Drabble Series: A Romantic Divorce (NEW-DRABBLE Pg 34) 25th February - Page 23

CHAPTER 6B-YOU WILL REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE

Naval Raj Tata was a man with many blessings. Not only was he obscenely rich, unnaturally handsome, tall and distinguished as only a Parsi Prince can be... he was also, that rarest of rich-boy personality traits-- genuinely nice. Harvard educated, London polished and already a rising star in Tata Sons Inc, Naval was deeply involved in charity. In fact, leaving the main business in his dad's capable hands, he preferred to spend his time on Tata Son's Social campaigns, working on public policy, supporting NGOs and sponsoring laws to benefit the poor. But experienced as he was in raising money for projects, or pushing laws in the Lokh Sabha, Naval had never done anything like what he was doing today. And that was, teaching cricket to the group of orphans massed around him at Tata Sons' Orphanage.

In the distance, he could see her shrieking like a banshee as she ran behind trees, chased by a group of giggling young girls. Naval shook his head as the boys around him demanded to be shown the off-spin ball grip again. He assumed the orphan girls were playing hide and seek or something, but it honestly just looked like a madhouse of shrieking and laughing children. The biggest child of course, was the woman in the middle of the game. The woman who had insisted that he bring her here, when he had casually mentioned this Orphanage to her. The woman who, Naval Singh Tata was rapidly losing his carefully guarded heart to.

Anika.

As they drove away from the orphanage, after sharing a lunch with the children of daal, vegetables and rice, Naval was silently watching his companion when she suddenly spoke up for the first time. Oh, they had spoken about a hundred things over the past month, as they worked together on the Tata events project. About books, movies, music, about food, friends, about what it was like to be a Tata, about Sahil, about his ambitions and plans for his company, about her own dreams for her event management firm and how it would grow. About her moholla. But this was still the first time she was actually speaking about.. her.

"I am an orphan, you know.." Anika murmured, staring outside the car window, her curls fluttering in the wind as the landscape rushed by. "Sahil, my chote bhai? His family adopted me from an orphanage like this one, many years ago. To work in their house. They took me in when I was seven. But then they died, and Sahil became my own. I love him so much. But I am not his blood. Kissi ka khoon nahi hu. Koi khandan nahi hai. Uss sab orphan baccho ke tara..mera maa baap nahi hai. Kaun tha, kaha se tha...muje bhi kuch pata nahi."

Naval said nothing.

He did know. Within a week of realizing how fast his only son was falling in love with their mysterious event planner, his father had done the sensible thing, and collected a dossier on Anika. And even though Naval knew the Oberois had lied about Anika being Dadi's friend's granddaughter, even though he knew about Anika's past as an adopted daughter to Sahil's parents, he still did not know WHY the Oberois had lied. This was something not even their best investigators could find out. Why she lived in their house. Why the Oberoi sons --- all three of them-- were so insanely over-protective of her. She was Priyanka Oberoi's best friend, she had been hired to plan Shivaay's wedding to Tia Oberoi. But why she still lived with them in her own guest suite,sat at their dining table, attended their parties-- no one seemed to know the reason.

Why her adopted brother Sahil was attending the best boarding school in Dehradhun on the Oberoi's dime. Why Shivaay Singh Oberoi was there in the lounge every evening, no matter how late he returned her home, to glare at Naval. Why Om or Rudra called her constantly while she was on the job, showing up and glaring at him if he was with her. Why she sometimes looked ...haunted, as Tia Oberoi swanned about the mansion, heavily pregnant. None of the reasons for all this was available in the dossier.


Ratan Tata had warned his son Naval. The older man smelled heartbreak in the mystery, but the younger one... he was too far gone. Too absorbed in Anika's midnight eyes and pure-as-snow heart to care about warnings. So last night, when, Anika had begged to be taken to the Orphanage, Naval Raj Tata cancelled meetings with an international conglomerate to come and play cricket with orphans. And his reward was now the pensive, almost dreamy eyes of the woman with him, and her fragile trust. And the truth? For the man who had given his heart away to this fierce, proud, astonishing woman, the gift of her confidence was worth more than the multi billion rupee deal he had walked away from.

Anika continued-- "I am telling you this, Naval, because you have become someone I see as a friend. Within these few weeks, you have been more than a client, to me. Dost hogaya ho. And I...I don't have many friends. Zindagi ke bhag dour mein fursat hi nahi mila, dost banana ka. Aur ab, itna sara .. complications hai meri life mein, that its not possible to go back to my old friends, to speak with them freely. Aur mein.. thoda akela par gaya, I guess. Sab kuch tumko nahi bata sakti, many secrets are not mine, to tell. But I did want to tell you about myself,. That is my own secret, so I wanted you to at least know that much. Tumhari yeh dosti meri liye bohut important hai. Mann halka ho jata hai. Tum meri bare me kuch nahi jaante ho, lekhin itna..apnapan diye, I don't know how to thank you. I have been struggling for a while, and this job, this opportunity was a godsend. I know you got me this chance, and it will change things, professionally.

But your friendship has been a bonus I did not expect. You make everything so... easy, uncomplicated and lighthearted. Itni amir ho, important aur khandani ho. Lekhin phir bhi tum kabhi muje aise feel nahi karwai, that I am far beneath you. Comparison karo, toh rasta ka keeda hu, mein. But then I had a thought. You have been so kind to me, so friendly, maybe you didn't know about me. Maybe that's why. So I didn't want to keep you in the dark, mere bare mein. Tumhare paas naam khoon, khandaan hai. Oberois jaise. So I wanted to make sure you knew what I am, my background, my blood is. Agar ab tum mere sath dosti nahi rakh sakhte, koi baath nahi, mein sach me mind nahi karungi, Tata project phir bhi pure lagan se, dil se karungi..."

"WHAT nonsense are you saying, Anika?" Agitated, startled by the humble, almost pleading tone coming from the most proud woman he had ever met, Naval screetched to the side of the road, parking under a tree. He was too shaken to be able to drive right now. "Sorry..yeh shock hoga. tumko mere bare me shayad pehle batane chaiye tha, I know.." the hunched over girl, the look of guilt and shame made Naval want to hit something. Who had filled her head with such utter rubbish? Who had taught her to diminish herself, to devalue herself until she felt she had to apologize, warn him, before accepting even his friendship? Who had stolen her pride, her self confidence, her sense of worth?

What the hell WAS this?

Naval now touched Anika, for the first time. Grabbing her shoulders, ignoring the startled gasp from her, the sensation that bolted through him, he shook her gently, to emphasize his point. "I DON'T CARE about your so called naam khoon, khandan! What do you take me for? Aur yeh kya bakwas hai, anyways? Our friendship, my regard for you, my respect, my admiration, it has nothing to do with any such rubbish! It has everything to do with YOU! How can you even think I would judge you or reject you for such a damn stupid thing? Tum orphan ho, yeh ek tragedy hai, tum tumhari maa baap ko murder nahi ki! Aur what does your khoon aur khandan have to do with you, who you are today? How does your blood matter? Or affect why we are friends? How can you say such a stupid thing, Anika? Have I proved to be so arrogant, so cruel and blind that you thought you needed to give me a safaai or a way out or something? Is this what you think of me? How can you think so badly of me, Anika? I don't deserve this from you!"

"Nahi...meh..woh... I thought tum log..." stuttering, not knowing how to explain she had judged the Tata scion's possible beliefs by a certain Oberoi scion's repeated beliefs, Anika came to a stop. Still furious, Naval was tightlipped as he restarted the car and drove Anika back into Mumbai. As he drove, Anika a mute, miserable presence at his side, small memories started flooding Naval. Shivaay Singh Oberoi, at a cocktail party, sneering at a friend of theirs who had married his secretary, and not the brainless socialite who had been chosen for him. Shivaay Singh Oberoi, cutting a slightly brash, loud, but funny woman dead at a party. The gossip about how he had blackballed the famous war hero Tommy Miah from the Delhi Yacht Club, calling him, a jumped up soldier with no family background.

Naval knew where this poison, this disgusting, self destructive bile had come from. His grim mouth and frozen face made Anika uncomfortable, and it took her seven apologies and a treat at her favorite icy gola stall to bring the usual smile back to Naval's scowling face. Eyes softening at the colored syrup liberally dotting her chin, Naval allowed Anika to cajole and tease him out of his grim mood.


But as he dropped her home, for the first time in a month, Naval glared back at Shivaay when that man opened to Mansion door to them before he had even stopped the car. Reaching inside the car, Shivaay had started to unbuckle the girl when Naval, for the first time, pushed his hands aside, and did the job himself. And when Anika had said her goodbyes and gone up the stairs, Naval hung back, waiting for Shivaay to say something. Do something. Tonight, Naval refused to ignore the odd tension, the strange, electric possessiveness he could almost smell coming off the oldest Oberoi. Having experienced the rarity that was Anika, Naval thought he understood why the Oberois were so completely crazy about her-- even the married one cared for her, deeply. But he wasn't content to wait, anymore. No. Not if she needed rescue, from them, from the mind games and the insidious cruelty she was facing, from these people, by living here.

Naval was an easy going, laid back person, but blood told, after all-- and his inheritance from the Tata name included being a master strategist. It was time to declare war. The undercurrents that he had sensed all month had come to a head for him. Because of the humble, self-defeating words spoken in his car, by the woman he had come to care for more than anything else in the world. So, tonight, when saying goodbye, Naval had held her hand, kissing her soft fingertips, eyeing Shivaay through lowered lashes. Anika had flushed, looked startled and pulling her hand away, she had left them at the front door.

Instead of leaving, Naval had then stood his ground, stared back at the furious, ice chipped eyes of the oldest Oberoi. Fists curled, his eyes a defiant blaze. And waited. Naval would take her away. He would dare them to stop him from doing it. They did not get to keep a woman like Anika if all they were doing was hurting her, stealing her pride, her self respect. Recognition now flared, as two alpha males realized the challenge being sent, and the message was received. Shivaay requested a private meeting, in clipped, icy tones, through gritted teeth. Just between them. Anywhere Naval wanted. Tomorrow. Naval, equally curt, simply nodded, and turning on his heel, he slammed the door behind him. Tomorrow. It would end, tomorrow.

Originally posted by: LordLuminous

Anika found the man she deserves, but he's not the one she'll end up with.