The Forbidden One

Chapter 11

The pitter-patter of the little rain drops hitting the roof of my car was the only sound that was heard as I began to drive us home, Gauri continued to look out of the window like she has been doing ever since she boarded the car, looking like she was deep in thoughts.

I dared to look at her in the side way glance as we stopped at a traffic signal and found her looking at an ice cream cart, where people are enjoying the chocolate dipped ice creams. The little sadness in her eyes reminded me of the conversation we had back in Assam.

"My Father and I always sneaks out of the house during nights to eat ice creams after my mom is sound asleep." Gauri laughed as she said about her little adventure with her father. "It is fun to eat an ice cream when the climate is as cold as ice cream."

"Hope your mom never caught you two."

"Oh, not really, Mom's are faster than FBI they catches the guilt in a jiffy, and my Mom is head of them, she always catches us even if we tip toes into the home and gives us a earful, but we can bear anything for that guilty pleasure of having an ice cream at cold nights."

The honk of the car behind us made me realize that the signal turned green and I hit the pedal only to halt the car on the side of the road.

Gauri looked at me in question as I unbuckled my seat belt and got down the car.

"Come." I said as I opened the door for Gauri to get down and she obeyed following me silently.

I paid for the ice creams and handed the cold chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone, to Gauri, who looked at me surprise.

"You remember?" Gauri asked surprised.

"Yes, I do." I smiled.

"Thank you." Gauri smiled relishing the ice cream as we walked on the silent road side by side with a comfortable distance between us.

"Let's go inside this park." Gauri said pointing at an empty park on the road side.

"Rudra and Bhavya are nice persons." Gauri said as she kicked the ground sitting on the swing making it move to and fro.

"Yes, they are." I nodded taking seat on the other swing beside her.

"How long have you known each other?" Gauri asked looking at me as I slowly swinged.

"I met both of them on the first day of my kindergarten and since then they never left my side."

"You three seems to be very close to each other." Gauri stated.

"Yes, they are more like a family than friends." I said and Gauri nodded looking a far.

"Bhavya loves Rudra, doesn't she?" Gauri asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes." I said surprised, "How did you figure that out?"

"Any person with a set of good eyes can see Bhavya's love for Rudra." Gauri smiled.

"Hmm... Then we should book an appointment for Rudra to get his eyes checked." I sighed.

"Why can't he see her obvious love for him?" Gauri questioned.

"Rudra was the ever playful one among us three, a prim and proper Bhavya falling for Rudra's playboy charm is still a mystery for me. I still remember the day when she confessed her love for Rudra to me and I felt like my eyeballs would pop out of their sockets."

"I don't think Rudra is that bad?"

"He's not bad but he can't take relationships serious, he likes hook ups and flings, which hurts Bhavya whenever she sees him with a new girl."

"That's so pity of her." Gauri sighed.

"I know, I have asked her to speak about her feelings with Rudra but she's afraid that she might loose his friendship."

Gauri just nodded.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Gauri.

"Better than before." She replied looking down at her feet. "Every new day I am trying to get a little bit better accepting my new reality."

"That's a good thing to start with."

"Yes, but often I feel alone and bored in the big mansion as I was never the one to sit idle without any company."

"I am sorry that you have felt that way." I apologized, "From past few days I got busy with works and was spending my nights in office, I will make sure to come home to keep your company." I promised.

"Thank you." She smiled and rain drops began to hit the ground with force.

"Seems like it's going to rain hard tonight." I said jumping down the swing.

"Yes, let's get inside the car before we get drenched." Gauri said running towards the car pulling me along with her.

Together we began to run towards my car laughing.

"Good Night, Gauri." I said as I closed the door behind me and began to walk towards my room.

I felt happy spending time with Gauri, I felt stress free and contended to be able to have a real conversation with someone, other than Rudra and Bhavya and at the same time, I felt sorry for Gauri, that she has to spend her day feeling bored and lonely. I layed on my bed peacefully after a long time, but that didn't last long as my mobile began to ring loud.

"Who the hell is calling me at twelve in the night?" I cursed the caller throwing off my blankets in search of my mobile.

"Hello.. " I said impatiently.

"Hello Omi, how are you?" A false high pitched voice greeted from the other end making me pinch the bridge of my nose.

"What do you want, Vikram? And stop calling me by that name." I asked taking a deep breath.

"I want many things but I don't want to go hard on you in the start, which might scare you."

"What are you implying at?"

"Don't think you defeated me just by bagging Harrison's deal, Mr. Oberoi. You have a lot to loss than to gain, and I will make sure that happens." Vikram said in a serious tone. "Stay strong to face that Omiii... " He said in a false women voice, knowing my hate for that little Nick name.

"Good Luck with that Bickering Bicky." I said deliberately calling him the way he hates the most.

Vikram Malhotra being my arch nemesis since my high school days hated being called Bicky, but to his disappointment our principal, who was an authentic Bengali person, always used to pronounce his name as Bikram, whenever he was to call Vikram Malhotra's name, making him a laughing stock.

"Don't call me Bicky." Vikram yelled.

"Why isn't that your name Bicky." I said controlling my laughter.

"You will know what my name is when they announce the best CEO award, Mr. Omi Singh Oberoi."

"Will see that." I said disconnecting the call as I had enough drama tonight.