Sharon went across to the telephone and dialled Rey's number. Kriya answered almost at once, and
her voice bubbled down the phone as she recognised Sharon.
'Did you enjoy the trip? Are you worn out? Come to supper tomorrow night and tell me your
'I'd love to, but I can't.' Sharon hesitated. 'Is he in a good mood, Kriya?'
'Fair to middling. Why, is there something wrong?'
'In a way. I have to go away for a few weeks, that's all.'
'That'll be enough,' Kriya said blankly. 'What happened?' She paused. 'You're not"ill or
Sharon guessed the real question behind the tactful words. 'No, nothing like that. I have to go
to organise a family wedding. My stepsister is getting married, and there's a panic on.'
She could hear Kriya talking to someone at the other end, her voice muffled and then Rey spoke.
He said sharply, 'What is all this. Sharon? Kriya says you're going somewhere. You have to be joking!'
'I wish I were.' Sharon rapidly explained about the wedding. 'But there's more to it than that,' she
went on. 'I've just found out that my stepfather had a stroke at some time, and that he wants to
'Oh, hell!' Rey was silent for a moment. 'You realise that all this couldn't be happening at a worse
'Please believe that if I could get out of going, I would,' she said unhappily. 'But they're all the
family I've got, and I owe them a great deal. Certainly I owe them this.'
'Then obviously you must go, but for heaven's sake get back as soon as you can. They have
short memories in this field,' he said grimly. He paused. 'You said they were all the family you've
got. Wasn't there a brother as well? I seem to remember Simi mentioning him.'
'There was and there is,' she said. 'But I don't regard him as a brother. It was Tanni I grew up
'Lucky Tanni,' Rey commented. 'Tell the stepfather he did a good job. And phone me as soon as
'That's a promise,' Sharon said, and replaced her receiver. Her hand was sweating slightly and she
wiped it down the skirt of her dressing gown.
She would have to call Simi and she could pay Kingfisher Airlines and give her any
necessary instructions in the morning. There was no great problem there.
The towering,the shattering difficulty was getting through, firstly, tomorrow, and
then the days after that. If it hadn't been for the wedding she might have been able to do a
deal"to say to Swayam, 'I want to go back. I want to see Rish, to spend some time with him, and
I'll do it on the understanding that you go and stay far away from Aston while I'm there.'
But because of Rish's paralysis, Swayam was going to give Tanni away. He had to be there, and so
there was no bargain to be struck.
Not that Swayam struck bargains anyway, she thought. He made decisions and carried them
through to his own advantage. If he negotiated, he expected to be on the winning side, and
generally was. She had never seen him bested by anyone, although at one time she had dreamed
dreams of doing it herself. But not any more. He had shown her brutally and finally that against
him, she could not win, and she still had the emotional scars to prove it.
But she wasn't going to think about that now. She couldn't let herself think about that because
otherwise she would turn tail and run away somewhere"anywhere, and Swayam would know then
exactly what he had done to her, and triumph in his knowledge.
She didn't sleep when she went to bed, but she told herself that she wouldn't have slept anyway.
She'd had no exercise or fresh air to make her healthily tired.
There was too much to do in the morning to give her time to think. She packed and tried to eat
some breakfast, while she gave a surprised Mrs Anderson her instructions. Then she found Simi
's tour schedule and called her giving her a hasty explanatory note, telling her about the current scenario.
She dashed out to see and hope if Swayam had not come , she saw
there was a car parked in the street outside the flat. Swayam
was waiting at the top of the stairs. He swung impatiently to meet her.
'I was beginning to think you'd run out on me.'
'I had some wrk to do.' Sharon despised herself for the defensive note in her voice. She had nothing
to apologise for. She wasn't late; he was early. She took her key out of her pocket and Swayam
calmly appropriated it and fitted it into the lock.
'Thank you,' she said between her teeth, and went past him into the flat.
'If you're ready, I'd like to leave as soon as possible,' he said. 'The weather forecast isn't too
good for later in the day.'
It would be brave weather that would dare interfere with his arrangements, she thought bitterly
as she went into the bedroom to close her case.. She tugged boots on over her
jeans, and pulled a matching coat, warmly lined, on top of her cream
sweater. She had left her hair hanging loose round her shoulders as she had worked and
She picked up her case and the weekend bag that matched it and went into the living room.
Swayam was standing by the window looking down into the street.
'Is that all you're taking?' His glance ran over her luggage.
'It's enough,' she returned shortly. 'I've learned to travel lightly.'
'But not alone.' There was a barb in the smooth words which angered her, but she decided to
ignore it. The journey ahead was going to be trying enough without a constant sparring match
going on between them. Swayam
picked up the cases. 'I'll put these in the boot while you see to any locking up you need to
She was fastening the safety catches on the windows when the phone rang.
'Sharon?' Shivam's voice sounded plaintively down the line. 'Rey has just told me you're off
for an unspecified time. What's going on?'
Her heart sank at the note of grievance in his voice, which she had to admit was fully justified.
Before the West Indies assignment, she and Shivam had been seeing quite a lot of each other. She
had met him some months before through her work, because he was a young and promising
executive with an advertising agency which often used Rey's photographs. They had got on well
almost immediately, and she had accepted the invitation to dinner from him which had speedily
followed. They were starting to be spoken of as a couple, to be invited to places together, and
although Sharon wasn't sure that was entirely what she wanted, she was happy enough with the
arrangement to allow it to continue unchallenged as long as Shivam didn't start making demands
she couldn't fulfil. Up to now, he had shown no signs of this. On the contrary, he had seemed
quite happy to keep their relationship as light and uncommitted as she could have wished, but just
then she had heard a distinctly proprietorial note in his voice.
She said, 'A family emergency of sorts.' She should have let him know, she thought. He should
have been on her list ahead of Simi and Mrs Anderson really, but the truth was she had never
even given him a thought. She went on, 'It's been landed on me so suddenly, I haven't really had
a chance to contact anyone.'
'I didn't think I was just anyone,' Shivam said, and there seemed no answer to that, so Sharon didn't
make one. After a pause, he said 'Will you be gone for very long?'
'I hope not,' she said. As long as it takes, and no longer. I do have my living to earn, and as Rey
reminded me, they have short memories in the fashion world.'
'They'll remember you.' His voice warmed, lifted a little. 'I can't get you out of my mind, night or
That troubled her a little, but she found herself smiling. 'It would be nice if the other agencies in
town felt the same. Do you think you could become contagious?'
She was aware that Swayam had come back into the room and was standing by the door, silently
watching and listening. Anyone else would have had the decency to withdraw out of earshot, she
thought bitterly as she turned a resentful shoulder on him.
She could hardly hear what Shivam was saying. She had to force herself to concentrate on his
words because she was too conscious of that other dark and disturbing presence behind her.
Shivam said with that special note in his voice .
'It will be awful in Aston at this time of year, and they
reckon there's bad weather on the way. You'll take care, won't you, love?'
Sharon said, 'I can take care of myself.' And froze as she realised what she'd said, the words acting
like a key to unlock the secret place in her mind and unleash the nightmares which lurked there.
She found she was gripping the phone until her knuckles went white. She answered Shivam
monosyllables 'Yes' and 'No', praying that each response was the right one because he might
have been talking so much gibberish.
Eventually she said with a kind of insane brightness in her voice, 'Look, I really must go now. I'll
see you when I get back.'
Shivam said goodbye in his turn. He sounded disappointed, as if for all his warnings about the
weather he had hoped she might give him the address she was going to, the telephone number so
that he could make contact.
She replaced the receiver on the rest with unsteady fingers, and turned slowly.
Across the room, Swayam's eyes met hers, cold and watchful, and she knew that her words had
triggered off memories for him too and for an endless moment the past held them in its bleak trap.
If she backed away, he would come after her, a jungle cat stalking his prey. But she had no
reason to back off. Because this time what she said was true. She could look after herself, and
she would. Neither Swayam nor anyone else had the power to harm her.
And sitting beside him in silence, as the car devoured the miles on the motorway, Sharon found
herself repeating those words over and over again as if they were an incantation that would keep
her safe.
Precap -
Swayam and Sharon ride together to Aston and their convo during the trip !
NOTE -
I am sorry to write this chapter without much of Swayam and Sharon in it but it had to be done plus I had to introduce Shivam as well . Dont worry next chapter wil be full of SwaRon Convo.
Fan Fictions
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