The Runaway Bridegroom (4 page)

  
Lunch time had still not brought Ranveer into the office and that’s when Chanda gave up all hope of seeing him. She presumed that he probably worked from elsewhere, shrugged her shoulders mentally and decided to give her hundred percent to the job at hand.

Six

  
Ranveer had deliberately fixed a few appointments for Monday morning and stayed away from the office. He didn’t quite understand what was driving him where Chanda was concerned and decided to keep away on her first day at work. But it hadn’t done him a lot of good as he was having a tough time concentrating on what was happening at the various meetings that he had been to since morning. Tch!

  
At 2 pm, Ranveer decided to go back to his office. He reached there at 2.30 and entered his cabin, his heart beating faster than usual. He removed his formal suit jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. Rolling up the sleeves of his pale blue shirt, Ranveer opened his laptop and waited for it to boot.

  
He saw Shikha enter the cabin with a frown on his face only to brighten up when he noticed the cup of coffee in her hand. “Thanks,” said Ranveer as he watched her place it on his table.

  
“The students have come to work today, Ranveer.” As if he didn’t know.

  
“Hmm,” said Ranveer, as he sipped the coffee.

  
“I thought you might be in to welcome them,” she accused, her lips pouting.

  
Ranveer’s right eyebrow went up to touch the hair falling on his forehead. Shikha’s hand itched to push it back. “I’d told Parth to handle them. I’m sure they’re settled in and doing their jobs.”

  
“Of course, Parth’s dealing with them.”

  
Ranveer continued to look at her, wondering what she was getting at. Shikha couldn’t tell him that she had resented the morning at work without his presence. She had decided to ignore the fact that he had mentioned that he was married. The office grapevine hadn’t mentioned anything about a wife in the background. Shikha was sure that if there was one, Ranveer must be separated from her. She wasn’t aware how close she was to the truth.

  
She hovered there while Ranveer sat in front of his chair and started working on his laptop. He was totally oblivious to her presence in the next few seconds, much to Shikha’s irritation.

  
“Ranveer,” she called out. He looked up in surprise. It was quite genuine and Shikha was on the verge of blowing up. “I have to go to a friend’s wedding today. I—”

  
“Do you want to leave early? Not a problem. What time?”

  
Was he so keen to see her go? Shikha cut off her thoughts as they weren’t to her liking.

  
“Actually, most of my friends are married. Only I—”

  
Ranveer looked at her, feeling quite impatient while he waited for her to get to the point. He kept the frown off his face with great difficulty. Didn’t the woman understand that he was just not interested?

  
“I’m the only one without an escort. Would you like to go with me?” There! She had said it. Shikha had asked him out. If she waited for him to invite her, it might turn out to be a very long wait.

  
Ranveer looked at Shikha. The woman definitely had guts. She wasn’t unattractive. She wasn’t too young or inexperienced either. Maybe he needed someone like her to keep his mind off Chanda. He had informed her that he was married. She was still ready to go out with him. She obviously knew the ropes of entering a relationship without any ties. Ranveer shrugged mentally. Why not?

  
“Okay, I’ll go with you. What time do you want me to be ready?”

  
Shikha closed her eyes for a few seconds in disbelief while she did her best to stop her jaw from dropping down. She couldn’t believe her luck. He had actually agreed to go out with her - her handsome boss. She wanted to jump with joy.

  
Shikha opened her eyes to look at Ranveer. “That’s just awesome. We need to go to The Leela Palace. The reception is at The Grand Ballroom. It should be fine if we get there at 9 or so.” She couldn’t contain the excitement in her voice. At last, her boss was ready to meet her on a social footing.

  
Ranveer nodded his head and said, “Give me your address and I’ll pick you up at about 8.15. Should that be okay?”

  
“Perfect! Oh, by the way, the dress code is Indian formal.”

  
“Fine, thanks, will do,” saying that, Ranveer turned back to his laptop, switching off from the personal conversation.

  
Shikha was on Cloud Nine and nothing could bring her down that day.

  
Ranveer was distracted from work - a first in his life. Was he running away from a college student of all women? He refused to face the issue.

RANVEER RANG THE BELL OF Shikha’s dingy apartment at exactly 8.15 pm. She rushed to the door and opened it to give him a wide smile. He was wearing a rich cream
churidhar-kurta
in
tussar
silk and looked good enough to eat. A closer look showed Shikha the minute self-coloured embroidery on the
kurta
. Hmm—the man had great taste, it seemed.

  
Shikha looked very attractive in the dark red sari and halter-neck blouse. Both the sari and blouse were embellished with heavy gold
zardosi
work. Her make-up was skilfully applied. While she had tried her best to look twenty-five, she hadn’t quite succeeded.

  
“Ready to go?” asked Ranveer, a twinge of a smile on his manly lips. “I like a woman who’s punctual.”

  
Shikha almost purred in delight. Having been a secretary all her life, she had the tendency to be a stickler for time. In fact, she was very happy to see Ranveer had arrived on the dot.

  
She nodded her black head, the glossy curls bouncing and dancing around her shoulders. She turned around to pick up her red and gold clutch along with the gold-embroidered shawl that she had left on a chair. She didn’t bother inviting Ranveer in as her flat was quite tiny and definitely not something that would have made the centrefold of
Good Homes
magazine.

  
Ranveer opened the passenger door of the sleek and creamy BMW for Shikha. He closed the door gently once she was seated and went around to get into the driver’s seat. He started the car wondering what he had let himself in for.

  
He needn’t have worried. The evening wasn’t that bad. Shikha was quite thrilled with her escort and wanted to introduce him to every one of her acquaintances and there were a number of them. They went to meet the bride and groom for a minute and then hung around with the crowd.

  
Ranveer did go to parties a couple of times in a month while one couldn’t call him a social animal. He knew how to make the right noises and could hold his drink.

  
They left at 1.00 am with Shikha feeling on top of the world while Ranveer felt like an indulgent uncle who had taken his niece out for the evening. He dropped her at her door and went home to spend another sleepless night.

Seven

   Shikha also didn’t sleep a wink that night. She looked back on the evening she had spent with the man in her life - or so she liked to believe.

   It had been just wonderful, introducing Ranveer to her friends. Shikha was sure that she had been the envy of all her women friends. Ranveer was so good-looking and possessed excellent manners. He also appeared to get along well with everyone.

   ‘Really?’ The question arose quietly from within the depths of her mind. A frown puckered her forehead as she relived the evening scene by scene. Ranveer had smiled and shook hands with each new person that he met, all of them Shikha’s contacts. He had appeared sociable and friendly, but how much had he actually spoken?

   Shikha’s scowl deepened. She realised that Ranveer had uttered barely a handful of words. She gritted her teeth in irritation. The man was definitely a moron. He had just hung around the whole evening, his glass always half-full, a smile on his face and not much to say.

   It never struck Shikha that maybe Ranveer had nothing to say to her frivolous friends as he wasn’t a party animal; he had nothing to contribute in the way of gossip and he was anything but a Page 3 personality.

   But Shikha equated him to a ‘dumb blonde’. She forgot the successful business that he had set up single-handed; the fifty-odd staff who worked for him and his quietly luxurious lifestyle. She just wanted to scream at him.

   Shikha had invited Ranveer out and he had agreed to go with her for the evening. She had been so thrilled with the prospect of meeting her rich boss socially, confident that it was the beginning of something exciting in her life. She had been thrilled when he dropped her off at home in that fabulous car of his, after spending a whole evening with her - more than four hours. Based on that, Shikha had dared to dream about their spending their whole lives together.

   More fool she! The anger built within Shikha like a slow-burning volcano. She had had many pegs of whisky-on-the-rocks. While she could hold herself steady, the drink had gone to her head along with Ranveer’s company. What a waste! He had just about been present, out of damned politeness, it looked like.

   Angry tears flowed down Shikha’s face while she wiped them away impatiently. She hadn’t come this far to give up so easily. She knew what was good for Ranveer. She most definitely did, better than him, in fact.

   Ranveer was a lonely bachelor, living in a huge metropolis. He had a successful business, a big bank balance and no one to take care of him. His wife - Shikha still wasn’t sure about the truth of it - was obviously not with him. Such a man needed a woman in his life. Shikha decided there and then that she would be that woman and no one else.

   She got up from her slouched state on the single sofa she was seated on, straightened her shoulders, and decided to go after what she wanted - come hell or high water.

   Shikha was on a warpath and it looked like Ranveer didn’t stand a chance. A slow smile lit her features. If someone had seen her then, her face ravaged by tears and her age showing so clearly, they couldn’t have been blamed for taking her to be a wicked witch plotting revenge.

   She sat up through the night and made three alternate plans to catch the slippery bachelor.

THERE WAS A THIRD PERSON
who didn’t get to sleep that night. Chanda twisted and turned in her hostel bed.

   She had done twelve
Surya Namaskars
to relax her tightly strung body. She had breathed in and breathed out one hundred times. Nope! Either one of those usually helped her switch off like a light bulb. Today, sleep just eluded Chanda, constantly out of her grasp.

   She most definitely knew the cause for it. But Chanda refused to let her mind wander in that direction. It was forbidden! A huge sigh ripped through her, taking her unawares. She got up to step into the minuscule balcony, closing the door behind her. She didn’t want to disturb her roommates who were fast asleep.

   The weather was oh-so-cold! Chanda pulled her sweater tighter around her slender frame and wrapped her arms around herself as she stared out into the night. A sliver of a moon was up there with bright stars strewn around the night sky. Another sigh shuddered through Chanda before she was ready to face what was ailing her.

   Ranveer!

   She recalled his face with total clarity. Chanda had been near him only during the interview but his features seemed to have etched themselves deeply in her heart. His velvety brown eyes had been alive, totally alert; while he had the look of a man who was giving his hundred percent attention to the person in front of him. In fact, Chanda had found it rather difficult meeting his eyes during the interview.

   She faced her demons reluctantly. This was one trap that she had been careful to avoid all along. She had met a number of attractive teenagers and then grown-up men only to avoid them like the plague.