And then Shruti started to narrate every moment of what happened to four enraptured listeners, who alternated between looking at her and a red-faced Rishab. She skipped the last part of their meeting and left them to guess what must have happened.
‘Did it really not strike you?’ Abhijeet asked what Saurav had already asked a million times during Shruti’s narration.
‘No, it didn’t. One more time you ask that, and I will kick you,’ Shruti said. ‘I had other things on my mind and I thought there could be other guys with the same name.’
‘Okay. And yes, now that the big shock is over, I have something to tell you guys,’ Saurav said.
‘What?’ Abhijeet asked, as all eyes turned to him.
‘Thapar called,’ Saurav said and paused dramatically. Their hearts skipped a beat. ‘The video. He knew about it. He saw me making the video.’
‘What? How? I knew something was going to go wrong. I told you, Saurav! It was a bad idea. We are screwed,’ Garima panicked.
‘What did he say?’ Abhijeet asked, as he tried to calm Garima.
‘Turns out Rajat is quite a pussy in front of his wife.’
‘Come to the point, Saurav,’ Garima said irritably.
‘The point is, he kind of tried to freak me out, but when I said that I would give it to his wife, he kind of pissed in his pants and gave us our jobs back and promised he would fire Sumita. That is it, in very short words. Fine? Man, you just killed the suspense out of it,’ he said, visibly pissed at Garima.
‘Are you serious?’ Abhijeet asked.
‘Do I look like I am laughing?’
‘What exactly happened?’ Garima asked, still not believing what he’d just said.
‘What crap? First, you tell me to come to the point. So, I told you. That is what happened! We all have our jobs. Shruti, too!’
After that, they all shouted and danced and hugged, as Rishab watched on.
33
‘I am so happy for you,’ Garima said to Shruti, as they both entered the kitchen to make something for the guys. Saurav was hungry again.
‘Thank you.’
‘I am so glad that things are back to what they were like before.’
‘They are better now,’ Shruti said.
‘Yes, better. It is unbelievable, isn’t it? Of all people, you met Rishab Manchanda? What are the odds of that!’
‘Don’t tell anyone but I almost knew who he was the moment I first saw him walk up to me in the nightclub last night,’ Shruti said. ‘I knew he was Rishab Manchanda. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell him that I knew who he was but I stayed shut. I didn’t want to gush all over him and lose him.’
She looked at Garima and said, ‘Now that is luck, isn’t it? Life is fair, after all. Now all you have to do is to hang on to him and not let him go!’
‘You can count on that,’ she said and winked and they laughed.
‘So, a rich guy, huh?’ Garima said and smiled.
‘I just got lucky,’ she said and smiled back.
Meanwhile, Saurav and Abhijeet drove to the nearest market to get a list of things Garima and Shruti had asked them to buy.
‘It is so cool that we can be together now,’ Saurav said.
‘I know.’
‘You owe me a thank you, man! I know I would have proved to be a major reason had you been kicked out. But still, you weren’t!’ Saurav said.
‘Thanks, man. But it wouldn’t have been too bad to lose the job either,’ Abhijeet responded. ‘Because now I have Garima and she said I could work with her dad if I wanted to. That would be cool, wouldn’t it? Managing an entire business all by myself and stuff?’
‘But, she does have a brother, right?’
‘No. She doesn’t! How could you not know that? It is all hers. She is the only child, so it’s only the two of us who has to take the business forward.’
‘What a turn of events!’
‘Isn’t it?’ Abhijeet smiled. ‘My rich girlfriend.’
Epilogue
And the year passed and Silverman got back to its feet. It was bought by a gigantic cash-rich investment bank in Japan. Dinesh and Sameer are doing well for themselves.
Shruti, downloaded from gappaa dot org, left the company and moved to Mumbai with Rishab. They fly down to Hyderabad often. For lunch, dinner or brunch. Shruti now has a flying licence. She paid off her father’s debt. They don’t talk now, no matter how much they call her.
Saurav is still working in Silverman Finance. Riya joined Silverman, too, when she passed out of Shri Ram College of Commerce. Rajat and Saurav have never talked after that day, except once. Riya was the only person Silverman hired that year and it is no surprise how she got there.
Saurav sold his car after Rishab gifted him his Porsche. He weighs only eighty kilograms now.
Garima and Abhijeet are still together. They are very much in love. They are moving to Delhi next month. Garima’s parents really like Abhijeet and want him to help them run the business.
I met these guys last at Shruti’s engagement. It was a glamorous do where film stars were the order of the day. Shruti was looking gorgeous in her blazing blue glittery saree that Riya chose for her.
I caught her alone for a moment and we hugged. She’d never looked happier. When you are down three glasses of champagne, you have a constant smile plastered on your face.
‘Fairytale, eh? And sure, you look like a princess! Awesome. I have always had the hots for you,’ I said.
‘Thanks,’ she said in slurred words.
‘No, you are looking ravishing! And isn’t this nice? He came along just as you lost everything. I still find it hard to believe.’
‘Love is a strange thing,’ she said, a little lost, a little drunk from all the expensive champagne.
‘It sure is. How much time has it been? A year? Does he still love you as much?’
‘It’s been two years, not one. Two years since I talked to Sachin … don’t know … who knows where he is …’
‘I was talking about Rishab.’
‘Him? Oh, him? Yes, he loves me. Of course I love him, too.’ She laughed out and added. ‘Till I find someone better.’
We both laughed out. That last line sounded vaguely familiar. The smile faded away quite quickly from her face as she gulped her drink and looked me.
‘Love can wait,’ she said and looked at me before finally smiling at me and added, ‘Diamonds cannot.’
She walked away, looking at her six-carat diamond ring.
Also in Penguin Metro Reads
If It’s Not Forever
It’s Not Love
Durjoy Datta • Nikita Singh
To the everlasting power of love …
When Deb, an author and publisher, survives the bomb blasts at Chandni Chowk, he knows his life is nothing short of a miracle. And though he escapes with minor injuries, he is haunted by the images and voices that he heard on that unfortunate day.
Even as he recovers, his feet take him to where the blasts took place. From the burnt remains he discovers a diary. It seems to belong to a dead man who was deeply in love with a girl. As he reads the heartbreaking narrative, he knows that this story must never be left incomplete. Thus begins Deb’s journey with his girlfriend, Avantika, and his best friend, Shrey, to hand over the diary to the man’s beloved.
Deeply engrossing and powerfully told, If It’s Not Forever … tells an unforgettable tale of love and life.
You Were My Crush
Till You Said You Love Me!
Durjoy Datta • Orvana Ghai
Would you change yourself for the love of your life?
Benoy zips around in a Bentley, lives alone in a palatial house and is every girl’s dream. To everyone in college he is a stud and a heartbreaker. But is he, really? What no one sees is his struggle to come to terms with his mother’s untimely death and his very strained relationship with his father.
Then once again his world turns upside down when he sees the gorgeous Shaina.
He instantly falls in love but she keeps pushing him away. What is stopping them from having their fairy-tale romance? What is Shaina hiding?
It’s time Benoy learned his lesson about love and relationships …
THE BEGINNING
Let the conversation begin...
Follow the Penguin Twitter.com@PenguinIndia
Keep up-to-date with all our stories YouTube.com/PenguinIndia
Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook.com/PenguinIndia
Find out more about the author and
discover more stories like this at penguinbooksindia.com
PENGUIN METRO READS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Block D, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North, Gauteng 2193, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
www.penguinbooksindia.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover photographs © Getty Images
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-0-143-42161-0
This digital edition published in 2013.
e-ISBN: 978-9-351-18394-5
Now That You're Rich: Let's fall in Love! Page 21
