Apricity

Part 14

The disoriented proprietor strummed her fingers against the edges of the MacBook. Her dazed eyes studied the content of the report, but her befuddled mind had abandoned processing the information after the second paragraph when her thoughts wandered to the subject of Ranveer Dhoopar.

"If you had asked for my company, if you had wanted my presence, there wasn't a person whose opinion could have stopped me."

He had expressed his unbridled and unwavering support after listening to Yukti's words, or so she had deduced whilst tossing and turning in her bed the night before. His shallow breaths, his bedraggled appearance, his tousled hair, and his stormy eyes - that was his reaction to the partial revelation.

The glimpse into his concern burned away the doubts she had harbored about his reaction if he learned the truth, but the knowledge had also seared her soul. His ardent affection had made the conclusion plausible and prudent - she was the woman described by Aanchal.

The woman who made the alliance with Aanchal unpalatable. One who, according to her, would make her impossible proposition palatable, for it offered him the chance to live his desires.

"Last I remember, you refused me to marry me when asked!"

The memory of his words filled her with dread. His speech had been laced with despair and the desperation of lost hopes, promising all of his trust only for it to be torn away. And she was the woman who destroyed his world, leaving devastation in her wake, and turning his heart into a pile of ashes.

"The marriage between us might not be real, Suhani. But it does not mean I will not care for you or defend you."

The premise of their relationship might have been a facade, but he was from being the only solicitous one in their relationship. Suhani picked her phone and typed away a message to him.

It was time they faced each other without any pretense or lies, to strip away the veils of deception and speak their truth. No more masks to hide behind, no more tongues tied with secrets - the moment had arrived for them to finally be honest with each other.

****

"Are you alright? Did you need something?" demanded Ranveer when his impatient and incessant knocks at the teak door had found their answer to reveal a stoic Suhani Malhotra.

"Come in," she said in a mechanical and indifferent voice she had perfected over the years and the one he had heard innumerable times at the social gatherings they attended. He could not shrug away the queasiness when he stepped over the threshold and walked into the penthouse.

She closed the door, allowing a vexed sigh to fall through her parted lips. A mesmerising bird-eye view of the busy city greeted him from the pristine wall made of one-way glass. The golden ball played hide-and-seek with the clouds, lending a resplendent orange lining to the clouds, and warm hues splayed across the sky interspersed with clouds that wafted away without a worry.

"Mom had bought this penthouse for her retirement." The rays of sun peeking through the cloud reflected off the nostalgic brown irises. Ranveer's eyes snapped back to the distant woman. "She loved the view and thought it offered her detached perspective."

His powder blue linen shirt hung lax from his drooped shoulders and deflated chest. "It's an irreplaceable loss. I'm so sorry for what you had to go through."

Despite the sincerity in his words, she could not subdue the sarcastic chuckle that spilled out of her lips. How much could he imagine, she speculated, and she decided the torment was beyond anything he could imagine.

The befuddled man's eyebrows sloped towards each other and a chill seeped into his bones. "Is everything alright, Suhani?"

The maroon satin blouse stretched against her skin when she crossed her arms against her chest. Beads of perspiration rolled down her back despite the central air-conditioner running at the maximum speed.