The Replacement

Chapter 29: The Notebook

Arnav was glad she left him alone for a bit, else he was afraid he would do something silly, like confess his feelings to her or something. He needed to come to terms with this realization, and knowing his ego, he needed to know how she felt before he said anything to her.

If she laughed it off, or categorically stated that she wouldn't be able to reciprocate his feelings ever, he wouldn't be able to bear it. And they were so new and bright and shiny. He needed to come to terms with himself before he did anything else. He needed to reconcile with this new realization before he could add her to the mix.

So he was glad she left him alone to ruminate for a bit. So by the time she walked briskly back to his side, he was on a more even keel. She had a few files in her hands.

She stood next to him, hesitating, then abruptly handed over a small notebook.

"Here. Take a look"

Arnav took the book from her and slowly opened it, not sure what to expect. He began reading.

It was a jumble of notes that after some reading started appearing to make sense. It seemed to be plot lines for various stories.

"Are these stories?"

"The plotlines for them, yes. The detailed drafts are in my laptop. I just carry this notebook with me, so when I think of something, I jot it down immediately"

He had noted her writing things down randomly around the house. Never paid much attention to it, but now it started to make sense. The fact that she sat down and spent a lot of time at her laptop after their chat was being added to the mix.

"You're a writer", he said, realization dawning.

"Yes"

"Have you published anything?"

"A few things.... Actually, quite a few by now"

"Can I read them?"

"I think you likely have", she sounded amused.

He just looked at her puzzled.

"When I was 18, and fresh into college, I had the outline of a very nice story series that I'd been working on since I was 14. I met Nishant at a college function then. He had just joined his father's publishing company, and I showed him my writing. He got back to me the next day, with an appointment to meet with their editors. I wasn't expecting anything to come from that meeting, but everyone seemed to be very excited about my book idea. Nishant helped me navigate through the publishing world and signed me on for a three book series. He did take a gamble on me, so I'm grateful to him for that. He made sure my compensation was adequate, there were no legal loopholes. Basically, he ensured I was not taken advantage of. And gave me my first break. We'd gotten to be friends by then. He introduced me to his wife Sneha. She's a lawyer, and she represented me and drew up the documents. She got me a very good deal, with book and character rights and royalty agreements, something the 18-yr-old me had never even heard of. Between the two of them, they ensured I wouldn't be shortchanged. And I got down to writing. The first book did really well, and the subsequent ones have been making me a bit of money. I've written 12 so far, and they've been selling well"

"What do you write?", Arnav asked, curious now, but with an inkling of what was coming.

"Children's books mostly. I'm branching out into my first YA book now, but its slow going, especially since I like the children's series and I have a lot more ideas, but I'm thinking to grow the characters up, so kids can grow along with the characters"

"And you write under a pseudonym?"

"Yes. I use my parent's names. Diya Gupta and Mohan Gupta"

"Oh... my... god! You're Diya Mohan. I thought it was a man who wrote those"