Another sip as he watched the clock tick at the slowest speed that he had ever witnessed in his 29 years of life. 3 years of world survival, 14 years of that dramatic school life, 5 of everyday struggle in MBBS college, and 6 years of breathless practice and masters later, he still thinks that those days ended rather quickly seeing the thousands of things he had to do but today, the clock is crawling in a speed that could put slow loris to shame.
A tortoise would seem fleet-footed and the banana slug would be crying for his title.
No, he wasn't waiting.
He was repenting one of his past life's mistakes in the human form.
Another hour and he will start terming it as a sin.
All because Vidyut was bearing his brother from birth sulking in his home. A glass of rum that he stored for emergencies being replenished as Rakshit Chauhan, the youngest of the three, drowned in his heartbreak or should he say, his stupidity of marrying their common friend who kept him at an arm's length for the past 25 years.
Yes, Shreya had been in their life that long and in Rakshit's head for more or less 10 years, from the day he laughed at her tear-filled eyes who offered her heart to him on a silver plate.
But the lollygagger of the man Rakshit was, it took him 12 months to understand her feelings, a time period that ended with her changing her resolve and overcoming the boy. The girl had moved on but this man stayed there, finding ways to annoy her, agonize her, and pull her into the mess he created around her in the hope of refurbishing those lost feelings in her.
The chances were slim but will be dead if the man keeps sitting in his home drinking his sorrows away.
"Will you stop emptying my collection?" Vidyut grumbled watching him pour another drink.
"You are a miser, do you know that?" Rakshit scowled and filled more than necessary gulping the contents in a go. "This tastes horrible. You should have thought twice before buying this shit."
"Yeah, it feels yuck when someone drinks past 3 bottles." He pointed sarcastically earning a look of betrayal from his simp of a brother.
"You are heartless like her," Rakshit whined slumping against the couch, covering his face acting like a child refused to eat ice cream.
"No, she is intelligent to see past this suit and tie. "
"That he is a man-child?" Anirudh announced his presence from the door, watching his siblings busy in a glaring match. "Is he the emergency?"
"Is that even a question? I thought you wouldn't come for another decade." Vidyut mocked a smile in welcome, pointing towards their youngest. "I won't keep calm if he down another bottle, these are limited editions."
"Such a Scrooge." Rakshit scowled and slammed his glass back on the table, standing up on a wobbling leg he passed Anirudh a grin. "My big brother, you are my savior."
"What is wrong?" The referred man nodded with a frown and took steps towards him to hold when he would stumble, which will soon see his drunk arse.
"How do you understand women? They are so much dif...ficult." He whined as he met Anirudh near the couch before falling back, taking him together. "You see Bhai. Shreya is angry at me, like...why? There is no reason, but she is angry."
Anirudh scrounged his nose at his slurred speech and shared a look with Vidyut who sighed, grumbling under his breath, he made his way towards the kitchen to get him down from his high.
Squeezing a lemon in a glass full of chilled water, he brought the mixture towards Rakshit who rumbled the same story of how Shreya hit his head with a paperweight that could break his skull but he was still alive because of his good deeds which includes being a great race driver.
"You know she even tried to strangle me with...a tie! Tie, bhai. She wanted to kill...me. Whom will you scold if she kills me? You will be so alone, and this man...where did he go?" Rakshit pouted at the empty sofa.
"I'm here, you idiot." Vidyut rolled his eyes and forwarded the glass to him. "Drink."
"What is this?" He took it excitedly. "That bottle you hid from me? Are you being generous to me? I love you, Vidyut." Before he could jump on Vidyut for displaying his affection, Anirudh pulled him back and forced him to drink. He wiggled between the two and groaned behind the glass.
Once, he was done halfway, he pushed out of their hold and coughed loudly, wheezing, and grimacing at the sour taste of lemon that wiped any traces of numbing alcohol brought to him.
5 minutes and he was back to normal.
"Jalaad ho aap dono." He panted, glaring at the duo who sat with bored faces. (You are two devils.)
"Are you sobering now?" Anirudh cocked a brow.
"I don't like you two." He complained, slumping down the sofa headrest. "Or that woman. How could she block me out?"
"Why?" Vidyut asked taking a seat away from his two brothers.
"How will I know?" Rakshit scowled throwing his loose tie away and opening his shirt buttons. "One second we were being normal and next she was ready to kill me. She was asking me weird questions like if I enjoyed my time. How the hell one could enjoy it when your nose is blocked and the workload is ready to gobble you up? I should have skipped that damn tie in a board meeting, at least, itna raita nahi phelta." (It wouldn't have caused this mess.)
"Are you sure you fought? Your neck says another tale." Anirudh averted his eyes watching the love bite staring back at him.
"Not you too." Rakshit groaned. "She saw this mark and went crazy. I mean fine, I am hurt. The least she could have done was apply some ointment but no, she was acting as if I cheated on her."
"Shreya didn't give you this?" Vidyut was alarmed at the statement.
"No, rather she hit my ribs and would have cracked my head."
"Get serious, Rakshit. This isn't by Shreya?" Anirudh steepled his finger as if disgusted by the site as he questioned its source.
"Why will she? I did it to myself." Rakshit looked at them like they have grown crazy and asking stupid questions.
"Pagal hai kya? How can you do it to yourself?" (Are you mad?) Anirudh snapped ready to knock him dead.
"Vidyut, check him. He is acting weird." Rakshit pointed at Anirudh who scowled in return. "How can someone else do it to me? It was me who took the steam and got burned during it. This idiot suggested me to take hot water steam to treat cold and I followed and got this big gash on my sensitive skin because the water was too boiling."
"So, you have not been with Shreya?" Anirudh probed, eyes squinted and daring him to lie.
"No!" Rakshit declared "She won't even talk to me."
"Were you with another girl?" Vidyut piped with curiosity.
Rakshit snarled "You think I am loose?"
"Am I wrong?" Vidyut deadpanned, tilting his chin and eyes narrowed.
"I mean..." He faltered, "It was all before her. I don't even look at skirts now."
"Good." Anirudh nodded, deciding to clarify one last time. "That means this is not a hickey?"
"Of course, it is not." He declared throwing his hands in the air. "Why would you even think it is..." His words trailed as the realization dawned. "Oh darn!"
"There you go." Anirudh pipped settling back.
"She thinks this is..." He blinked with shock.
"She does." Vidyut pursed his lips in sympathy.
"I am doomed," Rakshit mumbled on the verge of crying.
"Not until she calls the engagement off."
Rakshit snapped to look at Anirudh horrified, his brother shrugged deadpanning. "She will?"
"Not if you explain her before," Vidyut suggested and Rakshit collected his coat, dashing out of the place as if his planet was being conquered by aliens and he has the last chance to save it.
"He has got it bad," Anirudh commented.
"I see so." Vidyut twisted his face sighing. He eyed the unfinished bottle and then Anirudh who seem to catch his line of sight. "Did you drive here?"
"No, I got a driver." He cleared.
Vidyut smirked at the information. He picked up the bottle and fetched two glasses from the sliding cabinet. "The bottle begs to be cherished."
"I never deny a good offer."
â â â â
"We met when I was five."
Shreya confided to the girl she had known for what, less than two years but at this moment, she was desperate and needed a shoulder to lean and ears to speak.
"It's fine, baby. Talk to me." A hand squeezed hers and she felt the assurance that she was listening, maybe she didn't know her enough but it was best to let her heart out to a stranger than someone who knew her more than she knew herself or someone who was clueless about her.
"He is a..."The hesitation made her grip the hem of her t-shirt and think again. The world was full of chameleons and letting a certain someone who had every means to use any information against her could come back to bite her any day she would be less expecting it.
She remembered what Chanakya once said, "Once secrets are the most poisonous weapon one can be killed with."
Could she trust her?
Not when she could trust her own shadow.
"You know, I should rather sleep this off." Shreya faked a grimace, "I don't wish to relive it all. Any way I will be facing him in another 24 hours. I should better relax my mind now to act rationally and not get carried away with these emotions."
"Of course. These fights are temporary." Nainika smiled in the assertion. "Such trivial matters don't stand. It will be all resolved once you see him again. You are in love with him, after all."
"Yes, we love each other."
She felt her tongue slur repeating this. They were far from this L-word. She may have touched it someday but not Rakshit.
He didn't know if the word exists, how could he ever love?
Or love her?
Didn't he laugh at her face when she had confessed her heart to him?
The day was a crystal in her memories, the embarrassment engraved in her bones when he had ruffled her head like a homeless puppy saying.
"You do not mean that, Shreya. You have had a lot to drink didn't you?" He chuckled and his friends in the hearing range snickered.
"I am not drunk." Shreya gritted flushing in embarrassment. "I mean it. I...I like you more than a friend, Rakshit."
"I appreciate but I do not." He clarified with a shrug. "We are friends and I wish to keep it that way. I cannot complicate things for both of us."
"Complicate?" A sixteen-year-old Shreya tested the word like it was the deadliest poison that could kill her being. "We have known each other all our life."
Not that he, her best friend, the boy she was crazily in love with, wasn't already pushing her to the cliff of bashfulness.
"See." He exhaled shaking his head as if the idea itself was revolting. "You are using these words and already failing to understand me. It always leads to this. It will choke us when we, the two people who know each other so much get together. There will be no excitement or spark. It will be bland because we know a lot about each other and knowing too much kills the fun."
"You think we are friends that is why it won't work?" She tried probing because she knew him a lot and here, she knew he was trying to create excuses. "You can be honest with me."
"Okay, look I wouldn't have lied but I like someone else." He feared her responses yet let out the truth being the straightforward, no-filter mouth he got. "I like Inaya. She is too hot to resist."
His dreamy face made her stomach recoil in the bit of pain that he was causing her.
"You like 'like' Inaya?" Her invisible air quotes were obvious and clear that he bowed his head sheepishly and stepped near her.
"What is there not to like about her?" He whispered like it was a secret. He gestured his chin towards the crowd where she stood. "Look at her. Those long straight hairs, sharp nose, her slender frame filled at all right places, and her big almond black eyes and that shape of her..."
Shreya flinched away at his description knocking a potted plant with her feet that turned several heads around them. She swallowed and corrected the plant bending hurrying to right the damage. She stood up and turned towards the sight where that girl stood but she was gone. She turned to watch Rakshit but he was nowhere found.
He left and she would put it past him to think about them being together.
"He left you alone to deal with the mess?" A snide was heard and she knew who has come to pour salt on her wounds. "Poor little nerd. Even your best friend refused to pity you anymore, who will be you going to now?"
Shreya clenched her jaw and turned to stand straight in front of her biggest nemesis who happened to have her claws ready to eat any girl who gained fame in the school apart from her- Geetanjali Mishra.
And Rakshit Chauhan was the fame himself. Wherever she went, he came following her.
"You could utilize your time so much better than poking your nose in my business, G." Shreya passed her a tight smile, a faltering try because, on the inside, she wanted to bawl her eyes out away from the world.
"And not watch you getting rejected?" She tsked "Nope, I get more utility here. Watching your heart being trampled over by the boy you cannot stop but think."
"I was not rejected." She gritted, glaring, and channeling her pain into rage.
"Of course, you aren't, darling." Another voice joined them.
An arm moved to touch her when Shreya glared at him. "I am no friend of yours, Akshay. Do not touch me."
"Do not push pity away, nerd. You need it to survive in this school." Geetanjali smirked and shared a look with Akshay who seem to pass her hostility, standing too close to her and invading her space.
"If Rakshit doesn't want you, that is the end of the world." Akshay shared his two scents and winked in a sick manner. "You can always come to me."
"You are right." Shreya nodded in understanding watching the two staring at her with naked amusement. "This is not the end of the world. It could be the start too."
They scoffed, chuckling.
"Pep talks do not work in the real world, baby doll." Geetanjali mocked a sad pout which soon was replaced with deviltry "But a good fuck can take an offer and get laid. Who knows, the boys may find your little..." she paused with a suggestive stare "...attractive even when your face is ugly. You can use things to favor you know!"
Shreya was disgusted but the rage to fight them "Is that experience speaking, G?"
She wanted to rile the girl but it seems that Geetanjali knew her tricks and kept her cold and calm.
"Nope, it isn't but the next is." She leaned closer. "Use Rakshit. He fucks good." She was back and smirking before grinning at Shreya's flaming red face with a wink. "Personal experience, you see."
That night, a lot had changed.
Including Shreya Thapar.
The nerd in school cleared the entrance exam and got admission to her dream university, where Rakshit Chauhan could never come.
Like his elder brother, he was shipped to Yale while Shreya completed her graduation, and post-graduation, and secured an excellent job in a media house.
It was five years later that she saw Rakshit Chauhan again.
Changed and a man who chased any skirt he saw. A man with unzipped pants and loose belts getting into a lot of many scandals that she could have made a lot of money if she had kept in touch with him.
Not that she wasn't. She kept her distance and had a negligible distaste for his existence each time he called her or left a text back. He was persistent when it came to keeping in contact and he had fulfilled his promises of keeping in touch. She have heard many others who promised yet failed but one thing Rakshit Chauhan was good at, was keeping his promises.
He met her at regular intervals, and kept her involved, updated, and informed about his life until one day, he offered her a contract on a silver platter to clean his mess and act as his personal PR manager.
Enveloping her entirely into the mess he had piled up in the last 10 years.
But she felt as if that one thing is changed too.
Rakshit learned how to break promises and he had done it.
He broke what he promised her on the night of the family dinner.
He said he wanted rights on her, the one he lost the chance a decade back.
A promise that he failed.
A promise that she has somewhere latched her lost feelings with.
"Are you okay?"
Shreya startled out of her memories, holding her glass harder than she would. She turned to watch her brother staring at her quizzically. She watched his brow cock and felt herself nodding at his previous question. "I am."
"You don't have to do this," Shresth demanded standing beside her, filling a glass of water for himself.
"Do what?" Shreya blinked in confusion.
"This." Her brother gritted like it was troubling him and choking his windpipe. "You are marrying Rakshit out of love. You don't have to."
"I am not doing this out of love." She admitted but heard him scoff.
"You had moved on from that phase, Choti. I have witnessed you overcome him. Who are you trying to fool?"
Shreya looked away at the mention of that nickname, a name her brother had stopped calling her in past years. "Bhai..."
"I have got a job. I will work and earn enough to keep Ma out of your life. Go back to Delhi. Work where you like, get away from here. I promise you don't have to worry about me. I will quit singing, I will put my MBA to use and earn well to support us but you do not have to work for him. You are not happy and it makes me feel like a loser and you know how much I hate being a loser." He grumbled at the end and Shreya chuckled, sniffing to stop her tears at bay.
"You are not a loser. You don't have to quit." She started and Shresth shook his head. "Bhai, no you don't have to give up your passion."
"I can't see my Choti sacrifice for me." He declared "Dadi must be screaming down the heaven because she named me Shresth for a reason."
"I don't think she got to heaven. She was evil and tortured Mumma a lot." Shreya muttered "She is the reason mother dislikes you. You got the same eyes as that of her bully."
"Shut up! We don't badmouth dead." Shresth chided and hugged a sheepish Shreya to him. "I don't want you to do this, do you hear me?"
Shreya shook her head against his chest. "I cannot run out of this."
"Is he blackmailing you? Or is there a duress on you? Tell me so that I can punch that asshole and break that charming face of his."
"You admit he has a charming face?" Shreya asked with a grin and watched her brother glare at her.
"No, he is a walking, talking, and breathing joker." Shresth declared making her burst out in laughter. He watched her sister laughing in his embrace and he pecked her forehead as she sobered. "Tell me anything you want, alright? I am your big brother and I should be protecting you. Not the other way round."
"I know, my superstar." She smiled at him. "But you don't have to stop singing. You know you can work in the day and take up gigs in the evening? Singing is your passion, Bhai."
"I will think and cook up something." He sighed.
"You have to because what will I tell others? I have boasted to all my colleagues that you will be the next big thing after Arijit Singh. If you quit they will be laughing at me." Shreya pouted.
"No one can dare." He assured her. "Your brother is there to watch out my Choti. Okay?"
Shreya nodded fervently, grinning like a kid. "You will perform in my engagement tomorrow?"
His lips twisted in distaste yet he nodded. "Anything for you."
The doorbell rang and Shreya groaned in frustration. Shresth watched her skeptically but shrugged and started walking out of the kitchen to check the door.
"Tell her to go away," Shreya called after him and he halted.
"What? Tell who?" He probed.
"She has to be one from the salon." She complained with scrunched nose and puckering lips, "Mom is been scheduling all these appointments for the past 48 hours for me and I hate them."
"I will tell her to leave." Shresth nodded sighing.
She heard the door open and hushed voices before it was slammed close. Hurried footsteps came to the kitchen and she smiled thinking her brother had kicked them out.
"You are the best. I love you!" Shreya declared feeling a presence and finished her glass of water happily.
"Do you? Really?"
She spat the water out and choked as she found him standing with his arms crossed and an annoyed Shresth behind them. "Rakshit?"
He hummed. "Who else, meri jaan?"
"I will break your teeth if you call her that again," Shresth growled from behind, pushing past his shoulder and standing near his sister. "You have 1 minute to say the shit you are here for before I kick you out of our house. Time is running out."
"You are right. It is." Rakshit smiled weakly and turned towards her, he swallowed and rubbed his neck in nervousness "I need to tell you..."
"I don't wish to hear anything." She protested, eyes moving towards the faint mark and she averted her eyes. "You may leave."
"Shreya, please." He stepped forward but Shresth blocked his way.
"Stay there and say what you wish to. You are nowhere coming near my sister." Her brother stated and Rakshit's jaw clenched.
"I need to talk to my fiancée." He declared.
"Soon to be fiancée."
"She is not."
The siblings stated together.
"She is," Rakshit stated, his demeanor turning threatening. "Right, Shreya?"
Shreya closed her eyes realizing his reference, feeling her headache returning she sighed and turned towards her brother. "Bhai, can you give us a minute to talk?"
"No..."
"Bhai, please." She cut him off and begged through her eyes. Shresth glared at him and shot a disappointed look at her before he left the vicinity. Shreya leaned against the countertop, shoulders slumped as she prodded him to start. "What do you want, Rakshit?"
"You." His words made her clenched her eyes shut.
Shaking his word out of her head, she sighed. "I am in no mood to banter."
"Me too." He admitted and straightened "I am here for an explanation."
Shreya waited for him to elaborate, something he was having difficulty seeing. He was shuffling on his feet.
"It wasn't a hickey." He started bashfully and her eyes narrowed. "It was a blister I got from the hot water steam. I swear, Shreya. It was nothing but a wound. I did not cheat on you. I will never."
"It doesn't matter if you do." She looked away, feeling ashamed yet she knew the man he was. "I am sorry for reacting like that. You can be with anyone you want but in the wraps. This is only an agreement and I shouldn't feel hurt."
"This is not an agreement." He snapped and she looked at him.
Rakshit stared at her with an intense look that spoke volumes and she swallowed feeling her throat dry from the heat.
"Then," She crossed her arms, protecting herself. "What is it?"
"Redemption."