Part 15
Vrinda left yug and hurried to the ladies room, she locked her self in the cubicle, and sobbed her heart out. She had just confronted yug……..after so many months she finally spoke too him, and what ?……..he had managed to tear her apart even more. Yug had confessed that he felt she had betrayed him, had she ?
Was it her fault that yug wasn't hers today? Was she responsible for her own demise? vrinda couldn't think about this any more, she felt her head was gonna explode, besides, she had work to do, she only came up here to pick up something. Who knew she would have bumped into him…or that he would abduct her, again……of all the places, she imagined herself , confronting him one day…….the mop and bucket closet wasn't even on the list. He still had it though. He still had that crazy spontaneous wildness about him. Why was she thinking of him?? She had to block him out completely, first from her mind……and eventually her heart would follow aswel…she remembered what she said to him "we don't have the same destination" and with this thought, she came out, washed her face, and decided to carry on.
Yug made it on time to his boss's office. Once there he felt like he had left a part himself somewhere else. He felt incomplete.
His boss had called him to promote him to a senior member, since yug had shown so much dedication in these last 9 and , it was only right that he got this offer. Yug calmly accepted (his boss thought he was being modest). A normal person would have been ecstatic….but not yug…..he really didn't care…….nothing mattered any more….only vrindas words did
"I was faithful……..ragbir died a chaste man" his vrinda had stayed true to him, but he hadnt stayed true to her. He had allways thought that his luck had never taken his side …..but today he realised, that he had ruined his fate himself, it wasn't down to luck…it was down to his misjudgement. He was responsible himself…….and now he had lost his vrinda !
"yug…….yug" his boss was repeating
"Yes sir"
"you're miles away….Where did you go boy ? , dreaming of your future eh…..don't worry, I assure you, from now on, it will be really good…trust me" and he patted him on the back.
Yug tried to bring a half hearted smile onto his face. Then he got up to leave. As he opened the door, the boss said "oh wait, there is a party on next Saturday, not this Saturday, next Saturday, to celebrate the arrival of the new CEO of the company…and since youre a senior member now, you have to come ok. It's at the TAJ hotel, come round about 8'o clock ….and bring the family aswel"
"Ok sir…I'll see you then" and yug left
Part 16
A week had passed and the following Friday came. Only Yug and vrinda knew how they had spent these last 12 days as living corpses. Their brief encounter in the closet had really messed them up !
Vrinda was doing some photo copying, when bharti approached her. Since the moment vrinda had discovered who bharti really was, she had been avoiding her. But bharti just didn't seem to get the hint.
"Hey hunny" said bharti with a big fat smile on her face.
Vrinda tried not to look directly at her. "hi"
"You been avoiding me or something" asked bharti
Noooooo, you don't say, thought vrinda. " no of course I haven't, why wud you say that?" lied vrinda.
" oh ok then. Hey listen, remember that time when you said you owed me one, well I've come to ask for my favour"
Oh god…thought vrinda
" um well, theres this function, tomorrow, and I have to go………but I'm gonna be so bored, because none of my friends from this department will be there, so I want you to accompany me ok."
"umm, actually I cant, why don't you ask someone else" said vrinda, she desperately didn't want to go any where with this woman.
"please please please…..I only want you to come with me, you know I have loads of friends here, but you're the only nice one, I love your company, please for me…..and you do owe me" she winked. "please for our friendship"
Vrinda was stuck……what cud she say. She cudnt, so she just gave a small smile.
"brilliant….I'll pick you up at 7.30 ok, be ready, and I know your thing is white, but please, for me, wear a lovely colour, I don't want to look over the top standing next to you…ok"
Before vrinda cud say any thing else, bharti left. The only thing vrinda cud do know was scold herself. Why didn't she say NO! too late now.
Part 17
Saturday
Yug and vrinda are in the car, and bharti says, "oh take a left here, we need to go to the women's hostel"
"why ?"
Because, we're gonna pick up one of my work friends , you're gonna be chatting to all your big business associates and I'm gonna stand there alone looking like a lemon….umm… I don't think so….so i invited a friend to give me company …ok"
"Fine fine, whatever" said yug…..anything to shut her up.
They parked out side and vrinda came out. She was wearing a maroon chudidaar suit and her hair was open, not in a pony, like she normally kept it. She walked over to the passenger side and opened the back door. Yug wasn't paying attention. His mind was occupied with other things.
Vrinda opened the door and sat in the back. Yug looked back to say hello, and when he did, he almost had a heart attack. It was vrinda ! Omg! Bharti had invited VRINDA to accompany her, he knew that bharti was fond of her, but when did they become best friends?
When vrinda saw yug in the driver seat, she froze. She was under the impression that bharti had a driver. If she had known yug was gonna be here, she defiantly would have said NO! For a moment she thought, just come up with an excuse and get out of here. But she cudnt think of anything.
All that came out was "hello"
"good, I love what you're wearing, it looks nice, doesn't it look nice yug?" bharti said and broke the awkward silence.
yug was still looking at her. She did look nice, infact she looked beautiful. She was wearing maroon. His choice (hers was allways blue). And her hair was open today, she was mesmerising.
"umm yeah, she looks nice" he commented. Then he turned around.
"ok then, lets go" said bharti, and they set off.
On the way, yug kept stealing glances at vrinda, in the rear view mirror. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. She had realised too. She was looking in that direction when her eyes met with his in the mirror, she couldn't stop herself looking back at him, but as allways bharti spoke, and vrinda looked the other way. Yug looked back at the road.
Part 18
At the party.
They enter, and bharti says that she just needs to go to the ladies room, her head is hurting and she needs to take one of her tablets.
Yug's boss comes over and says "good man, you came, aahh, this must be your wife, very beautiful, you two make a lovely couple" yug felt knives tear open his heart as did vrinda.
Before yug could explain, he was torn away by his boss.
" sorry, my dear, can I borrow your husband, there are some people I want him to meet…thanks"
"umm" was the only thing that vrinda cud say before the boss whisked yug away., as he was being pulled, yug looked back over his shoulder at vrinda, but soon she was lost in the crowd.
Hours passed, and vrinda was subjected to bharti's ongoing chatter. Bharti was an intelligent girl. She didn't talk about meaningless things….it just seemed that way because she would allways be talking. Vrinda observed her carefully tonight. Bharti was a good person, with a good heart, only too much of a good tongue aswel. Vrinda tried to dislike her, but just cudnt. There was nothing BAD about her. But secretly vrinda wished there was.
Suddenly the music stopped and a man made an announcement. There was gonna be slow dancing. Apparently the new CEO's wife loved dancing, and just for her the CEO had organised this. The crowd split on two sides and in the middle, the CEO and his wofe began dancing.
"right then……I want you all to follow in the footsteps of our new chief executive, come on now everyone, find your partners, and get going. I don't want to see any one without a partner"
Vrinda was embarrassed like hell, she didn't know how to dance, and she certainly wasn't going to with a strange man, she was a widow…how cud she. But too late.
As vrinda was contemplating what to do, bharti came over and said, "look who I found, its preetam from our department, and he doesn't have a partner either, why don't you two dance together…go on" and she pushed preetam forward.
Vrinda was about to shout NO, when yug came. As he did, bharti grabbed him and said come on lets dance, he tried to get out of it, but she refused to listen, and dragged him onto the dance floor. When vrinda saw yug with bharti in his arms, something changed inside her, it was like she was being burnt inside out. she looked straight at preetam and said "shall we?"
A very nervous Preetam took her hand and they followed yug and bharti.
On the dance floor, when yug saw vrinda with the other guy, his blood began to boil. He kept noticing how the other guy was holding her (even though poor preetam was barely holding her at all).
He kept looking at vrinda, it was as if she was enjoying it. How cud she??? Yugs brain was swirling with curse words.
Vrinda had become someone else, if yug was dancing with bharti, why cudnt she dance with preetam?? Or anyone else for that matter!
I hope he sees she thought, and put her arms around preetam.
Yug was looking, infact he cudnt stop. What the hell was she doing?
The dance became very slow, and bharti pressed her head against yugs chest, yug was gonna hesitate, but he was too busy watching vrinda..
Vrinda and preetam turned around so vrinda was facing yug directly now. As she looked at him, she saw the hurt on his face and the sadness in his eyes. Vrinda turned her head the other way immediately. Was yug hurt? Why was he hurt? She didn't know why, but she knew that seeing him hurt was making her hurt aswel. Vrindas eyes began to swell up.
And then vrinda reverted back to her normal self. Oh god…..what was she doing???? She was trying to get yug to notice her. She was trying to get a married man jealous. She was trying to affect the husband of a girl who accounted her as a good friend. WHAT WAS SHE DOING????
But more to the point why was yug so affected ? Did she manage to affect him, no…..no….she couldn't do that. That wasn't possible. Vrinda closed her eyes and tried to block him out. The dance finished. Vrinda told preetam that she was too tired for the next dance. Preetam agreed. He accompanied her to the side. He told vrinda not to tell any one that he had danced with her, if any one else got wind of this, his girlfriend wud kill him. Vrinda promised not to..
After the slow dance, bharti said that she was tired, and her head was aching again. She told yug that she wud tell preetam to drop her off home, and that yug should stay till the end, his boss might mind if he left before the party finished, and he only just got promoted, so best to stay in his good books.
"What about vrinda" yug asked
"could you please drop her off home, I think preetam might get angry if I ask him to drop vrinda off, then drop me off, before going home…or more so…..his girlfriend would mind more…you know I've heard that she's very over protective…so please could you?…I really don't feel well, I need to go"
yug didn't argue with her, he bid her goodbye, before his boss managed to whisk him off again.
Bharti left with preetam.
Part 19
Three quarters of an hour had passed and vrinda had been standing there lonely and with nothing to do. where had bharti disappeared off to? Vrinda had looked everywhere, but she was no where to be seen. It was getting late, and vrinda just needed to be alone. This place was making her suffocate. Vrinda turned around to search in the other direction, and then she felt a hand on her upper arm, she turned around, and all the anxiety she was feeling, suddenly turned in to rage.
It was yug. How dare he touch her !!
Vrinda gave him such a disapproving dirty look. Yug understood vrindas eye language perfectly, he quickly pulled his hand away.
"vrinda looked to the side with disgust, and said "I was looking for bharti, cant seem, to find her anywhere"
"and you wont either, she's not here, she left almost an hour ago, was having a terrible headache, so preetam agreed to drop her off home, I had to stay coz of the boss….but I can go now, so I'll drop you off aswel!
"what???? Im' not going any where with you, I came here with bharti and I'm going home with her, she shudnt have done this to me"
"well she didn't do it on purpose, she wasn't feeling well, so how are you gonna go home then, shall I call you a taxi?" yug said hesitantly, but really didn't want her to take a taxi at all.
"vrinda looked frustrated "well I didn't bring any money, coz I thought bharti would be dropping me off so, I cant pay for one" she said
"well, I'll pay for it don't worry" yug said this to vrinda, because it was the gentleman thing to do, however he was praying inside that she would refuse to go by cab, and let him drop her off.
Vrinda thought to herself, she didn't want yug to pay for anything for her, and if she didn't go with him, bharti wud probably make a debacle out of it….yep that's right that's why she was gonna let yug drop her off. Not because of anything else….not because she wanted to be with yug for a little while, no it couldn't be that.
Yug was impatiently waiting for vrindas answer, but she didn't give one, so he turned to go get a taxi.
"wait" said vrinda
Yug's heart jumped a beat and he quickly turned around. He looked at vrinda, she was wearing her excuse face, and he knew it. He knew her so well. Inside he was smiling.
"umm, look if bharti finds out I took a taxi home, she will never let me hear the end of it, so just drop me off ok" she said…looking at the floor.
"ok…whatever you want" said yug, trying to act like either way it didn't matter to him, while inside his heart was pacing frantically.
Part 20
Vrinda was gonna sit in the back, but yug got their first and opened the front passenger door, vrinda reluctantly got in. yug got in the car and they set off.
The majority of the way there was just awkward silence, infact there was so much silence it could be sliced with a knife.
Yug was too scared to even look in vrindas direction, now he was thinking maybe he should have let her sit in the back, at least he could have seen her through the mirror!
Vrinda's heart was beating fast also, she just stared out of the window.
Yug realised there was only but a few minutes left till they reached the hostel. He had promised to not talk about their past, but he had to talk to her, about something, anything. He couldn't just drop her off without saying something…or without hearing her voice. He plucked up the courage to make small talk and said "so how long have you been working here?"
vrinda was startled, "umm, 3 months, I moved here few weeks after ragbir…after…."
And she stopped.
Yug saw the pain on her face.
He tried to move on" its just that, I never ever thought you would become a working girl in the city….." before he could say more vrinda interrupted
"sometimes in life what we think, never actually happens, and what we don't expect does"
Yug looked at vrinda, never were truer words spoken, and damn….the truth really does hurt…yug tried to move on again
"so how's ur family?" he said
"I don't know" haven't talked to them for a while….what about yours?"
"I don't know either, I only sometimes call Neil, and he said they're fine, haven't talked to mum or dadu since I left"
Vrinda looked at him, "you haven't talked to them for 9 months???" she was shocked
"actually almost 10 months" he corrected her
"why?" she inquired
" I cant forgive my dadu, not for what he did to us, never…..and my mum, I want to talk to her so much, but I know I will only bring her more pain…..besides….I cant risk dadu finding out where I am. I only trust Neil"
Vrinda was shocked to hear this. Yug was still angry at what vikram aditya had done. Vrinda had somehow managed to blame fate for her past, but yug still held his dadu responsible. Did yug still care??
They arrived at the hostel and were parked outside
"you should forgive him" she said.
Yug turned to her, and was furious.
" how can you, of all people say that ? Am I the only one that felt we were betrayed. That felt, what we were meant to have was wrongfully stolen from us. I don't know why I let myself think, that u cared as much as me. The truth is vrinda that, you never loved me as much as I love…-ed you."
" what? Did you actually say that ? You flirt and charm your way into peoples hearts, give them hopes and dreams, make life time promises that you will never keep, and now you're saying your love was stronger than mine. I cant believe you"
"because you accepted it vrinda, and I cant, and by the way, if you really did love me that much, then why did you not deny what I said to you in the park. Why were you sooo happy with ragbir?, answer me vrinda"
"because he was a good human being, because of humanity, because he was a friend, because of respect…….not because I loved him….NOT BECAUSE I LOVED HIM!
There was only one person in this word that I ever loved yug and ….." but before she said anymore she stopped herself. She couldn't let him know, that really, she was still in love with him as ever. Vrinda may have had her hopes and dreams, and her heart broken, but her pride was still intact.
Yug looked down, he wanted to tell her, that he got it wrong, that he made a mistake, he dint know if it was pride or guilt, but he just couldn't say it. He wanted to tell her how much he still loved her, but he knew saying it would be wrong!
"There is no point discussing these things now, you have to let go of the past yug" she said, this conversation was getting too heated.
"you mean like you have, is it really that easy vrinda, to let go?"
Now, vrinda was furious "why wont you just let it go…why are you dredging up the past, why are you so intent on hurting me all the time, you have a wife, and a great life, I have none of those things, yet still you keep reminding me, why are you rubbing it in my face." vrinda had had enough, she opened the door to leave.
"are you going?" asked yug
". Just go yug, go to your lovely home and your lovely wife, and let me live my life in peace" she said
"vrinda" he didn't know wot else to say to make her understand, that the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her
"wot" she said
There was however one thing yug needed to know "I know I have no right asking this, but when did you move on, when did you put an end to it, to loving me I mean?"
"when I came to see you on your on mendhi night. You looked so happy, and I realised that our love wasn't great at all, that it wasn't that strong, that it could fight and withstand anything." this was the probably the biggest lie vrinda had ever told. She knew in her heart of hearts that she would probably never stop loving yug till the day she died.
"You came to the mendhi ?……why the hell didn't you speak to me vrinda, why didn't you say anything?"
"what difference wud it have made….what difference does it make now? Do you remember what you said to me in the temple yug……we cant ever be together, so it makes no difference what happened, and what didn't"
It would have made all the difference in the world vrinda, it would have made a difference to our lives and our futures, you have no idea vrinda…none
whatsoever…………yug thought to himself. He tried his utmost best not to let tears come out.
"why are you making such a big deal about this. You're married to bharti now, are you not happy?" asked vrinda, what was she hoping to hear…that he wasn't…that he was still deeply, madly in love with her…she was so stupid.
"off course I am, I wouldn't have married her if I wasn't happy" yug regretted those words as soon as they came out of his mouth. There was no point showing how much he cared, when vrinda had clearly moved on.
Vrinda clenched her fists when she heard the answer.
That's it yug, keep ripping my heart open, keep slashing it with your words that are sharper than knives. My own fault, I asked the question, should have known the answer……thought vrinda.
She had to say something quick, before her face started showing how she was really feeling. "look yug, we both have separate lives, but unfortunately, we work at the same place, and I am a coll-…a friend of bharti's…..so I guess we are gonna see each other around."
Yug knew where this was headed, and he couldn't let her have the last word.
"off course…I know what you mean. lets just bury the hatchet, and get on with It…right." no this isn't what he wanted. He wanted to not be married to bharti. He wanted to tell vrinda how he really felt, he wanted to hold her in his arms…..but that was impossible.
He put out his hand, for vrinda to shake. "so friends?"
She was shocked at his reaction. She didn't like yug saying lets bury the hatchet and get on with it, She preferred it when he was still angry at the past ! But she couldn't seem hurt or taken aback, she had to show she was just as strong as him.
Vrinda shook his hand.
The handshake lasted just a moment more than it should have, and for that moment neither of them wanted to let go. But they did.
"good night yug" she said, as she left, she was dying to get inside and pour her heart out onto her pillow
Yug didn't answer, he kept looking at her hoping she would look back and show some sign that she did care, but nothing.
Why don't you just rip my heart out vrinda…oh wait…you already did !
He started the car, and turned it around to go to his lovely home, and his lovely wife, and his great life. yug smiled sarcastically to himself.
Part 21
Yug arrived home, than goodness bharti was already asleep. Yug goy changed and lay down. He kept rewinding vrindas words in his mind.
Ragbir was chaste when he died.
I never loved him
Get over it and move on
I came to your mendhi
What difference would it have made
His vrinda had loved him once, but not any more…not any more.
He couldn't get her words out of his mind. He couldn't get her out of his mind. She had done it though. She had closed his chapter in her life. She had moved on. Why couldn't he? Why couldn't he? He had offered vrinda the hand of friendship today, and she had accepted. Was that their fate? To be only friends. Why did yug find that so hard to believe?
Vrinda was in bed. She was still reeling from what had happened tonight. She was so hurt. She never knew you could be hurt to the point of death and yet still manage to get hurt even more. She was confused also. Confused by yug. For a moment tonight she thought she had seen pain in his eyes, she thought maybe, just maybe he still felt something, but then he had proved her wrong. Nope, he was defiantly over her. It was just his pride that was hurt. that's what he couldn't get over, she told herself. She turned around and sobbed into her pillow. There was nothing she could do about it. Yug was happily married. And now they hade buried the hatchet, and were friends. that's all they would ever be. that's all they were allowed to be, it had been decided by fate.
