Cold Love (13 page)
Authors: Amieya Prabhaker
“You are good buddy. You are
good!” Vishal acknowledges gracefully and walks up to Riya, “No offence Riya!
No hard feelings Arjun. It was just a game after all. Ciao!” He waves a
farewell, and walks off, nursing the bruises on his face and arms.
Riya runs up to Arjun and
hugs him tight. She notices his lips bleeding, tries to touch them but Arjun
moves his face away. Arjun shrugs her hand off, picks the scarf from the tree
and flings it to Riya. She catches it, while Arjun starts walking away briskly.
“Arjun!”
Arjun doesn’t respond.
“Arjun! Stop! I am talking to
you.” she grabs his arm, “What is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me? What’s
wrong with you, Riya? Do you know what kind of a guy Vishal is? Why did you
have to dance with him? Couldn’t you have asked me?” Arjun is clearly offended
at her choice of dance partner tonight.
“Really? If Mr. busy bee had
spare time from his friends!... Huh!” Riya responds in a spiteful tone,
obviously very offended and bitter now at the thought of his dance with Sanju.
She has clearly felt neglected with Arjun’s indifferent behavior throughout the
night.
“What?” Arjun replies with a
confused look, “Do you know Vishal has three girlfriends at a time, and the
kind of girls who just stick around for a big wallet and good looks. All that
he thinks about is… s e x!”
“Why? Feeling jealous now,
are you? If a guy does it, it’s fine, but if a girl does the same thing then…
then…”, Riya doesn’t complete the sentence.
“What do you mean Riya? You
know what Sanju is to me! Right?”
“Yes, Puja told me everything
about Sanju.”
“Then? And you know I don’t
care about girls like Eva. What are you saying Riya? I just don’t understand!
Why did you have to dance with the rowdiest guy in the class? You couldn’t care
to ask me? What’s your problem?”
“I don’t have any problem!
Happy?” Riya responds, frustrated with the conversation.
“Yes! Happy!”
They stand there for a moment
staring at each other in anger. Arjun is expecting an explanation, but Riya
doesn’t provide any. Eventually she does speak up.
“Arjun, I want to go home,”
Riya says in a soft perturbed tone. Arjun starts walking towards the car park
without a word. Riya follows him as he walks to the car, opens the door ajar
but doesn’t hold the door for her. Just as Arjun is about to start the car and
puts his hand on the steering wheel, Riya notices severe bruises on his hand.
And his lips are still bleeding. Riya tries to touch his hands, but Arjun takes
them away. Riya pulls out the medical box from the side compartment and comes
up to him in front of the steering wheel.
“Arjun! There’s still blood
on your lips.”
“I don’t care!” he revs up
the car engine.
“Arjun! You can be angry with
me if you like, but I need to clean it now. Please!”
Arjun tries to push her away,
but she comes almost on to him at the steering wheel.
“Arjun! Please!”, Riya shouts
at him. Arjun reluctantly gives in. Riya cleans his lips coming really close to
him as their eyes fix on each other for a moment. “Stay still, will you?” she
asks Arjun in an angry tone. She wipes his hands clean with a piece of cotton
and ointment.
Arjun finally starts the car
and drives off at a high speed. Arjun and Riya drive for a few moments without
speaking to each other. Riya has tears on her cheeks that Arun notices but he
doesn’t try to pacify her. After a while, Riya suddenly speaks up.
“Arjun, I don’t want to go
home.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone at home will ask me
why we returned from the party so early,” she explains in a sulking tone, “And
I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.”
“Then where do you want to
go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know you are a crazy
girl Riya?” Arjun smiles; no longer angry with her.
“Oh yes! And what about you…”
Riya mumbles to herself, “Stubborn… Stupid”
Arjun cannot help laugh out
loud; adding to Riya’s annoyance as she is still seething with jealousy and
wrath at everything that happened tonight.
Arjun decides to continue
driving without stirring any further commotion. He drives across the beautiful
countryside and along the curves of the beautiful Cumbala hills until he
reaches the top with a lovely view of the city lights down under and the sea in
the distance. The car comes to a halt.
“So Riya, you knew that Sanju
is my sister right?”
Riya turns around to look at
Arjun, her expression revealing her surprise at this statement. Arjun starts
laughing loudly looking at Riya’s expression.
“You didn’t? Ha ha!... I had
asked Puja to tell you about Sanju.”
Riya is still shocked; bites
her lips and her nails.
“Ha ha! So your best friend
lied to you Riya?”
“Arjun… Oh my God! … What did
I do?… Ummm…” She holds her ears with an innocent sorry look when she realizes
the faux pas that she had committed.
“So tell me Riya,” Arjun is
amused, but continues in a teasing tone, “Hmm… what’s the reason that Puja lied
to you?”
“I’m gonna kill that
girl…Puja… You…” Riya mumbles to herself.
“Hey mind it! You are talking
about my sister.”
“She may be your sister
later…she’s my friend first!” Riya mumbles to herself again, obviously now
understanding why Puja did what she did.
“Ha ha! Guess I know why Puja
lied to you… I think she saw you getting jealous of Sanju…right? Or of Eva…
coming close to me?”
“Not at all… why would I?”
Riya nervously avoids Arjun’s mischievous glance. “I don’t care whom you dance
with.”
“Aha! Really? Your eyes seem
to be saying something else.” Arjun continues to tease her. “So you promise …
pinky promise… that you were not jealous?”
Riya is very uneasy seeing
Arjun enjoying her nervousness. She decides to dodge him; opens the door of the
car and walks out. Arjun walks across towards her. They are at the top of a
beautiful hill and just a step further ahead from the car park the whole of
Mumbai is lit brightly beneath them, with the sea in the distant horizon.
“Wow! This is so beautiful!
You never brought me here before, Arjun!?”
“Should we sit down here for
a while?”
They sit on the grass at the
top of the hill, admiring the view. The full moon and its shimmering reflection
in the distant sea add to the ambience too. Arjun sees Riya brushing her arms
as the temperature has dipped in the open environment. He gently wraps his arms
around her and puts his jacket on top. Riya clasps on to his arms. They lie
there together for a while in each other’s arms without saying a word.
“Arjun, do you mind if I put
on some music?”
“As you wish your highness…”
Arjun starts in a pompous tone but Riya interrupts him.
“Shhh…” She is in no mood for
excessive talking.
Riya puts on FM radio on her
phone. The soft music flows in the night air as if reaching the distant moon,
the sea and beyond. Suddenly Arjun springs on his feet.
“A dance?” he offers his hand
in a playful gesture. Riya accepts it and they enjoy a fast rock and roll,
followed by a twist, and then the next song on FM radio is - “Lady in Red”.
Arjun decides to take the lead in a ball dance pose, holds Riya by her waist
and his right hand holding her palms. They dance in tandem under the moon on
the beautiful hill. At the tune of the words “The way you look tonight”, Arjun
smiles looking straight into Riya’s eyes.
“You know… you do look
wonderful tonight.”
Riya smiles, is about to say
something when the lyrics “cheek to cheek” of the song at that very instant
distract her attention. Suddenly a gentle breeze makes her hair flutter on to
Arjun’s face. As he removes them, Arjun brushes her cheek gently with his
thumb. Riya freezes at the touch, staring blankly at him.
“Wassup?” Arjun asks her;
Riya just shakes her head. She stays motionless for a moment and then walks
away towards the railing by the edge. Arjun follows her, gently brushing his
hand up her arms.
“You want to say something
Miss Riya?”
“Say what?” Riya tries to act
casual about the conversation.
“Ummm”, Arjun whispers in her
ears, “What a girl tells a guy….?”
Riya doesn’t respond. She is
now blushing red. Their eyes lock again as she nervously squeezes the side of
her skirt.
“Hey, you are blushing!”
Arjun smiles at her.
“No!” Riya is very uneasy now
at his blunt question.
“Do you know Riya…your cheeks
have gone red... like ripe tomatoes!”
“Will you please shut up
Arjun?” Riya mumbles, almost inaudibly to herself and closes her eyes,
breathing heavily, blushing profusely as Arjun stares at her, inches away from
her face. Suddenly, Riya’s phone starts ringing.
She rushes to pick it up,
eager to dodge her awkward situation.
“Yes mama… we are on our way…
Yes we will be home soon.”
She puts her phone down and
walks back to Arjun, “It was mummy’s phone. How long will it take to reach home
from here Arjun? We didn’t realize and it’s already 11:49pm. Can we reach home
before midnight?”
“It’s at least half an hour’s
drive back home!... Should we, then? Your parents are never going to allow you
to come with me again.”
“Shut up Arjun! Papa and
Mummy trust you more than they trust me!”
Arjun gets on the steering
wheel and they drive off. The car meanders past the beautiful valley amidst the
tall mahogany trees, with the beautiful moon still shining brightly in the sky.
Silence makes up for what Arjun
and Riya could not say tonight, as the electrifying chemistry between them has
become obvious tonight.
Riya has been sleeping like a baby. In
her dreams, she re-enacts all the special moments with Arjun earlier today. She
sees herself on the hill again as Arjun gently pushes away the tuft of her hair
from her eyes. He slowly runs his forefinger caressing her smooth beautiful
cheeks. He follows that with a gesture that indicates he is about to kiss her,
when suddenly Riya spots a man in the distance behind Arjun, with his back
towards her.
Riya raises her head from Arjun’s
shoulder and takes a step forward to look at the man in the distance. She turns
back to look at Arjun, but he has vanished into thin air. And when she turns
and looks ahead, the man in the distance is only at an arm’s length away from
her, with his back to her. And mysteriously, the scene behind the man changes
into lofty mountains in a white, desert-like landscape. The man, with his back
turned towards her, slowly turns around. This time Riya can see his face. He
has an unkempt beard and a broad rough jaw.
The man is holding a child in one hand,
a cute seven-or-eight month-old baby. Riya smiles gently at the baby, admiring
the innocence of the kid gurgling and kicking his legs in the man’s hands.
Suddenly, the man moves his other hand, hidden behind his back, in which he
holds a gun.
Hold on, what’s going on? Riya is
confused and raises her hand as if questioning the mysterious man. The very
next moment, the man moves the gun to the kid’s forehead and pulls the trigger.
She can hear the shot echoing loudly across the hills of the desert landscape.
Riya shouts loudly in her sleep and
wakes up immediately. She is sweating profusely and panting for breath. There’s
a loud knocking at the door, as her father has woken up on hearing her scream.
“Riya beta, Riya…”, Varun calls out
through the door.
Riya gets out of bed and opens the door
to let him in.
“Are you ok, beta?”
Riya nods yes, and buries her face in
her father’s shoulder, crying like a baby.
“You had the same nightmare, didn’t
you?” Riya nods yes, still hugging her dad strongly.
“That monster keeps coming into my
dreams Papa! And the child! Why did he kill the child Papa?” Her tears fall on
Varun’s neck. He pulls her up to look at her and wipes her tears away.
“It’s ok beta! It’s ok! Everything is
going to be fine!”
Riya calms down in a few minutes and
gets back to bed.
“Was the party ok beta?” Riya nods yes.
“Ok you go to bed Riya; let’s speak tomorrow.”
Riya closes the door as her father
leaves. She goes to the window to look at Arjun’s room in the far end of the
other house… Not a light to be seen! Perhaps he is sleeping tonight. She dreads
getting back to sleep; she fears the skeletons in her closet that continue to
haunt her.
She waits eagerly for the bright morning
light, when she can be with Arjun again. But she cannot play this game anymore.
Her soul is stretched to hell and beyond. She gets into bed but is wide awake.
It’s almost 5am now. She hugs her pillow tightly, desperately trying to get
some sleep, but simply lies there for another couple of hours blankly looking
at the white ceiling above…thinking all the while about Arjun.