Sweet Revenge

10. Present

Shaking her head to tap out of the never ending spiral, she picked the box and pushed it in his hand. "Ab kholiye isse jaldi! Humein office bhi jaana hai!"

"I-uh.....yeah..." Anuj conceded to her excitement and tearing the paper off opened the box to reveal a pair of vintage wisteria stone cufflinks.

"Kesa laga?" She asked expectantly, as Anuj plucked off the cufflink and admired the brilliance of the blue stone.

It reflected the sunlight filtering into the room and Anuj grinned. "It's gorgeous".

He went on to inspect the box then and halted when his eyes fell on the word, 'Platinum'. Closing the box instantly, he forced it into her palms and shook his head. "I can't take it".

"Why? You liked it, right?"

"I did, Anu. B-But this is so expensive. It's Platinum!"

She looked at him quizzically, "Aap ye kya keh rahe hain. Tohfe ki koi keemat dekhta hai kya?!"

"I am sorry. I can't take this. Even if you would've bought me something less expensive, I would've been equally overjoyed. But I can't accept this. Sorry".

The thing was ridiculously expensive by Anupama's standards. She considered him special enough to buy the gift without a thought and yet, her ignorance of herself was not something he approved of. And how could he take something so invaluable when she had not bought herself a thing from his card! How could he?!

Anu read the myriad of emotions flashing across his face and could somewhat understand his inhibitions. Dealing with Anuj Kapadia and his guilty conscience was truly an uphill task!

"Anuj, meri bas iss par nazar padi aur isse dekhte hi mujhe aapka khayaal aaya. Toh maine isse khareed liya. Aap kyun itna soch rahe hain. Le lijiye na!" She tried plainly at first, and struggled to unclench his fingers but he remained adamant.

When his fingers didn't budge an inch, she huffed."Aap nahi lenge isse?"

He pursed his lips in support of his stance and she nodded irritated, clasping the box tightly. "Fine then. I shall throw it away in that case"

She proceeded to walk away saying that, while Anuj's eyes almost bulged at the proclamation.

"You are being ridiculous! Why do you want to throw it away!?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Meri marzi".

"It will be wasteful, Anu", He tried to reason with her and she shrugged again, "Jinke liye main ye laai thi, unhe ye nahi chahiye toh ye waste hi hua ne". She pouted stubbornly and he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation getting the crux of the charade. "Fine then, give it to me".

She had about rejoiced at her victory when he pinpricked her, verbally. "But let me pay for it". And Anupama deflated, tempted to stomp her sandal on his bare feet, for his bullheadedness. But she resisted. Barely.

Schooling her frustration into disinterest, she complied."Theek hai. Apna a/c number dijiye"

Baffled, he looked at her. "Why?"

She seated herself at the edge of his bed and went on to retrieve a diary and pen from her bag. "Ab hisab kitab kar hi rahein hai toh dhang se kijiye na. You paid for our flight, the food and the accommodation. So, going by that, I should be the one paying you".

He had not expected her to give up that easy and the nonsense coming out of her mouth further cemented his belief. "This and That are different. And that was on company, Anu." He replied.

"Aapki naak..." She interjected, pointing to his nose and as he caressed it, she added, "...lambi ho gayi hai. Jhooth mat boliye. I am aware that you paid for Kinjal, and not the company".