Part XVIII
Ridhima looked at Muskaan fidgeting with her books as Rahul started to get up, collecting the books he had been using. As per Ridhima's advice, he had spent very little time with Muskaan, and Ridhima could make out that was bothering Muskaan.
"Where are you off to?" Muskaan whispered as Rahul got up.
"Nothing, have finished my paper on the Ricardian theory and its applicability in modern day business environment." Rahul whispered back, " Have to go type it out and recheck it once again for basic theoretical errors, if any......need to submit it tomorrow.......looks like you guys finished it much before me....."
"Yes..... of course..... If I can help in any way....."
"No" he smiled, the idea obviously one that afforded him some amusement.
"I might " her hint of sharpness was a clue to a slightly bruised ego ".. be capable of picking up some mistakes. I know the subject as well, you realise right? And I can spell, you know!"
"I'm sure you can" Now he was being indulgent. " And I am the world's worst speller, but this clever machine I use does all my corrections" he smiled teasingly.
Muskaan did not bother to reply to that, her raised eyebrow was enough, and for a moment they looked at each other in silence.
"Right then....." he broke the eye contact, and didn't even glance at her as he walked away, leaving a bemused Muskaan looking after him with a mixture of resentment and an emotion which she herself could not quite fathom. She just could not understand why Rahul had been behaving so strangely with her, in fact, it seemed to her that he was going out of his way to ignore her, and, that irritated her.
Ridhima smiled at the exchange as she moved her chair closer to Muskaan's and whispered "If it bothers you, why do you squabble with him so much?"
"In case you did not notice it, he's the one acting difficult.......he's been behaving so strangely since morning..........even last evening when I had called him, he acted all strange saying he was busy and would talk to me in college tomorrow......don't know what's got into him............"
"In case you haven't noticed, it takes two to tango....." Ridhima retorted, "if you want to spend time with him, why don't you make the effort? Wait, wait, wait.....is someone missing Rahul? I did notice that the two of you didn't have time for anyone else at the club, ME INCLUDED!"
"Shut up, we just partnered each other for the lack of anyone else!" Muskaan looked away embarrassed, and then on a quieter note as she realised where they were "I did not see you do too badly for yourself.....dancing in the arms of Scarlet Pimpernel and then being whisked away by the man himself.....ok, maybe not on horseback, but a Pajero is a darned good substitute! How much more romantic can an evening get?"
"Please.......we just had a coffee, ok?" Ridhima looked down as she remembered the time they had spent together generally talking or in companionable silence.......it had felt so natural and comfortable......the more time she spent with him, the more she found herself drawn to his persona - sensitive, gentle, caring......and if she was objective, very attractive.......mercifully her parents had not woken up when she had returned, otherwise, she was sure her mother would have given her an earful for getting back home so late.....
"Right, just like he wasn't your date.......just like he isn't good looking.......blah blah?" they both giggled, and then looked down guiltily at their books as they got dirty stares from everyone around.
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Rahul looked startled as the lab assistant tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he could vacate the computer if all he intended to do was to stare at the screen. He shook his head sheepishly and got back to typing. Really, he needed to keep his wits about him.......
He remembered Muskaan's face when he had refused her help, and he could sense some resentment in her at his response. Maybe Ridhima was right, he needed to give her some space for her to realise that he could, perhaps, be an important part of her life. Its just that's somewhere, if he was honest, lurked a slight fear that she might actually find that she did not miss him when he was not around......but he would not think about that now........nothing ventured, nothing gained.........at worst, he would be no worse off than he was now, they would still be friends......
He sighed as he thought about the turns that life takes.......when they were growing up, Ridhima and he, they had talked and shared their hopes, dreams and aspirations, and somewhere, very important, for both them was the presence of a life partner who would not just be a body occupying the space on the bed next to them. Someone to share your dreams and ambitions, someone to understand you, someone to share your life with, someone to be your strength when you faltered, someone whose presence made you content and yet whose proximity excited you as none other......
....and in Muskaan, he thought, he had found that person.....she teased him, irritated him, laughed at him & with him, tantalised him, he felt exhilarated when she was around and missed her when she was not.......he had long ignored it, attributing the attraction to an excess amount of endorphines! But there comes a time when you can't live life like an ostrich....in denial....
Darned he was beginning to get all sentimental......what was the term that they used now days........oh the metrosexual man! In touch with his feminine side......if he was not careful, he smirked, if he continued this way, he might just be the latest poster boy for the metrosexual man........he sounded wretchedly romantic .....just like Ridhima..........that's what happened when your best buddy was a girl, he thought smiling ruefully .......he could just picture Muskaan's reaction to that last comment! She would be down his throat in an instant for what she thought was a comment disparaging women! A smile lit his face as her image flashed in his mind. Metrosexual man or not, he was falling in love with her, he sighed as he turned back to complete his work on the computer, and may he have the patience and perseverance to live through this agonising uncertainty.....
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Ridhima looked into the council room to find Atul sitting with some books.
"Hi Ridhima. How are you? Didn't see you guys this morning.....No morning cuppa at Ganapathy?" Atul called out. "Just back from the library, is it? Checked out a lot of books, I can see..... Come on in?"
"Hi Atul" Ridhima responded warmly walking in, "no, we were a little late today, since the morning Economics class got cancelled and then went to the library to complete an assignment........er............these are not library books, they are mine........not Bschool related just some stuff to generally read.."
"Hey that sounds interesting, can I have a look? By the way, how are you feeling? Hope completely recovered from the Friday night bout of illness?."
"....er.......yup, am fine......was not that ill.........I think Armaan just panicked a little bit cos he had promised my mom to get me back in one piece..........." Ridhima felt awful lying to Atul, he was such a sweetheart and straightforward guy that she felt terrible. Really Armaan had put them in such a false position, she could not admit that he had lied and she could not admit that they had left the club and spent time talking to each other........and that too into the wee hours of the morning............she smiled to herself as she thought of the time spent with Armaan?.it had been so easy to open up to him...........and while she had been irritated with him for being taken for granted, he had been adorable in his repentance....... "Whatever?" he had agreed, she really must think of something appropriate for the Prisoner of Zenda........and she smiled wickedly as she wondered what could constitute appropriate retribution.......
"Care to share the thought?" she was shaken out of reverie by a quizzical Atul, "What brings a wicked smile to your face?"
"Nothing.......just a silly thought.........ignore me ............I am like that..........I go off on a tangent.........by the way, where is Armaan?" Ridhima
"I thought you would know better than me considering the fact that the man was last seen with you on Friday night" Atul raised an eyebrow "Wonder what you did to him that he has not shown up? I thought it was you who was unwell, and, he's the one who is absconding?" as Ridhima looked a little flustered, "relax, am pulling your leg, he's around, in fact should be here, we were planning to go over a submission together........why, anything urgent?
"No, just wanted to give him these books.........he mentioned on Friday night that he missed having his books around..........and sometimes being on his own can get boring..........so I thought........I thought he might enjoy reading these..........." and as Atul continued to look at her in amused silence "........well?I have a big collection........have read them a number of times...........and they are just occupying shelf space.......so...............they'll keep him company.........of course, he needs to return them, but for the time being..........."
"You're sure he needs to return them?" Atul asked with a curious look, "maybe................just maybe that could be their final destination.......where they're meant to be........I mean books are best left with a book lover, right?"
"Oh no! HE needs to return these.. .....I am very possessive about my books..............they are strictly on a to-be-returned basis!" Ridhima was quite emphatic.
Atul laughed and got up to give her a big hug smiling, "sometimes Ridhima, you surprise me..........you are such an adorable kid..........his bag is lying in that corner with his gym gear...........just put them in...........I will let him know.............and will tell him that their owner is still ambivalent about transferring ownership so he'll just have to wait............"
"Sometimes, Atul you are really strange..........whatever you are getting at, I shall prefer to ignore it and not waste time even thinking about it.........." Ridhima shook her head exasperatedly as she opened Armaan's bag to put the books in. As she moved the stuff around to make space, her hand felt something and she pulled it out. To her surprise it was a copy of the Scarlet Pimpernel. As she flicked through the book, her eyes fell on the bill lying in between the pages. Armaan had bought the book recently. She wondered what had made him buy the book when suddenly, something occurred to her and she turned around to Atul.
"Atul, you are one of Armaan's closest friends, aren't you?" she asked closing the bag and putting it aside.
"I guess you could say that" Atul nodded wondering where this was going, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, if you are his closest friend, you would know him well, right? I mean his likes and dislikes?"
"Hmm, I guess......kind of ....yes, I suppose" Atul agreed
"Great!" excitedly she sat down on the table next to Atul's chair, "in that case, you would know, what is the thing that he hates doing the most?" she rubbed her hand in ill concealed glee as she waited for Atul to answer.
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Atul looked at Armaan and smiled. Armaan had been looking at his books for the last twenty minutes but his mind obviously was somewhere else.
"Ahem........ahem.." Atul cleared his throat to no avail. Armaan was still lost somewhere in his thoughts. Atul looked at the book that he was reading and then leaned across and whispered "clearly, interest rate parity theorems and their applicability to Company X's fund raising plans merit a lot of introspection not to mention amusement.."
Armaan looked up sheepishly and confessed "I'm sorry, were you trying to get my attention? I'm afraid, I was wool gathering........" he had been thinking of the books that Ridhima had left for him, how she never ceased to surprise him with completely unexpected yet warm gestures and was embarrassed to have been caught not paying attention..........the woman was occupying far too much of his time not to mention his thoughts.............
"Thank you, I figured.........have been trying to get your attention for a while..where were you lost........"
"Nowhere...........was just thinking of the corporate project that I need to do.........." Armaan made an excuse
".........and I am William Shakespeare! Give me a break Armaan, you were definitely wool gathering but it was not for the project........unless the thought of the project was amusing enough to bring that half smile to your face.........
." Atul teased him, enjoying his discomfort.
Armaan looked away sheepishly, and went back to his books, when Atul suddenly asked him, "By the way, hope Ridhima was not too unwell on the drive back home?"
"Huh?" Armaan looked at him lost, till he realised what Atul was talking about. He had clean forgotten the excuse that he had made to get away from the club.
"I asked was Ridhima terribly sick on the way back?"
"no...........not terribly......"
"Thank god, but I hope you took her to a doc.......which doc did you take her to? What did he say? What was it?" Atul continued enjoying Armaan's discomfort.
"..........er...........no...........I mean no doc is open at that time dude......."
"Oh ok, so I guess you must have at least got her some meds, right? Were the chemists open that late at night?" Atul persisted, now openly grinning.
"Alright, you bum, she was fine! I just needed an excuse to go home......" Armaan threw his hands up in resignation, with a guilty admission, and, as Atul looked at him with raised eyebrows "Ok, not home........I wanted to take her out for a coffee, so that we could chat for a while, in peace......happy?"
"Very!" Atul smiled, " am so glad that you finally saw some sense......though I must admit for a second I was taken in, but Ridhima is such a transparent girl, her surprise was so evident on her face.........it was all I could do to stop myself from gagging with laughter..her expression, not to mention yours when you were trying to glare her into keeping quiet.....it was really funny!"
"Am so glad that I could offer you entertainment for the evening and this morning..." Armaan remarked sarcastically, ".....it was not funny, I was darned worried that you guys would cotton on, she was so baffled......I don't usually make blatantly false excuses and disappear on friends....." he smiled remembering Ridhima's expressions. Atul watched with interest as he saw Armaan's expression soften as he talked about Ridhima.
"You know if you had not, I would have kicked your butt this morning, or at least called and given you an earful"Atul remarked, " all the subterfuge and conniving to get the two of you away from Anjali and Ankit....oh no...oops!"
"What?" Armaan almost yelled, "what do you mean away from Anjali and Ankit.......hang on.....all that thingamajig about Anjali not having spent time with you......Oh my god....Why?"
"Because my dear friend, Anjali and you were together the whole evening and Ankit was monopolising Ridhima......and I think it's extremely rude to not spend any time with your date for the evening. I thought you were very unchivalrous" Atul looked at him innocently, "by the way I also happen to think Anjali is a wonderful person and a great friend to spend time with....but I also thought I should salvage your reputation as a polite, courteous and chivalrous guy......."
"Right, I believe you......" Armaan responded sarcastically, and then after a while softly, " but I am glad you did.......we spent an amazing couple of hours just chatting...........Atul, she is so different from women I have known before..........she has no artifice, no desire to fake a persona............she is happy to be who she is........ I can talk to her for hours.........you know I actually lost track of time.........I can be myself with her...........no need of any pretensions..........for once that night, while whisking her away, I didn't give a damm about who thought what........I did what I felt like doing it , and believe me it felt so good! She's a great friend to have........"
Atul had been smiling through Armaan's monologue but the last sentence made his smile falter. Did the man still not see what was seemed so obvious to him or was he, Atul, reading things wrong?
He debated whether to talk to him about Anjali or not. He could see the bond between Armaan and Ridhima growing stronger by the day, and while he liked the idea of playing Cupid, Atul was also very fond of Anjali. After all, Anjali was his friend, and while he had always been aware of the rumours, over the past few weeks, he had begun to pay a lot more attention to Anjali's behaviour with and around Armaan. The night at the club, Anjali's constant reference to Armaan even when she was with Atul, her restlessness, had only confirmed his suspicions, Anjali was in love, or at least infatuated with Armaan, and, Atul did not want to see her hurt especially if Armaan was not sure which direction he was headed in.
Yes, Armaan had a couple of fleeting flings in the past year, more dating he thought than flings, nothing serious, but Anjali and he had remained close friends through all of that which probably strengthened Anjali's belief that that there existed a relationship between them. While Atul was unaware whether Armaan had ever verbalised any feelings for Anjali, he was very sure he had never ever denied them explicitly, at least he had never made the effort to deny the rumours.......if so, then Anjali could be forgiven if she believed that Armaan did harbour feelings of some sort for her........if so, then she deserved to know the truth, before she got deeper into this quagmire from which there was no escape...........
"Armaan......"Atul made up his mind, "you know Anjali is........she is very fond of you......"
"Atul? What was that about?" Armaan asked a little irritated, "of course, she is........as am I of her.........everyone knows that..........we are very good friends and shall always remain so.........."
"No.......I was wondering.........all these rumours about the two of you....you know.........being a couple........." Atul tried to broach the subject as gently as he could.
"Humbug!" Armaan responded dismissively, " You are my closest friend and you are saying this? You know its all bloody crap, and she knows it as well...........its just not worth either of our time to go around denying it..........and you know what will happen even if we do go around denying it......denials are great fodder for the rumour mills?"
"I am not sure Armaan............maybe you should have a chat once with Anjali and ensure that she knows the score........." Atul insisted, " I don't want her to get hurt?....." he was being as blunt as possible.
"Dude! I would hate to have her get hurt either, she is very dear to me......Ankit, Anjali and you are my dearest friends, why would I ever want her to get hurt? Don't worry, she is under no misapprehensions about our relationship. She knows we are just good friends! The rumours work well for both of us for keeping unwanted attention at bay! Come on, I don't want to read this any more.........first one to Ganpathy buys chai and pakoras........" Armaan grinned as he picked up his books and started to move out.
"You could not be more wrong Armaan."Atul looked after Armaan's disappearing figure, " I wish you were right but my instinct tells me you are not........and I just hope for all your sakes that you are right and I am not......"
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Finally its here folks, Part XVIII...apologies for the inordinate delay in posting it but got caught at work..in fact am posting it during my lunch time esp since I broke my promse to post it last night..but by the time I crawled back homelate night, I was sick of looking at a comp, my brain was not working, and, all I wanted to do was crawl under the sheets and go to bed, and, so I did! I did come online a coupleof time sto try and see if I coud post the part, but didn't manage to...
I must admit that Rahul's part did not quite come out the way I wanted it to, yes the gist of it is ok but I would have liked to put it across a little differently....but after the last few day, dont have the energyu to re-write it so hope you'll forgive me on this one...
NJ, apologies, I owe you comemnts on "Love...." but have not been able to manage to read it and write proper comments...
Aarti, have bookmarked Convinient Marriage but haven't been able to find the time...this part is also up because a large part of it was already writen before I got hit by this transaction....huge apologies...
I hope you like the part and do do leave comments! I shall esp look forward to them after my really harrowing last 3-4 days....now I shall have a hot steaming cup of tea and get back to the mountain of documents lying on my table!
Edited by bernard shaw - 16 years ago
