The Masquerade (AnShi/ShivIka FF)- Epilogue UPDATED (Pg 130){COMPLETE} - Page 74

Shivay looked at the ruins of his phone which now lay shattered on the floor of his office. The sight of the phone hitting the floor, broken parts bouncing off the gleaming tiles had suddenly ushered in a calm over the maelstrom raging through his mind. He couldn't fathom what had come over him that morning. On entering his room, he had felt like he had stepped into one of his dreams. She had stood there like she had often come in his sleep and for once she had appeared so tangible. The sight of her in his space had been the final push to send him over the edge. He had acted before rational thought caught up.

"Don't ever do that again!"

She had spat out those words at him and like a whiplash, it had woken him from that unreasonable, inexcusable trance. He had always known there could be nothing between them. But for her to lay down that line today had affected him in ways he never thought possible. His dreams had not only brought her closer, they had revealed those feelings within him that he had long forgotten. A Shivay that life had taught him to repress, had lived and breathed again in those dreams, in those careless moments when he had indulged himself in thoughts of what ifs. All these years he had slowly been killing a part of himself. But her presence in his life,in his dreams, had introduced himself to a new Shivay. One who didn't deny one's one heart. One who didn't live by the rules set by others. One who could take risks, taste freedom, share his burdens, feel complete. One who could actually like himself. But he had allowed this as an indulgence to be tasted in rationed doses through dreams and fantasies, never to be realised, never to be known by another soul.

It was one thing to allow her into his dreams. But to then confuse those dreams with his reality! Did he now crave those fantasies to be made real? But there he had to admit defeat. After all, for someone like him, who had been raised to believe that he could have it all, in her had found someone he could never have, never claim. No negotiation he could enter would lead him to her. He kicked at the broken phone parts as he grimly chuckled. He had broken another phone in his fit of raging disquiet. But she would probably leave him in pieces if she ever came to know what thoughts ran through his mind at the moment. Today he had unknowingly crossed the limits he had built since the time he had known what it was to be an Oberoi. To hide his vulnerability before her, he had stepped back into the familiar routine of throwing verbal barbs at her, but it had been a flimsy mask. He could not hate her.

He had been angry all this while because of this growing relationship between Anika and Nishanth Gole. He had told himself she had turned out to be like every single other woman--hoping to settle down with a well-off husband who would give her a comfortable life. He had told himself Nishanth was no match for her, a fool with no idea of the fire he was handling. How wrong could he have been! Anika's smiles told a different story. Gole had made her happy in a way life probably never had before. He himself had only increased her troubles, Shivay knew. Was it wrong of her to find someone who can give her a better life? After all, Shivay Singh Oberoi too was marrying for a 15 crore deal which made him a far bigger gold digger than he could ever charge her of being. But he knew, Gole's income meant nothing to her. She would marry the man she loved, the one who made her happy. Shivay Singh Oberoi, for all his power and wealth, would marry a woman he cared little for only to crack a deal, to add a few more zeroes to the Oberoi bank balance. He let out a shuddering sigh as the realization sunk in.

She shouldn't even matter to him. People like her hadn't mattered to him. But how could he deny what the very blood flowing through his veins sang out. She had cracked the glass wall that he had built to separate the 'Us' from the 'Them' of this world. He had always been outside, looking in, blind in his own belief of his inherent superiority, in the deficiencies of everyone else beyond his immediate family or those fortunate enough to belong to this class. And yet in a world where people didn't hesitate to stab their own for a little leg up in this ladder of survival, she had been the one before whom the juggernaut of his beliefs had been forced to halt. He had made the mistake of thinking that just because she looked like any ordinary person, she was like everybody else. Her behaviour had angered him initially because it was always so unpredictable. But he had failed to read her at every turn simply because she was a world unto herself. He had tried to judge her by the standards of the world he knew but she was so much more. She made him see and feel so much more.

Anika, the unique enigma of a woman, was the final piece in this puzzle that was his life. She had given meaning to this chaos that he, till now, had confused for a set of rules and codes. Those rules he had lived by almost all his life now seemed dry and sere like those shrivelled autumnal leaves waiting to be borne off by a blast of wintry wind. She had made everything more colourful, more alive simply by being there. She made life fun, something to be enjoyed instead of a burden to be shouldered out of principles of duty and loyalty. And yet she lay beyond his reach, never to be his, in love with another. He wondered how the world could treat her like she was just another person, perfectly average in every way. His entire family loved her but did they really know her? Shivay smiled to himself. Perhaps Daadi had seen it-- the fire in her that she hid so well under that disguise of familiarity. But it was before him alone, that truly that mask of hers came off.

Shivay nudged at the broken phone pieces with his foot, trying to arrange them into some kind of order. But Shivay wasn't the only one before whom she would appear in all her glory. He wasn't the only one who could appreciate her what she was. In fact, she had someone who could do it better than he ever could. She had found someone who could give her the happiness she deserved. He too must let her go even if it is only from his dreams. The dangers of toying with dreams had been made clear today with what happened in his room. He had to forget her. For now he needed to focus on the Saraswati Steels acquisition. He needed to clear his mind. Perhaps lunch at the canteen for a change would suit him. He should be around people, who could drown out the storm inside his mind.

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"So, tell us chupa rustam, how was your Sunday date?" one of his friends asked Nishanth as they dug into their food.

"I don't want to talk about it." Nishanth darkly said, as he swirled the coffee in the foam cup.

This immediately prompted everyone at the table to insist that he tell them exactly what happened, in full detail.

"Guys, I don't know how to say it." he told the expectant faces.

"Ok, you got dumped, didn't you?" someone asked and sniggers broke out through the table.

"She lives in a slum, ok!" Nishanth burst out. "We broke up but, seriously, I would never have asked her out if I had known about this."

As they pressed for more, he told them. "By the time, she came with the tea, I thought I would collapse just from shock. And she has a handicapped brother. I'm glad for whatever reason she decided to end it. Or else, I would have really been in trouble."

"Gole, yaar, this isn't right. I thought you were always one for charity cases" said one as the snickering and back slapping increased.

Nishanth frowned but these were his friends and replied, "Well, I could give her number to you if you are feeling too sorry for her."

Another said, "You are lucky indeed, Gole. Such girls are always on the lookout for rich men. I can't believe you got off so easy."

"Nishanth Gole, we need to talk."

As one man, they looked up at that aristocratic face in alarm, whose icy glare swept across the table before settling back on Nishanth, who had never seen his boss look this cold towards him.

"Meet me at my office after lunch" said Shivay Singh Oberoi. And then the man was gone before Nishanth had managed to finish saying, "Yes Sir."

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Tia discreetly checked her phone as her mother showed off the designer lehenga to her aunt. An exquisite creation in red and gold, it seemed as if the thing weighed almost over a ton. It had found pride of place in her walk-in-wardrobe ever since it got delivered. Tia had already posted close up shots of the delicate embroidery, the shimmering weaves on the social media. However, at present she wasn't checking for updates on how many likes those posts had managed to garner. She had been trying to call Shivay since morning but he wasn't answering. She had even left a message. Since the last few days, Tia's distress had increased manifolds. She knew what was expected from a society wedding. In a world where profit came before everything else, she and Shivay had managed to build an understanding that promised a happy future. But increasingly she found herself wanting more. Her mother had told her over and over again that Shivay was most definitely a great catch. But so was her father, when her parents had married. So was Mr. Tej Singh Oberoi, when Jahnvi aunty had married him. But what happiness had such unions brought these couples? To be trapped in a loveless marriage had simply bled them dry. She saw her parents every day as proof of the consequences of such a 'match made in heaven'. The recipe for her parents having a stable marriage was the fact that they were always too busy to spend any time whatsoever with each other. The recipe for Jahnvi aunty's marital bliss was to marinate herself in alcohol.

"Tia, you do remember the appointment you have with your stylist in an hour. Don't sit around wasting time." Mrs Kapoor's voice broke through her reveries.

Tia excused herself from there with a smile and went to get dressed. She wished she could speak to Shivay once. To hear him reason away her fears, make her feel like they could find some kind of happiness. She tried to call him again but the phone kept ringing before the call got dropped. She slowly got dressed in what she knew wouldn't garner a second glance from her fiance who had eyes for only one woman. And that woman wasn't Tia Kapoor.

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