All Yours, Stranger: Some Mysteries are Dangerously Sexy Read online

  ‘How are you?’ she said, sitting down opposite him.

  Danny only took out a large envelope and put it on the table without saying a word. Rivanah frowned. Were there photographs inside? The damned stranger had actually sent Danny photographs of Ekansh and her together? With trembling hands she took the envelope, opened it and took out its contents. There were papers. Legal papers, she noticed. In fact, stamp papers on which was an agreement between a production house and Danny. She looked directly at Danny for the first time in the evening. He was already beaming.

  ‘I have got a movie deal finally!’

  ‘Oh wow!’ Rivanah couldn’t control her instinctive reaction and she half rose from her seat to hug Danny and congratulate him.

  ‘Though it is not the lead, the production house is good and I’m sure the role will lead to better deals.’

  ‘I’m sure too. I’m so happy,’ Rivanah exclaimed. For a moment she actually thought all her problems were solved and that life was smiling at her. Then Danny grasped her hand tightly and said, ‘I’m sorry for the last few weeks.’

  She swallowed a lump.

  ‘I know I ignored you,’ Danny said and continued, ‘but I wanted to surprise you with this. The production house got in touch with me a day after you left. I was waiting for the contract to happen. They gave it to me last night.’

  Rivanah managed a tight smile. She wanted to know if Nitya was still there with him but somewhere her guilt told her she had lost the right to ask Danny about Nitya.

  ‘Nitya has left too,’ Danny said, as if reading Rivanah’s mind. ‘In fact, I asked her to. I know you were never comfortable with her around. But I hope you understand, being her best friend, I too was duty-bound.’

  ‘I understand,’ Rivanah said, her throat feeling bone dry. She turned around and asked a waiter to bring some water for her.

  ‘So, when are you coming back?’ Danny asked with that typical charming smile of his which time and again made her feel funny between her legs.

  ‘I have just paid all eleven months’ rent. I don’t think the landlord will refund it,’ Rivanah said and noticed disappointment eclipse Danny’s face. He slowly pulled out his hand from hers. Did she say so because she actually wanted to stay away from Danny or did she say it because now she knew she could be close to Ekansh? It was one of those grey questions which one never asks oneself, and if one does, then one evades the answer at any cost.

  ‘Or else I would have,’ she said but this was more of an attempt to convince herself that she wasn’t choosing Ekansh over Danny. Had she not given the rent she would have definitely shifted, she thought once again.

  ‘Okay. You can always come over, right?’

  That I’ll anyway have to whenever Ekansh comes to meet Tista, Rivanah thought, and said, ‘Yes.’

  ‘Or maybe I could come over,’ Danny said with an amused face. She knew what he was hinting at.

  ‘I have a roomie at my place. So, it’ll be better if I come over,’ she said and shuddered at the thought of what would happen to her if and when Ekansh and Danny were in her sight together.

  ‘That’s cool with me as long as you are near me,’ he said and leaned forward to whisper, ‘I love you, Rivanah.’

  Rivanah kept looking at him.

  ‘Why are you crying?’ Danny asked. She didn’t know when her eyes had flooded.

  ‘Any problem?’

  Rivanah nodded and carefully pressed a paper napkin against her eyes so that her eye make-up didn’t smudge.

  ‘Did that bugger disturb you again?’

  Rivanah paused and looked at him inquiringly.

  ‘The stalker,’ Danny clarified.

  Should she tell him the stranger had compelled her to resign from the job, had manipulated the situation in a way that she ended up fucking Ekansh?

  Rivanah nodded. The stranger may have made her resign but the latter happened because of her own indiscretion. It had to happen, it didn’t matter that she had met Ekansh a day before or was meeting him in the future.

  ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘But we didn’t order anything,’ Rivanah said.

  ‘Doesn’t matter. I have tickets for the night show of the new Hobbit sequel. Let’s get going.’

  As Rivanah stood up, Danny held her hand. That one gesture made her feel relieved as well as protected. As if her demons wouldn’t be able to get to her in Danny’s presence. Danny was almost pulling her along when she called out to him. He turned.

  ‘I love you, too,’ she said. Danny came close and, in full view of everyone, caught her lower lip between his lips and sucked it for a few seconds. He looked at her. Rivanah wondered if he had tasted her or tasted Ekansh through her. He smiled and the question lost its relevance in Rivanah’s mind for the time being.

  They reached the multiplex in the nick of time. In the dark theatre Rivanah kept glancing at Danny time and again. She was happy the cold war between them was over. She was saddened by its timing. If Danny had met her a day or two earlier, she wouldn’t have done what she did with Ekansh. It was irreversible. But so was her love for Danny. The stranger had told her she genuinely loved Ekansh and hence she couldn’t get over him. Did that mean she had never loved Danny truly? That was absurd because she was ready to marry him, to fight with her family to be his. Would anyone do that if he or she wasn’t truly in love?

  ‘I need to go to the washroom,’ Danny said and went outside. Rivanah toyed with her phone and then, unable to resist her urge, messaged the stranger. After all she was the one supposedly suffering from the Cinderella complex. And the stranger was one helluva mystery prince.

  What exactly is cheating in a relationship? Rivanah messaged.

  The response came a little earlier than she anticipated:

  Your answer is waiting in the third toilet inside the men’s washroom beside the multiplex entrance.

  It could only mean the stranger was in the washroom right at that moment. There was no way he could guess her question. He must be writing the answer there right now for her to find later. Rivanah sprang to her feet and scampered out of the theatre. She walked briskly to the first washroom by the entrance. The door had a man’s silhouette pinned on it. All shows were on and nobody was either going in or coming out. She held the doorknob, looked around, took a deep breath and pushed the door open. There was nobody in sight. She entered the washroom. And then she saw someone peeing with his back to her. The guy turned and shrieked.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ Danny said.

  Shit! Rivanah thought. In the utter excitement of getting to the stranger she forgot Danny had excused himself to the washroom. She had to tell him something, anything but the truth.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she said, feigning surprise.

  ‘It’s the men’s washroom.’ Danny, done answering nature’s call, turned to her.

  ‘Oh! I thought this is for girls,’ Rivanah said. She was about to turn around when the door to the third toilet opened. Rivanah paused, holding her breath. Danny followed her eyes and looked at the door too. And then at the guy who came out of the door. He didn’t know him. Rivanah did. It was Ekansh. She instantly turned around. Her heart was racing like never before and she could feel her body shudder.

  ‘I’ll see you outside, Danny.’ She rushed out of the men’s washroom. She hoped Ekansh had not seen her. But what was he doing there? Or was it another of the stranger’s sadistic manipulations?

  Rivanah came out of the men’s washroom and went straight to the girls’ washroom. It was empty except for her. She wasn’t able to think properly. The fact that Danny and Ekansh were right there in front of her together had made her go blank. She heard the washroom door being pushed open. It was a female cleaner. She came right up to her and handed her something, saying, ‘Kya yeh aapka hai? Darwaze ke pass pada tha.’

  Rivanah looked at the white piece of cloth which the female cleaner was holding. She took it from her and opened it out to read the only word written on it in bla
ck thread: LOL.

  18

  The first thing Rivanah did after coming back to the theatre with Danny by her side was message Tista to ascertain if she was with Ekansh or not. She was. The film was ruined for Rivanah. She knew Ekansh was there with Tista in another hall watching another film. It stressed her out to think: what if Danny and Ekansh came face-to-face once again while exiting?

  ‘Did you see anyone else when you went inside the washroom?’ Rivanah asked Danny in a whisper. He gave her a curious look and said, ‘Anyone else?’

  ‘With long hair?’

  Rivanah had Argho Chowdhury in mind. Danny frowned for a moment and said, ‘Nope. I only saw the guy who came out of the toilet when you were there.’

  Rivanah immediately averted her eyes from Danny, knowing he was talking about Ekansh.

  ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘Just like that. A friend messaged me saying he was here with his girlfriend.’

  ‘Oh, okay.’ Danny said and went back to watching the movie. Rivanah didn’t like the fact that she had to lie to him. But she knew this was probably the beginning of a series of lies. Why couldn’t she simply turn and tell Danny she had cheated on him but it wasn’t planned, it wasn’t something she thought she would do? It simply happened. He loved her, she loved him. He would understand her. The momentary slip on her part wouldn’t affect their relationship. In fact the confession would only cement the break in the relationship which at present only she could see.

  ‘Danny . . .’ she blurted, turning towards him.

  ‘Hmm?’ He turned towards her. Eye to eye. And the guilt pulled her will to tell the truth somewhere deep within her.

  ‘I’ll be back,’ she said instead.

  ‘Don’t get into the men’s washroom again,’ Danny said with an amused face. Rivanah gave him a tight smile and stood up. Soon she was out of the theatre. She felt weak within. She sat down on one of the stairs outside, burying her face in her lap. Her phone vibrated with a message. She lifted her face and read it.

  People think cheating is an action like sleeping with someone, kissing someone or whatever. Wrong. Very wrong. Cheating is when you feel the pressure of being faithful to someone because of someone else. When you suddenly realize there’s an option. That realization is cheating.

  A couple of teardrops fell on her mobile screen. Another message popped up. It read:

  You are a cheat, Mini.

  Rivanah buried her face in her lap again and sobbed. A couple of passers-by did notice her but nobody approached her. Her phone beeped with a WhatsApp message.

  Where are you?

  It was Danny. She replied: Coming. Rivanah wiped her tears, regained her composure and went back inside the theatre.

  From the time Danny dropped her at her place that night she wanted to leave Tista and shift to another flat where there was no Ekansh and no Danny. But she had already paid her eleven months’ rent which also put pressure on her savings. While signing those cheques Rivanah had had a job. Now she had resigned; she was yet to appear in any interview; and she had only three weeks before she was totally jobless. She felt like a fort that was being attacked from all sides and, though it was standing its ground, Rivanah knew it would be taken over soon. And she had no idea what she would do then. She made it a point to tell Tista to inform her in advance whenever Ekansh was coming over so that she could give them the privacy every couple needed. She now knew from Tista that Ekansh had shifted from Bangalore to Pune and now to Navi Mumbai. He generally came over on weekends. But he didn’t stay over. Was it because he too was as sorry as her for whatever happened? Did he tell Tista about it? On the one hand she was avoiding Ekansh because he knew too much about her, while on the other she started ignoring Danny because he knew too less. Though Danny too didn’t have time owing to the new film he had signed, she started saying no to him whenever he asked to meet up. Holed up inside her flat alone, Rivanah first tried listening to music at full volume and cooking. It didn’t help. She needed something more visually engaging. She watched all the latest American sitcoms till the wee hours of the morning every day, plugging her ears and fixing her eyes on the laptop screen. The content seldom registered with her, but she still used to follow the serials because it somehow kept her mind distracted from the emotional hurricane that ravaged her heart. In office, she lost her interest in work. Every time she sat down to work she knew time was running out. Soon she would have no office to work in. She kept applying to other places but in vain. The only time she forced herself to smile was during the two-minute phone calls to her mother after reaching office, after lunch and post dinner. She developed dark circles in no time and also lost five kilos in twelve days. Her appetite for life was waning. One evening she ended up writing a suicide letter as well, but she tore it up knowing she wouldn’t be able to do it. She sat down to watch yet another television series when she realized it could no longer keep her hooked. Time and again her thoughts went back to the fact that she was a cheat. That something which she hated in people had become her definition now. It disgusted her. Tista only acted as a reminder whenever she came to her and tried to talk about what Ekansh and she did. Rivanah tried her best not to sound rude and pretended to listen to whatever she said, but in reality she began to shut herself out. One night while she was idling in her room, Tista came in and said, ‘I need to talk to you, Rivanah di.’

  There was a grimness in her voice which Rivanah rarely associated with Tista. She only gave her a silent glance. That was enough for Tista to come and sit on the bed.

  ‘Ekansh is still in love with his ex.’

  Rivanah could almost feel her heartbeats stop suddenly. Then she relaxed. She was one of his exes.

  ‘How do you know?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know. I feel it at times. Like last weekend he and I were in Marine Drive, and we were getting into the mood but suddenly he went off. I asked him but he said the place reminded him of someone else.’

  Chances were it was Rivanah he was missing, she thought.

  ‘Who is it? Did you ask him? Did he mention any name?’ Rivanah asked.

  ‘No. I thought he may get upset. His past isn’t something I should be concerned about, I think. I’m sure if I had a past, I too would have reacted in the same manner.’ Tista thought for a moment and then said, ‘Can I ask you something, Rivanah di?’

  ‘Hmm.’

  ‘If you had a past would you share it with your boyfriend or keep it within you?’

  Each word of that question injured her. She was too stifled to even frame her thoughts.

  ‘Oh wow!’ Tista, said catching hold of the electricity bill behind which Rivanah had been sketching.

  ‘I never knew you could sketch too.’ Rivanah didn’t even realize when she had grabbed a pen and had started to sketch on the bill.

  ‘I didn’t know either,’ Rivanah said and looked at the sketch. It was a pair of eyes. Not bad for a first-time sketcher, she thought. The good thing was that the sketch took Tista’s mind completely away from the question Rivanah dreaded not only to answer but even to consider.

  That night, instead of watching yet another TV series, Rivanah sat down to sketch. She used to sketch as a teenager too but she didn’t know when she grew out of it. And now sketching a pair of feet, with focus, she felt energized after a long time. Revelling in the rediscovery of her lost hobby she forgot that the day after was going to be her last day in the office. She was reminded of it when she was given a farewell lunch by her teammates the next day. When she came back to her apartment, the security guard handed her an envelope. By the time she reached the elevator she had already taken out its contents: a cheque for fifty thousand and one hundred rupees. The exact amount she was left with in her savings bank account. There was no signature in the cheque nor was there any name written on it.

  ‘Hello, Mini.’ Someone spoke the moment she stepped inside the elevator and closed its doors. She turned around in a flash. She looked at the floor of the elevator where there was
a mobile phone on speaker mode. She picked it up and said, ‘What is it now?’

  ‘You sound as if you are angry with me.’ The voice didn’t sound like it had the last time.

  ‘You haven’t given me any reason to be happy with you,’ Rivanah said as the elevator stopped on her floor. She stepped out.

  ‘The choices were yours, Mini.’

  ‘Yeah, sure. And you had nothing to do with my choices. Anyway, just tell me, what is it?’ Rivanah said, pacing up and down her corridor. She knew something was up. The cheque and its amount couldn’t be a coincidence.

  ‘I want you to sign the cheque.’

  It was then Rivanah realized the cheque was from her own chequebook. Her account number was printed on the left side.

  ‘How did you get my chequebook?’

  ‘I have my ways, Mini. Just sign on it.’

  ‘Who is it for? And why would I sign it? It is my money. The last of my savings.’

  ‘You will sign it because I want you to.’

  ‘You want me to go back to Kolkata, don’t you? Why don’t you say it?’

  ‘Write on the name section: Mr Dilip Rawat.’

  ‘Who is—?’ she was about to ask when the line was cut. A baffled Rivanah kept staring at the cheque.

  19

  After entering her flat, Rivanah was about to chuck the envelope with the cheque in it when she found a SIM card inside. She immediately put it in the phone she got in the elevator. The SIM memory contained a few messages which she read one by one. The first message had an address of a certain Dilip Rawat. It was an apartment in Borivali West. But why the cheque? Rivanah wondered, slumping into the sofa. If the stranger wanted money from her then why would he wait till now? Was this Dilip Rawat a way to divert the money to Argho? If the stranger was Argho then he obviously wouldn’t give his true name to her. If this was true then whoever this Dilip Rawat was, he was linked to the stranger or Argho as well. And if it was all because of squeezing money then the stranger could have threatened to share the video he had made long back; there was no reason for him to wait this long when he knew she had given more than half of her savings in rent. Rivanah held her head, trying to think as she scrolled down to another message stored in the SIM. It had Tuesday written on it and a specific time. So, Rivanah thought, the stranger wanted her to deliver the cheque to the address on Tuesday—which was the next day—at 1 p.m. Did she have the option to say no to the stranger? Not as long as he had her video, she told herself. After the attack on her by the stranger in her flat and the subsequent filming of it, Rivanah wasn’t confident about going to the address alone but she was curious. She called Danny immediately and asked if he was free in the afternoon.