Chapter 13
Ishani sat in her cabin still in the thoughts of the happenings in the morning, for after the whole fiasco in the morning she wondered if she had crossed her limits today. She sat restless, unable to focus on her work. The thought of what Ranveer might be thinking about her kept hitting her again and again because she saw him leaving right after she left his cabin and that she felt might be because of her. Puneet did not go with him as he still was working in the office. Ishani cursed Anya again and hoped she could give a tight slap to her once again, but before that she had to make up for the supposed blunder that she had created.
Few moments passed as Ishani stood up came upto the place she had never been before. She proceeded to the back side of her room that lay on the west of the place. She took curtains off the window and the sight before devoured her in itself.
An oyster sky lay expanded with the pale grass underneath stretched out as far as she could see; the cold breeze touched her face as she found herself lost in it for a couple of moments. A little stream of water flew downwards making very little or inaudible sound, and icicles hung on the edges of the trees and their leaves sparkling in the dim sunlight falling over them. The sun was climbing down towards the horizon and its soft shadow could be seen even if covered behind the several flakes of the clouds. The cold weather to her in general appeared to be very sad for the flowers refused to show up from the fear of being crushed by the harshness of the winter; and the sun wouldn't come out of its abode and the world around was left to mourn over an unknown loss. But the sight in front of her did not appear to be igniting the pangs painful emotions that made it harder to live but it was rather a pleasant feeling.
There was an aura of amusement as Ishani felt herself getting lost in the beauty of the scene. Few minutes passed while Ishani still stood there when the feeling of the old uneasiness returned. She turned and came to her table and sat silently.
"Why did I have to be so stupid?" she said to herself.
There was no answer.
*
"Excuse me, Puneet," Ishani said, when she saw Ranveer had not yet returned.
"Do you need anything?" Puneet asked politely.
"Actually, I think I went too far in the morning when I said all that to you and Ranveer. I'm really, really sorry. It was all about your business stuff and I just..." Ishani said.
"It's alright, m'am. There is no need to be sorry. RV sir could not really do what you did. He'd have asked her to leave very politely-- although a forced one-- but what you did was awesome," Puneet said.
"Is that so? But I think that upset your boss a lot, isn't it?" Ishani asked.
"I think so, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He was glad that you said all that cool stuff to her and now neither Anya nor her boss will ever bother to repeat their mistakes again. They're done with it," Puneet said, and giving an assuring smile he left.
Ishani smiled back a bit thinking if what Puneet had said was true and if Ranveer was actually not mad at her after her sheer madness in the morning. She needed to say sorry to him. Ishani still did not understand why Ranveer's opinion about her mattered this much to her as this was never the case. Why she wanted him to have a decent opinion about her was still beyond her understanding.
"Puneet!" Ishani called him again.
"Yes?"
"Oh, well! I'm..." Ishani did not know how to put the right words into the question she was supposed to ask.
Puneet looked at her questioningly.
"I... I want to know where Ranveer is. It's been hours since he left and has not yet returned. It's sort of disturbing me," she said, trying to sound casual.
"Ms. Parekh, I think you have taken all that way too seriously. Don't worry, RV sir will come back. He did say he wanted to be alone for a while but he'd be back. Don't worry."
Ishani did not know why she should not worry because since childhood she had seen him getting insulted by the gentlemen of the society who always were the people everyone worshipped, but their real faces were always revealed when they had to come across Ranveer. She knew it hurt him to be insulted like this by everyone; and not just strangers but the family of his own master had humiliated him various times. She could imagine his older self surfacing from the pits of his crushed soul as he would have done his best to keep it inside. She knew he must have tried to kill the older Ranveer so that he would never have to see himself being humiliated, but today that cursed woman Anya had again stirred the dead feelings in him; and her standing up for Ranveer did no good to him although he did not express it to anyone. With these thoughts flowing relentlessly in her mind Ishani forced herself to work in which she found herself completely disinterested.
Soon after she finished the work and prepared to leave, Ishani saw Ranveer entering her cabin. Her heart skipped several beats at once at his sight as he came to her.
"Where were you? I was so worried..." were the words that came from her in a panic stricken voice.
Ranveer looked weary and there was something very odd about him at the moment. He looked surprised at Ishani's sudden remark that she thought was because she sounded too worried for him that he had not expected from her.
"I mean, I needed to talk to you," she said in a lighter tone, but he seemed to be thinking something else.
Before Ishani could think anything Ranveer handed over her a file. Reading the content in it brought a huge smile on her face and her eyes gleamed with happiness again. She looked at Ranveer who smiled back at her.
"Ranveer, this is my cafe's file, what is it doing here?" Ishani asked.
"Mr. Watson did not have anything to pay for the loss he had caused me by his stupidity, so there was his hotel that was still under-construction and to have himself still in the market he had to return me my money which he could not. So his one of his last properties was this hotel, and I bought it," Ranveer said, without letting any emotion visible in his tone.
"You? But..." Ishani was confused.
"No need to be confused, Ishani. That hotel is mine now and as the owner of it I return you your property," Ranveer said.
Ishani was shocked. When and how everything happened she could not understand.
"Oh! Thanks," she said, smiling a bit. "I'll be very grateful to you...for my entire life."
"No need for that either. It happened because Watson was an idiot and did not deserve to be with RV in any way."
Ishani heard the same egoistic voice that she had heard the day she came here for the meeting the first time. Ishani knew how Anya's words had affected Ranveer and her own fears had come true.
"Ranveer," Ishani said. He looked up at her. "I know whatever happened today was very bad, but don't take her seriously. Please. People like her exist everywhere and you cannot change them."
Ranveer did not say anything but stared at her, and Ishani felt herself trembling under his gaze. After a couple of seconds she looked away as looking into those eyes still had same effect as the first time. The guilt, the pain, and reproach for herself were the emotions that bubbled up all the time and this time they seemed much stronger.
"I know," he said after some time. "But I wish I could leave the past behind and keep up with the present. It's impossible, though."
"It's not. Your status never defined you."
"But it took the most important decision of my life. It separated me from the person I loved the most. It snatched the biggest reason of my life."
Ishani was taken aback by his words, and she unknowingly put her hand on his.
"No one has left you, and you're never alone," she found herself say.
Ranveer looked towards her and his eyes expressed an unsaid disbelief.
"Why don't you call me RV, Ishani?" he asked suddenly.
"I don't know. Perhaps I don't know who RV is. I have known Ranveer only. Even before I knew the meaning of life, joy or pain I have known Ranveer," Ishani said, and her grip on his hand tightening a bit with each word.
Ranveer smiled sadly. "How strange is that. That everyone remembers I was Ranveer Vaghela, someone who was a nobody in this world's eyes, and RV looks oblivious in front of the image that he himself wants to let go of."
"It's not so!" Ishani said. "Ranveer never was a nobody. He had what no one did. He was honest, he was an inspiration in all ways, he knew how to forgive, he knew how to give, he knew how to be happy, and he knew the meaning of life in the most amazing way. RV doesn't have that. Never let Ranveer go."
"No one valued Ranveer," Ranveer replied.
Ishani could see what he meant and the words to her fell short to make him understand the worth of Ranveer. She had never seen him this much vulnerable in her life before. He never took anyone's taunts on himself seriously but now she knew the reason why he behaved this way. She did not realize but Ishani still had her right hand on his holding it tightly, deep down trying to get him back from the little world of his. Ishani looked at Ranveer wanting to say something but no words came out of her mouth. She sighed.
Few moments passed when Ranveer said, "It's very late. You must go home."
But Ishani did not want to leave him alone, she shook her head, but Ranveer was not in mood of taking any excuses of hers.
"Your work is finished, so you can go now," he said when Ishani insisted to stay, making some professional excuses.
Ishani did not argue much and left asking him to take care of himself to which Ranveer nodded.
Once Ishani left Ranveer came back to his cabin and went towards the window from which the silver light of the crescent moon streaked into the room. The stars were bright and somewhere in the near distance the night birds hooted. Due to cold the wind became icy and he guesses it must have snowed somewhere near London.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," came Puneet's voice.
Ranveer looked back, surprised. "Puneet, you're still here? I thought you were home."
"Sir, there was this a bunch of documents that I wanted you to have a look at," Puneet said. "And as you said it must be kept in absolutely tight security, you should see if it's alright. For the rest I'll take care of this."
Ranveer checked the papers and said they were all fine.
"Sir, may I ask you one thing, if you don't mind?" Puneet said as he saw Ranveer leaving the cabin.
Ranveer stopped, "Yes."
"Why did you do that? Why did you destroy the Watsons?"
Ranveer glared at Puneet who did not seem afraid as if he knew he was determined to know the answers.
"You sympathize too much with people who don't deserve this," Ranveer replied crossly. "I thought the Watson chapter was over."
"No sympathy, sir. I'm curious. Everyone thinks they lost because of their stupidities but there is no news of how you have taken out all the minor and major supports from their company. And today they are left with almost nothing except the tiny amount you gave them. Why are you being so harsh?"
"There are few things which are not meant to have any answer, and the question why I did this' falls into the same category. Also I hope our conversation never goes out of this place. Never means never." Ranveer said.
"Never," Puneet said. Puneet guessed the reason himself but was too afraid to believe it was true.
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