ArYa FF: Dil Jaanta Hai - Thread 1 (chapt 1-10) - Page 82

Arti walked into the hotel. It was not yet 6am and she was nervous. The irritation from earlier on still lingered, making her fidgety. However as Vidhi had instructed, she went to the reception desk and asked for the night manager. When he came, she said she had come from the Scindias.

"Yes, Pankaj Sir told us you would be coming. Please come with me Ma'am". The manager's obvious knowledge of the situation and deferential treatment eased Arti slightly.

As they walked towards the elevators, he said, "Thank god you are here Ma'am. We were not sure what to do."

Arti did not say anything, just made a sympathetic sound. Taking that as encouragement, the manager continued, "I don't know what came over Yash Sir last night. He came back around 8pm and went straight to the bar. I have never known him to drink before, but last night it was continuous - one glass after the other. We close the bar at midnight and he was still there."

Four hours?? He had been drinking continuously for four hours!?!

"We finally had to carry him upstairs Ma'am - he wasn't in his senses" the manager continued as the elevator started to rise towards Yash's floor.

"You said you haven't seen him drink like this?" Arti asked.

"No Ma'am. He came here four years ago on his way to his honeymoon. We knew it was a honeymoon trip and sent them complimentary champagne. Sir sent it back with a thank you note saying they don't drink."

After a brief pause, the manager continued, "He and his wife left an impression I can tell you". Turning to Arti the manager smiled reminiscently, "Can you imagine? He booked the entire 2^nd floor for two weeks! Delhi was just a transit stop on their way to their honeymoon - but Yash Sir refused to let us rent out the rooms in the intervening days. He said when they came back, he wanted everything exactly the way his wife had left it. The maids were given strict instructions for the cleaning as well...Yes, they definitely left an impression".

No, she could not imagine, Arti thought to herself. How...crazy. The expense was mind-boggling, something the frugal Arti could not even imagine. And what a waste...

By then they had reached the floor. As they reached Yash's room, the manager stopped with his hand on the door-handle. "Ma'am, do you want to wait outside while I check?" At Arti's nod, he went in. Within a minute he was out and said "Sir is still unconscious. He has not moved since we lay him on the bed."

Heart beating fast in trepidation Arti entered the room. The smell hit her like a slap in the face and she turned to the manager immediately, "What is this stink?"

He pointed towards the bed, a sheepish yet worried look on his face. Arti walked over and gaped. Yash lay face down on the bed, his legs dangling over the edge. He had vomited in his sleep, the drinking binge taking its toll. His hair and face was grimy and the bed-sheet was covered with the dried vomit. It was a wonder he had not choked.

Crinkling her nose in disgust, Arti started pulling the bed sheet off. With the manager's help, she got the sheet out from under Yash and the manager dumped it outside the room. Next she took a hand towel and rinsed it out with cold water in the bathroom. She went back into the room and gave the towel to the manager, "Can you wipe his face please?"

Nodding, the man took the towel and gently wiped the face, cleaning Yash up as best he could. Yash slept through it all.

Arti tried to open the windows but they were sealed shut. "The windows won't open Ma'am. This is an AC suite, so we seal them" the manager explained. He turned on the AC at full-blast, as well as the fan. Arti opened the bathroom door and the small overhead window in the bathroom. Turning on the exhaust inside she hoped this would be enough to dispel the smell...though she doubted it.

The manager and Arti stood back, looking down at Yash. He had not even stirred the whole time. He glanced at Arti - she had a worried frown on her face now. "Ma'am, do you want me to call a doctor?"

Arti looked up at that. She thought for a moment...she had seen Chowkidar-chacha in her orphanage in Mumbai. He would drink and pass out, but he always woke up later...with a terrific headache.

She shook her head, "No. Let him wake up and if necessary we can call a doctor then. But...can you arrange for some black coffee please? Hot, really hot."

"Of course Ma'am" the manager replied. She nodded and went back to her worried contemplation of the man on the bed.

After a moment, the man said, "Is there anything else I can do Ma'am?"

"Uh, no...no thank you. You have been very helpful Mr..." Arti looked at the man's name-tag for the first time, "Mr. Shah. Just one thing...". She wondered how to say this, "If you can keep this..."

"Don't worry Ma'am. We are very discreet, our reputation depends on it. No one will know about this incident" Mr. Shah assured her.

"Thank you," Arti smiled slightly, the relief evident. She was aware how much the Scindias valued their reputation.

In another half-hour, Mr. Shah brought in the coffee tray himself. Placing it on the side-table he told Arti, "Ma'am, I will be leaving shortly, my shift ends in another 30 minutes. I can brief my replacement..."

"No no, Mr. Shah, thank you very much. I think I can handle it," Arti said instantly, loathe to have another person involved.

"I understand Ma'am. But if you do need any help, here's my card. My cell number is here. If you need to, please don't hesitate to call and I will make arrangements without making others privy to the situation" Mr. Shah said. He felt sorry for this soft-spoken lady, obviously a family-friend, and out of her depth.

Arti nodded gratefully, "Thank you so much Mr. Shah. I really appreciate everything you have done".

"Of course Ma'am", he replied, and left, closing the door softly behind him.

By now, it was almost 7:30 and the sun had risen. Arti pulled the curtains back and the sun streamed into the room, falling squarely on Yash's face. He frowned slightly and tried to turn his head away. Arti stood aside, letting the sunlight in.

The bright light finally penetrated through Yash's drunken stupor and he stirred. As always, he reached his hand out to where Ansh normally slept and patted the bed. Finding nothing, his instincts jerked him awake and he snapped his eyes open, crying out in panic, "Ansh!!"

Arti's annoyance melted away. At least he was aware enough about Ansh...

Yash felt arms holding him steady, helping him sit up. He was grateful for the help even as he hung his head down, trying to breathe through the blinding pain - pain that cut through his heart as much as his head.

"Yashji", Arti said softly.

At that Yash jerked his head up - and immediately winced in pain. Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes, trying to focus on the figure in front of him. When he finally recognized her, he was stunned. "Artiji?" he asked in disbelief.

Arti saw the stunned expression being replaced with panic and then anger. In a hoarse voice, Yash ground out, "What are you doing here?"

"Vidhi called me in the middle of the night. When they could not get through to you last night, they called the hotel. The manager told them...told them you had been drinking and had passed out. She called me and asked me to come here to check on you," Arti explained grimly.

Yash closed his eyes. What a despicable...idiot he was.

"Yashji" Arti called again. He opened his eyes and this time looked at her shame-facedly.

"Here", Arti held out a cup with the piping hot coffee in it. "Drink this. It will help with the hang-over."

He took the cup in his trembling hands and immediately splashed some coffee. The hot liquid quickly burned his wrist and he gasped, nearly dropping the cup.

Just as quickly Arti grabbed the cup. She put it back on the table and looked around. There was a small kitchenette in the large suit and she went there, checking each drawer till she found some straws. She handed the straw to Yash and said "Sip the coffee through this."

He tried, but he had to bend his head and that hurt too much. "I can't" he said, straightening up.

Arti curbed her irritation and went back to the kitchenette. She got a spoon and handed it to him. He tried to pick up the liquid in the spoon but his hands were too unsteady. Audibly clucking in irritation now, Arti snatched the spoon from him and dipped it in the coffee. She fed him some spoonfuls of the coffee till the cup had only about 1/3^rd the amount and the liquid had cooled a bit. She then handed the cup to him again, and this time he managed to hold it steady enough to drink in a few large gulps.

He drank two more cups before his aching head finally stopped throbbing. Arti asked, "Feeling better?"

He couldn't risk nodding his head, so said quietly, "Yes, thank you...And Artiji, I am sorry for the trouble I caused you."

Arti had decided she wouldn't say anything, after all how did it matter to her? However, she couldn't stop herself when Yash gave her the inadvertent opening.

"What did you get by drinking yourself senseless Yashji? Vidhi told me it was Arpitaji's birthday yesterday. I know the pain of living through the birthday of the one person you love the most but who is no longer alive."

She shut her eyes as the pain of losing Prashant washed over her anew. If Ma and Bauji had not come to Delhi that day, on Prashant's birthday, she didn't know how she would have coped. The three of them supported each other through the most difficult day of their lives after Prashant's death. She knew, she understood only too well the pain Yashji must have been going through the night before.

"I understand Yashji. But at least you have Ansh" she said and stopped, unable to utter another word.

Yash looked at her then and saw the brave woman fighting through her tears, a woman who had lost her entire family but still lived and cared enough for others to go on. And cared enough to heed a phone call from a friend to come help him - practically a stranger.

How could he tell her - this woman who had lost everything she loved? How could he tell anyone why he drank last night! He loathed himself, hated himself. He had hoped drinking himself to oblivion would ease the guilt - but nothing could. How could he have forgotten his Arpita's birthday?? How could he!?!