I looked at Nishant as Tanmay rolled out the question. His silence meant that he had conveyed our conversation that had happened last night to Tanmay. I did not know how to react. I sat there motionless.
"It would be better to answer, rather sit silent," Tanmay kept provoking.
"Yes, is an answer to your question. The inherent trust I have on her, tells me she wouldn't have done anything of the sort it seems to be," I spoke in one breath.
'Do you still believe you can get her?'
His question kept ringing in my head as I answered. I could feel the rise in temperature within.
"What do you think would have happened?" He asked.
"You should be the better one to answer it Tani. I, being here with you when all this happened, am unaware of it. To expect him to know is slightly stupid, I believe," Nishant spoke in my defence.
"Her brother wanted you to tie knots with her, he strongly did not like Mayank, we all know. The dinner at her place was the last incident I witnessed and that is the last thing he knows. Sadly, he is the one who should have known everything that happened, but.." I cut him through.
"Did you find it that difficult to contact me and tell me things straight about what was happening? It was related to my life for godsake. All you could have done was informed me. Do you recognise the person sitting in front of you? Because my mother cannot. She defies my identity today," I stood up and blurted stuffs to which he put his head down.
"Yes, I should have chosen this path. Back then, I did not have the right mindset to make decisions," he said.
"And you decided to oblige to what Aman said and you moved out with her? Not only that, you also made her believe that I was cheating on her! Right?" Nishant held my hand as I moved slightly front towrads Tanmay.
"Yes, I did move out with her. But, I did not brain feed her that you were cheating on her," his voice had a slight tinge of guilt.
"Then who? Every damn person I meet denies of that. Aryan put the blame on Nishant, and now whom do you want to clear your shoulders off with?" I compelled him.
"Mayank, calm down. I can explain. You still don't know what exactly happened," Tanmay went into a softer note now.
"Mithu, sit down. We have met today to end this. You have waited for a year to know the answers, some more patience should do it brother," Nishant consoled and made me sit beside Tanmay.
There was silence around as the sun set. The birds were making trips back to their nests. I could hear the chirps and that soothed me slightly. After a while, Tanmay wrapped his arms around my shoulder.
It so happens that, when someone is broken from within, a silent hug would do wonders to them, more than what words would.
The barely built sandhouse crushed down as he gave a hug. I surrendered in few seconds weeping and hugged him back. I had missed him, I wanted to be by his side when I was down in dumps. I closed my eyes and hugged him back, I cried till my lungs heaved for breath. Nishant, soothed my back as I scoffed a couple of times while I cried. I had never cried this bad ever before, post the scene in my life. All the pain inside drained out of the body as tears.
"I am right here Mithu, calm down. I won't leave you alone this time," Tanmay spoke with a quiver in his voice. He understood very well that Aarti was not the only reason for which I was crying. I hugged him even tight as he said that.
"You are a big man today, you can not be crying like this. Come on. This is not expected out of the stud, this college once had," he brushed my hair and Nishant got me a bottle of water from the stall beside the steps.
"Yes, breakups hurt. You were one such guy whom I had never imagined would fall in love. I can't even understand how it would feel, well so wouldn't Nishant, cause we both have never been in that sphere of losing some one we love. Well, I have not loved anyone till date, a different dimension altogether," he rolled his eyes as Nishant and I looked at him quite perplexed.
"Whatever might have happened, why did you fall so weak? You had Nishant by you, you had your parents with you, and still this dramatic change?" He questioned.
"When someone becomes the 'everything' in your life and when they are gone, you are literally left with nothing. Yes, I never believed I could love someone and when I met her, my life got expanded into a new dimension. She nurtured my traits and made me a better person. We were happy and what counts in life? Happiness does I believe. We were happy. I wished we could be happy forever together. Having her gone, I had lost the purpose to live and may be that is what pushed me to the void, I live in today," I sighed and stood up to face the other side. The sky was getting darker. The shades of amber were getting replaced by the tinge of blue. The fire inside me was lit off and there was graveyard silence inside. I was blank.
"The night everybody had come over for dinner, what happened was unexpected. Nishant, Payal and Aarti were shocked, but I somewhere had an idea about this. Staying in their house and Aman being close to me, it was easy for me to figure this out," I turned to face him as he started to speak about the day.
"So you were prepared for it?" Nishant asked.
"Yes, I was. All I had to do was probably prepare Aarti as well. That did not happen. Whatever happened post that, was out of control," he dropped his head out of guilt.
"What happened post that? That is what he needs to know. He has been battling the questions and trying to answer them all by himself. He has spent all his energy in that and that is when we see him this way. Put it out Tanmay. Help in resurrecting him," Nishant sat in between of us.
"I was in debt of their family. I had to oblige to what they said. I did not wish to do it. I hardly had any option left," He stood up and started to march left and right.
"Few days later, things moved onto a tougher note. They had started the arrangements for the marriage," Nishant and I intently listened to him.
"Aarti lost the control, she wanted to talk to Aman and her dad. She was pretty sure of what she wanted. She compelled them to cancel the proceedings. She threatened them of leaving the house," he said.
"Definitely, Aman would not have been influenced," I was confident of Aman.
"Yes, he was ready to do anything to you and her, had she not changed her mind,"
"Anything? He would not dare to even try anything of that sort," that rubbed me on the wrong side.
"Listen to me first Mayank," Tanmay said and I sat beside him with a sigh.
"She also initially thought he would not do anything of that sort, but an elder brother can go to any heights and trust me, he would. What I never understood was the reason as to why he hated you so much. He had plans of flying to Mumbai if she had persisted on what she needed. With daysI could only see her go submissive to him and his threatens. I really did not know how to handle it," he stopped to look me. I was listening to him intently.
"You did not know how to handle it, and what you did after that was commendable," Nishant added a taunt.
"Nishant, let me complete. I was not happy with the proceedings, for obvious reasons. She was your girl and I would never think of doing anything of that sort. She came to me one day weeping, she was broke and lost. She could not speak a word of all this as she very well knew how impulsive you are as a person. She was at her weakest that day,"
A year before, at Cafe Noir Bangalore. .
'Tanmay', Aarti called out my name as I entered the cafe. I walked to the table she had booked for us.
'I am sorry to have kept you waiting, I got stuck with some work at the office,' I apologized.
'Never mind,' she sat silently looking down. It was very awkward to be sharing that space with her. Though we stayed in the same house, I had had very less conversations with her. The silence was weird and neither of us were making an attempt to talk.
'Aarti, you need not worry about what is happening at home,' I had not even completed and she pounced back.
'I cannot imagine myself with you. No offense meant, but no. I have tried to get rid of this thing by having a conversation with every possible person at home. You are the only resort I am left with," she seemed too frustrated.
'I get it, but Aman seems really adamant about it. I have no idea why does he hate Mayank so much. Did you tall about this with him?" I asked.
"I tried and ended up fighting," he face went down.
"Is he afraid of commitment? Why the fight?" I intrigued.
"No, he can fight the world for me, he would not shun away from me or my responsibility. It is just that he is having bad days out there and he is coping up all alone. I can't approach him. If I could, why would I come here to have a word with you?" She seemed quite rude but I understood that, it was her rage that made her speak all this.
"I can not talk to him, you know it. I am not in talking terms with him," I folded my hands and sat as the waiter brought our orders.
"You want to prolong your fight even now? I am sure you have no feelings for me, in that case three lives are at stake and you still want to stick on to your old fight? Or is it that you are okay with what my brother has proposed? I do not get your mind games, Tanmay," she sat fidgeting with her fingers as I had started to boil from within.
"Enough Aarti, this is it. What he and I share is a different thing. That would not cast its shadow on this. I do not have feelings for you, I do not want to marry you as well, it has been tough for you, in the same way, I have been trying to push this entire thing out of my system as well," I clarified.
After a pause,
"I am sorry, I feel weak and helpless, I don't know what is going on, I am sorry for speaking harsh," she apologized.
"That is fine. Would you do what I tell? This might keep everyone happy," I had a plan, but I was scared to put it out in front of her.
'Can I trust you?' She thought for a while.
'Do you have a choice? I retorted. She gave me a stare in return.
'Relax, I want to do this for Mayank and you,' there were signs of relief on her face.
'I will handle it from here. All you need to do is act surprised at home when I speak of Mayank cheating on you and you know the drama you need to create post that. Don't you?' I raised a brow in question.
'Are you serious this will work? You know Aman right?' She hesitated.
'Can you stop asking questions and do as what I say?' She nodded in return.
'Good, so let's leave now' we moved out from the Cafe.
Tanmay described the entire scene to both of us. The sense of relief she had then, I could sense it today. A huge part of my burden was down. My breathing was getting back to normal.
"Why did this not come across properly then? Why did Aryan come into the picture? Why did she call me a random day and pulled curtains to things?" There were a few more questions.
"Aman, already disliked you now he was paranoid at you for cheating on his sister, well supposedly cheating," I rolled my eyes and gave a stern stare to Tanmay.
"Don't give me looks, all the efforts you had vested to impress Aarti, had you diverted a part of it at least to impress him, may be by now you would have been enjoying your evening walk with her, rather sitting and sobbing here," swift, came his reply.
"Fine, continue" Nishant chuckled listening to Tanmay's witty reply.
"Aman was all set to talk to you, screw you rather, for that. I had to avoid that scene and I convinced him not to have a word with you. He wanted Payal to screw you, but by then you both had fought and she did not want to do that, that is when Arayn came into the picture," my eyes went wide trying to understand.
"What exactly was you plan of action? Why did you have to do this in the first place?" Nishant asked.
"That night when Aman was told about you cheating," I stopped him.
"And you say that again, you will be dead," he sat a little far from me which saved him from the punch.
"Okay, the night we lied to him, things got more serious and they wanted to get off with the rituals by the end of the month and I had not thought about it at all. Neither of us knew what to do next and I had thought I screwed up," he fell silent and my heartbeat raised by a quarter pulse.
"Aarti was all in tears and I had to act quick. Post dinner, I went up to both her parents and Aman. I asked them for some time to settle and understand Aarti. After a lot of discussion, they agreed but they had their final say even in this. They wanted both of us to move to Delhi. The family wanted me to look after the business over there," Tanmay looked at me, things were sinking in.
"Aman, insisted on Payal making a call to you the very moment and calling it off. She had no choice but to act accordingly to what was planned prior." He answered almost all questions of mine and I sat there silent placing all the pieces in the right place to get the entire picture.
"I wanted to inform you all of this the very moment we reached Delhi, but Aman flew with us and stayed with us for a couple of months. He had a strict watch on both of us. She had a guilt of causing pain to you and making you go through all of it alone where in you were never at fault. I was ashamed as I had let you down and I had increased the barrier between you both," he put his head down. Nishant walked up to him.
I looked at him and wiped off the traces of tears from my face. I was right the from the beginning. I knew she couldn't have done anything of that sort. I looked at Nishant and he nodded his head with a smile.
"Delhi, Delhi is where you should be heading to, brother. Go get your love back in your life. You both have waited a lot. It is high time!" Tanmay spoke and I agreed to it. I could not wait to meet her.
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