All You Need is a Little Faith

by Vaanya Singh

  ‘Look at that one,’ I said, pointing to a picture of my eighth birthday party. The theme was Disney. I was dressed like Cinderella and Vaibhav as Prince Charming. In the very next picture, I was sitting on his lap, grinning at the camera and he was kissing my cheek.

  ‘That’s a cute picture,’ he said, pointing to the same picture I was looking at. Then there was one from when we were ten. I was angry at Vaibhav for some reason and he was apologising to me on his knees. I laughed at that one.

  The pictures were dated until we turned twelve, just before my mother’s death. It was nice to relive all the memories and yet it was painful at the same time.

  Vaibhav must have noticed my sad expression because he suggested we must go outdoor and get some fresh air.

  CHAPTER 22

  They say Disney World is the

  happiest place on earth.

  Obviously, they’ve never

  been in your arms.

  MALHAAR

  I rubbed my temples after signing the last document. It was almost one at night and I was still at the office. Dad was handing over the company to me soon. That was partly the reason he had called me back from New York after the project finished. We could easily have expanded business there but he wanted me to take over the company and so I had shifted back.

  Malvika was annoying me with her constant nagging. I was pretty certain the girl would drive me crazy someday. I grabbed my tie and jacket and headed home.

  What I didn’t expect was a light switched on in another room at the end of the hallway. A plate hung on the door with ‘Priyanka Rajput’ inscribed on it. Under her name, the words ‘Personal Assistant’ were written, too. I opened the door and peeped in.

  Priya was sitting cross-legged on the sofa with her laptop on her lap. She looked different as she was not wearing her work clothes but a pair of jeans and T-shirt. Large, nerdy glasses rested on the top her head.

  ‘Priya? What are you doing here at this hour?’ I asked, entering her office.

  She looked up from her laptop and checked me out from head to toe. I smirked before speaking.

  ‘Priya, remember I’m about to get married,’ but regretted the words as soon as I said them, as her face fell.

  ‘I know you’re getting married,’ she whispered.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, quickly changing the mood.

  ‘Oh, Abhay, my younger brother, he’s gone to spend the night at his friend’s place. And I don’t want to spend the night alone,’ she explained.

  ‘So what are you doing at the office?’

  ‘Working,’ she shrugged.

  ‘You’re going to work all night long?’ I asked, bewildered.

  ‘Yes.’

  No wonder dad says she works too much. If she goes at the rate she’s going now, she’ll work herself to death, I thought to myself.

  ‘Priya, you need to go back home,’ I said as a matter of fact. ‘Nonsense. It’s not like it’s the first time I’m working all night,’ she replied.

  ‘Why don’t you go and spend the night at some friend’s place,’ I suggested.

  ‘I don’t have any friends.’ Saying this, she went back to work.

  My eyes bulged out of their sockets. First, she’s a workaholic; second, she has no bloody friends!

  ‘What do you do on weekends then?’ I asked.

  ‘Stay home, mostly. Sometimes I volunteer at the animal shelter or an orphanage,’ she said.

  I sighed. This girl was really stubborn. ‘Priya, why don’t you drive back home?’ I asked again.

  ‘Malhaar, stop trying to send me back home. You’re not my boss. I don’t take any orders from you. Plus, I don’t have a car,’ she said stubbornly, crossing her hands over her chest, pushing her breasts up.

  ‘Look away, Malhaar. You’re about to get married to the evil bitch,’ my inner voice mocked me.

  ‘As a matter of fact, I am your new boss. So I order you to go back home,’ I said with a smirk. And then gave her basic details of my father passing on the company and business to me.

  She huffed in annoyance but nonetheless started packing her stuff. I waited for her to get done and asked her, ‘How are you getting back home?’

  ‘I’ll take whatever form of public transport is available at this hour,’ she answered.

  ‘The hell you are!’ I suddenly yelled, shocking both of us.

  ‘You have no right to order or command me, especially since we are not in the office, Malhaar, or should I address you as Mr Raina since you are my new boss? You do not own me nor do you care, so stop acting as if you do,’ she snapped.

  I didn’t say anything, knowing very well that it would only add fuel to the fire.

  ‘Where is your fiancé anyway? Don’t you have to go back to her?’ she sneered.

  ‘I had some paperwork to finish in office,’ I said.

  She simply nodded and started to walk away. I quickly grabbed her hand, stopping her.

  ‘Would you let me drop you home, please? I don’t want you taking a taxi or any other form of transport; at least not at this hour. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I drop you,’ I pleaded.

  She thought about it. And just when I was sure she would refuse to take my offer, she surprised me by nodding a ‘yes’.

  ‘What are you playing at, Malhaar? This will never work. You are about to get married,’ my inner voice mocked me once again.

  ‘Shut up,’ I hissed back at the voice, to which it said, ‘You know I’m right!’ I was snapped out of my thoughts when Priya called my name.

  ‘Malhaar?’ she asked, waving her hand in front of my face. ‘Sorry,’ I muttered before unlocking my car.

  I sat in the driver’s seat and Priya sat beside me.

  She gave me directions and we reached a shady-looking apartment building.

  ‘This is where you live?’ I asked, shocked.

  ‘Yes, and you have no right to judge my house,’ she said before opening the door to her apartment.

  ‘Sorry,’ I apologised.

  ‘Would you like some coffee?’ she offered politely. It had started drizzling outside.

  ‘No, Malhaar, don’t you dare go for coffee,’ my inner voice warned me.

  Ignoring it, I said, ‘Yes, please.’

  I entered her small apartment. It had a couch and a coffee table and one corner had a small bookshelf. The living room and kitchen were attached. Her fridge had a lot of photos, mostly of her and Abhay.

  ‘Here, Malhaar,’ Priya said, handing me a cup of steamy coffee before sitting on the couch. I joined her there.

  Priya had changed since the last time I saw her, which was back in college. She was more carefree then; happier. The girl in front of me was different—her smile was forced and her infectious laughter was gone.

  ‘What happened to you, Priya?’ I silently asked her the question I’d wanted to ask since I had met her at home the day I had arrived from New York.

  ‘What do you mean?’ she asked, frowning.

  ‘You’ve ... changed,’ I said.

  ‘So have you. Everybody’s changed. I don’t know how I’m any different.’

  ‘What happened after college?’ I asked, looking her dead in the eye. She avoided my intense gaze. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’ she whispered, looking away.

  ‘After college, you left all the social media sites, changed your number. It was as if you vanished from the face of the earth. I looked for you everywhere.’

  ‘Oh, did you now?’ she yelled, getting up from the couch. ‘Of course, I did!’ I said at the same high pitch.

  ‘That’s quite something, coming from the man who left without saying a goddamn word! I called you, Malhaar. I texted you a freaking thousand times! I didn’t even know what I did wrong. We dated for four years, Malhaar, four fucking years!’ she continued in anger.

  ‘You should have thought about all of this before you cheated on me!’ I screamed, finally getting up.

  ‘I cheated on you? How can you eve
n think of that? I was in love with you, Malhaar. I would never do such a thing.’

  ‘I saw it with my own eyes. The night before graduation, you kissed Shahid Abidi, the so-called ‘golden boy’ right in front of my bloody eyes! You know how much that hurt, Priya? A lot; a fucking lot!’

  Confusion masked her face as something seemed to click before anger took over completely.

  ‘You think I kissed Shahid Abidi? That guy came onto me forcefully! He was drunk; I pushed him away and came looking for you. But you weren’t there. I looked everywhere but you weren’t there, Malhaar,’ her voice broke at the last sentence.

  She didn’t cheat on me. It was all a big misunderstanding; a very big-ass misunderstanding. As realization dawned up on me, I felt like a complete fool to myself.

  ‘My parents passed away the very next day. I waited for you, but you never showed up. I called you, Malhaar. I needed you then but I was left all alone,’ she whispered the last part, as tears streamed down her face.

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know,’ I whispered.

  ‘To answer your question, yes, I’ve changed. Not for myself, but for Abhay. I want him to have the best of the best and for that, even if I have to work 24x7, I will,’ she said with determination while trying hard not to cry.

  There was silence between us. After a few very long seconds, she lifted her face and her eyes wandered to my lips. That’s all it took for me to close the distance between us, to embrace her and to seal my lips to hers.

  The kiss was possessive as if I was claiming what was mine. As her smooth lips caressed mine, I bit her bottom lip, teasing her and earning a gasp from her. I quickly slipped my tongue inside.

  Her small hands moved to my shoulders and she pushed me back onto the couch, just enough for her to climb on my lap. Her hands started to unbutton my shirt as I kissed her jaw and then her neck. She moaned as I found her sweet spot.

  ‘God! How I’ve missed you, Priya,’ I mumbled against her skin. ‘Me too,’ she replied, taking off my shirt.

  Her hands ran across my bare chest as her eyes turned a smokey grey, filled with lust. Her tongue skimmed across my collarbone up to the erogenous spot just under my ear.

  I moaned and literally ripped her T-shirt off. All my common senses had vanished by then.

  I gently pushed my hands around her back and undid her bra, then slid the black straps down before tossing the whole thing behind her couch. ‘Oh, God,’ Priya moaned as I started to kiss the valley between her full breasts. Her moans turned me on further.

  I took one of her breasts in my mouth and the other in my hands. She grabbed onto my shoulder to keep herself steady as I puckered my lips around her soft skin.

  I laid her on the couch, hovering above her as I used my knee to part her legs. Slowly we both were stripped of all our clothes. The rest of the night was a blur. I remember the sounds emanating from Priya’s lips. It seemed like the best time of my life. She lay on top of me in a comfortable silence.

  ‘What if we can’t stop, Malhaar?’ she asked, getting up.

  I wanted to whine as the warmth disappeared along with her, but I didn’t.

  ‘We have to. I’m getting married.’

  CHAPTER 23

  I want a girl who doesn’t

  know she’s beautiful, so I

  have an excuse to let her

  know all the time.

  FAITH

  ‘Hurry, Vaibhav,’ I yelled, dragging him behind me.

  We were at my house and I was trying to take Vaibhav to my room so that I could tell him the shocking news I’d just found out.

  ‘No, Faith. I’m not going to your bedroom with you. Your parents are in the house!’ he yelled loud enough for dad and Beth to hear. I hit him on the back of his head.

  ‘Oww. Geez, woman! I know I’m irresistible but please keep your hands to yourself,’ he complained.

  ‘Idiot,’ I muttered under my breath.

  ‘What was that?’ he asked, prompting me. ‘Nothing, I was just saying how great a person you are,’ I said with a sickly-sweet smile.

  ‘Sure, you were! Okay, so listen to this. I was going through that book of pick-up lines and I found this really funny one,’ he caught my interest.

  I stopped on the stairs and turned towards him, waiting for him to continue.

  ‘You’re just like my pinky finger. Small, cute and I’d totally bang you against the coffee table,’ he quoted from the book.

  I burst out laughing. This was really funny. I squealed as Vaibhav picked me up and carried me to my room.

  ‘Vaibhav! Put me down.’

  ‘Won’t do, love.’

  He opened the door to my room and literally threw me on the bed. I bounced before falling face-first on the floor. Vaibhav started to laugh.

  ‘Oww,’ I groaned getting up. Vaibhav kept laughing. He bent down on his knees laughing harder.

  ‘Are you done?’ I asked sarcastically.

  He pointed his finger telling me to wait for a minute. I rolled my eyes at his behaviour.

  ‘You have to agree that was really funny,’ he said, sobering up.

  ‘Ya, ya. Whatever! Now look at this,’ I said, grabbing my laptop and sitting on the bed. I patted the space next to me on the bed for Vaibhav to sit as I switched on the machine.

  ‘What is all this about?’ he asked, confused. ‘Patience is the key to success,’ I said in a sing-song voice.

  I turned to him to explain the situation while the documents loaded.

  ‘I hacked into your brother’s social media accounts.’ ‘You what?’ he looked shocked. ‘It was for a good cause!’ I said, defending myself. ‘Explain,’ he said with a stern expression.

  ‘Okay, so you must have noticed that there is some tension between Malhaar and Priya.’

  ‘Ya...’

  ‘So, I hacked into his accounts to do a little research on them.’

  ‘Why?’ he asked, turning to me.

  ‘To get rid of Malvika, the bitch.’

  ‘She really is a big bitch! The house staff got her a cold coffee instead of a mocha latte and she poured the entire drink into the plants. Talk about being a snob,’ Vaibhav exclaimed.

  ‘I know, right?!’ ‘Okay, so what did you find?’ he asked, getting all attentive.

  ‘Malhaar and Priya were the “it” couple in college. They started dating in their first year. It was the typical tele-novela relationship. Your brother was the so-called “charmer” in his college. So he tried his charms on Priya too but that girl ended up slapping him across the face! They hated each other but soon the hate changed to love. Their story was even published in their college paper.’

  ‘Then what happened?’ Vaibhav asked, getting all excited.

  ‘No one knows. Rumour has it that the graduation party spoiled their relationship. But I can’t imagine how. They both were so in love,’ I finished my story.

  ‘How can you tell?’ Vaibhav asked, being the idiot that he was. ‘Pictures, silly! I stalked your brother on Facebook till seven years ago and I found their pictures,’ I replied turning the screen towards him.

  ‘I had found several pictures of both of them. There was one of Malhaar in his soccer jersey with a ball to his feet and Priya was standing on top of the ball so that she reached his height, kissing him.

  Then there was another picture at the beach where Priya was on his back and both of them were grinning at the camera.

  I was swooning over the pictures. They were so bloody cute!’

  ‘Ok. So what are we going to do?’ Vaibhav asked, shutting the laptop.

  ‘We are going to play matchmaker. Mission Terminate Malvika activated!’

  ‘Faith, darling, hurry up and get ready. We’re going out for dinner with the Rainas!’ Beth yelled from downstairs.

  ‘Okay!’ I yelled back.

  I had spent the entire day with Vaibhav, planning our mission. Right now I was talking to Damon about Vaibhav.

  ‘I swear, Damon, he’s changing,’ I spoke into
the speaker as I looked for a dress to wear.

  ‘I don’t know, Faith. I mean, the guy literally broke...’ but I cut him short.

  ‘Everyone deserves a second chance, Damon.’

  ‘I know, but...’ he was once again cut short, but this time by a hyperactive Theo.

  ‘Fay-Fay!’ he yelled. I cooed.

  ‘I miss you. When are you coming next?’ he said in a very cute voice. I could literally hear the pain in his tone.

  ‘Soon, champ. I’ve just been really busy.’

  ‘Well, when you come next, you, me and Vidya can go to the park!’ he yelled once again.

  ‘This guy is crazy about Vidya. He’s always asking for Vidya,’ Damon explained.

  ‘Faith, are you ready?’ Beth asked again.

  ‘Shit. Damon, I really need to go; will talk later. Bye,’ I muttered quickly before ending the call.

  I skimmed through my closet before deciding on a midnight-blue dress. It was cut-sleeved, flared at the bottom and very cute. I paired it with my nude heels and wore some bracelets.

  I took out the silver necklace I had with a diamond shaped as a raindrop. I pinned my hair away from my face, quickly applied some eyeliner and mascara. I wore some nude lipstick before heading downstairs. Beth was wearing a gorgeous red gown and dad was in a tux.

  ‘You look beautiful, princess,’ dad complimented me. ‘Thanks, daddy,’ I replied, kissing his cheek.

  The doorbell rang. I opened it to find Vaibhav standing there with ruffled hair, holding his tie.

  ‘A little help,’ he said, lifting up the tie. ‘Come in,’ I said, holding the door ajar.

  He sat on one of the sofas as I stood above him fixing his tie.

  ‘You look pretty,’ he complimented. ‘Thank you,’ I replied, running my fingers through his messy hair, trying to tame them.

  ‘How do I look?’ he asked once I was done. ‘Very handsome,’ I replied with a laugh.

  ‘Oh, Vaibhav, you look so handsome!’ Beth exclaimed, entering the living room.

  ‘Thank you,’ Vaibhav replied, almost blushing. Anusuya, Kabir, Aditya and Malhaar came over to our house as well. Only Malvika was missing. ‘Where’s Malvika?’ dad asked as if reading my thoughts.