Chapter 5

Part Four

 

As Thursday dawned in both Naina and Rajveer went on doing their own work, the first thing Naina had to do was find a mechanic and get her car done up, after that she met up with Sonali and narrated to her the nights incidents leaving out a few details, she dint want Sonali to see her blushing and those thoughts were enough to get her blushing., Naina suddenly felt she was 17 again and was developing a crush for a boy,

 

"Oh Naina,  I need to meet this Rajveer, aaj ke zamane mein who will ever bother to help anyone unless they want something from the other party"

 

She said this giving Naina a knowing smile. Naina just grunted in return

 

"Oh come on Sonali, there are good people left in this world and besides he seemed quite decent"

 

"So when are you meeting him next?"

 

"When ever Lakme calls both of us together"

 

"Oh Naina don't be so foolish, I think you are indebted to him. You should call him out someday"

 

"Maybe you are right"

 

"Not maybe, I know iam right so just give him a ring and call him at CCD for a coffee tomorrow evening"

 

Naina quickly searched her phone book and called Rajveer, she was in no mood to tell Sonali off, she did feel a pull for this guy and if he too was responding why not give it a try?

Her voice almost caught up as he picked up the line

 

"Hey Naina!"

 

"Hey Rajveer, jus called up to thank you for last night"

 

" oh come on, I told you that you need not be formal"

 

"Rajveer, I was just wondering what you were doing tomorrow evening"

 

"Nothing much"

 

"would you mind having coffee with me at CCD tomorrow at about 6.30pm"

 

"sure, i would never want to miss an opportunity to have a cup of coffee with a beautiful woman like you"

 

"okay then, see you at 6.30 pm"

 

She cut the line and looked up at Sonali staring at her

 

"Sonali, whats wrong ? why are you looking at me like this?"

 

"Naina babes, it's the first time I have seen you so relaxed with any person"

 

And Naina gave it a thought

 

"Yeah Sonali you are right, I don't know why but I feel quite comfortable with this guy"

 

Her chain of thoughts broke as she heard a cry. Prachi had just woken up and started crying, Naina quickly lifted her into her arms and calmed her down, this is what she always did when Prachi started crying, like most of the kids her age Prachi too cried after waking up. Naina had had enough, her memories were torturing her, she tried to drift off and she got sleep quite soon, she had had quite a hectic day and her body needed rest

 

Rajveer was one of the main event managers in the Indian sub-continent now, highly successful; he also worked for Lakme and was one of their main organizers,

 

It was a Sunday today and he was busy cleaning his house, he preferred doing it himself, and so as he was arranging some of the cartons,  a leaflet fell off one of them and after picking it up he realized it was an extremely old brochure of Caf Coffee Day and his thought went back to the day she had called him there,

 

He hated coffee, but didn't mind having it with her, and so he got ready wearing a casual shirt and jeans,

 

Naina on the other hand was having quite a tuff time, she felt as if she was going for date and wanted to look her best, in the end she selected a  pink top and a knee length shirt with boots,

 

He reached there 2 minutes before her and was surprised to see her so nicely dressed up, she looked so pretty, was it just him who felt she looked pretty, surely not, any man with proper eyes would want to stare at her

 

"Hi Naina, you are looking hot!"

 

Oh God, he had to say that, when she was trying her level best not to blush

 

"Hi Rajveer, thanks for the compliment!"

 

That was all she managed to say

They sat down and ordered for a coffee.

For the first time Naina didn't know what to say, but finally she bucked up the courage and was about to open her mouth when her cell phone started ringing, excusing herself she got up and took her cell phone to one corner of the room and picked it up.

 

She got irritated seeing the name flashing on her cell

 

"Sonali, why did you call me?"

 

"to ask you if you met him"

 

"Yeah I did, but madam does it look nice if iam with him and talking to you"

 

"No, obviously not,"

 

And suddenly she picked up the hint in Naina's sentence and disconnected. And so naina stuffed her cellphone in her bag and turned to find Rajveer's chair empty, after looking around for sometime she found him next to a pram, he was playing with a small kid and soon he carried the kid and brought him over to Naina, he continued to play with the kid and Naina suddenly saw a new side of him, a side which was like a kid, a side full of innocence, she just stared at him getting lost in his cute face, his attraction was way too much for her to handle, his words broke her trance finally

 

"I love kids"

 

"Really, so how many do you plan to have?"

 

"None, I prefer them when they are someone else's"

 

Naina gave him a questioning look, and so he continued

 

"Naina, I some how  think I  will never be able to be a good father, kids are like pets you need to take care of them, love them, care for them, it's a huge responsibility, I cant somehow imagine myself staying awake through the night and changing nappies"

 

Suddenly tears shone in Naina's eyes and Rajveer got a little worried

 

"What happened Naina? Did I offend you in any way"

 

She just shook her head and after a minute or so she continued

 

"Rajveer, I had ran away from my house, I had no choice my parents wanted to get me married, I tried my level best to make them understand but they dint, I just left in frustration,  and I never bothered to find out how they were, were they still alive or not???? When you just talked about all the sacrifices parents have to make I thought of them, how could I be so selfish? I feel so ashamed of myself Rajveer"

 

"Naina look at me"

 

And when she did he continued

 

"It wasn't your fault that you ran away, I don't know much about your parents or about you, all I know is that some situations arise in life where we have to make choices and take decisions, you took your decision"

 

"Maybe you are right!!!"

 

Her mood looked off and so he paid off the bill soon and took her by the hand, when she turned to go towards her car he just shook his head and headed in the other direction, they crossed the road and were heading to the sea

 

"Rajveer, where are we going?"

 

"You trust me don't you?"

 

She nodded and they just continued walking till they reached the last of the rocks, the sun was setting and looked beautiful

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Rajveer this is beautiful"

 

"Not more than you"

 

She just looked at him as he stared into her eyes

 

"Thank you"

 

And he stood up

 

"Its been years since I last did it, when I was younger during my college days I used to come here often, the sea always relaxed me"

 

It was absolutely true, his words she had thought at that time, the lovely sunset, nature in its true form, untouched by man, it was so beautiful, it did erase all her guilt and her thoughts from her mind

 

And that evening they had held hands and walked back together supporting eachother when ever they needed it

"im glad I bumped into you that day at the office Rajveer"

 

"I couldn't afford to loose a person like you"

 

"Same here"

 

And so when they headed  towards their respective cars they had a smile on their face, she had poured out her heart after so many years to some one, and he had gone to his once favourite place, she had given him a reason to go there.

 

These memories made him cry, he went to him balcony and looked at the sea face, he lived at worli sea face now, he couldn't tolerate the place which reminded him constantly of her, it had been 3 years back that she had left, the sound of the breaking china still ringed in his years, he wished he would meet her just once, he wanted to look at her, wanted to apologize just once, but for now it seemed a dream too far, not realizing that his wish was on her way back home and had reached halfway.