Rayna was both amazed and amused that her arch-enemy had morphed into her champion. Wow! And she was all ready to take up cudgels with Karisma. Super Wow!
‘Neel is my niece’s fiancé and you’d better remember that.’
Karisma had a nasty smirk on her face which completely ruined her diva-like features. ‘Oh, yeah! That’s one story you shouldn’t believe, Auntyji. If you want to know the truth, ask Rayna.’
Rayna couldn’t help but chuckle as Agra Aunty rose dramatically from her chair to face off with Karisma. ‘Let me give you a bit of advice, beta. You should not poke your nose into other people’s affairs.’
Rayna’s face split into a huge grin as an offended Karisma walked off in a huff.
‘She’s one meddlesome mischief-maker!’ Agra Aunty huffed.
But Rayna was no longer worried about Karisma. In fact, she no longer wanted to hide behind the lies any more. ‘Aunty…I have something to tell you.’
Agra Aunty gave her a shrewd look.
Taking a deep calming breath, she said, ‘The truth is Neel and I are not really engaged. We never were. I just wanted to save face after my break-up with Sid…’
Agra Aunty put her arm around her shoulder. ‘I know.’
‘But how?’ Rayna searched Agra Aunty’s face for some hint of censure or disapproval but found none.
‘I wasn’t born yesterday—’ she laughed ‘—I knew right at the moment when you announced it during the Truth or Dare game. Of course, I had no idea about what’s-his-name—’
‘Sid,’ Rayna said.
‘Yes…but I guessed the engagement announcement was nothing but pretence.’ She paused before adding, ‘I’m also certain you have fallen in love with your “fake” fiancé.’
Rayna couldn’t hold it back any more. ‘Aunty, I do really love him but he doesn’t love me…’
Agra Aunty gave her a hug. ‘Now, enough of this moping around. Come on, let’s sample some of the delicious rezzala the chef has prepared.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
Four months later…
NEEL KEYED OPEN the door of his fifteenth-floor apartment in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. The flickering images from the muted large-screen TV were reflected in the bay windows that opened out to the Arabian Sea. A lone lamp glowed in the otherwise dark living room. It was well past midnight. Tension sprang like a coiled snake in the pit of his stomach. He rushed inside, trying not to hit the panic button. Meera lay curled up on the sofa. She was supposed to be in bed. Where was the live-in nurse-cum-companion he had hired? He reached her side and gently touched her forehead. Her eyes flew open and a small smile curved her mouth. Relief washed over him and he sat down next to her. Ever since he had brought Meera to Mumbai he had been on tenterhooks, expecting the worst. Dr Banerjee had cautioned him to keep a lookout for the smallest signs of change in Meera’s behaviour—and to inform him as soon as there was any hint of deterioration. But, touch wood, with every passing day she had taken another baby step away from her depression-darkened days.
‘I was waiting for you, Bhaiyya!’
‘Shouldn’t you be in bed? And where is Deepti?’
Meera giggled. ‘Oh, I sent her off. What’s the time?’
‘It’s almost twelve-thirty, and high time you went to sleep, young lady.’
‘Oh, no.’ She grabbed the remote and switched channels till she found the one she was looking for. ‘We’ll miss the show… Look, Bhaiyya, isn’t this your resort?’
He stared at the large wall-mounted screen and right there was Rayna, looking like a goddess as she talked about Indian wedding rituals against the backdrop of Nirvana on the Beach. His eyes greedily took in the sight of her and the ache in his heart became unbearable.
It had been a little over four months since he had bid Rayna goodbye and resolved to erase his memories of her. With Meera teetering between moments of sanity and complete lunacy, he had been riven by guilt and remorse. For weeks he had kept a strict vigil, refusing to leave the clinic. He’d slept on a lumpy sofa in the doctor’s waiting room at night and paced the corridors by day. He was determined to bring his sister back from the brink. He was convinced that his presence would get through to her at some subconscious level. Like a ghost he’d haunted her room—sitting by her side for as long as the doctors would allow him to. For whatever it was worth, he’d decided not to leave the clinic until her condition improved.
The days turned into weeks and he had all but left the running of his business to Shiva and his team. Twice a day, he would take a break from his vigil and go to a café located near the clinic, quaff copious amounts of coffee and furiously work on his laptop. Through those long, lonely days and nights he often thought of Rayna and struggled to stop himself from reaching out to her.
Finally his patience and Dr Banerjee’s unrelenting care began to pay off. As Meera started to respond to the treatment, Neel urged his mother to visit her brother’s family in the US. It had been a stressful period for his mother too and, at his insistence, she had reluctantly agreed to go for a short holiday.
Meera’s recovery had been slow but extremely gratifying. The best part was that she no longer turned away from him. It was a fragile connection and Neel was careful not to overwhelm her with his concern. His reward lay in the fleeting warmth of her gaze or the tremulous smile that hovered on her lips when he greeted her in the morning. He knew he couldn’t rush the bonding process and he was more than grateful for every little scrap of emotional reciprocity.
After months of patient observation, Meera was finally ready to be discharged. Neel’s plan was to shift his mother and sister to his Mumbai apartment, where they could make a fresh start. Once Meera had settled in—with the help of Deepti, her round-the-clock carer—Neel once again took over the reins of his business. He made sure that whenever his sister needed him he was there for her. It had taken him a while to organise his business affairs so that he or Shiva was always just a phone call away but he still worried too much.
‘Bhaiyya, what’s wrong—?’
He smiled at her and stifled a yawn. ‘Nothing, sweetie. Just very tired. I need to hit the sack and you should too.’
‘OK. I’ve recorded the programme. We’ll see it tomorrow?’
He gave her a jaunty salute. ‘Of course!’
After Meera had gone off to her bedroom Neel grabbed the TV remote. He watched the programme like a hungry man feasting his eyes on a sumptuous banquet from a distance. Every time Rayna appeared on the screen, he replayed it over and over again. He was transported back to the island and he relived every precious moment he’d shared with her. His mind went into overdrive until the restlessness in his soul became too much to bear. Throwing aside the remote, he stormed onto the balcony and inhaled the sea-scented air.
‘Rayna!’
Her name left his lips in an anguished whisper and disappeared into the night. He looked down at the lights of the buzzing metropolis and wished for the zillionth time that Rayna was with him. He could no longer deny what his heart knew—he might be able to exist without her but he was like a man condemned to living the rest of his life strapped to a ventilator.
Rayna dashed out of the cab and hurried into the glittering lobby of the imposing Taj Mahal Hotel. She’d a full day of back-to-back meetings but she was already running late. She spotted Neha Pandit, her efficient assistant, waiting for her at the reception. If it were not for Neha, she would be totally at sea. Setting up a premium line of branded jewellery was not a cakewalk and she’d worked day and night to ensure that all the pieces were ready for the launch event while Neha had taken charge of the marketing and administration aspects.
Four months ago when she’d returned to Mumbai from the island she had been an emotional wreck. After spending sleepless nights with frequent tearful outbursts she simply couldn’t find the enthusiasm to sign up for modelling assignments. She’d wallowed in self-pity, gorged humungous amounts of chocolate and haunted the streets in the middle of the night to get some fresh air
and exercise. But, after she was shadowed once by a homeless man, sanity returned.
Try as she might, she couldn’t find a cure for her Neel obsession. So one day she dug out her sketchbook and started sketching. As the designs began to take shape she rebooted her idea of launching her own line of jewellery, O’Ray Jewels. Soon after, Neha had come on board and they’d started working on their plan of launching the brand with a big-bang charity auction. The event was tonight. Adrenaline and tension vied for supremacy.
‘Neha, do you think we will be ready for the show?’
‘We’re gonna rock it!’ came Neha’s instant reply.
Rayna’s mobile vibrated. Milee. Her heart sank. She’d been avoiding her best friend ever since her return to Mumbai. Milee would suss out her Godzilla-sized heartache within minutes! Taking a deep calming breath she took the call.
‘Hey, Milee! When did you get in?’
‘Hey, you! How dare you keep secrets from your bestest friend?’
Rayna’s heart did a sharp thud against her chest. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The charity auction, idiot! We got your invite. Lucky I was coming into Mumbai this week or else I would have missed out on the launch. Why the secrecy until the last minute, Ray?’
‘Oh, come on, now. We only finalised the venue last week.’
‘Are you sure you’re not hiding anything from me? Why do I get the feeling you’re avoiding me?’
Rayna laughed hollowly. ‘I hope you don’t bug the hell out of Chris with all your suspicious questions!’
‘OK. Now the red flag has gone up. You’re changing the topic, Ray.’
Rayna shook her head as she tried not to give in to the urge to confide in her friend. ‘No, I’m not doing anything of the sort. Now, honey, please let me go. Got a million things to do before the show. You and Chris are coming, right?’
‘Rabid dogs wouldn’t be able to keep me away. Go, do your thing. But remember—no secrets!’
Neel walked into his office at 8:00 a.m. He’d wanted to come in earlier but he didn’t want to skip his breakfast routine with Meera. He had made it through the night without any shut-eye, but he could deal with insomnia. The real problem was he couldn’t get Rayna out of his head. Or, more importantly, his heart. He needed her in his life like the breath he drew to stay alive. But would she accept him back into her life after he had walked out of it?
He looked up as Shiva’s staccato tattoo on the door announced his arrival.
‘Good morning, Boss,’ Shiva said cheerfully.
‘Morning, Shiva. First on your agenda is to get me Rayna’s number.’
‘Rayna Dutt? You don’t have it? I sent you a text message some time back, telling you to call her whenever you were free.’
Neel sat up straight in his chair. ‘When was this? Did she call?’
Shiva’s forehead scrunched up in a frown. ‘Let me see…a week or ten days after Chris Sir’s wedding. Since you left strict instructions not to disturb you, I texted you her number.’
That was the time when he’d been walking a tightrope emotionally. He’d shut out every thought, every feeling and was focused on getting his sister back from the brink. He had moved Shiva to Mumbai to handle the operations while Shiva’s deputy had taken over his job at Nirvana on the Beach. The messages in his inbox had piled up and he still hadn’t got around to reading them all. Why had she called him? Was she in trouble? His mind was racing and his heartbeat kept pace.
‘What did she say? Was it an emergency?’
Shiva shook his head. ‘She was quite pleasant and told me how much she’d enjoyed herself at Nirvana. She needed to return something to you—and she did mention that it wasn’t very important or urgent.’
As Shiva went off to look for her contact details, Neel sank back into the swivel chair, desperately disappointed. She probably just wanted to return the ring to him. Right from the start, she’d been reluctant to accept it. And, of course, it would mean nothing to her…‘Not important’! Well, that was no surprise. After all, he had gone out of his way to stamp out whatever feelings she might have had for him on that last night at the island, hadn’t he?
The phone on his desk rang.
‘Hey, buddy!’ Chris’s warm greeting brought a smile to Neel’s face. ‘Good to have you back in action, man. I’m so glad to hear that your sister is recovering.’
‘Thanks, Chris! Meera’s health issues are still a work-in-progress but yes, she’s much better.’
‘Awesome! Would be great to catch up this evening. Are you free?’
‘You are in Mumbai?’
‘Yep. Happily ensconced in my favourite suite at the Taj.’
‘I thought you were coming in next week.’
‘Change of plan…wifey’s orders! The very minute we got the invite from Rayna, my darling wife reworked our schedules. You know Milee, don’t you? No one, not even God, would dare come between her and her best friend!’
Neel took in a sharp breath as his heart clenched in agony. Invite? What was Chris talking about? Could it be a wedding invitation? Just his blasted luck if Rayna had decided to get married to someone else. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Haven’t you been invited? Rayna’s launching her own line of jewellery with a big charity auction.’
Neel’s heart stuttered back into action and he exhaled on a rush.
‘What’s up, man?’ Chris continued. ‘I thought you two were an item.’
‘Hah! Nothing of the sort. Milee’s probably told you—’ A sliver of hope suddenly made his heart leap. Had Rayna not announced their break-up after all?
Milee broke into the conversation abruptly. ‘What am I supposed to know, Neel?’
‘Ah, Milee… I am very well too, thank you!’
‘Sorry for being so rude. I’m really happy that Meera is better now…but do you mind telling me what is going on between you and Rayna? Ever since the wedding Rayna has avoided me like the plague. Every time I call her she says, “Oh, Milee, I’m so busy, can’t talk now.” My bestest friend in the whole wide world who has never kept a secret from me seems to have gone all CIA on me. And if you’re the reason for it, trust me, I’ll kill you!’
‘Whoa! Whoa! Hold your horses, will you? I was only telling your poor husband I haven’t seen Rayna for months now and I don’t have a clue about this event. You should be interrogating her, not me.’
‘You bet I will. I’m here now and all shall be disclosed.’
‘Now, that sounds ominous!’ Neel laughed.
‘Laugh away, Mr Arora,’ Milee said calmly. ‘But you’re not getting off so easily. You had better be there or else—’
He suggested, ‘You’ll kill me?’
‘Yeah, right… And, by the way, what did you mean by my “poor husband”?’ she said suspiciously.
‘OK, OK…please don’t take off again. You’re more dangerous than a drone missile!’
‘Very funny. 7:00 p.m. Taj Land’s End. Just be there,’ she ordered.
‘They probably won’t let me in without an invite,’ Neel pointed out.
‘Figure it out on your own, Mr Arora.’
‘Aye aye, ma’am!’
Rayna was a bundle of nerves. As a model who regularly strutted the catwalks, she had lost her anxiety about public appearances long ago. The fact that two hundred plus guests had turned up at the glittering banquet hall of the Taj Land’s End for her inaugural exhibition, and many among them were about to bid for her pieces at the auction, was a whole new exciting, but extremely scary, prospect. The enthusiasm of the invitees—who ranged from top corporate honchos to fashionistas and the Who’s Who of the cocktail circuit—had left her in no doubt that O’Ray Jewels was off to a great start. Even the unflappable Neha was all worked up about how appreciative the guests were about the collection.
‘Let’s see if they are willing to put their money where their mouth is,’ Rayna had cautioned Neha.
Taking a deep breath, she instinctively reached for her new ‘to
uchstone’—Neel’s ring—that she carried in her purse, drawing strength from it. Today, of all days, she wanted him to be here—to see her take her first big step towards her career goal. She took it out from her purse and held it against her lips…the cool touch of the stone calmed her down and her mind instantly flashed to the night when he had shown her that her fears were not insurmountable. His tenderness and sensitivity had left no room for her fears—and she had willingly given him her trust. Only to have him slam the door shut on her in the end.
Tears stung her eyes. It was time she moved on, finally returned the ring to its owner and accepted the truth that was staring her in the face: he didn’t want her in his life. She should have called up Shiva and asked him to send over someone to collect it. Instead, she had left a message for Neel, hoping against hope that he would call her back. But he hadn’t. She needed to get real. She would return the ring to him tomorrow, she promised herself.
Neha thrust a mike in her hand and gave her a broad smile. ‘Go rock ‘em, Rayna!’
Neel slipped into the seat next to Milee as the auction started. Milee looked daggers at him. ‘You’re late!’
‘Have you seen the security outside? It would be easier getting into the Prime Minister’s office than gate-crashing this event.’
‘Good! Serves you right.’ A wicked smile was plastered over her face.
‘Give the guy a break,’ Chris muttered to his wife.
‘Thanks, buddy!’
‘Shh…both of you…the auction is about to begin.’
Neel turned to face the podium just as Rayna took to the stage, looking drop dead gorgeous—every perfect curve accentuated by the soft folds of the night-blue chiffon saree draped over a strapless silver blouse that shimmered in the spotlight following her. Her tresses fell about her like a dark silky veil caressing her bare shoulders. The chunky silver choker around her neck hinted tantalisingly at her cleavage. For the next half hour Neel watched, mesmerised, without hearing a thing. He was like a man who had finally arrived at an oasis after a long and torturous trek through an arid desert. Hot flames of desire raged within him and he yearned to snatch her in his arms, kiss her senseless and never let her go.
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