Part 20

Part 20

Arnav sat slumped over his desk holding his head in his hands unmindful of all the scrunched up paper containing half-baked designs scattered all over. There was no question of getting any work done today, not till he had his answers anyway. His restlessness and desperation stemmed from that one phone call which had turned Khushi pale earlier in the morning. His intuition told him that expression meant trouble if only he could help, if only she would let him. So for the past hour he had been waiting for confirmation from Aman who had finally flown to Mumbai the day before.

It didn’t help either that his last meeting had been with Natasha and they had discussed the Page 3 gossip on them more than their project, “I’ve been told you are notoriously famous Arnav” Natasha, charming and beautiful, had this way with words. Intrigued he had asked, “What do you think?”

“I can see why you are famous” she said, “notorious not so much yet” and tossed the newspaper back to Jeff, her chief designer, “Save this copy, will you?”

Arnav reassured her, “This won’t happen again, I’ve taken care of that…”

“I shouldn’t be complaining you know…its actually worse back home. I guess I wasn’t expecting it here as well. TMZ should be paying me hefty royalty fees for all the crap they put out there” And so it was settled, just like that. Both of them had been in the business long enough to know what was going on here, and so there was no strain on their working relationship because of that nuisance.

His buzzing cell phone hidden beneath layers of crumpled paper on the desk finally broke his chain of thoughts; “Yea Aman?” the excitement was palpable in his voice.

“Sir, the coffee appointment has been set up for 3 PM” without wasting any more time, Arnav picked up his car keys and walked out of his office. As he got into the elevator and punched the keys to the basement parking, his thoughts once again drifted to the events of the last few days and inevitably zeroed in on her, Khushi – the woman that he had so terribly wronged. He leaned back against the stainless steel metallic walls and felt its coolness seep through even as his mind conjured up images of his Khushi, dressed in shades of grey like she was in perpetual mourning. He frowned. Everything was wrong with that. The changes couldn’t have been starker, and it pricked his conscience the knowledge that it had been his doing. A Khushi who was anything but Khushi was like the worst blow to him, albeit a much needed one. He had been living in denial for so long after Khushi’s mysterious disappearance that no one else but her would have been able to shake that off. Thankfully, by now Arnav knew without a shred of doubt that he had erred never mind that it had literally taken him years to accept it; which meant he was no longer living in denial. Meeting Khushi had taken care of that and in a matter of a few days; his life had taken a new turn, possibly towards a better future.

To his credit, he had returned from London with every intention to make amends but by then it was too late. Khushi was gone and had taken everything with her.  Di’s divorce from Shyam right after had not given him much time to think of anything else. If anything, it should have alerted him but he was far too entrenched in denial by then to care.  May be it was his coping mechanism, but it kept him sane to think that he was right and Khushi was wrong, why else would she run away and not fight for herself? This most certainly was not the Khushi he had known. What he failed to realize was that, he had pushed her too far with his accusations that the old Khushi had simply ceased to be. In any case, it was easier for him to assume the worst of her than to accept his own failures.  So Khushi was gone leaving behind this mountain of guilt, memories and a long list of what ifs.

But now he had a chance to make things better and he was determined to do so, in his own way. He drove off a determined man.

Deeya felt distinctly out of place sitting in the café of a five star hotel, her anxiety heightened further by the price list on the menu “Are these people on dope? Freaking thousand rupees for a cup of coffee?” It was ridiculous. Add to that, the man was already late by five minutes which only helped to reaffirm the stereotype in her mind, about these rich irresponsible brats, “fuck” she swore as she placed her cell phone back on the table after checking out the time for the umpteenth time. Deeya vehemently disliked people who didn’t value other people’s time and at the moment, Arnav was ticking off all the things on the wrong list!

A distinctly male and utterly pissed off voice startled her, “Stupid Mumbai traffic" it was meant to be an apology for being late but it did nothing to appease Deeya’s irritation. Instead, it sounded condescending to her, "Well, you should have flown in your private chopper then “she made no qualms about hiding her displeasure. To his credit, Arnav ignored her dig and took off his shades, "coffee?" he asked as he sat down.

Deeya meant to say something but was instantly thrown off-guard by a very obvious wedding ring on his ring finger. Arnav took her pause for indecisiveness, "latte?" He asked, and when she stared back blankly at him, he gave her another choice, "Cappuccino?" She just kept looking at him like he had just landed from a distant planet, "what? Isn't that what women drink?" Could this man be any more condescending?

She scrunched her brows, "One black coffee please..."

That surprised him, "Make that two then"

"So why am I here?" Deeya asked once the waiter was gone, "you know why" his response was typically short but to the point.

"I don't see how I can be of any help to you"

"On the contrary” his attitude only annoyed her further “you are the only one that can help me" and that only helped to further bracket him, as a typically arrogant jerk who did not respect women. Yes, Deeya unlike Khushi had googled him sufficiently the past week. The list of his indiscretions was too long, not something her friend needed to hear about but she was certainly glad to have found out. Sometimes prejudice rules over common sense, and Deeya of all the people had overlooked the machinations of the press.

"Why would I even help you?" she asked trying to make out his intentions.

"Because you care...” it sounded absurdly simple the way he put it, “About Khushi" he added soon after that pause taking her by surprise. Arnav read that flicker of emotion on her face as a sign of progress "Look…I know, you don't think too much of me and that's fine” nothing in his body language suggested otherwise either, “but I am here for Khushi and since you are her friend, You are the only one who can help me"

He had her attention alright, "How do I know you aren't out to hurt her again?" Arnav’s hands stilled in reaction, "how much do you know?"

"Everything" she lied of-course, because Khushi hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about every little detail of her past life.

Arnav sighed and placed his hands on the table, "I'm trying to get through to her and you're the only one who can help right now..."

"Given the means at your disposal, I find that hard to believe" which was true and precisely why Deeya found it odd that they were having this conversation in the first place, "Will you help me or not?" he asked slightly irked.

She thought about it, as she looked back at him, could she trust this man? May be it was worth a test, "Why are you here now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked.

"That’s your assumption”

"I'm trying to ..." He paused, "Look there was a phone call, this morning” he stopped wary of revealing too much, “How do you…” her words died right after as it occurred to her, “Ahh yes, you’ve been stalking her…I know”

“Stalking?” that’s not what he would call it, “You talk about that?”

“When it concerns a stalker yes, we take our precautions well”

“You don’t really like me a lot do you?” he asked, “I thought you would never notice”

“Look Deeya” he narrowed his eyes at her, “Just tell me if there is anything…wrong. If something is …”

“What do you mean?” she wanted him to spell it out for her.

“Is something bothering Khushi?” he asked, and Deeya’s eyes shot up at the irony in those words, and for a brief moment she was tempted to tell him, no actually YELL at him, “Yes, YOU” but when she saw him shuffle in the chair uncomfortably and retreat slightly, almost as if he understood, she decided to let that go. Instead, Deeya weighed her options, since she could not go with Khushi,  Arnav would do, and judging by how desperate this man seemed, may be it would not be such a bad idea after all, she reasoned and let it out, much to his surprise, "Her old Manager is giving her a hard time”

"Old Manager?"

"Khushi used to work at Paradiso" Deeya gave him time to process the shock, "she used to work there? That's a big…" Deeya smiled smugly, "Get used to it, she's a damn good chef"

"Italian..." He mused, "That’s Khushi alright" Deeya didn’t let him dwell for too long. But still, it was news for Arnav because knowing her, he wouldn't have expected Italian to be her choice, the thought needed more exploration, he knew.

"Why did she quit?" he asked as he took another sip of that coffee.

Not keen on divulging too much information, "look, she is going over tomorrow evening at six to meet the manager, I just don't want her to be alone”

“I’m actually surprised you are letting her go all alone” it seemed odd to him, “Well unlike some privileged people, we actually have to work for a living”

“So will you keep an eye out for her or not?" she asked.

"You didn’t tell me why she quit" he answered with a question of his own.

"That’s for you to find out…so?” she was expecting a confirmation from him, “I’ll take care of it” he said but curiosity got the better of him and he asked, “How did you two even become friends?”

Her response was too quick for his liking “Just like you two got married” Deeya wasn’t the type to take his belittling ways quietly. He walked away without sparing her a second glance.