THE LADY IN THE RAIN

A WALK INTO THE PAST

           Ritwik  knocks at the backdoor of Veronica’s house. He settles his hairs gently before Veronica could see him. Veronica  comes and opens the door soon afterwards.
‘Hey, come in!’
Ritwik  comes inside Veronica’s house. Diana sees him and comes running towards him.
‘Pri!’
Ritwik  smiles and gives her a chocolate and a hug.
‘That’s so sweet of you, Pri. You know last time I got this same chocolate from my Dad,’ she informs him.
Ritwik  is agitated on hearing about Diana’s father.
‘Okay, Diana you go and play inside. Actually, he has come here for tuitions,’ Veronica  lies.
Ritwik  puzzlingly looks at Veronica. Veronica signs him to support her lie.
‘But Pri hasn’t come here with any book,’ says Diana.
‘Yeah! Actually I refused him to bring. I have stocks of books of the same publisher and board that’s why...’ Veronica  falters.
‘Okay...but Pri after you are done with your studies, do come and play with me.’
‘Sure.’
Diana goes inside.
‘Sorry for the lie. But I had to,’ says Veronica.
‘No, I understand.’
‘Come. Have a sit.’
They both sit on the same sofa. Veronica moves closer to Ritwik . This makes him extremely uncomfortable and awkward.
‘Listen...not a single word outside...okay?’
‘Yep, I know. I made the promise, Ma’am. You don’t worry. My lips are sealed.’
He joins his index finger and thumb and runs it over his lips. Veronica smiles.
‘Alright. Let’s begin.’
She takes a heavy breath and starts.
‘I am Veronica  D’Souza. That’s not the truth. I am Emma. It was a cloudy day. 22nd May, 2014. Rains are quite frequent in Goa. My mother, Mrs. Sofia Wingate, had a bakery of her own. Ours was the most popular bakery. Many Bollywood celebrities were a diehard fan of our bakery. Not a single tourist missed our bakery’s items. My mother was acclaimed for her special brownies. I would sometimes substitute her on the shop when she would be running with an extremely busy schedule. That day she had to go to Mumbai for a special delivery. So I was in charge of the shop.
I got mesmerized on seeing him. He was enough suave for any girl to become fascinated by him at the first sight. He came there with his elder brother to buy that same brownies. He was wearing a green Aloha shirt and shorts. He put on his sunglasses. He was looking extremely tempting.
‘Four brownies, please,’ he asked.
I immediately returned to my senses and gave the brownies to him.
‘How much?’
‘One-hundred.’
He took out a hundred rupees note from his pocket and gave it to me.
Something attracted me towards him. I don’t know what till date. He noticed me staring at him.
‘Do you like me?’ he asked without any hesitation.
His elder brother giggled on hearing the line.
‘Adi, hand me the brownies. You may come once you’re done.’
He takes the brownies and leaves. There was no one in the shop that day except for me and him.
‘Hi, I am Aditya Shekhawat.’
He extended his hand. I reciprocated. We shared a handshake after that.
‘I am Emma Wingate.’
‘Hmm. You are damn beautiful.’
He touched my cheeks and said. I was a bit uncomfortable. But I liked it.
‘Do you want to be my twenty-four hours girlfriend?’
‘Means?’
‘I mean we can be together only for today. If it’s okay for you, then we can...’
‘Yes. I am ready.’
He gave a smile.
‘I’m glad that you agreed. Luckily, you didn’t turn out to be cynical like others. You are literally different from others.’
He held my hands and kissed me. And then...’
Emma stops suddenly. She notices Ritwik 's eyes were blood-red with tears taking shape in the eyes.
‘And then...you know,’ says Emma.
‘I want to know from where did the setback began?’ Ritwik  tries to skip the sexual tension episode of Emma and Aditya.
‘Yes, we had one night stand that day. He left for Kolkata the next day. I was seriously in love with him. But I decided to forget all that happened between us. But after a month, the problem started. I learnt that I am pregnant. And I knew that this child was of mine and Aditya's. I didn’t say a word to anyone except my best friend, Sarah. I didn’t want my child to be put under the tag of “illegitimate”. I didn’t want my child to suffer because of me. So one fine night, I made a gateway from my house to Kolkata in search of Aditya. Being the son of a popular industrialist, it was quite easier for me to trace his location. But when I reached there, he refused to accept the child as his own. But his mother, Mrs. Karishma Shekhawat, appreciated me for my decision of not aborting the unborn child. She wanted Aditya to marry me. After much pursuance, he finally agreed. But he left one condition- he will marry me after completing  his PhD from Boston. And soon he left for Boston, leaving me and our baby alone. After six months, Pari was born. Everything was going smoothly. Due to Karishma aunty’s help, I completed my masters in Mathematics. Suddenly, after five years, a  horrible cyclone distorted my life completely. The name of the cyclone was Aliah, Aditya’s newfound love from Boston. Karishma auntie tried her best to convince him, but he was adamant to be with Aliah forever. He was madly in love with Aliah and so was Aliah. I realized that I was becoming the third wheel. And fearing that, I agreed to back off and start a new life with my daughter. I apprehended that a woman doesn’t needs a man to live. She can stand in the society all by herself. From that day, I stopped fearing about the society. I decided to give my daughter a new name. But destiny had other plans for me. Aditya refused to leave Pari. He wanted her all for himself. But he refused me to accept. He started loving Pari as his daughter and even Pari too. But Pari required both me and Aditya. And fearing Pari's loss, he dumped Aliah and married me. But we had no relationship of a husband and wife. We were just mother and father of Pari. That’s it. Aditya’s heart still belonged to Aliah. I accepted my life without any expostulation.  But I didn’t realize the growing obsession of Amrit with me. Amrit was the elder brother of Aditya. He was completely filled with lust for me. One day, everybody went to attend a wedding ceremony. I didn’t attend because Pari was running down with fever. After making Pari sleep, I went to the kitchen to prepare something for me. Suddenly, somebody hugged me from behind. I turned around and saw Amrit looking at me with lustful eyes. I was fucking scared.
‘Bhaiya, didn’t you go to attend Minal's wedding?’ I asked.
‘Yes. But I was fucking bored there. You were not there. That’s why...’
I did not reply.
‘Am I not suave? Emma, I love you a lot. Adi doesn’t bother about you. I always bother about you. Please marry me. I’ll keep you happy forever.’
‘What’re you saying? I need to go now.’
I took the bowl of soup in my hand and started walking. He suddenly pushed the bowl down and started walking towards me with giant steps. He smiled with malicious glee. I pushed him away from me and ran towards my room and took Pari with me.’