‘Is that you?’ Rivanah blurted, knowing well who it could be. Had he been watching her copulate with Danny all this while?
The flashlight went off for a second and was on again. So he is talking in binary. Off means a yes, on means a no, Rivanah thought. Would the stranger come out in the open now? It wasn’t the first time the stranger was seeing her naked. She couldn’t see much in the light. Or in its absence, when it was abruptly switched off. Was it really Argho standing a few metres from her? This was her best chance to unmask the stranger. And the only way to do so was . . . seduction. The fact that she was naked was also her power. She stood her ground firmly with no more communication from the stranger except for the flashlight which was on at that point of time. Rivanah closed her eyes and with a shiver slowly raised her hands, exposing her privates and saying aloud, ‘I’m . . . all yours, stranger. Come, take me.’
Rivanah was sure the seduction would work. She waited with bated breath. Was Argho approaching her? She couldn’t tell. Her eyes were closed, senses alert and muscles tense. She was praying for the stranger to come to her. She was craving to open her eyes and see the stranger’s face and confirm her suspicion that it was Argho. Seconds became a minute but nobody approached her. The flashlight was still on. Driven by impatience Rivanah opened her eyes and was dumbfounded with horror. A noose was hanging from the shower right in front of her. The stranger had tiptoed right up to her and she hadn’t even realized it. The flashlight went off. In the darkness Rivanah’s voice returned to her and she yelled out to Danny. He rushed out of the room.
‘What happened?’
Rivanah swallowed a lump. By then she had pulled down the noose and thrown it away into the bushes in the dark.
‘Bring me a towel please.’ She knew she was unconvincing but it was still better than telling him what had just happened. It wouldn’t help her cause if Danny knew the stranger was still stalking her.
They drove back to Mumbai the next day. When Danny dropped her by her apartment building he asked, ‘Can’t you shift back?’
Rivanah only wished she could say yes, but the distance that the stranger had talked about, she didn’t want to kill it just as yet. That distance was giving her the space to place her guilt. Staying together would only nurture it.
‘Give me some time,’ she said. Danny nodded, saying, ‘I’ll wait.’ He drove away.
Rivanah unlocked the door and stepped inside the flat, only to hear someone weeping inside Tista’s bedroom. It sounded odd. More so because it wasn’t Tista but a man.
‘Who is it?’ she said, not closing the front door. The next moment Ekansh came out to the drawing room, rubbing his eyes. This was the first time she had seen him crying this way.
22
‘What happened? Where is Tista?’ Rivanah said, trying to look beyond him and hoping Tista was there as well. She didn’t want to be alone in the flat with Ekansh. The latter simply sat down on the couch, hiding his face with his hands, and said, ‘She is not here.’
‘Why are you crying? What’s wrong?’ Rivanah was herself surprised with the genuine concern she showed for him. Some people will burn your world into ashes and yet the smoke from the singe would still be in love with them, Rivanah thought.
Ekansh sat still for some time and then said, ‘I can’t live without her.’
Rivanah sensed the obvious. Tista must have left him just like he had left her a year and a half ago. A sense of satisfaction invaded her. Tista didn’t look the type who would ditch a guy, but if she really had ditched Ekansh, it must be his fault and not hers.
‘She is your fiancée. Who is asking you to live without her?’ The last part was deliberate. If Tista had left him then it would hurt him. Rivanah wanted that. At that moment she only wanted to hurt Ekansh. She closed the front door, feeling confident of the fact that there wouldn’t be any more slips on her part. Ekansh’s weakness was her source of confidence.
‘She is not well,’ Ekansh said, still not looking at her.
‘As in? What happened?’ Rivanah preferred to stand against the wall facing Ekansh.
‘She has acute pancreatitis and some problem in her small intestine as well.’
‘What are you saying? She never told me.’ Rivanah took her phone and immediately called Tista. A phone lying beside Ekansh began to ring.
‘What the . . .’
‘She left her phone with me.’
‘What? Why would she do that?’
Ekansh looked up at her and said, ‘She used to save voice notes on her phone.’
‘What voice notes?’
‘About her thoughts on us.’
‘Us? She knew about you and me?’ Rivanah’s heart was in her mouth.
‘Us as in Tista and me.’
‘Oh, okay.’
There was silence. Did you ever cry for us, Ekansh, like this after we broke up? Rivanah wanted to ask. I did, she wanted to confess. Instead she spoke aloud, ‘Has she gone for a check-up? When is she returning?’
‘She is in Kolkata. She may not return even if she becomes all right. I came here to give the remaining rent cheques from her side and the flat keys. Here . . .’
He gave the cheques and the keys to Rivanah. She took them quietly. She didn’t know how to react. She was feeling bad for Tista, but for Ekansh . . .?
‘You know,’ Ekansh said, ‘before you came here I was on the phone with her. She asked me what I would do if she died.’
‘But why would she die?’
‘She may have to undergo a surgery soon and the doctor said there’s a 70 per cent chance she may not . . .’ Ekansh didn’t say the rest.
‘I want to talk to her now.’
‘She is sleeping. I will arrange for you to talk to her when she wakes up,’ Ekansh said and hid his face with his hands yet again. Rivanah was about to ask Ekansh if he needed some water when he spoke up, ‘Life has been tough since the time I wronged you.’
Rivanah shot him a sharp glance. For the first time she heard him clearly accepting that it was he who had ditched her. No excuses, no reasons. A simple confession. Till then all Rivanah had wanted to do was laugh at his situation. But the moment he confessed she felt like forgiving him. Not for what he did to her but for what he did to himself, perhaps, after what he did to her.
‘I realized I made a mistake when Vishakha left me for someone else like I left you for her.’ Ekansh was talking with his face in his hands while Rivanah was listening with her eyes closed and resting her head on the wall.
‘I still don’t know why I chose her over you. I was so happy with you. Maybe I was happy with you but I wasn’t happy with us. Those are two different things. People jump into a relationship when they experience the former.’
Rivanah was itching to ask if he really thought they had jumped into a relationship and maintained it for over four years without it being genuine. But she kept those words to herself as she heard him say, ‘After Vishakha left me I was pretty sure I would never fall in love again, for I understood that, if I could never appreciate the kind of love you had for me, I probably didn’t deserve to be in love.’
Rivanah could feel tears oozing out from her eyes but she knew it was futile to wipe them away. Even if she wiped those tears out she could never suppress the feeling which was triggering them.
‘Then Tista happened to me. She was the younger sister of one of my colleagues. I went to his place in Kolkata last Durga Puja. We met there. Since our parents knew each other, the proposal came from her parents and my parents accepted. I honestly didn’t care any more whom I got married to. We were soon engaged. I discovered the best part about Tista was that she never demanded anything. She loved me. That’s all. I wish I could love her or anybody else like that. So absolutely.’
I too loved you absolutely, Ekansh. And you are the reason why I won’t ever be able to love someone else absolutely, Rivanah thought.
Ekansh stood up and said, ‘I’ll ask Tista to call you from her father’s phone when I talk to her
next. I’m taking her things with me.’
‘Won’t she come back?’ Rivanah asked.
‘I hope she does. But she would need rest so I asked her to resign for the time being.’
Ekansh went to Tista’s room once again and reappeared with a suitcase.
‘Thanks for listening,’ he said and left.
Rivanah sat still, fervently wishing that Tista came out of the surgery alive and healthy. For the first time after her break-up with Ekansh she prayed for him too. Sometime later she freshened up and left for her new office.
In the office she had to meet the junior HR to talk about her leaves and submit hardcopies of some documents. The truth was Rivanah actually wanted to see Argho. Her plan was simple. She wouldn’t let him know she suspected him. The irony was she had to meet him as a stranger to know if he was the real stranger or not. She asked the junior about Argho.
‘You can tell me whatever it is. He hasn’t come to office yet,’ the junior said.
‘It is okay. I will wait for him.’
‘He isn’t well. He was absent yesterday too.’
Rivanah’s jaws dropped. He was absent. Did he follow her to Khandala?
‘In case he comes in I’ll tell him,’ the junior said.
‘No, no, it’s all right. Don’t tell him anything,’ Rivanah immediately blurted. The junior gave her an as-you-wish shrug.
It was during her post-lunch casual walk around the office building, while talking on the phone with Danny, that Rivanah noticed Argho entering the office premises.
‘I will call you in a bit, Danny,’ she said and cut the line. Rivanah rushed inside the building and saw Argho taking the stairs. Is he going to climb the eleven floors? She reluctantly took the stairs as well.
As she reached the first floor she saw Argho move out of an exit door. She reached the door before it closed and found herself staring at a corridor which led to the emergency backstairs. Should she or shouldn’t she? Rivanah decided in a flash and took the emergency backstairs like Argho who by now had already climbed a floor. Since these were the backstairs there wasn’t anybody there. She could hear Argho’s footsteps climbing up. She took care he didn’t get an idea someone was following him. On the fifth floor Rivanah slowed down, typed a ‘Hi’ on the message section of her phone and sent it to all the numbers she had of the stranger. She raced up and could see Argho standing on the seventh floor checking his phone. She checked her phone. One of the numbers had a delivered tick next to it. Damn! She sighed. How she wished she could call the number. It would have been all clear if he was the stranger or not then and there.
Rivanah soon felt the fatigue and thus was taking her time to climb up. Finally she reached the office floor. She saw Argho had entered the door from where a corridor would lead them to the front stairs. Rivanah was exhausted. She took a deep breath and, summoning all her residual energy, climbed the last set of stairs to reach the door. She turned the doorknob but it didn’t open. She turned it a few times and then her eyes fell on the red indicator on the right which would turn green only when a magnetic ID was tapped on it. And Rivanah didn’t yet have her ID. Her breath was getting back to normal as she stood there thinking what to do. She turned back and got the scare of her life. A man was standing right behind her. Perhaps a finger away. As she pressed herself against the door, she realized it was the same man who had rescued her from the stuck elevator a few days back.
‘I hope I didn’t give you a fright,’ the man said. There was an air of decency about him. And it was irresistible. He was tall, wheatish-complexioned and handsome, but Rivanah wouldn’t have described him with these words to anyone. If she had to describe him it would be simpler than that. She would use the word ‘sexy’. Period.
‘I don’t have the—’ she started but the man took out his card and tapped it on the red light. It turned green. He pushed open the door.
‘Thanks,’ Rivanah said and thought: she had met this man twice now. And both times he had rescued her. Who the fuck is he?
‘I’m Rivanah Bannerjee, Zeus Tech. I’m new here so I don’t have a card yet,’ she said, hoping he would introduce himself as well.
‘Nice to meet you, Rivanah Bannerjee,’ he said and walked away, pushing the door further. His secretiveness made it even more tempting to pursue him. She ran after him, took the corridor and reached the front stairs. He was nowhere. Rivanah went inside her office wondering why he hadn’t introduced himself when something struck her. She had told the man she was new here. It reminded her of the offer letter. She opened her Gmail on her phone, opened her offer letter. It was from Argho Chowdhury. She scrolled down to the bottom of the email and checked Argho’s signature. It had his name, his designation and . . . his phone number. She copied it, saved it on her phone and dialled. Her screen flashed the name Stranger 10. It was the tenth number she had saved of the stranger. Rivanah cut the line, feeling a chill down her spine. She was finally sure Argho was the stranger.
23
Rivanah didn’t get a chance to get back to Argho throughout the day. She wanted to follow him in the evening as well to know where he lived. She wanted to know everything about the stranger as he did about her, before she revealed to him that she now knew who he was.
At seven in the evening she went towards the HR cubicles and noticed Argho was wrapping up for the day. She went out and waited by the elevator so that she didn’t arouse suspicion. Even if he took the stairs, she would take the elevator and wait for him outside the office premises. This time Argho took the elevator. She stood right behind him. The scent of Just Different, Hugo Boss, coming from him and the thrill of knowing the stranger made her smile to herself. Ground floor. Argho stepped out. So did Rivanah.
She would have followed him and crossed the road, just like he did, had Ekansh, who was standing by a bike by the office building, not called out to her.
‘Ekansh? What are you doing here? How did you know I work here?’
‘Chuck that. I need to talk.’
Rivanah’s focus was still on Argho, who had by then taken an AC bus and was out of sight. She averted her eyes to Ekansh.
‘Talk about what? How is Tista?’
‘Can we please sit somewhere?’
Rivanah looked at his troubled face. I will never be able to say no to his face, she thought, all because, once upon a time, I loved this guy with all my heart.
‘Okay.’
Half an hour later, Rivanah found herself sitting with Ekansh inside a CCD close to her place.
‘Tista didn’t call me. I was waiting,’ she said.
‘Wait,’ Ekansh said and dialled a number. They exchanged a look as the phone kept ringing.
‘Hello, Aunty. Is Tista awake?’ Ekansh waited and then said on the phone, ‘Hi, all good? I’m good. Okay, talk to Rivanah.’
‘Hi, Tista,’ Rivanah said, taking the phone from Ekansh.
‘Hi, Rivanah di.’ Tista sounded pretty weak.
‘You never told me!’ Rivanah said.
‘I’m sorry, Rivanah di. It all happened so fast.’
‘It’s okay. You just take care. We’ll meet soon.’
‘Will we?’ There was a deep doubt in her voice.
‘Shut up. We certainly will.’
‘I hope so too. Can you go a little away from Ekansh?’
‘Yeah, sure. Excuse me,’ Rivanah said to Ekansh and went towards the washroom.
‘Tell me, what is it?’
‘How is Ekansh handling it? Like, he doesn’t tell me anything and tries to make me laugh all the time but I know he is deeply affected.’
Rivanah took a moment to respond.
‘He indeed is,’ she said, feeling uncomfortable saying it. She didn’t know the exact reason for it even though she knew what she told Tista was true. Ekansh clearly was affected.
‘I knew it,’ Tista said and added, ‘Can you just tell him I love him more than anything else in the world? I won’t be able to say it because, if I do, I shall break down on the phone and
I really don’t want to do that.’
For a second Rivanah felt choked. She looked at herself in the washroom mirror and realized her eyes were swimming with hot tears.
‘Rivanah di?’
‘Yes, yes, I will certainly tell him that. And don’t you worry. No true love ever goes unfulfilled,’ Rivanah said, fighting hard to believe it herself.
Rivanah came out of the washroom and gave Ekansh the phone.
‘What happened? Why did you have to go to the washroom with the phone?’
‘She loves you, Ekansh. She said she loves you more than anything else in the world,’ Rivanah said. There was silence. Rivanah didn’t look at Ekansh. How time changes the dynamics of a relationship, Rivanah thought. A year and a half back she was with Ekansh in Marine Drive and they were telling each other how much they loved the other. Now she was sitting right opposite him and informing him how much another girl loved him. And in between she supposedly went through the I-hate-you phase as well. A break-up doesn’t necessarily end the love two people have for each other. In fact some love stories never end. They only end something within the people involved. Rivanah knew she was still in love with Ekansh and it didn’t matter how much she denied it, because otherwise she wouldn’t be sitting with him in the cafe. She looked up and saw Ekansh was looking out of the glass door with tears rolling down his cheeks. Had he ever cried for her after their break-up? she thought again and was about to pass on a tissue paper to him when she stopped mid-air. Something was written on the tissue. She read it: Truth?
Rivanah instantly turned to look around. Argho had not taken the AC bus. He must have followed her here.
‘Did you see a guy with long hair in the cafe?’
‘Huh?’ Ekansh turned to look at her. He had no clue what she was talking about. ‘No.’
All Yours, Stranger: Some Mysteries are Dangerously Sexy Page 14
