Nishant Naik, billionaire MD of Naik Builders gets engaged but without love. Disillusioned, he gives up when a chance encounter leaves him intrigued and confused. For him, loving someone is giving your soul to her. Will he ever find someone to love...
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Nishant recognised the voice instantly and smiled as he turned towards it.
Naina Chawla! School time friend and now MD of Chawla Group of Hotels.
"Now, I don't think you can leave, right?" Dhruv asked him taking Naina in a bear hug.
All three of them had been school time buddies but somehow had lost contact when Naina had moved to the US for her studies.
Naina placed her arms around her best two pranksters in school and dragged them to the bar.
3 hours later and a couple of drinks down, Nishant figured it was time to leave the party because if he stayed another minute then the small bit of sanity left in him will be gone. He looked around for Dhruv and saw him talking amiably with Naina. Smiling, he fetched his car keys and left.
***************
Dhruv reached the apartment at midnight and was about to unlock the door when he found it open. Surprised, he quickly rushed inside but stopped not able to see anything in the dark. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed Nishant sitting on the carpet in front of the sofa with a glass in his hand.
Dhruv closed the door and switched on one of the lights.
"Switch it off," Nishant commanded in a slurred tone.
Sighing, he poured himself a drink and switched off the light.
"Why are you sitting in the dark?" he asked as he sat down next to Nishant.
Nishant stretched his left hand and winced a little as he picked up the glass.
"Be careful," Dhruv warned him.
The plaster had been removed a couple of weeks ago but still, Dhruv knew it pained every time his friend tried to move his hand.
Not giving heed to Dhruv's plea, Nishant gulped down the entire contents of the glass at one go. As the alcohol burned his throat, he closed his eyes waiting for its warmth to spread everywhere but instead, it just burned all the way to his stomach.
"What are you thinking?"
Nishant just stared at the empty glass blankly.
"She is doing everything in her power to chuck me out of her life."
Dhruv shook his head sadly and asked, "What do you want to do?"
"What can I do? Nothing," he replied helplessly.
Saying this, he got up and somehow walked to the bar, his steps falling out of place.
Dhruv followed him knowing well that Nishant was fully tossed out. As he saw him pour another drink, he stopped him.
"Enough now."
Not saying anything, Nishant brushed his hand off and poured his drink. Sighing, Dhruv went behind the bar and put ice cubes in his friend's glass and made one for himself.
"I still think you should speak to her," Dhruv said sipping his drink.
Nishant just shook his head, staring at the swirling ice cubes. The amber liquid slowly cut through the ice with its heat and gradually the ice started to melt just like he had melted away in her. Slowly his vision blurred as he remembered their time together in Tosh.
The drunken passionate nights and the patiently waiting days.
The golden diminishing glow of the sun and their hands speaking their own language as they caressed each other.
The mellow warmth of the morning sun and their heated bodies snuggling closer.
Nishant closed his eyes as his brain kept on conjuring those images. Thinking they were finally gone, he opened them and was about to gulp down the liquid when suddenly the ice sparkled against the glow of the light falling on the alcohol. Instantly, he was reminded of the contended glow in her eyes whenever she looked at him.
Before it reminded anything else, Nishant picked up the glass and finished it off. The more it burned, the more it charred every single sensation rising inside. But he knew not for long. The moment he would close his eyes and sleep would take over him, the memories will be back along with her, playing havoc with his senses.
Putting the glass down, he slowly started to walk towards his room, but his drunken mind kept on losing the equilibrium.
Dhruv shook his head sighing as he came beside him. Slowly, he helped Nishant to his room. But as he started to help him walk up to the bed, Nishant instantly sidetracked and went towards the big sofa at the side of the room. Dhruv let him go and watched him stagger to it. As Nishant sat down on the sofa, Dhruv looked towards the bed, which had the same bed sheet as months ago. This meant Nishant hadn't been sleeping there. He flicked his gaze towards his friend again, who was sitting with his head slanted against the arm of the sofa.
"Where is the cheque?" Nishant asked, his voice slurring with the effect of the alcohol.
"It's with me."
"Cash it."
Dhruv looked at him with surprise not understanding his context at all.
"Create a trust in Prakriti's name and deposit the money there."
Saying this, Nishant closed his eyes as his consciousness slowly slipped away.
Dhruv sighed and went out of the room. As he closed the door behind him, he breathed hard finding the situation utterly helpless.
****************
Aparna woke up in the morning with a splitting headache. The night had been one of the worst nights of her life. Her mind had kept on conjuring images of Nishant with another woman. She didn't have anyone but herself to blame.
After she had switched on the television the first thing she had seen was a footage of a Cancer Charity Event in Delhi, attended by the top business personalities and celebrities of the city. And, there, as the reporters had gone camera frenzy, she had seen Nishant with his arm around the waist of another woman. They had looked extremely cosy with each other.
The woman had leant towards his ear to whisper something and instantly his face had split in the smile that Aparna yearned to see. The way he had looked at the woman had made her blood boil with rage.
The burning jealousy was still instigating the rising animosity inside her. Mechanically she made Prakriti dress up and eat her breakfast. Then she left to drop her daughter to the school. But all these mundane things couldn't shake off the feeling of uneasiness inside.
