Part 6

Part 6

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,

Love like you'll never be hurt,

Sing like there's nobody listening,

And live like it's heaven on earth.

William W. Purkey

Mahi couldn’t remember how long she stood there in the dark after he was gone, thinking about so many things all at once. A few weeks ago her life had been simple, clutter free and so less complicated and now day by day…. Hour by hour she had the feeling that her life was sinking, slipping away from the gaps of her fingers like sands of time and she remained there unable to do anything.

“Oh, there you are!” Arjun gave her a mocking smile when she returned into the main hall where everyone was gathered from dinner, looking closely at her white ashen face and morose expression.

“Kartik gave you a scare did he?” He suddenly asked. “Well, that what he’s good at….scaring people by threatening them, blackmailing them…you know the sort.” Mahi gave him no reply; she was in no condition to say anything.

“Do you want to leave?” Arjun asked her when the starters arrived on their table and Mahi pushed the food away. “I mean mission is accomplished; now we can leave whenever you want.”

Something in that sentence gnawed at Mahi and she sharply looked up at Arjun. “What did you say? Mission accomplished?”

Arjun did not deigned a reply but continued to sip his drink with a victory smile on his face and Mahi wanted to punch that off.

Suddenly, it was all getting clear, his reason to bring her here at any cost, the story about thank you dinner and everything that had all seemed muddled up until now was now crystal clear.

“My god! Kartik was right! You bought me here under false pretences, just to flaunt me in your brother’s face so that he thinks I now know whatever family secret you have!” Mahi’s face grew red in indignation, she had been used like a cheap pawn in a stupid hurting game between two brothers.

“How dare you!” She stood up, her knuckles tightly gripping the table top.

“oh come’on!” Arjun laughed looking at her angry red face. “Don’t be so self righteous! You hate Kartik….I hate Kartik and we both had a little fun tonight playing with him.”

“Except I didn’t know that I was playing a game! You bastard, how dare you use me like that!” But she didn’t wait for a reply, she didn’t care for one either. She watched as his face getting stuffed in red and an involuntary shudder ran down her spine and she turned around and walked away from him as fast as she could without breaking into a run. She wished she would never see either of them ever again!

She couldn’t sleep that night, tension rolled on every inch of her body as she twisted and turned on the bed, too many thoughts crammed into her head making her head ached.

And for the first time in her life, she was feeling this lonely.

Perhaps, a hundred times that night, she was about to call her parents in Greater Noida, asking them if she could come down there for a few days, missing her mother’s delicious cooking and pampering as if she was still a baby. But then stopped herself just in time.

It was the middle of the night and ringing them now would definitely alert them that something was terribly wrong and worrying her parents or her brothers unnecessarily was the last thing she wanted.

‘So, I will wait till morning and then ring them.’ She told herself, but she still didn’t feel better.

A terrible anxiousness had gripped her out of nowhere, making her feel as if something was very- very wrong and she wished beyond anything to hear her mother soothing voice, just this once to calm herself down and feel her soft arms around her, so that she could put everything out of her mind and go to sleep.

But that didn’t happen, she spent the night wide awake with worry and finally closed her eys for a few moments when the sun had arisen, it’s golden soft light filtering through her bedroom curtains.

When she opened her eyes again, it was 6:30 already and she needed to get up now if she wanted to make it to the studio in time.

But getting out of bed was harder than she had anticipated, her head was still aching as if a gong was blaring on and on inside her skull and felt nauseous and hot.

Stumbling to her side cupboard drawer, she took the thermometer out and checked her temperature and just as she had suspected, she was running a fever of 102.

Still in her old ratty pajamas, she called Kavya Dubey but of course the world renowned bitch didn’t pick up, which was most probably deliberate on her part. Grimacing, Mahi then called on Tony’s private number and told him that she couldn’t come in today for the morning show.

“I am running a slight fever I am afraid.”

“It’s fine girl! Take a few days off from work, take good rest and then when you come back you can conduct that coveted interview with Disha Irani, huh?” He laughed, jovially. “I shall ask that meteorologist or the weather forecasting boy to take your position for today’s interview. Don’t worry.”

And after that call ended Mahi went back to bed, under the covers and finally fell into deep slumber that had completely evaded her last night.

Mahi wasn’t sure what time it was, or even which day of the week it was – when her sleep was broken by the continues, shrill ringing of the calling bell outside her flat. She cursed loudly and covered her head with pillow to muffle the dratted sound, wishing that whoever was on the other side of that door would get lost.

But that didn’t happen, instead whoever was there started banging on the wooden frame and Mahi had no other option but to get up and stumble in her pajamas to open the door.

Her reflection in coffee table told her that her condition had worsened. She was now sporting a bright red nose, her eyes had large bags underneath them and her whole skin had darkened under the fever.

But these symptoms were nothing compared to the horror that stuck her when she opened the front door of her apartment to find Kartik Rao standing outside.

Suddenly Mahi felt the heat increase, her already hot body at the verge of scalding itself as she looked at his handsome chiseled features, his deep dark eyes once again surveying her from top to bottom .

Her knees weakened and her head whirled – a strange combination of reactions out of the weird awareness shot through her like always when she saw him.

Today he was dressed in a gorgeous royal blue Armani suit and Mahi flushed looking at her own years old top and pajamas but the good news was that today – his eyes were calm, his demanour composed unlike the storm that was going on inside him last night but somehow that drastic change in his behavior also made Mahi nervous.

“Good afternoon, can I come in?” He asked in a icy cold tone and shiver ran down Mahi’s spine, making her unable to speak so she just nodded in reply and gave him way into her beautifully furnished drawing room which had a clear view of the buzzing market downstairs.

“How did you know where I lived?” She asked and even before she replied, she already knew the answer to that.

‘That little bitch Kavya!’ She snorted under her breath. ‘She will have to do something about the way she had been broadcasting her address to every second man.’ But right now she had a far greater problem here, right in front of her.

“I went to the studio to meet you but they told me – you’ve taken sick leave for the day and gave me your address.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal – as if he went chasing after every other stranger in their offices and then at their homes to just have a chat but she knew it wasn’t true, that he was here for a reason that could not be good but she had no idea how bad it was until he actually said it.

‘I am here to ask you to marry me!”

Hey guzy so I am really trying to update this story daily but I hope I am not compromising quality over quantity.

So, let me know what you think, alright?