Circle of Trust

Chapter 7

Naina couldn’t stop grinning. She had been right. It took less than three hours for him to call. Hearing the unmistakable concern for her in his voice made her forget her troubles. What had she been worried about? She tapped her forehead with her mobile. Her smile dropped when she remembered.

Turning to her computer, she opened her gmail account. And there it was – a forwarded mail from Tej. She drew in a heavy breath, straightened her back, and let the cursor hover over her unopened mail. Ria would be home in half an hour. Would she have time to deal with it? On the other hand, Ria was the perfect distraction she needed if the mail held worse news than she anticipated.

Before clicking on the mail, she grabbed her steaming cup of coffee and took a sip. Scalding coffee always calmed her nerves. She liked it with sugar and cream.

Her tongue peeked from between her lips as she read through the mail sent to Tej by the outreach team. This was not intended for her eyes, but her relationship with Tej was beyond that of an agent and a writer. Her eyes grew wider as she skimmed through the seven points they expected Naina to revise in her story. Few of them were ridiculous to the point where she wanted to scream.

There was one which expressed discontent with the name of a character Ram who slapped Reva – Request revision of the said name or exclude the violence that doesn’t befit a Godly name like Rama – were the exact words.

Holy Cow!

Naina stared at the words, re-read them aloud, and tried to understand the seriousness of such request. By the tenth time, she couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. She guffawed loudly and reached for the landline in reflex. Her eyes glued to the computer screen, she dialed the number while laughing her heart out. She just had to share it with him.

“Hey beautiful,” he sounded perfect, and she jumped out of her chair unable to contain her mirth.

“Hey, you should read this, Raj. Like really. This is the pits,” she said pointing to the screen.

“I’m sure,” Varun sounded amused.

Naina caught her hip and straightened away from the screen. “How many years have I been writing?”

“Seven years,” pat came the reply.

“How many rejections have I got?”

“Five.”

“And how many times have I been requested revisions?”

“Hmmm…four maybe?”

“Right. And nothing beats what I’m reading right now. They want me to change Ram’s name because someone named Ram couldn’t be hitting a woman,” she complained. She would have even pouted if her husband were in front of her.

“Hmmm…okay. So, what are we talking about?”

“My current book, silly. Catch up, Raj!” Naina started rolling her eyes but stopped abruptly.

She could practically count the number of silent beats before she heard her husband’s low murmur, “I wouldn’t know anything about that, love.”

The words pierced her heart and the pain behind the softly spoken truth was crystal clear. Oh God! What had she done? In an attempt to present him a book as a token of her love for him, she had deprived him of their ritual. The horror of it dawned on her, and she rapidly blinked back her tears.

She gulped in an attempt to swallow his hurt. She had caused it, and she hadn’t realized it until now.

“Raj…” she pleaded, not knowing what she was begging of him. Forgiveness? A chance to explain?