Accidentally Ever After

by Mariyam Hasnain

What?

  Vikram feels his lips curving into a smug. “You don’t have to personally ask me for the leave.”

  Was she finding reasons to see me? She could have called me. I would have felt blessed to take her somewhere where we can sit and talk. But Nah. She’s Natasha Malik, an expert in hiding her feelings.

  “I tried applying online but it’s not accepting any input for Saturday.”

  Sardonic smile surfaces on Vikram’s lips.

  Bingo. She wants to meet with me.

  “Don’t you know we have five days a week. Saturdays and Sundays are off days.”

  “Yeah. But aren’t we having a high tea with the Purohit Developers tomorrow that is June Twenty-nine, Saturday?”

  Shit. Vikram forgets about the high tea. An office party where he’s going to introduce his staff to Mr. Purohit and his team of managers and leaders. Since the two companies are shaking hands on the upcoming housing project, this meeting is necessary. It's important to establish trust between the owner and the employees. The attrition rate has grown considerably high in the past few months. Vikram wants to leave no stone unturned in bringing the employees’ trust back in the company.

  “Of course, we’re having the high tea as per the plans.” Vikram swivels in his chair, studying the woman who sits in front of him.

  Natasha narrows her eyes. Her forehead creases for a while. But then Vikram notices her donning back her old conservative mask of hostile behavior and unfriendly attitude. While Vikram wants to help her, she seems like getting distanced from him day by day, more than she was ever before.

  “And the entire staff should attend the tea and the meeting afterward, shouldn’t they?” Natasha bites her lower lips, her eyes dart between the table and Vikram. And Vikram just can’t take his eyes off those shiny petals of reds. Her lips feel like they’re holding the elixir of life inside them. The potion that Vikram desperately wants to taste.

  “Your information is correct.” Vikram straightens his back and rests his hands on the table, eyes still fixed on the sexy woman in the front chair.

  Vikram is running late for the meeting, but he's in no mood of quitting the game of attitude and arrogance. Game which the lady has started. How much he’s enjoying this meaningless conversation with her. How fascinating it is to watch expressions carving and dissolving, colors coming and going on that pretty face of hers.

  How boring that crucial business meeting sounds in contrast to this utterly nonsense but testosterone surging conversation.

  “Actually, I won’t be able to attend the tea and the meeting. I’m having some engagements.”

  “And may I have the privilege of knowing about such engagements. I hope it’s not grocery shopping.” Vikram suppresses a grin.

  “I’m having an appointment with the gynecologist. And since this is my first appointment with her, I need to figure out the location of the hospital. I need to start early so that I can reach the hospital on time.”

  Again, Vikram stretches back in his chair. He picks the paperweight from the table and twirls it between his fingers.

  “What time is the appointment?”

  “It’s four-thirty in the evening.” Natasha drops her gaze to the table.

  “I will take you to the doctor.”

  “What?” She lifts her eyes at once.

  “I know the city. The traffic gets crazy during evening rush hours. But I know short cuts and take you to the hospital or wherever the doctor sits, and we’ll be back on time. Does that sound any appealing to you?” Vikram sets the paperweight on the table and once again his eyes study the package of sheer sexiness in front of him.

  “No! I don’t want you to do all that for me especially when you are supposed to be in the office.”

  “Keshav will be there to run the show and the entire event management team would be there to take care of the initial formalities. We would return on time. Trust me.”

  “For god’s sake Vikram. Please. You’re making things difficult for me.”

  “Same fucking bullshit. Can’t you just stop pretending?” Vikram feels his jaw clench and unclench. He grits his teeth.

  How much attitude this lady has.

  “Can’t you just stop offering your help? I’m not a china doll, Vicky.” She stops and then fumbles, “I…I’m sorry… I shouldn’t be calling you Vicky. Sorry.” She drifts her eyes away from him. Vikram notices her wiping the corners of her eyes.

  Hell. Is she crying? Did I hurt her?

  “Fine. I’m not going with you. Handle it. Happy now?” Vikram sucks in a sharp breath.

  “Thanks. I’ll try to at least attend the meeting, but I can’t promise. I’m sorry I had this appointment scheduled, but then there wasn’t any other date available.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Sorry again.” She stands and sniffs. Then she turns around.

  “And you can call me Vicky. At least, it makes me believe we still have something from the past.”

  Vikram rises too and spins on his feet turning to the window. He doesn’t want to see her anymore, see her melancholic face anymore coz it makes him weak. Weak to the point that despite knowing the fact she doesn’t like him, that she hates him helping her, he couldn’t stop himself from extending his hand to her. A hand of help. A hand of friendship. A hand of love.

  He desperately needs to shoo away the stress creeping around him. He must be composed before the meeting. Nothing seems a better refuge than lighting up a cigarette and letting the nicotine replace all the pain of his heart. Pain of falling in love.

  Vikram has been in love with Natasha since high school. She was the only girl he ever wanted to fall in love with. Yet, he could never get the courage to go ahead and express his heart to her. Not only Natasha felt distant and aloof but Vikram was unsure about his own self as well.

  Now, at this stage of life, when he has experienced almost everything, from insane sex to alcohol abuse, he has realized that nothing is going to bring him happiness. Those things are mere distraction from the ugliest truths of life. If he wants to move on, he needs to have that special someone in his life. A woman who can help him heal from those painful traumas of a neglected childhood and a wayward adulthood.

  Vikram secures the cancer stick to his mouth and lights it up. He takes a few quick puffs, gazing out the window, with failed attempts to calm himself down.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Natasha comes out of Vikram’s room with a heavy heart and dewy eyes. How easily he said that she can call him Vicky. That it makes him believe there still exists something between them. How ignorant is he? When each chapter of her life revolves around those crazy high school years she had spent sneaking glances at Vikram, he sees the past as merely a memory. Nothing else.

  How mean Vikram.

  Natasha dabs the corners of her eyes and trudges to the elevator. Once on her floor, she reaches her cubicle and sags into her office chair. She boots up her laptop and tries to study the tutorials Mr. Ramakrishnan had sent her in email.

  No matter how hard she tries to bury herself in work, Vikram’s last said words still thrum her head. It feels as if several needles are piercing her ears. And not just ears but every fiber of her body, penetrating the flesh, traveling through the bones and stabbing right at her heart.

  How much pain Vikram had given her in the past. Yet, she is here, working in his office. Destiny often throws you in places where you never want to be. She never wanted to see Vikram especially when he left school in the middle of the semester year without even having a word with her. But then he never knew she ever existed. Filthy rich handsome brute.

  One moment he was there and the next moment he was gone. Natasha’s whole world stood still when she found out from a common friend that Vikram had left India for Italy. That he would never come back.

  Her first love remained unrequited, unfulfilled, unspoken. That night, she’d cried her heart out, releasing all the pent-up pain and trauma she’d been bearing on her soul. She was in love with the
dark-eyed moody teenager. Teenager who looked more like a man than a boy. A boy who’d never thrown a single glance at her, let alone talk to her. There was nothing between them. But Natasha felt like the world had stopped revolving. Without Vikram, it felt as if the sun would never rise. The night would never end. The life would remain like a frozen brook of the winters. The spring would never come, and her dreams would remain frozen and her heart icy and cold.

  She somehow finished high school and joined college. She studied hard. She wanted to forget Vikram once and for all. She buried herself in books and only books. Later, she did her MBA and joined JE, thinking that this is going to be the last stoppage of her life. Little did Natasha know that something even more disastrous and haunting was waiting for her. More disastrous than going through the pain of unrequited love. Even more haunting than the pain of heartbreak. The pain of staying in an abusive relationship.

  “You are coming for lunch?” Priya peers over the cubicle wall.

  “Umm. I think I’ll go with this.” Natasha picks the shiny red apple from the desk and shows it to Priya.

  “One is enough for you and the baby both?”

  “I have some granola bars as well and she loves it.”

  “Really? How do you know that? Has she started kicking?”

  “Not yet, but I think soon she will start roller-skating.”

  “Wow! Motherhood is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”

  “Indeed.” Forgetting about her grief, Natasha smiles. Priya is vibrant and lively and has a brightness of a sunny winter morning. Her liveliness is infectious. With Priya chirping around the office like a winter bird. Fluttering from one floor to another like a colorful butterfly, none of the staff member could remain sad or gloomy for a long while. Natasha is no exception.

  “I hope God will bless me and Bob too with His divine gift sooner,” Priya speaks.

  “He will. He won’t take long in granting wishes of his favorite children.”

  “Do you think I’m God’s favorite child?” Priya winks, her lips curving into a lopsided smile.

  “Of course, you are.”

  “Even when I miss Sunday masses and often skip prayers before meals. But I don’t do all these purposely. It just happens.” Priya rounds the cubicle, slides into a chair next to Natasha and speaks innocently.

  “But you’re among His good people. And that’s what matters the most. God sees your heart not what you do to impress him.”

  “Aw. Thank you, sweetie. Your words feel like music to my ears.” Priya rises from her chair, reaches out to Natasha. She bends and folds Natasha in a hug.

  “You know what,” Natasha speaks as Priya breaks the hug and stands.

  “You remind me of my friend Samantha.”

  “She's also a Roman Catholic who often skips masses and prayers?”

  “Oh. No. No. She’s a very religious lady. In fact, she goes to Church every Sunday.”

  “Where’s the similarity?”

  “It’s in the heart. You both have the hearts of gold.” Natasha smiles.

  “It’s because you’re so sweet that you only see good things in others.”

  But I can’t see any good thing in Vikram except that he has helped me with a job and a house. Else, all through my life, I had struggled to find a single good thing in him. Yet, I’m so much into him that it’s hard to get away from him.

  “I go and grab something before lunchtime gets over.” Priya forks fingers in her short red hair. “You sure you don’t want anything?”

  “Yup,” Natasha says and smiles.

  “Cool. Let’s meet for the coffee then.”

  “Sure.”

  Next moment, Priya scurries out of the cubicle. Once she was gone, Natasha again tries to get herself busy with the day’s work, studying the tutorials, making the spreadsheets and doing exercises. Finance training sucks. How great it would have been if Vikram had put her in the marketing department? She majors in marketing and not finance.

  Again, she’s expecting something which is very unreasonable. Few weeks ago, she was working in a pub as a waitress. A job which has nothing to do with her MBA degree. And now when she has a job that’s convenient, safe, and financially more secure and sound than her previous job. A job which matches with her educational qualification, she’s wishing for something more niche and easier.

  Let’s concentrate, Natasha. Haven’t you studied Finance in the first year, have you? There’s no room for slacking off. You’ve to finish this tutorial by evening and begin working on real projects from Monday onward. Did you get it?

  Determination strikes her hard and she feels confident about finishing the training. Natasha fixes her eyes on the screen, puts her earbuds on and begins listening the video tutorials, jotting down important points on her notebook.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Meet Sakshi. Returned from Vienna last week. She’s joining us in the Krishnagiri project.” Mr. Purohit introduces the woman clad in yellow sundress.

  A sundress for a business meeting? Vikram gives a slight shake of his head as he shifts in his chair.

  While Mr. Purohit is wearing a beige summer suit, his daughter looks like she has landed straight from Hawaii not from Vienna. Thank god, she’s not wearing a bikini.

  “So Sakshi will be joining us I mean joining you on my behalf and would represent Purohit Developers.” Mr. Purohit declares lifting his wine glass to his big shark-like mouth framed with drooping lips. His big bulging eyes drift from Vikram to his beloved daughter who sits next to him on the sofa.

  Sakshi smiles and then her eyes meet Vikram’s. With forest-green eyes, she looks like a forest enchantress. The woman is sexy yet Vikram has a hard time to reciprocate her smile. He avoids the lusty stare and turns to Keshav who’s busy talking with Mr. Purohit. They look like two lost buddies, laughing and raising toasts, occasionally nibbling on the mushroom tikkas and hara-bhara kebabs.

  Shit! This is disgusting.

  Vikram grits his teeth. This meeting is everything but not the least in the lines of crucial business types. Why the hell is he wasting his time here when he already has a lot of other things to handle? The one is coming to terms with Natasha.

  Why is she so hesitant in accepting any help, especially from Vikram? What’s stopping her to open her heart to Vikram? She holds a lot in those brown eyes of hers and Vikram wants to look deep inside of them. He wants to unravel all the secrets and mysteries of Natasha’s life.

  “You look lost?”

  A warm silky hand lands on the top of Vikram’s and it feels as if someone has pulled him back to reality. How much he’s hating this awful meeting where instead of discussing business they’re just loafing around. Yet, he couldn’t misbehave with the woman. This goes against his ethics. Never in his life of twenty-seven years, he has mistreated a woman.

  Vikram smiles. “I’m fine.”

  Sakshi reciprocates the smile and then throws a sweeping glance at her father. Vikram follows her gaze and the sight of Mr. Purohit and Keshav busy chit-chatting like gossiping aunts makes his insides churn with anger.

  It’s enough. Vikram feels suffocated. He loosens his tie knot and glares at Keshav who’s still busy cracking one pun after another with Mr. Purohit. It feels as if the two of them are having a time of their lives and have got the entire time in the world to sit, joke, laugh, drink and do nothing.

  Vikram has a lot to finish before the high tea on Saturday. He must leave.

  Vikram massages his forehead and just as he does that, a soft female whisper strums the dusky air of the restaurant.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Uhh…” Vikram clears his throat. “Yeah. I feel the same. Let’s.”

  “Dad. Vikram and I are going out for a while. It’s just so suffocating in here.” Sakshi rises to her feet and before Mr. Purohit could speak anything she scurries to Vikram’s side.

  “Come on, let’s go.” She winks before grabbing Vikram’s arm.

  This lady is quite forth
coming. Not bad. Looks like Vikram is going to have a cozy evening. Yet, he’s surprised the way his whole body reacts. He is immune to her advances. Not a single dash of current runs through him when she clasps her fingers around his arm and rubs herself against him.

  Insane amount of sex has wreaked havoc on his system that he feels almost cold to Sakshi’s wild gestures.

  “Carry on and don’t worry about us. We’re having a great time here, aren’t we Keshav?” Mr. Purohit grins, his gold tooth glinting in the dim lighting of the restaurant.

  “Of course, Mr. Purohit. We’re having a gala time.” Keshav nods and then his crescent eyes meet Vikram’s.

  Instead of glaring, this time, Vikram feels pity on Keshav. A smirk decorates his face as he winks at Keshav. “Great. We’ll discuss the things on our next meeting. Looks like today nobody is in the mood to talk business.”

  “Oh, come on Vikram. The deal is done. There’s nothing left to discuss. Go ahead, boy and build a massive empire in….” He stops for a while, watches Keshav, looking somewhat lost. “What’s the name of the town?” He narrows his eyes as he waits for Keshav.

  “Krishnagiri.”

  “Yes. Go ahead and do whatever you want to do.” Mr. Purohit raises his glass and looks at Vikram.

  Vikram nods.

  “Okay, Dad. Bye.”

  “Bye, kiddo. Take care.” Mr. Purohit then looks at Vikram. “Vikram, drop her home.”

  “I’ll take a cab, Dad.”

  “No. I don’t want you to wait for the cab and I just don’t trust those drivers.”

  “So you’re making Vikram my driver, aren't you?” Sakshi chirps, looking at Vikram and then her dad.

  “He’s going to be your very close friend. There’s nothing wrong if a friend drops another friend home.” Mr. Purohit shifts his massive ass on the sofa.

  “And how do you know that, Dad. We have just met.”

  “Now go, girl. You’re wasting my time and yours and Vikram’s as well. Go, tell him about your stay at Vienna. Ask him if he wants to go with you next time.”