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

Rivanah woke up to the sound of the doorbell. She looked around and found herself in her room. At first, all she remembered was sitting inside the car. Then she remembered how even after half an hour the message to the stranger had not been delivered. She had come back to the flat last night to see Danny checking the thermometer while Nitya lay on the couch. Rivanah hadn’t bothered to ask anything.

  Rivanah got up, tied her hair into a loose bun and went to open the door. There were two pouches of milk on the ground. She picked it up and locked the main door. It was then that her eyes fell on Danny who was asleep on the couch while Nitya’s head rested on his lap; she too was asleep. There was nothing objectionable in it and yet there was something deeply disturbing. She wanted to wake them up immediately but, she wondered, why did Danny have to make Nitya sleep on his lap? Rivanah understood she was his best friend but she wasn’t his girlfriend. There’s a difference. Is there? Rivanah thought and stopped herself from waking them up. Can a guy’s girl best friend and girlfriend live together with him? With this question probing her calmness, Rivanah went to take a shower instead of sleeping for a few minutes more.

  When she stepped out of the shower, she noticed Nitya was preparing tea for herself in the kitchen while Danny was on the phone. When the call ended, he joined her in the bedroom.

  ‘I have an important audition today for a movie,’ he said, putting his arms around her from behind, trying to be cosy with her. She could still feel the coldness with which he had left her in the car last night. From that coldness to this cosiness—how was she supposed to adjust so quickly and that too with no explanation or even a whisper of an apology?

  ‘I thought you would come to the room after Nitya slept,’ she said, shrugging her shoulders a bit as if she didn’t appreciate his arms around her at the moment.

  Danny looked as if he was expecting something else from Rivanah.

  ‘I dozed off. Why do you ask?’

  Was she wrong in expecting an apology from him because he didn’t come to his girlfriend’s room at night?

  ‘Nothing,’ Rivanah said. ‘When is your audition?’

  ‘They wanted me to be there in the morning itself but I have rescheduled it for the evening.’

  ‘Why? You have another one in morning?’

  ‘No. I need to take Nitya to the doctor. She still has fever.’

  Rivanah gave him a momentary glance and, turning her back to him said, ‘I’ll take her to the doctor. You go to the audition.’

  Danny wrapped his arms around her once again from behind, this time tighter, and said, ‘I love you.’

  ‘Me too,’ she said, removing his arms immediately. Only she knew that she had proposed to take Nitya to the doctor out of her own sense of insecurity. Pistanthrophobia was the word—the fear of trusting someone because of a previous bad experience. Thanks to Ekansh, Rivanah could think of nothing else but the fact that every girl in her man’s life was a potential threat to her relationship. The closer the girl to your partner, the more active the threat was. Whether Danny was lured by Nitya or he fell for her, the result would be same: Rivanah would be single. She had suffered such a thing before. And somewhat recovered, if not fully. But if it happened again—just one more time—then nothing in this world would be able to cure her. People don’t understand but heartbreak, with time, becomes a disease, a well-kept secret disease whose symptom is a deep mistrust, and that is incurable. She promised herself that she would do her part at least so that what happened between Ekansh and her didn’t happen again. And thus she decided to take Nitya to the doctor.

  Danny dropped both Rivanah and Nitya at the doctor’s and drove off to his audition. It took close to an hour before they were done with the check-up. As they came out Rivanah called for a Tab cab. When it arrived, Nitya persuaded Rivanah to head to her office while she went home alone.

  Once in office Rivanah’s team lead, Sridhar, told her something which instantly filled her with excitement.

  ‘There’s an on-site opportunity coming up for two of our team members and I will be forwarding your name.’

  ‘You mean I will go to London?’

  ‘Yes, if selected, you’ll have to work from there for two years.’

  ‘Wow! Thank you so much.’ Rivanah was genuinely thrilled. She had worked hard on the project and finally it was time for her reward. She immediately called Danny but he didn’t pick up. Then she called her mother who was equally jubilant hearing this. Rivanah knew her mother would inform every close and distant relative of theirs about this in no time. After all Rivanah would be the first woman in her family to work abroad. The rest had only tagged along with their husbands on a dependant visa.

  A few minutes after her mother had put the phone down, Rivanah got a call from Danny.

  ‘Sorry, baby. I was driving.’

  ‘It’s okay. I guessed so.’ Rivanah was about to share the good news when she heard Danny say, ‘I’m back home.’

  ‘Huh? Why?’ The smile disappeared from Rivanah’s face. A frown appeared instead.

  ‘Some crisis came up at the production office. The audition will possibly happen tomorrow.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So, I’ll be at home only.’

  ‘Oh. Okay.’ Rivanah was lost. He was at home. So was Nitya.

  ‘You called me, right?’ Danny said.

  ‘Yeah. Just like that.’

  ‘Okay. Let’s talk later then. I need to give Nitya some medicine.’

  ‘Yeah, sure. Bye,’ Rivanah said and cut the call. She had a constant frown from then on. Physically she was in the office with her team but mentally she was at her flat wondering what Danny and Nitya were up to. She called Danny half an hour later.

  ‘Hey, what’s up?’ he said.

  ‘Nothing. Was missing you. What are you doing?’

  ‘I was shaving.’

  ‘And Nitya?’

  ‘She is sleeping. It’s the side effect of the medicines.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Was Nitya really sleeping? Rivanah cut the call, feeling ashamed for doubting Danny’s words. She went back to work but still couldn’t focus. A restlessness caught up with her; she drank water from time to time, took deep breaths and tried to distract herself, but failed miserably. She called Danny again after twenty minutes. And again. And again.

  ‘What’s up with you today? Don’t you have any work in the office?’ Danny said when he picked up her call for the fifth time in an hour and a half.

  ‘Why, aren’t you happy I’m calling you?’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘I would rather have you home if you are out of work,’ Danny giggled.

  ‘What’s Nitya doing?’

  ‘She is taking a shower.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Listen, thanks,’ Danny said.

  ‘For?’

  ‘For being so concerned about Nitya. I know I didn’t discuss it with you before I brought her here but I’m so happy with the way you embraced the whole situation.’

  Rivanah could have choked to death hearing this. She only swallowed a lump, sitting on her chair in her cubicle, trying hard to pretend she didn’t hear what Danny said.

  ‘There?’ Danny said.

  ‘Yes. Let me call you later. Team lead’s calling. Bye.’ Rivanah cut the phone and kept it in her bag, promising herself she wouldn’t call Danny again that day.

  Just before she was about to leave for the day, Sridhar told her to keep her passport ready.

  ‘Sure. I’ll let you know when done.’

  She couldn’t wait to share the news with Danny. And when she did tell him after she reached home, Danny was equally excited.

  ‘I’m really happy for you. But I’ll miss you as well,’ Danny said, hugging her tight. It was then that Rivanah realized what she had forgotten the whole time. It made her jittery. And somewhat neurotic too. What if Danny and Nitya continued to live together after she shifted to London?

  ‘You’ll come with me,’ she
said and immediately knew it was stupid of her to say that. Danny half broke the embrace to look at her and said, ‘How I wish!’

  Rivanah managed a tight smile.

  ‘May I say something?’ Nitya barged in. Danny and Rivanah together turned around to see Nitya leaning by the room’s door. They awkwardly broke their embrace completely. Nitya looked at Rivanah and said, ‘Don’t worry. In your absence, I shall take proper care of him.’ She gave Rivanah a warm smile. It hit her like a poisoned arrow.

  Rivanah couldn’t sleep that night even though, unlike the previous night, Danny was right next to her, sound asleep. The same relationship, Rivanah pondered, which had made her sniff freedom months back was pushing her to limit her career choice. With her in London and Nitya taking care of Danny, she wouldn’t be surprised if their relationship ballooned into love. And if that balloon started flying high she would never be able to catch it and burst it. Who would she blame then: Danny or herself? Rivanah longed to talk to someone about this. She checked the messages on her phone once. Her message to the stranger still hadn’t been delivered. Was he gone forever? Why did he come in the first place? Why was Hiya Chowdhury’s laughter so important that he used it as a doorbell sound? Would she never know about it at all? Thoughts about Danny and Nitya, the stranger and Hiya started intermingling in her mind, creating a jumble. Out of sheer frustration she sent the same message she did a day back to all the numbers she had saved of the stranger, and closed her eyes to think: she had never been a career-oriented girl. All she needed was someone who loved her truly. And now when she had one, was it worth risking it all to go to London to work?

  At four in the morning she sat up on her bed, took her phone and typed a message for her team lead: Hi Sridhar, sorry to message you this late. I had a talk with my parents. I won’t be able to get my passport in the next three months. I think I’ll let this opportunity go by. Sorry.

  After sending it she checked her messages to the stranger once again. None were delivered. She called those numbers. None of them were switched on . . . yet.

  5

  Returning from her office, Rivanah got down from the autorickshaw at the start of the lane which led to her building. As she walked down the lane she realized it was unusually quiet. The adjoining shops were shut; some of the street lights were also not working while the street dogs which usually hovered around were missing. She checked her watch: 7.30 p.m. She wondered what was wrong and walked on. The moment she reached the end of the lane, she realized what was wrong. She had reached the same spot she had got out at. How is it possible? She turned with a fear slowly rising in her, which made her run towards the other end. She reached the spot only to realize it was the same place where she started from. She kept running from one end of the lane to the other in a loop, unable to find her building. Rivanah was sweating by now, perplexed at what was happening. She screamed for help but there was nobody around. As she for the umpteenth time tried to run to the other end, hoping to find her building this time, she noticed one of the street lights was on. Its light fell directly on a grilled manhole. And from inside it a hand came up. Accompanying the hand was a voice.

  ‘Help me, Rivanah. Help me. I’m trapped.’

  She didn’t recognize the voice. With unsteady steps Rivanah reached the manhole. And through the grill saw her own self trapped inside. But as her own self saw her peeping, her visage changed into a demonic one that cried out, ‘I’ll get you, Rivanah. Soon, I’ll get you.’

  Rivanah’s eyes snapped open. After a long time the nightmare had returned. Sleep had been a far cry for Rivanah ever since coming back to Mumbai the previous weekend; she didn’t know when she had dozed off that night. She quickly gulped some water from the bottle by her side and, lowering the AC temperature by three degrees with the remote, she tried to close her eyes and relax. She found her mind working even more maliciously, all the while knitting imaginary tales involving Danny and Nitya. As if her mind had nothing else to think about. When did she become so insecure? She knew that the chances of Danny leaving her for Nitya were negligible but the thought still bothered her a great deal.

  Rivanah sat up. Danny was sound asleep beside her. She caressed his hair. He didn’t budge. Their love story wasn’t a smooth one. She knew she had to still convince her parents about him but she was ready to fight it out. But this new problem, the root of which lay deep within her—she didn’t know how to uproot it. Rivanah felt choked looking at the calm edpression on Danny’s face. She would have burst into tears if she had not withdrawn herself away from him right at that moment.

  She went and drew the curtain of the window to inhale the fresh morning air. Dawn had just broken. She looked down and noticed a jogger on the footpath. On an impulse she put on her tracksuit, got into her Converse shoes, tied her hair in a bun and looked at herself in the mirror. It was the same tracksuit she had worn to the gym when she was trying to woo Danny last year. A tiny smile touched her face. Things had moved so fast. Her thoughts shifted to how Ishita and she had tried to woo Danny together and how miserably the former had failed. Ishita was the only one whom she could call a friend in Mumbai other than Danny, but she had shifted to Gurgaon following a new job. And all that remained of that friendship was a Like and a Comment on each other’s Facebook update.

  Rivanah felt the morning air work as an elixir as she started jogging on the lonely road right in front of her apartment. At least the motion of jogging took her mind off the garbage she had been pondering over almost all day and night. Rivanah slowed down on seeing a young girl running towards her. She wasn’t wearing a tracksuit and the way she was running told Rivanah she was in some kind of trouble. She waited for the girl to come close to her. The girl stopped right beside Rivanah.

  ‘Didi, please help me!’ the girl said, gasping for air.

  ‘Relax! What happened?’

  ‘I have a job interview and I live far from this place. Hence I left home early. But these two boys have been following me and . . .’ The girl looked towards the end of the street where Rivanah, following her eyes, realized two guys in a bike had taken a turn. Rivanah looked around. She spotted an autorickshaw approaching.

  ‘Quick!’ Rivanah pulled the girl by her arm and in a flash stopped the autorickshaw and climbed in. The driver looked at her expectantly.

  ‘Police station!’ she said. The autowallah took a U-turn and accelerated. Rivanah peeped out and realized the guys would catch up with them before they reach the police station.

  ‘What do you have in that bag?’ Rivanah asked the girl who immediately opened the bag and showed it to her. There was a tiffin box, a file, a deodorant, a few cosmetics, a hairbrush and an umbrella. Rivanah took out the umbrella and pulled its stem out without opening it. This time she didn’t have to peep out. The guys on the bike had closed in on the autorickshaw. The autowallah asked them to behave only to be rebuked in the dirtiest of cuss words. The guy riding pillion shouted to the one driving the bike that now they had two girls—one for his friend and one for him. They laughed in a lurid manner. The autowallah drove away from the bike but Rivanah asked the driver to take the auto close to the bike once more. Once that was done, she smiled at the guys, taking them by surprise, and then shoved the umbrella between the spikes of the bike’s back wheel. The umbrella immediately broke but by then the bike and the guys on it were all over the road. They hurled abuses at Rivanah as the autowallah sped past them.

  ‘Thank you so much. I hope you are not hurt,’ the girl said, sounding extremely relieved.

  Rivanah had felt a strong jerk in her hand but it was nothing serious.

  ‘Fear is the most prized illusion we create for ourselves, dear. Never be afraid of such louts. They feed on our fear,’ Rivanah said. A smile of realization touched her face. These were the same words the stranger had once written on one of the embroidered white cloths he had sent her.

  ‘I’ll always remember that,’ the girl said. Rivanah got off the auto at the closest traffic signal, asked the drive
r to drop the girl at her destination, and jogged back to her apartment. She did notice a few men trying to get the two bikers to hospital but she didn’t care to stop. Next time they would remember not to harass a girl on the road, she thought, and jogged on. While moving into her apartment building she realized that if this incident had happened two years back she would have never been able to help the girl the way she did this morning. The guts, the attitude, the confidence to tackle the situation had developed in her since the last year . . . since the stranger had come into her life. In a way, the stranger had become a part of her system. She might fear him but she wouldn’t be able to sever herself from him. He was the one who had unlocked a secret Rivanah hidden within herself: a Rivanah who knew how to stand up and pack a punch.

  She went to her flat, showered and was ready for office. By then even Danny and Nitya were ready. The latter had of late started working as an assistant to a famous stylist who had ample links in the film industry. There was a rehearsal for a show which was supposed to be attended by a top-notch film director and thus Danny had the right reason to tag along with Nitya. The fact that Nitya worked at a place where Danny could seek his professional break made Rivanah feel like an outcast. She was in IT and there was no reason why Danny would ever tag along with her to her office. She didn’t say much and stepped out before they did, wishing Danny luck.

  In the office Rivanah didn’t call Danny even once. Nor did a call or message come from him. Though it was usual for Danny to not call her when he was out for work, it made Rivanah feel uneasy. Five times that day she picked up her phone, almost tapping the Call button against his name, but she somehow didn’t. She could feel a restlessness building up inside her but it couldn’t locate a vent in the form of a person. In the evening she called her mother.

  ‘Hello, Mumma.’

  ‘Mini? What happened? Why are you calling at this time? Everything’s fine?’

  ‘Why, can’t I call you just like that?’

  ‘Of course you can. But you generally call around eight in the evening.’