It Started With a Friend Request (21 page)

‘No! I don’t know him,’ she said staring at him with tears rolling down her cheeks.

‘Ms Aleesha, tell me something—did this guy ever visit Tammy when you stayed with her or did she ever discuss him with you?’ the officer continued.

‘No. She never discussed her personal things with me, though I wish she had. She was an introvert and hence never shared anything with me. And nor did I. But she did treat me like a younger sister.’ Aleesha was trying to play safe while simultaneously answering all their questions to the best of her ability. Otherwise she knew she could land herself up in trouble.

‘How was her usual behaviour after consuming alcohol? I mean, did she ever get aggressive?’

‘Yes. Almost every time. Otherwise she would simply go off to sleep,’ Aleesha replied.

The officer told both of them that they were not permitted to move out from the city until the investigation went on and they had to be present whenever he called them. They both got up to leave. As they walked outside the police station separately, the feeling of betrayal overcame them.

Aleesha felt betrayed by Akash while he felt betrayed by his colleagues and Tamanna. He didn’t want Aleesha to know about everything like this. He wanted to explain to her that he was not wrong and seriously loved her. He had just told the truth to avoid Aleesha from being apprehensive
about him going to office. He never wanted Tamanna to know about his relationship initially since he knew she had a huge crush on him, and he feared losing job. He was sure that if Aleesha came to know that Tamanna and he worked together, she wouldn’t be able to hide it from her. He had done everything for Aleesha. He was innocent and was afraid of losing her from the very first day they met. After all, he had loved someone so deeply after a very long time and wanted this relationship to last and culminate into marriage. He wanted it to last forever. But fate had some other plan from him.

Aleesha was hurt, not just because Akash had lied to her, but because she believed that he had shattered her trust by being sexually attracted towards Tammy and forcing her to make out with him. After they had covered a fairly long distance from the police station, Akash turned to her with pleading eyes, only to be told, ‘How could you play with me like this? Why would you not tell me the truth? If it was over, you should have set me free. How could you force yourself on Tammy di, play with her feelings, and drag me along when you knew you were completely wrong! I believed you and never thought you would lie or leave me like this but now I know you were playing cheap games with Tammy di as well as me. I thought I could never hate you but I was wrong. You know what I really can’t believe—the mere fact that I believed you.’

Akash stood there numbly, with tears rolling down. He just stared at Aleesha who walked away from him, got into a bus, and left. She didn’t even wait for a clarification from him.

He felt it was all over. Once the trust has been broken, it’s broken. It may grow back a bit, but it’ll never be the same as before. This end was not the way he wanted it, but he was helpless.

Everything He Did, He Did It For Her

‘W
here are you, Aditya?’ Akash seemed worried. I guessed something was wrong.

‘What happened? You were not in office today. How did Tamanna leave you alone?’ I joked.

‘Shut up Aditya! I am screwed. Tamanna is no more. She is dead and the police is accusing me of her death. I have called you from a PCO near the police station.’

Oh fuck!
I thought he was kidding but he was fucking serious. He told me the entire story, leaving me utterly speechless. I was facing such a situation for the first time in my life where the police had caught hold of one of my best friends. I was completely blank, and didn’t know how to react. I acted as a mere spectator and agreed to whatever he said. We decided to meet at DP restaurant in Matunga. He asked me to convince Aleesha to join us. Akash had left for office directly from the police station. He was regretting throwing away his cell the previous night. Had he not reacted in anger, he would have been able to message Aleesha expressing what he felt at that moment. He rushed to the office immediately to get another shock of his life.

‘Deep, we are extremely sorry but the authorities have sent us an email regarding your termination,’ said Mr Verma handing him a copy of the email and informing him that a soft copy of the mail had been forwarded to him.

‘The board members feel that though they are sorry about Tamanna’s untimely death, the matter in which she died is still unknown and since your name is being investigated in this case, they can’t retain such employees. This is their final decision. I am sorry,’ Mr Verma explained.

The world rotates once every 24 hours but for Akash it had rotated more than 24 times in the last 24 hours. His world had turned upside down in a matter of a single day. He had least expected that there was no client meeting the previous evening, that and it was all a planned game by Tamanna. He had run away from that situation to land up in bigger trouble. He wouldn’t have imagined that the next day when he would reach office, the police would be waiting for him to investigate Tamanna’s death. But the climax was yet to come. The termination letter was handed over to him for the misconduct of policies.

It was all so crazy! Who could have imagined all this to happen within a span of 24 hours? It was like a Snakes and Ladders game in which you are almost at the top when you are suddenly bitten by a snake at the 98
^th
position and come crashing down. All his dreams had been shattered in one go. He cried all the way to Matunga. He reached DP’s restaurant and didn’t have to wait for long for us to arrive. Aleesha was first reluctant to come inside but I convinced her somehow. Aleesha didn’t even look at Akash and I felt like a mediator between them.

‘Why have you brought me here? I came for you, not for this big time cheat,’ Aleesha screamed on seeing Akash.

‘Aleesha, calm down please. I request you not to create scene here,’ pleaded Akash.

‘Oh, is it? Then I better leave as I am one slut who creates a scene everywhere. However, you are the most decent guy ever who never misbehaves with anyone.’

I calmed her down and told her not to be so hyper about things and asked her to hear Akash out first before making any judgements. I held her hand to make her feel better. She looked extremely pale, like she would faint any moment. I felt pity on her but I also knew that it was not Akash’s fault. But as they say, everything that is destined to happen will happen and we can’t change it.

‘Jaan, my Minnie, how can you even think that I will double date you or play with your feelings? We can’t choose our parents or children, we accept them and love them with all our hearts. But my Minnie, I chose you because my heart liked you and I felt that you are what I want, and I want to love you for a lifetime! The day I saw you at Thrive Club, I felt some strange connection with you. I had a bet with Aditya that I would talk to you for at least a few minutes. In those few minutes, you stole my heart. We had just started conversing when you disclosed that you lived here with your family friend ‘Tamanna Kapoor’ who worked as a manager at Galaxy House. Before I could speak, I saw Tamanna walking towards us from afar. I hurriedly left before she could see me with you. Not because I wanted to hide my identity from you or her, but because I knew she had a secret crush on me. I thought being with you at that
moment could not only screw my professional life but also my personal life. Thus, I decided not to tell you my middle name. I mean no one calls me Deep except for some of my colleagues in office. Some even called me Akashdeep during my college days and I hated it. But everyone including my family members and closed ones call me Akash as that was the name my dad had kept and everyone knows that I was my dad’s favourite. I don’t use two names to fool people. I wanted to be your friend or maybe more than a friend. When you didn’t come to meet me the next day, I thought it was because Tammy had seen us and told you not to get involved with me. But I soon realized that it was nothing like that. I was in love. I thought of telling Tamanna about us so that I could visit your house regularly. My fortune favoured me and I got a chance to be with Tamanna alone in the office one day when the system failed. It was going to take time to reinstall, and we had to stay in office till late at night. I thought that was the perfect moment to tell her but what I saw that night left me stunned. She had gone to bring coffee for us from the vending machine. I thought of having a smoke and went outside. When I went near the vending machine, I heard some noises and I peeped from the passage. Tamanna was fantasizing in front of coffee vending machine and I could clearly hear her moaning my name. I was shocked and soon realized that it was not just a simple crush. I dropped my plan to tell Tamanna about us, ran back to the work floor, and sat in my chair, pretending nothing had happened,’ Akash explained.

‘I also want to tell you that I never lied about my company to you. Though I work for Galaxy House, I I get my basic
salary from RS Group as I am on their payroll which is called third party payroll. I will be shifted to another site once the project is over. My offer letter, my email id, my I-card, and all other official documents are in the name of RS Group. However, my HRA, bonus, PF, and all other benefits come from Galaxy House, which were all in Tamanna’s hands. That was the only reason why I had to be nice with her. Otherwise I had no interest in even looking at her. Thus, I didn’t tell her anything that night. I am the only earning member of my family and I can’t be aggressive without thinking of the consequences. I couldn’t afford to lose this reputed job due to recession and because there were no new openings in the market. Yes, I purposely never told you about my current office after that incident because I feared losing you. I had not only thought of telling you about my company but also wanted to introduce you to my family. I also wanted to tell you my middle name in spite of knowing that you stay with my manager, Tamanna. But the coffee incident made me think otherwise. I had no choice else she would have continued playing her dirty games on me. Trust me on this. It was always her staring at me when I went near her desk or when she tried to come close to me during parties and office conferences, I would call Aditya from the office and tell him about it immediately.. The only thing I regret is not telling Aditya about the last client meeting. I have really pictured you as my wife and can’t imagine you going away from my life because of some third person who was obsessed about me,’ he continued.

Akash even narrated the entire Panvel incident once again to let Aleesha know that he never fooled her and was loyal
even when he could have used Tamanna to climb the ladder of success. Nevertheless, Aleesha had a different opinion on it and was not in a frame of mind where she could easily forgive Akash.

‘Aditya, should I leave? I am not interested in listening to his clarifications. I need a break. I can’t take it anymore. Not after knowing the truth behind Tamanna di’s death,’ she said looking at me.

‘If I didn’t love you, I could have screwed you by informing the police officers about Tamanna’s call last night. She told me everything and I trust her. She would never lie to me as she treated me like her sister. You killed her. You are responsible for the whole mess. You deserve nothing better. At least try to be honest to yourself. And if you can’t then go away! Get lost. I am breaking all the promises and this relationship, which you never respected but just pretended to be in. You are such a b******. Fuck off. You’ll pay for your deeds one day,’ she screamed at Akash.

It’s not the goodbye that hurts; it’s the flashback that follows. It hurts the most when the person who made you feel so special till yesterday, suddenly makes you feel so unwanted today. Aleesha still loved Akash, but she just didn’t believe in him anymore. She left. Maybe, forever. Akash had lost everything in last 24 hours.

I Love You So Much, It Hurts

W
hy is that we recognize love only when it ends? Love never dies a natural death; it dies because of betrayals. Doctors don’t operate on these wounds and once it starts bleeding, it causes instant death. The death of love!

‘I just wanted her to smile and not doubt me because of what Tamanna had told her. If she had known earlier, it would have ended long back. I wish I could have told Tamanna earlier but I didn’t want her to hurt Aleesha in the process. It’s my bad luck that not only have I hurt Tamanna and been the cause of her death, but I will probably have to also end my relationship with Aleesha,’ Akash muttered to himself.

Akash was walking through the Cyprus area of Mulund when he saw a couple sitting on the same bench where he had spent an evening with Aleesha. All of a sudden, those memories flashed before his eyes—the day when Aleesha had worn a Kashmiri suit that that he had gifted her.

He recollected what Aleesha had told him—‘You are the reason for this smile and the glow on my face. I don’t need any beauty parlours for this glow. Your kisses make my face
glow even in the saddest of moments. Never break my trust, Akash. Just be the same always.’

Walking back home alone, depressed, and frustrated, he cursed God for everything as he had not got what he wanted from life.

‘That’s not fair. How could you do this to me? Aren’t you satisfied with my pain? When I wanted my father around during my growing up years, you took him away from me. I had to convince myself saying, “Akash, you can’t be like others. You don’t have a dad who can sit beside you when you fail in an exam or who will shout at you when you smoke. You are all alone.” Then you brought Aleesha into my life and allowed me to share all my feelings with her. It felt like magic. But suddenly you caught hold of me and kicked me again by making me realize that I am not meant to love anyone. I was alone and will always live like that. If my friend had done all this, I would have asked him why was he doing this to me? But, how should I ask you? You are the Almighty. It’s okay. You carry on.’