Part 14

Six Months Back

Saroja looked at her phone happily. Finally, she had received the much awaited call. The Hostel had called in to say that she could move in the week after Diwali. All this packing, unpacking and then re-packing was frankly getting on her nerves . Further, she could sense the atmosphere in the house becoming even more volatile with every passing day.

Vedant's engagement had been called off, yet Saroja had maintained her distance. He was now neck deep in some project and was travelling frequently. But on days when he was home, she could feel his presence around, sometimes in the balcony, sometimes in the terrace. Their eyes had met a couple of times for sure, but she had not known what to say or do. And had simply averted her glance, feeling guilty to the core.

But the truth remained that he was the only one, barring Gopi Mama and her wife and Little Aaru, that she was concerned about. Saroja knew how he felt about her; she also knew how she felt about him. Yet she couldn't wish for a stormy future for him. The other day when he had broken off his engagement, Gopi Mama had told her about his altercations with his parents later in the night, and how disappointed his parents were with their first born.

Saroja sat down and nibbled away at her pencil. She wondered if she was playing too hard to get, and then almost immediately laughed out aloud. Had she ever wanted a Prince Charming in her life? she pondered. No, she hadn't. She had just wanted to continue like this forever, stay away, steeling her heart never to desire for a family, children - she didn't want any of them to suffer her fate. Or suffer because of her. One thing life had definitely taught her - the past always came back to hound you, and it always came back at the wrong moments. For sure.

But again, life was not about her liking, her preferences. Like her views about love did not prevent love from finding a way through into her heart, through all the extra barriers that she had put all around it, and now it ached for him.

She also knew that if she so much as looked at Vedant with all the love she had for him, then he would flood her all over, and tear down all the barriers. He was simple, he was uncomplicated, and he was in love. He would easily move away from his family to be with her, and that bothered Saroja. All her life she had been away from a family, her parents, and she didn't wish the same for him.

She remembered how when she came to Hyderabad and found that the Rajus had agreed to take her in, she had been ecstatic. She had willingly given up her spot at the Hostel, looking forward to stay for some time with a family. And see and soak in how families functioned.

No bells had rung in her mind when she had been relegated to the farthest room in the House, away from everybody; she had genuinely thought that there might be visitors and all. It took her a few days to realise, when the rules had started pouring in, that she was really unwelcome there. And since then, she had simply counted days off the calendar.

Until Vedant happened.

...

Next Day

"Saroja, Saroja ..." Little Aaru rushed into her room, and jumped straight into her lap, and plopped a kiss on Saroja's cheek.

"I heard you are going away" the child was sad.

Saroja nodded in affirmation - "I have to go Baby, but I will come and meet you"

The child had tears in her eyes, and she hid her face on Saroja's neck. Within minutes, she was sobbing and Saroja patted her back affectionately.

"Promise? I love you ..." the child whimpered, breaking Saroja's heart.

"Pinky promise. Love you too Baby" she said, hoping against hope that she would be able to keep her promise to the child, and meet her at least once. She kissed the child's tear stricken face and wiped away the fat teardrops, when Vedant stepped in.

She tried to hide the tears welling up in her own eyes, as he stood in front of her, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Not easy to lie to a child, right? Or is it?" his voice was sombre and deep.

Saroja could only nod. Vedant gently plucked the child out of Saroja's arms and placated her.

"Since you have decided not to initiate any talks, I thought I should try once again" he continued.

"We are talking alright" Saroja responded, moving away to her table to pick up a book.

Vedant called out for Gopi Mama and soon he came and carried the child away.

He walked over to Saroja and said - "Are we? Talking that is? Then why doesn't it feel like that? I am trying to reach out to you, and you are hell bent on pushing me away. After that incident, that engagement thingy, you have completely withdrawn. Earlier, at least I could gather a smile, a glance here and there ..."

Saroja looked up at him - "I have been busy"

"With what Saroja?" he asked supremely irritated.

"Tell me the truth please. If you don't want me to talk to you, I'd understand. I don't want to be one of those morons who send you those lewd messages and harass you. Oh yes, I know about those messages alright. Stop being so surprised. I was just waiting for you to open up and talk about it. But ..."

He was truly disillusioned.

Before Saroja could answer, Gopi Mama knocked at the door.

"Vedant Baba, everyone is waiting for you to cut the cake"

It was Saroja's turn to stammer - "It's your Birthday?"

"You would have known if you had tried to find out" He walked away.

...

Saroja crossed the backyard a couple of times, hoping to find him up there in the terrace. Yes, he was there up somewhere, she could hear his voice and the animated discussions that free flowed, but she could not locate him.

It was late in the night that her phone pinged.

"Even if I tried, I guess, I could still not ignore you."

She smiled

"Could we meet?" she sent a message

"Finally" he responded back.

...

Next morning

Vedant picked Saroja up from near the CCD early the next morning; little Aaru was with him, and she wrapped her chubby arms around Saroja's neck once she settled down in the car. He did not miss the smile on Saroja's face as she kissed the child back.

"Are you even going to wish me?" he teased her gently. Saroja smiled back at him

"Where are we going? And how did you manage to get Aaru along?"

"We are going for a long drive" Vedant replied as he exited towards the NH44, and Aaru squealed in joy. She loved long drives.

"I spoke to Sujith and Sunitha and they know we are going together. And Aaru is with us."

"Oh" Saroja chewed her bottom lip as she stared out of the window.

"Sunitha is ashamed of what she did the other day" Vedant sighed, as he expertly navigated the traffic.

"I wanted us to spend some time together, but Little Madam was upset since yesterday. She did not leave me for a moment since she heard that you would be leaving. Somehow, she sensed that being close to me probably means being closer to you ... this uncanny realisation, I don't know how." He indicated towards the backseat where the kid was now playing with her doll.

"You know I have to ... go, that is" Saroja mumbled.

"Let's not think about it today. Today belongs to us" Vedant squeezed her fingers before returning to the wheel.

The car ambled along the Highway; Saroja looked all around. And with every mile covered, she let loose off her inhibitions. This was the farthest she had ever travelled from the house, and she felt exhilarated.

She was worried though about when they would reach back, given that the child was with them, but then Vedant would have thought about it alright. She had full faith in him.

His fingers touched hers, now resting on her thighs, every now and then, and Saroja blushed, much to Vedant's good cheer. A smile spread across his face as he realised that she was not as immune to him as she tried hard to project.

"Bullshit" he spat out, and then started laughing.

"What is?" Saroja looked at him alarmed, as she indicated the child's presence in the car.

But Vedant could care less. He knew what he had to do next, and all his plans involved Saroja for sure.

He glanced towards her - "Listen Saroja, I woke up midnight and realised that I was missing you like hell. And I don't want that anymore. If we don't do anything about it now, it's going to be too late"

His eyes were back on the road. A thrill of excitement coursed through Saroja, and she did not know how to react. Should she be happy? Or plain alarmed? Her instinct told her to flee

"I am so scared Vedant" she could only manage to say

"... And that's why we need to talk, we need this time together."

Silence prevailed inside the car for a while; Saroja glanced back, Aaru had fallen asleep, cuddling her doll. Saroja reached out and turned on the music. Of all the words left unsaid, the ones pervading the silence scared her the most.

"Relax Saroja" he covered her hands with his. "I want you to be happy. Always. Whatever happens in life will happen. But I want to be that person to make you happy. I realise that's what my entire life has been all about."

Saroja reclined back on her seat and closed her eyes, trying to soak in the feelings. Yes, he was the only one she could see in her sky full of stars. And she couldn't help falling in love with him some more.

...

Present Time

Vedant found Dean in Firdaus, the speciality fine dine Indian restaurant at Taj Krishna. He was happy to be moving around with the walking stick, though he limped a bit, once in a while.

Dean was ecstatic to meet Vedant after a long time, and clapped his back enthusiastically.

"Ved! My Boy!" he said as they settled down. "How are you doing?"

Vedant simply nodded his head in response.

"You wanted to meet?" he asked.

Dean ordered for a round of whiskey as he pulled the chair closer.

"There's going to be some top level changes in the company in India. I wanted to understand what your plans are Ved. How ambitious are you?"

"Actually Dean, I wanted to discuss about something else. You are not stranger to what has been happening in my life all these months"

Vedant waited as Dean nodded sympathetically.

"I would like to go for the site visits and project work to all these remote village areas, at least in the Southern part of India. The city ... doesn't have anything to offer to me. Not anymore"

"But there is a team Ved which does all these visits. You will wear yourself out if you are a part of every damn Project. You are the best in the filed, it's your passion I know. But we don't want to burn you out."

They sat quietly for a while, nursing their drinks.

"When you find her, you will let me know right?" Dean sighed.

Vedant simply nodded.

...

End of Part 14