Weird and Wonderful

Chapter 21

Present Year

The restaurant was a quiet one. The serene atmosphere suited more for business conference than for casual dates. This was the reason why Saarthak had chosen that place for meeting Swasti. But what if Swasti would not come? It would actually be easy for him. He would not have to confront his past then. But a part of his heart secretly wished that Swasti would come.

And she came. Swasti was wearing a royal blue kurti with Chinese collar and her hair was tied in the form of a braid. Her face did not have the lost expression it usually had and her eyes were full of questions.

She came towards Saarthak.
"Hello," she said with confidence. Strange! She was not feeling any nervousness before the famous author.

"Hello, please be seated," Saarthak greeted back as he motioned towards the vacant chair lying in front of him. In spite of what he had expected, the presence of Swasti was comforting. Swasti sat down on the chair.

"So," Saarthak said.

"So?" Swasti could not understand what to say. She could hear her own heartbeats now.

"So, I want to say that..." Saarthak said.

Now it was getting impossible for Swasti to hide her nervousness. "Are you Rachit?" she said.

"What?"

"I am asking that are you Rachit? I know that no one except Rachit can write like that. You could copy his poems but not his style of writing. All the books that you write can be written by only Rachit," Swasti was losing her breath.

"How can be you so sure that the books I have written could be written only by Rachit?" Saarthak said in a cocky manner.

"Because I love Rachit," Swasti said, looking at the table.

"Your order, Mam?" The waiter said to Swasti.
"Nothing," Swasti said, without looking at him. Saarthak motioned him to leave them alone.
"First," Saarthak said, handing Swasti a glass of water, "Drink some water and calm down." Reluctantly, Swasti took a sip from the glass.
"Now, tell me, when you have met this Rachit guy?" Saarthak said.
"I have never met him," Swasti said.
"As I expected," Saarthak muttered.
"What? Have you said something?" Swasti said to Saarthak.
"No, nothing," Saarthak said, with a smirk on his face, "You say that you haven't even met Rachit and you are suspecting that I am not Saarthak Sharma, I am some Rachit Chauhan. Don't you think that it is a bit ridiculous?"
"No, you don't understand. Wait a second," Swasti said, "How do you know that Rachit's surname was Chauhan?"
"You are imagining things, Swasti. You should receive a psychological counselling," Saarthak said, standing up, "Now I think that it's time for me to leave."
"Before you leave, Saarthak," Swasti said, let me tell you how I know Rachit. Swasti narrated the entire story to Saarthak.
Saarthak listened to the story patiently. But as he reached the exit, he turned back and said, "One more thing, Swasti, you have never really loved Rachit."
Swasti remained sitting. She had lost strength to stand. It was one thing that Saarthak denied being Rachit, but how could he say that Swasti had never loved Rachit. How could he be so ruthless? Swasti had protected the love in her heart from everything in the world of 2-minute noodle relationship. When she found out that Rachit had died, she could easily move on in her life but she didn't. And still Saarthak thought that that she had never loved Rachit. Swasti felt like crying but it seemed that all her tears had dried up after weeping every night. Swasti had nowhere to go now. It seemed that life had blocked each path for her. Her career, her love, her happiness were all doomed. Perhaps it was time for her to say goodbye to her life.
Saarthak felt tears welling in his eyes as he was driving the car. He had given his driver a leave for that day as he didn't want anyone to know about his meeting with Swasti. Saarthak could prevent Swasti's thoughts from entering his mind. What would the poor girl do? Perhaps she would accept that Rachit was dead and there was no use thinking about him. But what if she couldn't accept it? What if...? No, no, no! He could never forgive himself if anything happened to Swasti. He turned back his car.

This is the music being played in background at restaurant: