It Started With a Friend Request (16 page)

After their meeting in the conference hall of the hotel got over, they all had lunch together. Then they went back to their rooms to change into casuals since the plan was to explore the beaches of Goa.

Both the girls changed into short skirts and casual tops. Kajal was exposing for Mr Verma while Tamanna wanted to gain Deep’s attention, as it was probably the first time Deep was going to see her exposed skin.

Deep had worn a white body fit T-shirt with Bermuda shorts which forced Tamanna to stare harder at his toned, muscular body. Mr Verma on the other hand had worn full-length track pants and a casual T-shirt in an attempt to look thinner.

‘You look so sexy,’ said Mr Verma holding Kajal by her waist as they walked outside the hotel premises.

Looking at them stroll like two lovebirds made Tamanna feel a bit jealous but nonetheless she was excited because she knew she just had to wait for a few more hours. They got into the cab and headed towards Baga beach.

‘Tamanna, I have told the receptionist to book our tickets for the overnight casino cruise. So do not schedule anything after evening,’ Mr Verma told Tamanna who was busy drinking a Bacardi breezer.

She had something different planned for the night. But she agreed to tag along as she felt proposing on a cruise accompanied by Goan music in the backdrop would be more romantic. Deep seemed disturbed by their idea of going on the cruise but he didn’t utter a word. As they reached Baga beach, everyone ran towards the shore.

Deep relaxed on the shore with a beer bottle. Soon Tamanna too joined him. She was keeping an eye on Kajal and Mr Verma, observing their actions closely. She wanted to be in Deep’s arms but he hardly cast a glance at her.
She was sitting right next to him, trying her best to get close to him, but he kept looking straight at the horizon. She even deliberately moved her skirt up exposing her thigh to seduce Deep but all in vain. It irritated Tamanna but she didn’t want to break down in front of him. More than him, it was Kajal and Mr Verma’s public display of affection that irritated her. Kajal was trying her best to seduce him and Mr Verma was lusting after her. Tamanna almost turned her face with disgust when she saw Mr Verma smooching Kajal in public! Their PDA was getting out of control!

She was upset by the fact that Deep had completely ignored her despite her sexy outfit. Each moment seemed like ages to her. As they travelled back to their rooms, Tamanna caught him looking at her which brought a smile on her face. Whatever be the reason, she loved it when he looked at her. He faked a smile wondering how he could avoid the cruise that night.

‘What do you observe first in girls?’ Mr Verma questioned Deep holding a glass of beer while having dinner at Tito’s.

Tito’s Courtyard was an informal, open-air dining restaurant.

‘Now that depends on whether a girl is walking towards you or away from you,’ Deep replied, half-drunk. They laughed at his statement and raised a toast.

‘What you feel about Kajal?’ Mr Verma asked him, putting his hand around Kajal’s shoulder and getting closer.

‘Sorry sir, I don’t believe in shortcuts and relationships which are only for mutual benefit. I prefer to stay away from them,’ Deep said looking at Kajal.

‘Oh come on. Grow up. You should live life king size,’ Mr Verma yelled.

Kajal stared at Deep as she knew Mr Verma had dismissed their relationship as mere enjoyment and nothing else. It was like a slap on her face. He hardly cared for her and continued to eat his food. All this while, Tamanna kept looking secretly at Deep and his last statement made her nervous.

After dinner, they decided to spend some more time on the beach before boarding the cruise.

‘I am feeling unwell. I will rest in my hotel room for a while so that I can join you all on the cruise later. Otherwise I will feel uneasy on the cruise and will miss all the fun,’ Deep exclaimed when they cleared the bill and came out of Tito’s.

‘Are you sure? I don’t want you to miss the cruise Deep,’ Tamanna said visibly concerned. After all she had planned a special night on the cruise for him.

He nodded but Tamanna insisted he stay back with them and not to go back to the hotel. Her continuous pampering was getting on his nerves.

‘Don’t worry Tammy. I will reach on time. Trust me. We will spend some good time together,’ Deep told her in a sweet tone and gave her a seductive smile. Tammy told him to come on time.

Deep pretended that he was feeling uneasy due to the drinks he had consumed and left for the day. He ordered
couple more bottles of beer in the room after taking a bath. He checked his mobile and saw 11 missed calls from Tammy. He wasn’t shocked as it was quite typical of her. He ignored them and switched off his cell phone so that he could drink chilled beer sitting in the balcony of his room and enjoy Goa’s weather.

After some drinks, he closed his eyes thinking about what would be the aftereffects of his decision to cancel the cruise plan. Even he wanted to talk about his life with Tamanna in all seriousness, but he felt that the cruise was not the right pace to do so. Goa was the right opportunity to tell Tamanna how he really felt but he never got a chance to be alone with Tammy anywhere. Thinking about the various probabilities, he dozed off on the chair in the balcony itself.

Meanwhile, the others were waiting for Deep to return so that they could board the cruise together.

Tamanna tried calling Deep a number of times but his phone was switched off. She was worried about him and cursed herself for allowing him to go back to the room.

‘His cell is switched off. Should we go back to the room and check?’ Tamanna asked Mr Verma.

‘Leave it. He may not be feeling well. If we check on him now, we will miss our cruise,’ Mr Verma said advising the girls to board the cruise.

Tamanna started walking towards the cruise with a heavy heart. She turned to look back every few seconds, hoping she would spot Deep running towards her. However, with each step she took, her dream seemed to evaporate in thin air. Deep was nowhere to be seen. Tamanna wanted to cry aloud as all her plans had shattered in a fraction of a second.

‘Don’t worry Tammy. I will reach on time. Trust me. We will spend some good quality time together.’ His mesmerizing voice still reverberated in her head. A tear tolled down her eye and she couldn’t believe it was for real. She was all alone in the midst of a crowd that seemed to be enjoying each other’s company.

Kajal and Mr Verma were making the most of their time on the cruise. She looked gorgeous in her black one-piece dress and Mr Verma looked totally smitten by her as they danced to Goan music. Kajal had managed to fulfil her motive behind the Goa trip and even Mr Verma had not been left disappointed. However, for Tamanna the love game had now suddenly changed into an obsession. She had to achieve her love at any cost now. The intensity of Kajal and Mr Verma’s love made her obsess more deeply about Deep. The night passed thinking about him but Tamanna decided to keep mum and not to react to Deep’s betrayal.

The next morning when they left for the airport, Deep tried to talk to Tammy several times, but she kept ignoring him as his behaviour had made her even more upset. She tried to make him feel guilty for the previous night by avoiding him completely. Deep tried to convince her and explain the reason for his absence, but his half-hearted attempts failed to impress Tamanna. On the other hand, Kajal and Mr Verma had a satisfied look on their faces while returning back to Mumbai.

The Goa trip had ended on an ugly note for Deep and Tamanna and created rifts between them. Deep failed to share with her what was going on in his head. However it
was getting difficult for Tamanna to ignore the feelings she had for Deep. The question was: How far would this obsession of hers take her?

Kisses and Misses

January 6

It was winter time. Aleesha decided to go out for a walk since Kritika was not in and room and she was feeling bored. She tried to call both Akash and Kritika but since neither of them picked up the phone, she went ahead by hereself. She walked towards the CCD outlet near her residence and decided to stop for a short coffee break. As she walked towards the outlet, she stopped short in her tracks. She turned around to see if someone was following her but there was no one to be seen. She ignored the weird vibe but somehow felt that something was not quite right. She started walking again. Once she entered CCD, she placed her order and took a seat at one of the vacant tables. One seated, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.

‘You are amazing. I love the way you do things for me at odd hours, especially during the night,’ said the voice.

With baby steps, she moved towards the cubicle in the corner of the café, meant for couples only.

‘I love you so much for this. Thank you for accepting my proposal. You are the best,’ said the same voice. This time Aleesha shivered.

As she went closer, she couldn’t believe what she saw. If her heart was weak, she would have got a heart attack right there itself. Akash and Kritika were sitting at the table holding each other’s hands.

Her body froze in shock and her mind tried to comprehend it all as the time ticked off on the clock. Her body began to tremble. Not once did she expect this to happen. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought about being a witness to this. With a heavy heart and even heavier steps, she went closer to Akash who was equally shocked to see her. He didn’t know how to react. He panicked and left Kritika’s hands in a hurry, stammering to explain.

‘How dare you? I mean how could you cheat on me and sit here with my friend? Akash I trusted you so much,’ Alisha yelled.

She walked out of the cafe. In a flash, Akash ran behind her trying to make her understand the situation. But she did not have time for him and ran away sobbing.

Akash couldn’t believe his luck. He stood there without moving an inch. All of a sudden all his plans and all the surprises had been shattered. Kritika came out running and inquired about Aleesha.

‘Please explain to her that we didn’t do anything wrong. I beg of you,’ Akash pleaded with Kritika almost in tears.

Kritika just nodded and left. As she reached their room, she saw Aleesha sobbing on the bed. She was reading the message that Akash had sent to her after they made love for the first time. She saw Kritika coming in but pretended to ignore her. Kritika came near her bed and sat beside her.
Aleesha moved away from her saying she didn’t want any clarification.

‘Aleesha, please listen to me once. Whatever you saw was not the real picture. You know how much he loves you,’ Kritika explained.

‘I don’t want any clarification. I shouldn’t have trusted him. All boys are the same. They just want their desires fulfilled and nothing else. He has done it with me and moved on to the next girl. Tomorrow it will be someone else,’ she said. She hardly listened to Kritika and kept yelling at her without bothering to even listen to any explanations.

She felt cheated. That’s probably the most terrible thing. She thought of calling him but then decided to leave a message. She typed out a long message and was about to send it when she felt it was of no use. She deleted the message and threw the cell on the bed.

Lost in darkness, she kept thinking to herself—
Did he actually love me? I thought he had the same feelings and would protect me in the storm of life. It must be his charm that melted my heart or was it his gentle smile? But whatever it might be, one thing I know is that he does not feel the same for me anymore
. Tears kept rolling down her face. The reality of it broke her into pieces and it wounded her badly when she realized that Akash wanted to be with someone else. She couldn’t believe that he could just move on without thinking about her feelings when he knew that she had done everything for him—supported him, comforted him, and loved him more than he loved himself. Then why did he choose to be unfaithful to her and hurt her like this?

It was around 11 pm. Kritika simply sat beside her silently. She didn’t take much effort in explaining things to Aleesha. She had kept her fingers crossed as there were already too many misunderstandings and one mistake could brak Aleesha’s trust completely.

Akash on the other hand didn’t even bother calling up Aleesha up after his initial efforts to convince her failed. This frustrated Aleesha even more. Akash believed that the surprise he had planned for her would make her fall in love with him all over again. He waited for Kritika’s instructions and was inquiring about Aleesha every few minutes.