back. Only this time she feared this weakness could be irreversible. She somehow managed to stumble towards the couch and collapsed on it, sobbing hard. This dreaded moment where she was made to feel like a loser wasn’t alien to her. With Ekansh she didn’t see it coming while with Danny she tried her best to prevent it, and yet here she was in the middle of it, all alone. Why was she alone? Wasn’t there anyone who could understand why she did what she did? Someone who would say she did the right thing and that Danny was the one being insensitive? Someone who would not judge her but appreciate the fact that anyone in her place would have done and felt the same and whatever she was going through was absolutely normal? Absolutely human? She knew who that someone was . . .
But the question was, where was that someone?
7
Danny came back around two at night. He had his own set of keys so Rivanah didn’t have to open the door. With Nitya sleeping in their room, Rivanah was lying down on the sofa-cum-bed. The moment she heard the door unlock, she turned around and feigned sleep. She had left ample amount of space for Danny to sleep beside her but he chose to sit on the beanbag instead. She didn’t sleep a wink the entire night. By morning she had had enough. Rivanah called all the phone numbers she had stored of the stranger but found all of them still out of service. Earlier maybe it was a luxury for her to connect to the stranger but overnight it had become a need. And a burning need at that.
That day Rivanah went to office with an idea of how to connect with the stranger. Perhaps the only one she knew with whom she could talk, exposing her naked emotional self. She designed a fake document about some fictitious astrological guru with some fake numbers, took a printout and then made exactly fifty-four photocopies of it. There were fifty-five flats in Krishna Towers where she lived in Lokhandwala. When she returned from office in the evening she went to each and every flat with the photocopied pamphlet to hand it over to the residents herself. The real intention was to know if there was any flat which was locked for the world outside but inhabited secretly, just like it was when she lived in Sai Dham Apartments in Goregaon East. To her dismay there was not a single flat that was locked up. Every flat either had families or couples living in it. The probability of the stranger living with a family seemed farfetched to Rivanah. She confidently concluded that the stranger wasn’t living in Krishna Towers. And yet the nightclub incident with the triplets was proof enough that he was keeping an eye on her. What was stopping him from contacting her? Could it be . . . ? She finally thought she had got the answer.
All Yours, Stranger: Some Mysteries are Dangerously Sexy Page 4
