RaBir FF -A Cast of Characters chapter 97/98 & Epilogue pg121/2 (4 - Page 67

Chapter 53

He's so angry; I know he is, Naomi."

"Yes, he is, but we knew he would be, so let's just consider this something that you needed to get out of the way, Rachna. Besides you know that KT anger is only borne out of how much he loves you . You mustn't dwell on it, not when we have so much... " The angle of the monitor changed, and Naomi instantly went quiet.

"Still at it Rachna? It's well past the time that you should be asleep. Your work will be there in the morning."

"I won't be long, Rajeev. I'm just doing a little time scheduling and then it will be lights out for me."

"Thik hai" He held up an empty pitcher. "I'm just going to get some water. Do you have everything you need: water, something light to eat in case you get a little hungry?"

"I'm fine thank you, and I'll be off in a few seconds, so no need to check on me again, Sir."

That got her a small smile at least. "Good Night, Rachna."

"Good Night."

She waited a few seconds until she was sure that Rajeev had reached the stairs before she adjusted the laptop.

"Oh wow, he's doing such a good job taking care of you, Ra."

Rachna rolled her eyes at her best friend's dreamy expression. "Aacha, too good of a job Naomi, let me tell you; you wouldn't be thinking so well of him if you saw how he's been acting. And don't even attempt to say it's due to his love for me that he's been so bossy. And I'm sure it's going to get worse after today. I'm sure that KT has asked him to be even more vigilant now. "

"Nevertheless, I'm impressed that he's taking such good care of you, and I'm so glad that he's there, especially now."

"He misses you so much, you know."

"I miss him too."

"So any progress with your parents?"

Naomi sighed. "Mummy is being so difficult, but tomorrow I'm finally going to have both her and Daddy on the same skype call. Hopefully..well , hopefully we can get closer to a resolution, but I don't want to focus of that right now okay?"

Rachna watched as her friend's struggled with her emotions. "Just remember I'll be here for you to talk after thik hai? In the meantime, everything will proceed as we planned."

"You've arranged everything then?"

"Ha, I have. We'll find out soon if there is any merit to our guess."

Rajeev turned his glance towards the bedroom and saw that it now appeared in darkness. For good measure, he went to the door and quietly opened it peering in to the dark room. Satisfied, he walked away and headed to his own bedroom. Leaving the door ajar he finally turned in himself.

------

"I see...so now through Rachna's compassion, you have entree into her home, where effectively you will do you level best to rid her from KT's life. While I see every advantage for you Sonal dear, I do now see any immediate benefit for myself."

In the dimness of the lamp lit bedroom, Sonal, shook her head in disgust. "Your problem Abhi," she hissed through the phone, "Is that you have no patience! Haven't you realized that going for the quick result doesn't work; that sometimes you need to lay groundwork to achieve a goal? God, it's no wonder you could never close the deal with her!"

"Just who the hell do you think you are talking to Sonal? Trust me you do not want to get on my bad side! You do understand that If I so choose I can make your life a living hell, you bitch!"

She swallowed, afraid for the first time that she may have overstepped her boundaries with Abhi. The man was clearly becoming more and more unpredictable as time went on.

"You're right; I apologize. Blame it on my excitement on what this could mean for the both of us. While you are getting the information from America, I'll be able to siphon the details from inside the home. Remember Rajeev is still here, and I can keep you up to date on him. Even if they decide that they need to keep an eye on me, they will never suspect your plans for Naomi, and he would be the one in the know as it relates to her."

"You have a point."

She sighed in relief. "After this, I think we should limit our contact to texts, so that there's no risk of anyone overhearing us. That and email should suffice as I have my laptop with me."

"Thik hai, but I expect this new situation to bear fruit for both of us, you understand Sonal?"

------

"I never loved Abhi, how could either of you think that I did?"

"But you did have a relationship with him, and you came home in a state over your breakup, so if it wasn't love then what was it Princess?"

"He was easy, Daddy."

"Pardon me, did you just say that he was easy?"

"Good grief Daddy, I didn't mean like that!" She went quiet as she sought the right words. "Mummy, Daddy do you remember the story you told me about my 2 year assessment, when the assessor indicated that perhaps my speech would have been further along if everyone allowed me to be self-sufficient. That by catering to my whims and not allowing me verbalize what I had to, that you were making things too easy for me. Do you remember?"

Their smiles made it clear that this wasn't a forgotten tale. "And once you guys realized that, then everything got better from there, and I haven't stopped talking since? Well all of you may have stopped in that regard, but you just kept at it in other ways. I mean how many times has Stef interjected on my behalf and smoothed things over with you guys to allow me stuff, and the two of you, well honestly you have to admit that you probably gave in to me maybe a little more than you should have. I'm not saying that I didn't appreciate everything that was done for me, but in hindsight it probably left me with a slight sense of entitlement. At the very least, my life seemed very charmed. Well Abhi just fit into that. He adored me, and I didn't have to work at all in the relationship. He made his self available for me whenever I needed him, and I took it for granted. He asked me to marry him you know, a couple of time actually, and I must have known deep down that it would be wrong to accept his proposals, but to tell the truth he was only one more proposal from a yes.. because it would have been easy."

She looked at her parents, "And It would have been so wrong to say yes, first because I didn't love him, and secondly because I'm certain that his attraction to me was superficial at best. It turned out his breaking up with me was the best that could have happened - for both of us. From my point of view, it was needed as it had to be one of the few times in my life that things hadn't gone my way. It was a major hit to my pride, and although I didn't realize it then, today I can say with all certainty that it wasn't due to losing the love of my life that I was so unhappy. I especially know this because what I felt for Anhi cannot hold a candle to how much I love Rajeev. And I know he feels the same for me, you would only need to meet him to tell this."

"Naomi, even if Rajeev is worthy of your love, what guarantee do we have that there won't be similar conclusion to this new infatuation of yours? If his family came to him with an alliance, would he too walk away from you, leaving us to pick up the pieces of your broken heart?"

Green eyes met their mirror image, as Naomi contemplated her father's painful questioning. "This is not an infatuation Daddy, so stop calling it that." She wiped her face of the tears that began falling down her cheeks . "I love him like you love Mummy, real and true. And as to your question; that would never happen Daddy. Rajeev would never walk away from the woman he loves, and he loves me. You only need to meet him to see. If you just allow me to conference him in Daddy.."

Her father held his hand up. "No, that won't be necessary Princess. We will talk more when we see each other in a few days."

"But Daddy.."

"Naomi we will not be settling your future online and that's final."

She had only been able to nod in response to her father's edict, and bade her parents, "Good Night."

And because she couldn't shut off the pain of her father's rejection, she shut down what she could, first setting the do not disturb feature on the hotel phone and then disconnected everything: laptop, mobile, IPad. And then she left the room.

Finding it unusual that he couldn't reach her on her mobile, Kabir tried Naomi's hotel room with an even more confusing result when the answering service activated immediately. Perhaps she had decided to get some rest, but knowing that she had been scheduled to speak to her parents, he would be lying if he said that her sudden unavailability didn't worry him. He exited the town car, finally back from his meetings, and was about to enter the hotel when a familiar mass of curly hair at a window table of the hotel's restaurant and wine bar caught his attention. Sighing in relief, he diverted to the left as soon as he entered the main door.

"Most people opt to drown their sorrows, but it look as if sweets are your vice Naomi."

"I don't drink, you know that KT."

He picked up the chilled champagne glass on the table and took a little whiff of the contents.

"Someone sent that to me, I just accepted to be nice." She looked up from the dessert she was eating. "I think it was the guy at the end of the bar there."

Kabir turned to look, and then turned back to her. "So it looks like I arrived just in time then."

"I wasn't seeking anyone's attention, if that's what you are thinking Kabir. I just wanted out of that room, and figured some dessert would do me wonders."

"So are you filled up on sugar or do you have room for something healthy?"

"The portions are really tiny, so I could go for something a bit more substantive."

Alright, let me order dinner for us and we can have it upstairs." He saw her hesitation. "Trust me. You will like this."

On entering the room, Naomi realized that she hadn't been pass the threshold of Kabir's suite since they were usually meeting in the hall. If she had, she probably would have begged to switch rooms. Where her spa suite was a dream; KT's suite with its private dining and sitting balcony was sublime.

"I'm sure it will be a while before dinner gets here, so I'm just going to freshen up. Make yourself at home Naomi."

She was still out on the balcony, lost in her thoughts, when Kabir returned followed by the room service staff who she hadn't even heard arrive. He held out her chair and invited her to sit, while he saw the hotel staff out.

"I thought it best to get rid of him, before we started, I don't think he could have handled your kisses tonight."

Finally he got the one thing that had been missing from the moment he had seen her - her smile.

"Let's eat and then talk, thik hai?"

"This is such a waste, KT."

"What do you mean?"

"My room: your room; especially your room with this balcony. We should be sharing these spaces with the ones we love, not each other."

"Are you saying you don't love me; I won't believe it you know, I'm far too lovable to be denied."

She laughed. "You're such an idiot Kabir Tripathi. I guess I do like you a smidgen, but you know what I mean. You need to bring Rachna to New York and book this very room. She would love everything about it."

"And what will the Agarwals' be up to, partaking of the in-room spa services next door?Somehow I can't see Rajeev appreciating a facial."

"Maybe if I asked him he would suffer through it, for me, but I don't think that will be something we need to concern ourselves with." She looked away before turning back to him in tears. "I'm probably going to book my flight home for the morning after the launch."

"No you won't. You will be flying back to Banaras with me, back home."

"You don't understand." She swallowed and sighed. "This isn't a simple setback by any means. Once Daddy has made up his mind.." She couldn't continue as her crying began in earnest.

He walked to where she sat and pulled her into his arms and let her cry her heart out. "Hush Naomi, I promise it will be okay."

She shook her head against his chest. "No...no it won't, Daddy won't change his mind once he's made it."

-----

It was past midnight when Kabir stood outside Naomi's hotel room, listening to hear her latch the door. Satisfied that she was secure for the remainder of the night, he turned away not certain how this new development would fit into his plans but he would have to act accordingly. Come hell or high-water, he would fulfill the promise he had made.

----

She probably shouldn't have washed her hair this late, she thought, as she wrapped the towel around it to absorb the excess moisture. She would blow-dry it in a minute; it wasn't like she could sleep anyway. Despite what KT had said, she knew that it would be better if she started looking into flights to go home, so she powered up her laptop. After a quick search, she found a suitable flight and went to get her credit card to make the purchase when the skype ring tone sounded. Her first thought was not to answer, but then she realized that he would have to help her.

"Vihaan you're up early today."

"Not really Bhabhi, it's actually mid-morning here in Banaras." He laughed at her look of surprise. "Yes, here I am direct from Argarwal mansion. I've come back for some pampering from mummy and of course to meet my Bhabhi in person when she comes home in a few days."

"You won't believe how happy I am that you are there, and that you will be there to see Rajeev."

"And you too, right Bhabhi?"

"Hmm... um ,Vihaan, I'm sorry it's really, really late here, and I have to get some rest so..."

"It's okay Bhabhi, you get some sleep. I've got a few errands to take care of myself."

His first would be locating his brother and asking him why his Bhabhi was up past midnight crying. The second would be making sure Rajeev did something about it.