Cold Love (8 page)

He mockingly salutes goodbye
and walks away. Riya slowly moves away from Arjun. She has completely wet his
shirt with her tears.

 “Uncle, can you please drop
me home? And can I request a big favor uncle? I do not want today’s incidents
to be discussed with papa, mummy… or anyone!” She glances at Arjun for a
moment; he is about to speak but Riya walks to the exit. Commissioner Pratap
follows her. Arjun is left in the corridor to ponder alone as he clenches his
fist helplessly. This is what he had wanted to warn Riya about earlier in the
morning but could not find the courage to frame his words correctly. A burning
rage was driving him wild. Eventually, Arjun started walking towards the secure
back exit from which the Commissioner had taken Riya.

The case today hung in the
balance. Riya had completed her part in factually identifying the killer but
Mr. Banerjee, for all his wickedness, had made Riya’s eyewitness statement
appear conditional to the issues he raised today. Riya will have to go through
a blood test to prove that she is not a drug addict.

“I’ve let her down,” Arjun
tells himself. A seemingly simple witness statement in court had turned into an
affair that included mudslinging. At the end of the day, the trump card had
been clearly quashed in this game.

A shroud of guilt hangs over
Arjun’s head as he rushes to catch up with Riya.

Reshuffling the Cards

When Riya came home
accompanied by the Commissioner, Arjun was hot on the trail and followed her in
just a few minutes later.

 “Oh you guys are here
already?” Shanti welcomes Commissioner Pratap, “Hello bhai sahib, please come
in. Hope everything was fine today at the court?”

“Yes; everything was fine,
mama,” Riya responded instead.

“Namaste, bhabhi ji. Thanks
to Riya’s help we have progressed so much in this case. You don’t know how
brave your daughter is!” the Commissioner added.

“Mama I am a bit tired, can I
go up please?”

“OK beta!” Riya excuses
herself and immediately rushes upstairs to her room. 

“Come in bhai sahib, please
have some tea.”

“No bhabhiji, I will take
your leave. I will only say that your kids have a great responsibility, and
they are doing a beautiful job. You should be proud of your daughter.”

“It’s our good fortune that
she has got an opportunity to do something for the country. Though the person
I’m really proud of is this son of mine!” she touches Arjun’s cheeks
affectionately, “He is the one who has done all the hard work and really
deserves all the credit.”

 “You are absolutely right.”
The commission says his farewells. “Nice meeting you Mrs. Saxena.” Shanti sees
off the Commissioner and returns to Arjun.

“Come beta, will you eat
something?” Shanti asks Arjun.

“No aunty!” Arjun responds
hesitantly, “Can I speak with Riya?”

“Yes beta, go on. You don’t
need to ask me about it. She must be in her room.”

Arjun approaches Riya’s room
upstairs. She is on her bed, crying, with her face on her pillow. Arjun stands
next to the bed for a moment, at a loss for words to console Riya. Before he
can speak, Riya starts talking, her words muffled up in the pillow.

“Arjun please leave me alone.
I do not want to talk about anything.”

“Riya … please don’t
misunderstand the events today,” he sits by her side and holds her arms to pull
her up but she resists with all her strength. “Riya… Please listen to me!”

Finally, Riya gets up and
faces Arjun, “What should I listen to Arjun? What’s left to be said anyway?
Arjun, no one has talked to me in my life like this. No one!”

“Riya…I know…” Arjun
stutters.

 “All right go on. I am
listening. Tell me, what more do you want to say to me?”

Arjun is lost for words,
seeing Riya all ears; he bites his lips staring into her eyes. Even though he
wants to say so much, he can’t say a word and continues to simply stare at her
instead.

“Well done, Arjun!” Riya
continues sarcastically, “You fulfilled your friendship today! I went there
trusting that you will take care of me.” 

“Riya … look… I…”

 “Huh… And I thought I was
doing a service for my country. Mr. Banerjee said nothing wrong, did he? I
really did think all this was like a walk in the park … I wore my finest outfit
to court, like a little girl going to a party! How foolish of me!”

“Riya … please don’t take
this the wrong way!”

“You would have known Arjun,
wouldn’t you? That they ask such bizarre questions in the court? Did you
know?... Arjun, please answer me!”

Arjun is silent and does not
respond. Riya shrugs and nods her head, frustrated when she realizes she has
been let down by her dearest friend.

“Why? Why did you do this to
me, Arjun? … Why didn’t you tell me?” she finally wipes away her tears,
composing herself with a look of intent on her face, “Arjun, please leave me
alone. Please don’t ever try to talk to me … I don’t want to talk u
again…ever!”

“Riya… please don’t say that.
I know what happened was wrong… but…”

 “Arjun please just go, leave
me alone!”

That very moment Shanti’s
voice is heard in the corridor outside the room.

“Beta, what are you guys up
to?” Just as she walks in, Riya hastily walks over into the bathroom, “What’s
up beta?”

“Nothing much aunty.”

“OK, beta, ;tell me, was
everything fine in court?”

“Yes, aunty; Riya testified
as a witness. She has been a great help, aunty.” 

“Will she need to go to the
court again? I really feel nervous about all this.”

Riya walks back into the room
at that moment, having wiped off her tears and washed her face.

“No aunty. Riya has given her
evidence and identified the killer. She will not need to come to the court
again. Leave the rest to the police and the officials from here on.”

“Mama, you shouldn’t bother
Arjun with such small things. He showed such great valor today and I’m sure he
must have so much work to do… the case and everything. Right, Arjun?” she
replies in a mocking tone that her mother fails to pick up.

Arjun gets the hint and nods.
“OK, aunty… I think I better get going.”

“OK, beta.” Arjun leaves the
room immediately. “Are you all right my sweetheart?” Shanti hugs Riya and soon
walks out of the room. Riya gets up and goes to the window to watch Arjun
walking across the garden between their houses. She moves away as Arjun turns
around to look back at her house.

A range of emotions, mostly
anger, cross Arjun’s mind, driving him mad, primarily because of his utter
helplessness to do anything. He walks into the house and into his room
unnoticed, without speaking to anyone.

An air of uneasiness lingers
over the next few days amongst the two estranged friends. Riya has taken a
stance to completely shut herself off from Arjun, avoiding him at home, school
and during events with family or friends. She has chosen to keep herself busy
with her classes at the school or at the library. No one in the house notices
the difference. Riya even chooses to keep her best friend, Puja, out of the
loop; this is a rarity, as she had always shared all her feelings and secrets
with Puja in the past.

The incident, for a change,
has made Arjun a regular attendee at the MBA school, more than he had been in
the past. Arjun and Riya exchange glances at school, but only from a distance.
Every time Arjun tries to approach Riya, she simply avoids him. Even though
they meet in class, in the corridors or at home, Riya simply dodged Arjun on
all occasions before he can speak a word. Needless to say, Riya has a long
backlog of missed calls and messages from Arjun, as all his requests to meet up
to explain things to her have fallen on deaf ears.

As if this was not the nadir
in the relationship between these two friends, things are about to get worse,
before getting any better.

The Nadir

A few weeks pass without the
world around them noticing the drift between the two friends. On another dull
dreary wet day, Arjun’s car comes down the road to the MBA school. He gets off
to walk to class, chatting with a few friends on the way, when another large
car stops nearby. Mr. Banerjee gets down. He asks a student for some directions
and walks up to Arjun when he spots him from a distance.

“Mr. Arjun! How are you?”

Arjun doesn’t respond.

“Look I don’t believe in idle
chat, so let me come directly to the point. However, let me clarify something:
the world should not think that I’m a traitor because I’m defending the ISI
lieutenant-general in this case. You know that, in the course of my career,
I’ve brought so many terrorists and criminals to justice. However, you and
R&AW are following a course of action that you think will serve the
country, although you seem to forget that Pakistan is our neighbor and we need
to rise above petty skirmishes to create a strategic and diplomatic
relationship. Such baseless allegations will only degrade our relationship and
encourage such terrorist acts rather than reducing them. Do you understand, Mr.
Arjun?”

“Have you said what you
wanted to say?” Arjun responds in a cold tone of voice. “Mr. Banerjee, you can
leave now if you’ve made your speech.”

Banerjee is infuriated at
Arjun’s attitude. “I will go, Arjun; I was only trying to reason with you
because I thought you are a logical person. But if you cannot understand simple
logic then let me put it bluntly instead: I’ve not lost a single case in my
career. And I know the system very well indeed. I know how to twist it to get
my way around it. In court, I barely spoke a few words and you can already see
the outcome; just imagine if I had really stooped to it, I can create such
arguments and get such witnesses into court that your friend Riya will be
unable to face anyone in this world. And once her testimony falls apart, this
case has nothing left to stand on.”

Arjun retreats; he is about
to leave with his head hanging down, but instead suddenly turns back and slams
Banerjee’s face with one forceful swing of his fist. The sudden blow flings
Banerjee on the road.

“What did you say?” Arjun
picks him up by the collar of his shirt. “Riya won’t be able to show her face
to anyone?”

Arjun’s friends, who are
standing aghast nearby, rush in to grab him and separate them but Arjun still
kicks Banerjee. Meanwhile, the news of the hubbub on the road has reached the
classroom; one of the girls rushes back to Riya to tell her what’s happening.
Riya leaves the classroom immediately. Outside, Arjun manages to escape his
fellow students, who are holding him back, and grabs Banerjee again; in the
scuffle, Banerjee falls on the road. Arjun is about to punch him really hard
this time when Riya appears.

 “Arjun!”

Arjun stops in his stance,
with his fist shaking with vigor and power right on top of Banerjee’s face,
ready to thrash Banerjee this time. He pauses for a moment upon seeing Riya,
although he continues to hold Banerjee by the collar of his shirt with his
other hand. Riya rushes in and forces herself to try to pull Arjun’s arm away.

 “What are you doing Arjun?
Who do you think you are? For God’s sake, will you stop? Just let it go, will
you?”

Arjun lets go off Banerjee’s
collar. 

Banerjee is completely shaken
and hastily retreats to his car, “Arjun, you will pay dearly for this! I won’t
let you go!”

“Get lost, Banerjee!” Arjun
yells at him scornfully.

Riya pushes at Arjun in
disgust, “Will you go about hitting everyone? Waah! You are some Rambo, Arjun!
Will you just do me a favor and spare me from all this? Just stop all this will
you?” She folds her hands in a derisive manner. Arjun doesn’t respond and
continues to simply stare at her. Expecting a response but not getting any,
Riya walks away immediately, feeling extremely disgusted and disappointed.
Arjun stands there for a moment, his fists still clenched in fury. The other
students standing around him disperse slowly. Gradually Arjun also walks away,
gets inside his car and drives away with a large screeching start, leaving a
trail of burnt rubber marks on the road.

Meanwhile, at home, Puja has
heard of the incident through common friends and she rushes over immediately to
meet Riya in her room.

“Riya, what’s all this? What
happened? Please tell me. Don’t you dare hide anything from me. Tell me what
happened in the court, Riya! All this started at the court, right? Tell me
please!”

Coincidentally, Riya’s sister
Priya is also at home and both are horror-struck listening to what Riya has to
say, as she discloses the agony that she has been put through during the court
proceedings. However, Priya is supportive of Arjun and is stunned to learn that
Riya has turned her back on him.

“But how could you do that to
Arjun, Riya? Wasn’t it you who said that if dogs bark in the street they should
be ignored, right? You know that all this is just a gimmick by this cunning
lawyer …it doesn’t mean a thing! How is this different from that eve-teasing
incident at the park? You were so mature and understanding about that!”

“Those guys were just
road-side ruffians, didi. But this is different! Those words from Mr. Banerjee
in front of the whole courtroom!” Riya covers her face with her hands and
starts sobbing, thinking of her nightmare at the court.

“I can understand all that,
sis, but you cannot blame Arjun for this!” Priya responds to her sister. “Arjun
has been feeling guilty because of this incident, though you know very well he
has nothing to do with it. You are playing into the lawyer’s hands, Riya.
Tomorrow if you retract your statement because of his stupid rumblings, you
will nullify all the good work that Arjun has done for this case… and for our
country! Riya, I didn’t expect this from you.”

“What should I do, didi?”
Riya sobs, hugging her sister as Puja looks on.

“Riya, my dear! Do what your
heart feels is right. Who is Banerjee to you? Nothing! And who is Arjun to you,
to all of us? Don’t care about the world. If you think calmly, you will know
what’s right, and I trust you to do the right thing!”

Priya pats her sister’s head
and walks out of the room to allow Riya the space to think things through for
herself.

That night, Riya found it
extremely difficult to sleep, as she lay in bed looking blankly at the skies
outside. Had this episode pained Arjun as much as it did her? Priya is right,
Arjun is not to blame for this. On the contrary, he had always been a true
friend to her, by her side when she needed him. He would have thrashed those
ruffians in the park the same way he thrashed Banerjee had she not restrained
him.

However, the incident in
court was different. The sudden unexpected attack had hurt her most. She was
caught off guard, not expecting it at all, with that element of surprise
leaving her shattered. Of course, Banerjee knew that his allegations had no
basis in fact and were baseless and false. And yet, he used this ploy to shake
her, break her alliance with Arjun, and use this case to defeat the cause. And
she can never let that happen. She can never let Arjun fail; she can never let
her country fail.

Now that she has thought it
through, Riya curses herself. How could she have been so insensitive? How could
be so selfish and stupid to fall into the trap laid by the cunning lawyer? When
Arjun most needed the support of a friend, she had deserted him, and worse
still, blamed him for everything. But she cannot be so heartless to let him
suffer any more now. Riya decides that she will talk to Arjun the first thing
in the morning. That’s the right thing to do. She must put it all behind her
like a bad dream…like a nightmare to be forgotten the very next morning.