The Bestseller She Wrote (28 page)

‘I’m not sure if I would want to do that, Vaishali .’

‘But why?’

‘Even after today’s article you are asking me why?’

‘But shouldn’t we turn this into an opportunity?’

‘I am not as cold as you are sounding right now,’ he lashed out. ‘I’ve got to go, someone is waiting for me,’ he lied and hung up on her. The lack of empathy infuriated him.

After he disconnected, he looked at the phone. There were three missed calls, all from the same number; an unknown number. There was also a message from the same number. He swiped his finger across the screen to see the message.

Aditya looked at the phone for a minute and dismissed it. There were more important things occupying his mind at the time. He had planned to meet Maya to convince her that he had not lied to her in any way. The newspaper story had nothing more than what she already knew. He decided to leave so that he could reach home before Maya got back. Savitha would be the only one there. He would be able to bulldoze her into letting him in and wait for Maya to return. For a second he considered calling Melwin back, but then dismissed the idea. Melwin was probably another of those presstitutes, harassing him for a quote.

66

T
HAT EVENING
V
AISHALI
sent Shreya the cover design for her new book. ‘It will go on pre-booking from day after. I think we should promote it aggressively on social media. I have convinced Marketing to buy space in
Bombay Times
, to do a story on the book. That should drive interest. People will relate it to today’s article. It has the potential to go viral,’ Vaishali ’s mail had said.

Shreya saw the mail and called Vaishali . ‘What about Aditya’s quote?’ she demanded.

‘Well, we have managed to get Chetan Bhagat to give a quote for your book. He never does that but has agreed to do it for you.’

‘I don’t want a Chetan Bhagat quote. He might have seen today’s newspaper article and jumped onto the bandwagon for some quick publicity. People who read him won’t read my book. I would rather have Aditya’s quote or nothing.’ Shreya was adamant.

‘Then I am afraid we will have to go with nothing. And just to remind you, Aditya too writes commercial fiction. Their genre is the same. If CB won’t do, then Aditya too won’t do.’

‘But Aditya has stature. Leave that aside. Tell me, why can’t we put Aditya’s quote on the cover?’

‘Aditya has declined to give a quote.’

‘What?’ Shreya was surprised. ‘When did you speak to him last?’

‘Earlier today.’

‘But he had promised . . .’

‘Well, it is his mind. He reserves the right to change it, I guess,’ Vaishali was curt. She didn’t like Shreya’s arrogant approach. ‘More so after today’s
Bombay Times
article . . .’ Vaishali wanted to rile Shreya and give it back to her for her haughtiness. But Shreya was cool and didn’t seem to care.

‘What does the
Bombay Times
article have to do with it?’ she asked. Without waiting for a response, she added, ‘If anything, it will give us brilliant branding. Isn’t that why you are bringing forward the launch date for my book, Vaishali ? Don’t deny it. Isn’t it the best thing to have happened to us?’ Shreya spoke like a pro. ‘Hold on to the cover for a day. Will you do that for me, please?’

67

M
AYA WENT BALLISTIC
when she reached home and saw Aditya waiting for her. Savitha had to bear the brunt of her anger. She had been categorically told not to let Aditya come back into the house. Aditya was a persona non grata in her life, more so after the
Bombay Times
article.

‘Maya, please,’ Aditya pleaded, ‘listen to me once. If after that you want to throw me out forever, it is up to you.’

Maya stared out into the open—a blank gaze into infinity. She too was tired of this. Her mind was in turmoil. A part of her wanted to get back with him. Aditya left his phone and laptop bag on the sofa and walked to the balcony. When he was right behind her, his arms came up and held Maya by the shoulders. She was uncomfortable but didn’t move. That gave Aditya some hope.

‘I am sorry, Maya. Can’t you let this go this one time? I promise you, you will never have a reason to complain or regret it. Ever since I left this house I have not even spoken to Shreya. I am not in touch with her. Despite us being in the same team, I don’t even talk to her. Trust me, Maya. I fucked up! But I will never ever repeat it in the future.’

Maya was confused. She turned away from the balcony, walked back into the living room and sat down on the sofa. She was trying her best to stay calm.

‘Maya, if you want, I will quit my job and get away from everyone who you have a problem with,’ Aditya cried.

Maya stayed silent.

‘We can leave Mumbai and go somewhere else, where we can rebuild our life from scratch.’

Neither Maya’s expression changed nor her demeanour.

Seeing Maya not responding he held her again by her shoulder and shook her softly. ‘Say something, Maya. Please say something. I love you, Maya. I really . . .’

The shrill ringtone of his phone interrupted his monologue. The phone was on the table in front of both of them. Instinctively both of them looked down at the number.

Maya saw the number and faced him. If there was any confusion in her mind earlier, it had evaporated. She picked up her bag from the sofa, slipped her feet into her sandals and stormed out of the house. ‘Call me once he is out of here,’ she directed Savitha on her way out. Just as she reached the door, she saw an envelope lying on the rack adjoining it. She stopped and picked up the envelope. Aditya didn’t move. Maya turned and waved the envelope at him. ‘You see the impact of your activities on my son! Someone handed this over to him outside school. Stay away from us. We don’t need you in our lives,’ she screamed.

While all this was happening, Aditya’s phone had rung six times. Six calls, all from the same number. When it rang for the seventh time, Aditya looked at it. There were two words flashing on the screen: “RAM KUMAR”. He picked up the phone and pressed the disconnect icon and walked out behind Maya.

As he was exiting the hall, he looked at the envelope that Maya had waved at him and picked it up. It just had the name, “Aryan Kapoor”, written on top of it. No address. Inside the envelope was a tiny piece of paper. He pulled it out. It was the masthead of
Bombay Times
. It had been torn out from that day’s newspaper.

He was furious; more so because the packet was addressed to Aryan. Why would anyone send this to Aryan? He was only six years old. Aditya realised that the envelope actually contained a veiled threat: that they would expose Aditya’s doings to Aryan, and make him lose respect for his dad. Someone was trying to destroy the very fabric of his family. Only one person could have done it.

The phone rang and he looked at it. It was the same number again. This time he took the call.

‘Yes?’

‘I need to see you.’

‘And you really think that I will come on all fours.’ He was furious.

‘Trust me you’ll regret it if you don’t. I won’t take too much of your time.’

Aditya was taken aback. It took him a while to gather his wits. ‘Why did you do this, Shreya? Why?’

Even before he could finish what he was saying, Shreya hung up.

68

I
N THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES
, Aditya was at Shreya’s residence. When she opened the door, the base note of her perfume hit his nostrils.

‘Why did you do this, Shreya?’ he repeated. The thirty-five minute drive had calmed his nerves. He turned his gaze away from her so as to not lose focus. She was irritatingly sexy.

‘Do what?’

‘You know what I am talking about. Why did you have to talk to
Bombay Times
?’ His breathing was heavy. He was angry, distracted, frustrated and possibly turned on, all at the same time.

‘So you too assumed that I did it?’

‘Could there be a better way for you to get back at me? What do you want to achieve by embarrassing me like this?’

‘Have you considered that this article damages my reputation more than yours? It has presented me in a much poorer light. Why would I kill my own reputation, Aditya? Why would I do this to myself?’

Aditya hollered. ‘You are a fucking liar and a cheat.
You used me to get a book contract. And now when your book is to come out and you need to get into the limelight, you hit upon this wonderful plan. Kill two birds with one stone.’

Hearing his tirade Shreya steeled up. ‘Yes, a scandal of this sort helps the book. It helps me get the limelight. But no woman would do this to her own reputation. Do you get that, Aditya?’ she paused, ‘I love you. I really love you. I wish you would see that. I want you to be with me, Aditya.’

‘Even if it means sending a threat to a six-year-old?’ Aditya brandished the envelope he had picked up from Maya’s house, in front of her. ‘How dare you, Shreya? How dare you send out a threat to my six-year-old son?’

Shreya brazenly smiled when she saw the cover. ‘I have no clue what you are talking about,’ she shrugged. ‘What is in it?’ She walked up to him and took the envelope from his hand. At the same time, the fingertips of her left hand ran seductively down his arm.

‘Stop it, Shreya,’ Aditya jerked her hand off and held her by her shoulders. He was at his wits’ end. ‘Have you really sunk that low that you would involve my little son in all this?’ He looked disgusted. He waved the packet in front of her face again. ‘Have you considered what would happen if I took this to the cops? Threatening a minor is a non-bailable offence.’

‘I see. So now you are threatening me with a police case . . . ooooh . . . I am scared. Can’t you see that I am sweating? Please help me, Aditya. Help me,’ she mocked him. ‘Interesting story, by the way,’ Shreya continued once she had stopped her mock-shivering. ‘For once you are spinning a genuine story all by yourself. Nice to see.’

‘I hope you don’t run out of sarcasm by the time the cops rough you up. Save some,’ Aditya cynically advised Shreya. ‘I will take you to task and haul your backside to court for defaming me.’

‘So you really want to file charges against me, Aditya. Huh? For a newspaper report which contains nothing but the truth. Will you be able to prove that the newspaper report is false? Really, Aditya, who will believe you?’ she asked nonchalantly.

‘Look, I don’t want to hurt you,’ Aditya softened a bit. His intention was not to go to the cops in any case. ‘I am trying to rebuild my family. Both of us have committed mistakes in the past. I don’t want to repeat them. I want you to be happy, to have a good life. There is no end to these conflicts. It will end up hurting all of us. I don’t understand why you are trying to make things so difficult.’

‘If you haven’t got it by now, it’s because I love you. Every minute I spend with you is worth a lifetime for me. The only way for me to have a good life is to be with you.’

Aditya was convinced she was feeding him a bunch of lies. ‘That’s why you do all this? Mess up my reputation in the press . . . Screw up my family life . . .?’

‘I did all this? Really, Aditya! You seriously believe I did all this!’ She looked at him in disgust. ‘Did I screw up your family life, Aditya? Did I plead with you to come to me? Did I coax you to make love to me? Did I force you to do anything that you didn’t want to? Then how is it that I am a whore, the other woman, and you are the saintly godman who now deserves to go back to his normal life?’

‘I am not running away from my mistakes. I am only saying that it’s time to set it right.’

‘That’s crap. If you weren’t running away from your guilt, why would you not honour the commitment you made to me? You even refused to give a quote to go on the cover of my book. Did you even think for a moment how I would have felt? You left me in the lurch, and you expect me to be nice to you. You have no spine, Aditya. You ditched me when I needed you the most. Just because,’ she stopped for a second, ‘just because your wife fell sick, and you had pangs of regret. Oh come on, Aditya! How convenient is that?’

‘So Vaishali spoke with you?’ He ignored the rest of her tirade.

‘Yes. And I told her to hold the cover for a day and that you would agree to give the endorsement.’

Her presumptive nonchalance peeved Aditya. ‘What makes you so confident?’

‘Because I knew you will eventually agree.’

‘Well, I won’t. I have neither the desire nor intent to give a quote at this point,’ he thundered. ‘And if you do not stay away from my family, I will go to the cops. Do you get it?!’

Shreya didn’t respond. She got up from where she was sitting and walked to her desk. She opened her laptop and fired a print. Her printer came alive and within fifteen seconds it spat out a printed sheet of paper. Shreya picked it up and walked back to Aditya.

‘This,’ she said, an evil grin on her face. ‘Now will this make you give me an endorsement for the book and also promote it?’