My alarm woke me up, but I was too sleepy and kept ignoring it. After a long time, I woke up to my ringing phone. I was too lazy to open my eyes to check the caller ID and answered the call, still half-asleep.
"Heelllooo." I said in a sleepy, raspy voice.
"As much as I want to keep talking, I want to tell you that you are late."
Ohh Shoot Mayank!!!
I quickly got up and checked my wall clock. It was 11 past 15.
Ohh no no no no. How could I sleep this late?
"I'm... I'm sorry, I don't know. Uh, where are you, did you reach already?" I kept shooting questions at him while removing the first thing I saw in my closet. That's when I heard him chuckling.
"It's okay. Come down in fifteen minutes, okay? I'll see you downstairs." He said and hung up, chuckling.
Fifteen minutes, oh no. I got ready super quickly checking my watch it took me all together ten minutes to shower and dress. I did a two-minute quick make-up and decided to take an extra minute to look prettier. I was meeting him after two weeks. I was wearing a brown satin halter neck top with a bow at the back. I paired it up with cream pants and a brown crop jacket. It looked sexy on me. And since I didn't get enough time to get ready, I put my hair in a loose messy bun and added a brown satin bow-shaped band. It was way too sexy for my liking, but I just wanted to look hot today.
I looked gorgeous. The halter top was complementing my caramel, pink skin. My dark brown eyes matched my hair and the make-up just said it all. I inherited good looks from my parents, taking their best traits. I heard my oven ding, and I ran towards it. I was glad I had made all the preparations yesterday and put it in the fridge. I was heating it so he could eat it fresh.
(Mehek's look)
I quickly put the tiffin in my purse and stepped into my strappy brown wedges and headed outside. I was a minute late, but who cares? The moment I stepped outside, I saw him leaning outside his car.
He was wearing a brown shirt and black jeans. His sleeves were folded and he was wearing his Armani black shades. He didn't notice me walking towards him, which gave me some sweet time to ogle at him. He looked strikingly hot. The moment I reached him, he removed his shades and saw me. I had trouble breathing at that moment.
(Mayank's look)
It felt like I was seeing him after a lifetime. His eyes lit up the moment I stood in front of him.
"Hi." Was all I could mutter. Instead of replying, he engulfed me in a hug. I instantly reacted to his hug and brought him closer.
"I missed you." He murmured through the hug. I didn't say it back. Instead, I did what I wanted to, I brought him even closer. A few moments later, I slowly left him. He got the cue and broke the hug, still standing close enough for me to smell his cologne. It was deliciously awesome.
"Uhh... That was Nostalgic." I said, not looking at him directly.
"Yeah, reminded me of the time..."
"When we met at the airport..." I didn't let him complete it.
"When I came back from UK, yes..." And we both chuckled. He gestured me to sit inside the car..
"What's in the bag?" He asked, pointing out to the bag.
"It's a surprise. I'll tell you if you tell me where we are heading to." I said, sitting in the passenger seat and buckling my seatbelt.
"We are going to a fancy restaurant for brunch, then we'll go to an amazing art gallery, followed by an opera show and then we'll have dinner on the rooftop of Empire..."
"Alright, I got it. You have become a boring person since you got rich. Please stop the car." I said, cutting him off and pointing towards an empty place near the street to park. He looked clueless. However, he did stop the car.
"Okay, now I get to decide what we do today, or I leave. You choose." He looked amused and quickly agreed, nodding at me and chuckling in the process.
"Aye aye captain, where to?" He asked, turning the ignition on and putting us back on the road.
"To your house." I spoke. I saw his smile getting wider through the rear-view mirror while he tried looking out of the window.
Within minutes, I was standing outside a big penthouse like the ones I had only seen in magazines. It was huge, especially when it was just occupied by just one person. He gestured for me to come in. The entrance was grand with a beautiful interior. The décor shouted class. It led to the living room, and on the right, we had a dining room, followed by an open kitchen. To the left was a garden with a pool.
(Mayank's house)
"Tell me what do we do now Captain." He asked, occupying one of the sofas.
"Eat." I said and went towards his kitchen. I quickly rummaged through the cupboards and found the ingredients I needed.
"Mehek, I have a five-star cook so you don't have to trouble." He said, coming behind me. I gave him a look that said, 'I'm the captain and you need to leave.' His hands quickly came up, surrendering to the situation, and he left.
Mayank came again, asking me if I needed any help and I did need help, so I allowed him to come in. I asked him to chop some veggies. After fifteen minutes, he was done with his work and he came to me for inspection.
"I thought you must have forgotten how to cook after becoming Richie Rich." I said, looking at the perfectly chopped veggies. He chuckled again. I swear he needs to stop smiling and chuckling so much. It is an intoxicatingly beautiful sight to watch him.
"Money can't change the person I am Mehek, you know this better, don't you?" I nodded, not looking at him. He walked towards me and pulled my chin up so that our eyes were meeting again. His eyes were not the same this time. They were dark, more sensual. His face was moving closer, I could feel his breath fanning my face. His other hand was stroking my half-bare back as if he didn't know that it was a sort of backless top that he straightened. His hand moved from my chin to my face, caressing it lightly. His face moved to my left ear,
"You look sexy in that top. I wish you didn't wear your jacket this morning." He said and left me looking like I just had a sauna with so much heat that my cheeks were as red as a tomato.
"I like the nickname." He said, referring to the name Richie Rich I happened to spill out, walking backward, looking at me. But I chose to ignore him and turned my back towards him.
"I like the view." He said and I immediately regretted coming here. He would have been more sober in a fancy restaurant.
"Choose a movie we would watch post brunch." I called after he left. Fifteen minutes later, I was setting the table.
"Food is ready." I called from the dining room, happy with the food I was able to set up in such a short time. Mayank came right after that and we both sat.
"Wow, it looks amazing! How did you manage to cook it in such a short time?" He asked and quickly started devouring the food on his plate. He kept appreciating after every bite. I had made a simple Indian-style Pav bhaji where actual pavs were replaced by breads and there was some salad to go with it along with lemonade. We quickly finished our food. He helped me clean the table and we quickly sat in his movie room which had a home theatre with two long recliner sofa seats set up.
We were about to start the movie when he asked, "What was in that bag of yours? You didn't tell me." Ohh, shoot!
"Yeah, about that, give me a minute. I'll be back soon." I quickly ran towards the living room where I had left my bag and after heating and putting his favorite halwa in a bowl, I walked back to the living room.
"Here." I said, handing him the bowl. He looked at the bowl and a huge smile appeared on his face.
"Did you seriously?" Instead of wasting time, he quickly took a big bite.
"Ummm-hmmm wow, Mehek. It's so yummy. I hope you have more because I will need another serving." He said while eating.
"Yeah, it's in the fridge." I said, gazing at him. If I could define him in one word now, it would be PEACE. I focused my attention on the screen, hearing the familiar dialogues.
50 First Dates, he knew. This was my all-time favorite movie. I smiled at the familiar faces. We watched the movie silently. When the movie ended, I couldn't help but ask him.
"Why did you choose this movie?" We were still seated in our places.
"I liked the fact that she could fall in love with the same man every day. Don't you think this is something very unusually beautiful?" He suggested and stood up, and following his league, we went back to the garden area. Even though he was standing almost six feet away from me, our eyes were caught in a deep staring game. His gaze was intense. While we were together, he was shamelessly flirting with me, and it made me feel that... the same emotion I had felt before.
Inhale.
Exhale.
He gave me a tour of the first floor, which had his office, two guest rooms on either side and his room at the very end. The moment I entered his room, it looked just like his old self, dark, classy, and lifeless. It was a huge room with an en-suite bath area with a jacuzzi at the back. On the left, it had a big walk-in room sort of closet which mainly had dark-colored business suits and his other stuff. On the right, he had a big walk-in deck balcony with a few chairs and a very small reading corner with a few historic books on shelves.
"I didn't take you as a person who likes reading." I said, walking to the only corner of his room I liked. I pulled out Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I flipped through the bookmark and saw a line that was highlighted. I didn't know when Mayank came and stood behind me and read that line aloud.
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight, For I ne'er saw true beauty till now." I felt his voice fanning my neck. In a jiff, I closed the book and kept it back in its place on the shelf. He started laughing after a few seconds, and I couldn't help but join in.
"There are many things you still don't know about the new me." He said once our laughter died. I turned at that point and walked to where he was seated, at the foot of his bed.
"Really? Then let's get to know what we don't know about each other." He looked interested. He stood up and sat straight.
"What do you want to know?" He said, smirking.
"I, uh, I..." How do I begin? I looked around and checked the clock. It was almost 4:30 pm now. "How about we go to the park?" He looked surprised but still nodded, checking his watch.
"I hope you don't have to work today, because if so, we can always reschedule..."
"No no no I have taken off this weekend and every weekend hereafter. That reminds me, we have a charity ball next Saturday. I wanted to inform you beforehand so that you can shop and stuff." He kept talking about the ball and how it was going to help orphan kids' education.
I was listening to him talk about all the details that were basically irrelevant for me to know. But the only reason he was sharing was that he was nervous, I don't know why. He did this to keep the conversation going on in between us. A few minutes later, we were walking along a jogging area which was basically deserted as we were near the outskirts of the city. I had never noticed that we had been driving for that long while he was talking. But the park was really beautiful. It had a long walking area with trees at both ends. On the other side was green grass with a water fountain in between. On the left side, there was a lake. I was mesmerized by the view. The sun would set, adding its shine to the lake where a few white swans were swimming. It was quiet, peaceful actually. We sat in one of the garden chairs facing the lake. All while when we were strolling, neither of us spoke. We just enjoyed each other's presence. It was Mayank who broke the silence between us when we were seated.
"What did you do when...mom and dad left?" I felt like someone had just awakened me from a beautiful dream by splashing cold water on me. I jerked up and sat straight. His hand instantly came and held mine. "I'm sorry Mehek, I don't want to know it if it hurts you so much just by thinking about it." I didn't say anything and stayed there for two more minutes before sitting straight. I had never talked about those two years of my life with anyone. I tried not to remember or even think about it myself. However, it was time, time to share and get that weight lifted from my chest. And sharing it with Mayank would be easier.
"Can you see that swan?" I asked him, pointing towards it. He nodded and I took that as my cue to continue. "I was like that when Mom and dad left. People saw me as a quiet person who was just adjusting to the dramatic change in her life. Perhaps, it wasn't true. Even though I looked quiet and was behaving normally with people around, I was hurting beneath that happy mask I had put in front of everyone. People could only see what I put on my face, but no one could see beneath the water, how much effort I was trying to put to paddle fast and get at peace. To my disappointment, nothing helped. I asked my manager for extra shifts and more workload on purpose so that I could be distracted, distracted from the chaos around me. Nothing seemed to help. Whenever I walked into that empty house, all I could think about was how happy we were when mom and dad were here." I took a deep breath before continuing. "When YOU were here." He moved close to me now."I know you don't like him at all but Mohit has helped me a lot. No words could describe how thankful I am to him." His posture was tense. I don't know why he is so not okay with Mohit being my friend. Anyways, I continued.
"I'm thankful to Shivani and Rahul too. Shiva didn't leave me for thirteen days till all the rituals were over. But I couldn't hold on to her for too long. I had to re-live what life had put me through. Whenever someone called me or came home, they would bring up the same topic and again, I was being thrown back into the well I was desperately struggling to come out of. That's when I decided I should start over with a different city, a different place, and different people who don't know me, who can't hurt me. I left and moved to Kolkata, it was the place I had always wanted to go. I started working there in a daily newspaper office, a small one. I was hired as an editor. I won't lie but I was happy. A bit better I would say. Days flew by and I started coming back to normal. Shiva and Rahul would visit me twice a year but Mohit came by once every month. A few months later, I got an offer from your company and the rest is history." The moment I finished my story, I felt relieved. But there were things I still had not disclosed. I hope he doesn't point them out. But he kept staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Is that all?" He asked. Errr. He knew about things that I did not want to share. I nodded but he didn't look convinced at all. That's when I gave up, and started with the part I had completely skipped.
"Alright, you win, but you must share your side of the story once I'm done." I challenged him.
"Deal." He said, raising his hands in a surrender position.
"When I heard about the accident, it was, uh, it was the day when I had decided to, uh, come." Ohh god, it's so difficult. My cheeks were flaring red when I was thinking about what I was about to say.
"Come see you. So, I, uh, was on my way when I got the call about Mom and Dad." I took a sharp breath. "I didn't sleep for two straight nights. Two days later, when I came to see you upon hearing about your accident, your dad made sure I couldn't meet you. He managed to fill me up about how all this was just a game and he told me about Natasha's role in our story. You know that part. I was still not convinced at all. I wanted to hear everything from you in person. I just couldn't believe that whatever we had was just a lie. I got to know from Mohit that you were in hospital and I almost ran my way from my office. In no time, I was there. Shivani managed to distract your dad when I was standing at the door of your room, but I couldn't enter your room because Nat... She was sitting too close to your bed and she leaned in... But that did not make me leave, it was what she said. She said she lo...loves you. She kissed you. I saw it, and that made me leave." He came close and kissed my temple. His hold was tightened around my bare back and his eyes were soft and looked a lighter shade of brown with the setting sun in clouds. I felt like the luckiest woman alive to be in love with the most handsome man ever. He tilted his head to the right side to get a closer look at my now blushing face. I was caught red-handed checking him out, I looked away and continued.
"I was shattered into pieces. Your dad was right behind me and he made me see all this. He as usual manipulated me and told me what he was saying all the while but it made so much more sense. He told me how all this was just a game and you were the one responsible for my parents' accident. That's when I decided to leave and never see you again." I stood up and walked towards the lake and he followed a minute later.
"I couldn't sleep after that, every time I tried, I got nightmares. I saw many doctors while I was in Kolkata, and tried therapy, music, and medicines, but nothing helped. The only time I got a peaceful sleep was when I, uh, thought of hating you. Hating you for what you did to me. I cried almost every night, waking up and looking in the mirror to the girl and promising to not repeat last night again. It all went in vain. I started drinking, not too much but it helped me feel at ease. I started a yoga class. I started a tuition class with a few kids under ten years old. We cracked jokes, played, and had fun. That helped me forget what I was going through in my life. The moment the kids left, I was again pushed to the emptiness life had put me through." I laughed at that.
"You know at one point I even decided to date again. There was this guy in Kolkata who was very nice to me. He had even asked me out, but I never replied to him and just walked away. I think I should have, maybe I would have been happier now." I faced him and he instantly looked away.
"I'm glad you didn't." Mayank said. I heard him even though he was facing the other way. I heard him very well.
"Yeah, he has two kids now. I'm happy for him. Anyway, end of mine. You start. Wait, let me ask you something I wanted to ask you when I first saw you." He looked clueless but had a smug expression on his face."Why are you here, why are you not playing cricket?" His expression quickly changed, and he looked sad, I guess.
"In that accident, my ACL was damaged badly. I tried a few surgeries but I just couldn't go back to the same routine. I can try, it's not that bad, but somewhere down the line, I lost hope. And frankly speaking, I was too occupied hating you than actually focusing on what I wanted." He said, chuckling.
"Same here. But somehow thinking of hating you brought me the peace I was missing." I said.
"No no no, it wasn't thinking of HATING me that brought you at peace. It was just thinking ABOUT ME that brought you at peace." He said, turning me to face him. It had been a long time since we were standing so close to each other. The way he looked at me picked my heartbeat and it raced fast and loud enough.
"Mehek, you know how my dad played with our relationship. And let me tell you that whatever we had was not a lie at all. It was all true. Whatever I said, whatever we felt, whatever we did. And I know that you wanted to see me on the day of my accident, you wanted to take our relationship to the next level." I looked away at that. How I was supposed to react to that? He started laughing on seeing my expression. Stupid! But how did he know about this?
"How did you know?" I asked and he stopped laughing, coming back to his same position and holding my hands.
"Our friends weren't exactly secret keepers, especially when our best friends were dating each other. You always forgot that. I knew about that Valentine's Day surprise, and everything you'd planned for me as a surprise." He said with a smile plastered on his face, but his eyes were still sad.
"I should've known." I said, smiling and recalling those days. It felt like another life to me.
"I moved to NYC immediately after I was discharged. Natasha and Dad accompanied me and either of them was always with me, feeding me up about how you and Mohit were kicking off in your relationship." I was puzzled. "Yeah, they fed me up that you had left me to have a happy life with Mohit." Uhhh-hhh.
"No wonder you hate him so much." I said.
"Emm-hmm. Uncle Joe knew the entire story and it was his suggestion to offer you this job so that I could see you go...go through the pain you had made me feel. That's why I offered you the job. You came as per my plan and everything was going well until I saw you with that Ryan guy ... I could feel a part of me still being jealous. Uncle Joe noticed all this, and he came home on the day of the annual party and asked me to date you as our pictures were creating a buzz. And everything started there. It was specifically for media till one of my agents told me a few important updates about Natasha and I confronted her." He said, but I looked confused.
"So, you haven't dated anyone apart from her?" I asked. I was trying to hold a normal curious face but deep down within, I was hurting, thinking about the answer he was about to share.
"I never dated anyone other than YOU. No even Natasha." He said and I turned, looking at the lake.
"Says the man who carries the Casanova tag, the most eligible bachelor millionaire. Stars and models want to be paired with you. I would agree to that." I said sarcastically. Mayank turned me to face him, smiling at my jealous expression.
"Are you jealous?" He asked and I smiled sarcastically at him.
"If you still haven't learned about the media till now, even after how they paired us then I don't want to explain."
"Why did Natasha stay with you if you had nothing to do with her?" Firstly, I saw them leave together and her clinging to him many times on TV, in magazines, etc. People at work always talked about how good they both looked together, and she stayed with him too. Secondly, I definitely didn't know where and how I was getting the confidence to ask him so many questions that were buried deep inside my heart. He looked tensed. His smile instantly faded, and his expression changed to a stoned look. I immediately regretted asking him that question.
"Who said she stayed with me? She came to visit every now and then, but I always shooed her away. After waking up from that coma till now, I knew one thing for sure that Natasha or any other woman, however gorgeous or skinny she is could never make me feel same emotions that I had for you, Mehek. Hating you was just to cover up to those emotions to make them go away, but nothing ever worked. I tried to do something every man does, dating other women...sleeping with them." I took a sharp breath and he seemed to notice but continued.
"But I could never even bring myself to touch them. There is a thin line between love and hate. The love I had in my heart for you changed to hatred. But when you moved here and when I saw you, you looked lifeless. Even though you became hotter than the last time I had seen you, you just were not the same Mehek I had fallen in love with. I'm thankful to Uncle Joe, he saw right through me above all those glasses of hatred I carried for you and made me date you. I could have guessed, he always convinced me to move on with you, but I never agreed with him. That's when he used our pictures which HIS agent gave to media and asked them to create a fuss."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, my detectives bought this new piece of information for me the night before I left for Miami. You were drunk that time. I wanted to tell you that same night but looking at you, I decided to wait. It was one of the best nights I had since I moved to NYC. I was waiting for a sign from you that could confirm that you carry the same feelings even now. And you know what? I got my answer that night." He had a smug face. I turned my back towards him. I was so stupid to kiss him that night. I was trying to control the blush creeping up my entire face.
And that's when he moved closer to my ear and said."You can't keep avoiding me like this, Mehek. Look at me." I turned, slowly facing him. "My life was desolated when you left, as much as I tried to hide that fact. It was as if my soul was taken away when I woke up and got to know about you. But the moment I saw you back at work after so long, my...my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't help my brain flash all our happy memories even though it was trained to never show them up. But looking at you, I lost all control over myself. Whatever I did post was just to stop myself from doing the things that I knew I would regret the next day. I could never imagine what my life would be without you in it, Mahi." My breath was stuck in my throat upon hearing what he was still saying. I was looking at him with so much love. He was the only man I ever loved so much, the only man who was my best friend, and the only man I wanted to be with for the rest of my life.
"Those two weeks I was in Miami made me realize what my life would have been if you had been with me. I was waiting for the right time to tell you all this. I wanted us to be on good terms to tell you how I feel about you." He said, bringing me close enough that our bodies were practically touching.
"Let's start fresh, let's start from what we are here now. Forget about the fake relationship part. Think about me as the same Maya, your old long unforgotten love who happens to crash into your life again. Give me the same Mahi I am dying to see in you." A lone tear escaped my eye and before I could wipe it or look away, he managed to wipe it.
"Do you remember that stupid rule list we had?"I asked and he nodded.
"Well, seems like since it's been almost six months. I want something in return, as my fees for pretending to date you." I asked, remembering the time when we had quarreled in his restaurant about it.
"Anything." Just that one word reminded me of a younger version of Mayank and a chuckle escaped my mouth.
"This time I want a happily ever after with you." I looked at him with so much love, adoration, honesty, and intimacy that it didn't take him much time to respond.
"Forever." He said, engulfing me in his arms, sealing the moment.
I did not take the time to reply to that. I threw my hands around his neck and pulled him towards me. His hands quickly came closer and moved to my bare back. He snuggled in the crook of my neck, kissing my neck, my collarbone, my earlobe. I pulled back slightly and moved my face, closing the distance between us, seizing the deal.
The moment our lips met, it felt like an eternity since I last tasted him. I was smiling and crying through that kiss. I saw him matching the same emotion minus the crying part. It has been a while since I felt like this. I felt like a bottle of champagne which was bottled with emotions and he managed to open the knob, resulting in the flow of emotions I was feeling right now.
"Do you know something? I never stopped loving you. There was always a part of me which kept bringing me back to you." Mayank said, breaking the kiss and still holding me in his arms.
Nature had the best plan. It started raining. We quickly ran towards his car and sat inside. It looked like this downpour wasn't going to stop soon. Neither of us spoke the entire ride. We just kept stealing glances like kids in new love. Since his house came on the way he said we should wait at his place till it's pouring. It was around 7 when we reached his place. While we were in the car, Mayank's hand didn't leave mine for even a second. The moment we entered his house, he locked the door behind us and carried me like a bride towards his room. It was the best night of my life. He made me feel a series of happy emotions which were missing from my life. His eyes held a passion, an anticipation of something long awaited. All this while, neither of us spoke. It was just us and the feeling kicking back to life. Our eye contact never broke even once.
"I think I know what was missing from my life. It was you and the feeling of being with you! We made headlines for all the right reasons." He said, caressing my cheeks. "Why did you never see how I looked at you?" He asked.
"Your eyes had desire behind the glass of hatred. I always saw those eyes twinkling just for me, and how protective you were when you saw other men approaching me, the way you touched me when we were out. Even though you said you hated me you never stopped caring about me. If you really hated me, you wouldn't have picked me up in the rain that day and called Martha. I guess I was waiting for my own turmoil to end. I started opening up about my feelings. I always loved you. Actually, I never stopped loving you, Maya." I said when we were just lying on his bed after we were done staring at each other. He instantly came close and kissed me hard. That kiss conveyed his feelings, his love for me.
"I love you, Mahi. I always had, and I always will." Mayank said and I smiled, kissing him.
"We wasted so much time back in college, you see. We could have done this way ba..." I kicked him and he started laughing. I was staring at him, his beautiful face and his eyes, but my eyes landed on one thing in particular and that was his smile.
"Your smile is better than wine." I said and he faced me. We were staring at each other for the longest moment before he shifted forward and hugged me. I felt his emotions instantly. All his love was transferred from that hug to me.
"It only reflects when you are close." He said, gently stroking my hair. That night, I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
I want to live this day again and again.
_________________________________________
Tears of joy...
This book is officially completed.
Thank you for your support and patience.
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XOXO
Neha