Chapter 5:
'There he is.' Khushi thought glancing at the clock as the doorbell rang for the second time.
"This wasn't necessary," Arnav said walking in with a bottle of wine. She looked at him and wine and looked back at him again. "Not a fan of red?" He asked holding up the bottle.
"Never had wine before." She said stepping aside letting him in.
"Never had wine before, never owned a cellphone and…never been kissed." He said grinning. "No. Wait. You were never been kissed as of yesterday," his grin was now just a smile.
Redness spread her cheeks and she averted her gaze. Arnav was happy that she was at least a little bit affected.
"We should probably eat," she said guiding him towards dining table. The table fit the modesty of the apartment but on it was a fairly decent spread.
"You cooked all this?" He asked handing her the wine.
She took the bottle and stared and him blankly. "How do you open it?" She asked. Arnav bit back a smile and walked towards kitchen counter.
"Does your roommate drink wine?" He asked pulling out cabinets and peering through them.
"I don't know. Maybe?" She said watching him walk look through her kitchen.
"She does or she has friends who do," Arnav said pulling out a wing corkscrew. "Give me that bottle." She handed him the bottle wordlessly. "I don't drink…that…thing…I mean…wine" She tried to string words that came out of her mouth which eventually didn't make sense.
"One sip and then you decide, okay?" His voice held a gentle pressure. She refused to accept it but to her horror she found that she was nodding her head. 'Stupid instincts' She berated herself.
"For new beginnings," he said raising his glass. She mimicked his actions but held her tongue. He clinked glasses and took a sip. "It's considered to be polite to take a sip from the glass after a toast has been made," he said explaining her norms of society; a society in which she was an alien. She took a sip hesitantly but relaxed after she realized that the drink wasn't all that…bitter or smelly, for that matter.
"It isn't bad," she said after taking several sips and allowing the flavor burst into all corners of her mouth. She felt warmth spread to her cheeks and made her lips tingle.
"Shall we eat?" She said picking up a platter of assorted entrees.
Dinner was a quiet affair with both putting their best foot forward but greatly tip toing discussing their personal lives and stuck to talking about mundane things.
"Why did you help me?" She asked after thirty minutes of random conversation. He had been tight lipped about the whole thing and hadn't given any explanation to any of her questions.
"Because you needed my help," he replied and caught her expression. He knew that expression very well. He had seen similar expression on a woman whom he loved unconditionally but…he shook his head. Now wasn't the time. "You actually want to know why I took you there," he said. Khushi nodded her head. She was on her second glass of wine and she was holding it pretty well. The girl was full of surprises.
"I know Aman from a very long time." Arnav started.
"You are related?" She asked. He was right. She was interested more about him than about the reason why he got her a job.
"Why do you say that?" He asked wondering how she could catch up on something like that in a matter of fifteen minutes of seeing him converse with Aman.
"The familiarity borders on a respect he has for you and it isn't in terms of a friend. It's much stronger than that and much…older, I think." She said thoughtfully.
He looked at her for a long moment. She held his gaze without wavering and watched his face go through myriad of emotions.
"Oh what the hell," he said and helped himself for some more rice. "Aman is my step brother," he shrugged. The smile on Khushi's face disappeared. She didn't know how to respond to that bit of information.
"One day my father came home with another woman and two children who were younger than me and said – 'Arnav, they are your siblings. You now have a younger sister and a younger brother. This is their mother, also my wife. She hopes that she can be your mother too.' I told him that I already had a mother who was in kitchen fixing me a snack. He had looked at me helplessly and prattled endlessly about greatness of the other woman. It was in that moment I lost respect for my father." His shallow breath took her eyes away from his whitened knuckles. He was controlling rage, she could tell. She placed her hand on his and patted it awkwardly. His knuckles regained color within moments.
"What happened next?" She asked her voice just above whisper.
"My mother didn't give my father a choice. In next thirty minutes we were out of the house. My mother asked me to pack everything that I felt was important – things which held memories, or would make me hold on for reasons unknown. We went to my grandfather's house who incidentally had given a handsome share of his property to my father as a gift during wedding. I went back to boarding school several weeks later with my surname changed and that year Aman joined the same school. His sister was actually in my class contrary to what I assumed before and he was in a year below me. It took us months to actually face one another let alone be friends." Arnav was looking at the glass of wine seeing something which was visible only to his eyes while his memories bombarded his emotions.
"How old were you when this happened?" She asked leaning back on chair. Her voice had regressed to slightly husky tone laced with liquor effect.
"I was eleven. Aman was just ten year old. We had no idea how f**ked up our parents' life had been because of their decisions and choices. I was always angry at my mom for not fighting with dad to stay with us. Aman was always angry with his mother for driving away his father's family. It seems weird but we were bonded by our bitterness."
"You had difficult relationship with your mother?" Khushi ventured slowly. She knew that she was probably crossing some sort of line but after his revelation, she thought her question was pretty much tame.
"I did. I had difficult relationship with everyone. I didn't know why I had to give away my share of property. My mother said I had more than enough. But she never could convince me why my father should enjoy the share that was given to his wife by his father-in-law." He snarled. He looked at her slightly widened eyes. "It wasn't greed Khushi. It was not fair. It wasn't fair to my mom or me." He said.
He didn't know what had come over him to tell her everything about him. There were less than three people in this world who knew who he truly was. Lavanya knew that he came from family with old money but she never once suspected.
"I should leave…it's getting late," he amended the statement. "I'll help you clean the dishes before," he said his charm full back on.
"That's alright. I'll do the dishes in morning." She said also standing up. She sensed that he wanted to get away from there and go back to his place. It was suffocating him and she could feel it.
"I am sorry I ruined your dinner with my sob story," he said trying to lighten the mood. She shook her head vigorously not trusting her voice. He smiled faintly.
"Thank you Khushi. I don't know what came over me when I told you….that stuff and surprising thing is that I am not even attracted to you," he said and stepped out her apartment. "Good night Khushi. We should do it again but next time I will get some takeout and you can drop by with a bottle of your favorite juice," he said with a smile. She nodded wordlessly.
She walked back to the dining table and picked up the half empty bottle of wine and glass and walked back to living room in a haze and collapsed on sofa.
Alcohol indeed seemed like a constant companion to a broken heart.
To be continued.
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