The Stigmatized

7. Bedroom

Neel had talked to his boss, and was on a leave for a week. He had stated vacation as the reason, and had chosen not to disclose his real situation. He followed the address Sharon D'Souza had given him, and reached the Rajput Mansion five minutes to seven. Remembering the first meeting with Veera, he dared not ring the bell before time. He rung exactly at 6:59 a.m. so that hopefully at seven sharp he would be face to face with the woman. Had he ever been so punctual in his whole life?

The door was opened by a servant, after he had talked through with the security guards.

"Are you Mr Neel Roy?" the woman asked. Neel nodded in response.

The woman said, "Please come in."

Neel walked over to enter a large living room. It was complete with a plush sofa, and sleek tables and other high class furniture here and there. A gigantic TV adorned the living room. Taking in his surroundings, he sat on the sofa. A man was walking casually, when he spotted Neel.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm Neel Roy," said Neel, standing up. "I have a meeting with Miss Rajput..."

"I do not wish to waste time so you can chat with my brother," said a sharp female voice. Neel looked up to see Veera on the stairs. She was looking so different than in the formals that he had seen her in before. She was wearing a plain t-shirt and informal pants, and no makeup. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, and she might as well have appeared cute if the fears had not been filling up Neel's mind.

"S-sorry," said Neel, apparently embarrassment for whatever reason.

"Come upstairs, I wish for a private meeting," she said.

Her brother, Jay said, "You're sick, Vee! You are not even divorced yet, and you are calling a man to your bedroom! I seriously do not want to call you my sister anymore. That's it, I'm returning home today. And this is the last time we had a 'brother-sister' reunion."

"Wha-what - no! It's nothing like that," protested Neel.

Jay said, "Of course, it's much more than that!" He stamped a foot and stomped away. Veera stood on the stairs, still as a statue and staring into the void.

"You have work to do," said Veera, without even looking at Neel. Neel understood that the sentence was aimed at him, and slowly climbed the stairs. For a moment, he wanted to run away from all this. But he couldn't. He knew how powerful this woman was, with whom he had messed. Was he entering her world of controversies by stepping into her bedroom? He climbed the stairs, and reached her midway.

"Ma'am," he whispered. Veera was startled, and she stared at him like she had just woken up.

"Yeah, right," she whispered back, as she controlled back tears. "Come with me." She led him into her room, which was more of a suite.

Neither of them noticed the flash of the camera, as they entered her 'bedroom'.

Her room was a complete one bedroom apartment in itself. It had two parts, one with a sofa and a table and the other was a normal bedroom with damn costly furniture and designing.

"Take a seat," said Veera and sat down herself.

Neel sat, and said, "What was, er, the work that you were talking about, Miss Rajput?"

"Call me Veera," she snapped. "And ah yes, the work. You pushed the final trigger to spoil my name, Neel Roy. And you will have to clear it."

Neel's mouth dropped. How in the world would he do that? He was but an ordinary reporter, what could he do to restore Veera Rajput, the Veera Rajput's lost dignity?

"Write about me. Pretend those writings are also something that you got with your valuable reporting skills like the previous time.".

Neel turned red - valuable reporting skills?! I was just doing my job, he thought.

"Okay," he said, not knowing of anything else to say. "I'll - I'll try."

"It's not that I care about what people think of me, but I do care about how that affects my company," said Veera. "And as for you, you are staying here as long is the work is in process."

Neel just sat, shocked, as she explained what all he would have to do.