Abhiya SS: Magnetic Dipoles Epilogue(+NOTE) page 168 - Page 29

"No, Leena," pleaded Piya desperately. "I don't want to be away from you. Please don't do this." "Piya, I'm sorry, darling," said Alina, gripping her shoulders. "But our Kolkata office needs serious revamping. If this keeps up, it's going to affect GenY's reputation. Circulation is already lowering by the month. Please, Piya, it's just six months. I've even booked an apartment for you. Please- I don't have anyone I trust enough for this. Once the numbers are up, I'll get you back, and I know you'll do that in six months. Please?" "Fine, " said Piya defeatedly. "I'm going to my cabin- need to look over that article on strays." She walked out. Alina closed her eyes and groaned, sinking down onto her chair. Being editor in chief of GenY, the most widely circulated weekly in India according to Who's Reading Survey was a trying job but it did have its advantages at times. She felt a trifle guilty that she wasn't telling the real reason to Piya, but she was rather apprehensive of Piya's temper. She rarely flew into one, and when she did, she was downright terrifying. She had shocked the entire office once when she had screamed at one of the employees for bitching about Alina. For an hour, everyone watched mutely as she spewed out like Vesuvius, until Alina had to intervene and order her to calm down. True, the Kolkata department was in need of upliftment, but even so...Alina didn't want to be at the receiving end of that temper.

...

Abhay was finding it hard to completely erase Piya Jaiswal from his mind. The sudden change in her personality was disturbing. What had happened in these years? He recalled her teasing wisecracks, and then her moist eyes when he had said she was beautiful. She'd sounded so nervous, no unsure of herself. And then there was the matter of how she had known about him. Well, many people did anyway, now that he thought of it , thanks to his success at a relatively younger age. Sure, he'd got his success, but at what price? He liked solving other people's problems- there was no doubt of that. But what about the time he wished someone would solve his problems for him?

...

Piya trudged up to her apartment on the third floor. As much as she had been please by Kolkata, the train journey had exhausted her. Unlocking the door, she went in. It was a cheerful apartment, the drawing room done in yellow and maroon, the bedroom a comfortable purple. She unpacked the pizza she'd brought and set it in the microwave oven to heat, going to change into a night suit. Taking her dinner, she went to sit by the balcony, looking down at the calm road. This are seemed to have less noise , she thought. She watched a cat walk across the lining of a roof. A rickshaw hooted softly as it passed. With a jolt of memory, she realized he was in this city. Abhay Raichand. The thought sent a tremor through her head.

Meeting him had unnerved her. She had had to pretend friendly and warm with a vengeance, and had employed every one of her acting skills, not wanting him to pity her or diagnose her as some sort of people-phobic person. She knew she was, and quite honestly, after so many years, she didn't give a damn what they thought of her. She knew they thought her a cold, secretive workaholic. What really mattered to her was her sister's family, and Leena, and they had never said anything. Leena had made it known she didn't approve of Piya's solitary lifestyle, but had said nothing more than that. She wondered now what he thought of her. Had he seen through her act?

Abhay Raichand had no idea, but she had edited the article the first time GenY had taken his interview. On paper, he had seemed the same as ever- brilliant, cool, composed, a hint of cheekiness. But he wasn't- she knew that now. His eyes didn't sparkle with the same mischief as it used to. He seemed serious, and so much older'''. But it had been fun battling with him again. She had even enjoyed herself, after a long time. His views on love were strange. Why was he so cynical? Abhay Raichand may have been a psychologist, but it looked as though he needed one, too. She contemplated for a wild moment of getting in touch with him- but her ego would not allow it.

A week passed by. Piya had been mildly irritated at the way the office was run, but being the General Editor helped her to get herself heard and obeyed properly. Within days, she'd spoken to the layout editors, asking(and effectively ordering) them to make drastic changes in the layout of next week's issue. More color and less grey.

"We're not reader-friendly," she announced at a meeting of the editorial board. "We need to print things people can relate to, and not just entertainment and politics. We need to have them too, obviously, but that doesn't mean more than half the issue has to be based on them. We need more vivid writing. The point we need to drive home is that this magazine belongs to the reader. GenY needs to stand out, circulation needs to pick up!" She proceeded to outline the rest of the details, explaining them to the rest of the team.

A few days later, Joydeep Roy, one of the youngsters, requested to meet with her. "Come in," she said, looking up as the bespectacled young man entered. "Have a seat," she said politely. "Something to suggest?" she said, prompting him. "Er-" he said at last, "I was- I was thinking if- if we could have a guest article every week, written by a reader. You know- we could plan a competition or something among the readers and ask them to mail us with their own articles, and the best we could feature '?" he trailed off. Piya considered the idea, tapping her desk with a pen. "We could try it, I suppose," she said at length. "Let me speak about this at the next meeting. Thank you, Mr. Roy." She went back to editing the cover story for next week.

...

"A little more bread, Abhay?" said Pankhuri. "You eat too little." "Thanks, but I'm full," said Abhay, getting up. Little Sneha, Kabir and Pankhuri's seven year old daughter had developed a fever and so Abhay had spent the night at their house, playing nanny to the little girl. The child was excessively fond of him, and she was the one who had forced him to keep "Dil Ibadat" as his mobile ringtone because she loved the song. "I should go, it's getting late," said Abhay. "Where's Kabir?" "He's in his study, with those awful microbes again," said Pankhuri with an air of exasperation. "What pleasure he gets from fungus I shall never know. Merlin knows why I married him!" "No, he's not," said Kabir's protesting voice as he walked into the room."I was reading the newspaper. You can have it , if you want," he said, noticing Abhay staring at it. "Thanks, mate," said Abhay. "I'll be quick."

For a while there was silence , broken only by the tinkle of Kabir's spoon and Pankhuri's veiled threats. And then Abhay let out an audible yelp. "What?" said Kabir, but Abhay shook his head, continuing to peruse the small article in "CitySpeak" that said that the reputed magazine GenY was undergoing a facelift in order to raise circulation , with changes suggested by the new editor from Delhi, Piya Jaiswal. His eyes widened in realization as he read the next line. "Miss Khurana, editor in chief of the magazine head offices, said in a statement that she was fully confident of the new Kolkata editions having a drastic improvement." Abhay carefully folded the newspaper and made his farewells. Only when he reached his chambers did he allow himself to break out into a grin. Holy Heaven, that was how she had known about him. How cool, how composed'. No wonder they had known where he was staying. And now she was here'he would have to spring a visit on her sometime. If only to see her reaction.

"No, Aliya, how many times should I tell you I am NOT interested?" he snapped as one of his exes cornered him outside the hospital a week later. "But I love you," she whined. Abhay closed his eyes to control his rising anger. "Too bad for you I love someone else," he lied : telling her he was taken might make her shut up. "No, you can't," she said positively. "I assure you it is perfectly within my rights to do so," he said icily. "In fact, she's living with me. SO stay away from my house and quit stalking me." He opened the door of the car, but Aliya reached out and caught the door handle. "Excellent," she said. "I'll come and meet her tomorrow." Then she was gone.

At home, Abhay was panicking. God, where would he find someone willing to masquerade as his live-in partner? Any girl would create complications. He needed to find someone he could trust and yet who would not be attracted to him...And the answer came to him in one glorious stroke of inspiration.

...

"Erm- Ma'am," said Sunita, Piya's secretary,in the morning, as she was striding into her cabin. "Someone wants to meet you." "Tell them to make an appointment," said Piya coolly, walking ahead. "Uh- no, actually Ma'am, he just went right in." Piya turned around and stared at her, icy fire glinting in her topaz eyes. "May I remind you that I dislike unannounced visitors?" she said in a soft yet dangerous voice. The secretary gulped. "I tried to stop him," she stammered, "He didn't listen to me." "Fine," said Piya coolly. "I'll deal with him."

She walked into her cabin, glowering at the back of a man who was sitting in front of her chair. "If you don't get up and leave NOW, you'll be at the receiving end of some really heavy blows to tender parts of your anatomy, courtesy our security guards," she said in her most dangerous voice. The guy swung around, smirking. "It's nice to see you're as free with your tongue as ever." Piya's eyes went wide. She held on to the desk to steady herself. "What- how?" she spluttered. Abhay got up and and helped her to her chair and passed her a glass of water. She took a gulp- and was back to normal. "What are you doing here?" Well, not quite normal. Her voice was a bit quavery.

He grinned. "Emergency, Ma'am. I had no other place I could ask for help." Piya tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Explain." Abhay looked sheepish. "Well, it's like this'.." "What, Raichand?" "I need your help. There was silence. Piya took her pen, tapping it against her desk. Her fierce eyes turned slightly worried. "What is it Abhay?"

Abhay began, telling her all about the incident of the previous night. When he got to the part of Aliya's visit, Piya got up and paced the floor. When he finished, she said, "I see. You want me to be your pretend girlfriend." He nodded. "I don't mean you have to do PDAs or anything. Your presence is all I need." She bit her lip, frowning. "This won't work, Abhay," she said at last. "I'd do it, but- I don't live with you. She will find out. You have my sympathies, but still''" "So come and live with me," he interrupted. "You can have your own room and everything. Be my room mate or whatever. I live alone, so there's plenty of space." Piya stared at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "You heard me." "Fine," she said. "Let me talk to Leena for a sec."

Ten minutes later, Piya was hurtling out the office, Abhay right behind her. Unlocking her car, she stuffed her large inside before taking a piece of paper and writing something on it. She handed it to Abhay. "This is my address. Go home, get about two dozen pictures of yourself on a pen drive and then come and pick me up." "Right," said Abhay, moving towards his own car.

Piya was packing the last of her belongings when the doorbell rang. She straightened p, rushing to the door; sure enough, he was there."You got it?" she asked breathlessly. "yes," said Abhay. "You ready?" His eyes moved over her rumpled hair. "No, I'm not," she snapped. "I've been packing at the speed of light." Taking the pen drive from him, she hurried to her laptop, seeing the pics. "What are you doing?" said Abhay in confusion. "Important work, please don't disturb," said Piya, sounding flustered. "Sit on the bed." He did so. "Right," said Piya , still clicking and dragging randomly- or so it seemed. Without tearing her gaze away from the screen, she said, "Where does Aliya work?" The question seemed strange, but Abhay didn't dweel on it. "As a dietician," he replied. Piya smiled. "Good.Has she ever been inside your house?" Abhay considered. "No." Piya's smile became more satisfied. "Excellent."

After about two hours of idle chitchat- mostly carried on by Abhay, who had been forbidden to look at what she was doing- Piya suddenly pulled out the pen drive from the laptop. Shutting it down, she said to Abhay,"Do you mind taking my luggage down while I get dressed?" "Yes, Ma'am," sighed Abhay.

Once they were settled in the car and were going to Abhay's home, Piya said suddenly, "I hope you have photoframes at your home." "Yes, I do," said Abhay. "Why?" "You'll see," she said. "Can you stop near a colour printing press?" "Don't you have one at your office?" he countered. She scowled at him ."If I'm asking, there's a reason behind it. Well?"

Abhay braked the car with a screech. "There you go : a printing press." "Thanks," she said, hurrying out of the car. Abhay got out too, but did not follow her. Instead he waited for nearly fifteen minutes before she came back wearing a smirk. "What is it?" he asked. She grinned. "A little prep, Abhay. Don't you plan anything?" "What are you planning?" he asked. "Wait till we reach, I'll tell you," she said.

When they entered, Piya said, "Abhay, will you give the frames? It's evening- she will be arriving ay moment." Taking out the file of whatever she had printed, she opened it and laid out some photographs on the table. Abhay stared in shock . "Since when have taken photographs of US- like this?" he said, scandalized. Piya snickered. "I merged some of your photos with some of mine. They have come out rather nice, haven't they?" Abhay stared at them ."They look real." "Yes, but obviously, they aren't," said Piya, with the air of someone trying to explain two plus two was four to a small child. "Since Aliya is supposed to think we are a happy couple, she needs evidence. Am I right or am I right?" "I see," said Abhay slowly. "Yes, you're definitely right." They managed to put about ten photographs before the door bell rang. Abhay and Piya stared at each other in horror, then Piya said ,"Help me carry my suitcases into my room. Answer the door- I'll join you in five minutes."

When Aliya walked into his house for the first time, her swagger became noticeably less on seeing a photograph of Abhay and Piya smiling together into the camera- kept near the mantelpiece, calculated to catch her eye. Abhay saw it and mentally thanked Piya. Her idea was brilliant. Aliya's face turned ugly. "Where is she?" Before Abhay could answer, Piya sauntered out...wearing a pink strap nightie. He stared at her. Since when did Piya act like a lingerie model? Before he could speak,Piya said, "Darling, who was the brainless who interrupted us?" Aliya burst into sobs and ran out. Bemused, Abhay stared at Piya. "Are you feeling all right?" he said. "Shut up," she snapped. "I needed to do something to make your little headache get out, since you were being so articulate." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Oh? And wearing that rag helped?" said Abhay incredulously. Piya looked down at herself, blushed, and ran into her her room. Five minutes later, she emerged wearing a very conservative shirt and a pair of pajamas. "If you ever mention this again, I'll break your neck," she said threateningly. Abhay grinned. "Thanks."

It had turned out to be a good decision to ask Piya to stay with him, thought Abhay. An extremely good decision.

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