Aboli

Part 76

Randhir stared ahead, watching the molten gold sky of the setting sun. The nip of late autumn was in the air, he could feel it on his exposed face and palms. The scenery before him was picture postcard perfect, quite unlike his own life. His trained eye scanned the skies at dusk until he spotted the Andromeda constellation, a blur between Pegasus and the point of Cassiopeia. The tapestry of his memories rolled once again, conjuring up long lost images of showing off the same constellations to a teenage girl who had then quizzed him about the Greek legend of Perseus and Andromeda.

Four years had gone by since another event which had changed everything. Randhir could not shake off the sight of his father's frantic expression when Anju became unresponsive following that fateful brain surgery. Neither his money nor his contacts could save the hapless woman's life. Everything was over within hours. Harsh had insisted on lighting Anju's pyre and performing all the rites. Afterward each day he would lock himself in his study for several hours. It was evident that he was overcome with grief. It took Anju's death for Renuka to snap out of her overconfidence. Overnight her husband became a recluse, drifting into a solitude which was to make him a workaholic once more. 

Whatever personal relationship there was between husband and wife had eroded like a rock weathered by the elements. Other than the couple nobody knew the real reason for their growing distance and naturally people assumed that the love triangle between Anju, Harsh and Renuka was central to the estrangement. Renuka tried to reconcile but Harsh did not want to associate with her anymore. She even considered a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences  but changed her mind because of the children. And there was still no news about Sanyukta and Vishad. 

After Anju's funeral Renuka had insisted on Nicole and Randhir leaving for the US on schedule. For the next few months Randhir called Parth each day for news about Sanyukta but drew a blank each time. It was almost as if both Vishad and Sanyukta had disappeared into a mist. After a year he gave up hope and decided to give his best to make his relationship with Nicole work. 

Initially things were fine, even romantic. Both resumed their earlier lives. Randhir returned to managing his business and Nicole went to college to finish her degree in design. He tried hard to remain cheerful whenever she stayed in the apartment, cooking meals and even packing them for her to carry to her dorm. They watched old classic movies and took long walks together.

 They spent their birthdays and annual holidays together, flying off to exotic destinations like Jamaica, Hawaii and Brazil. Outwardly everything looked normal, but Nicole was perceptive enough to realise that something had changed since their visit to India. Randhir stubbornly refused to return home saying there was nothing over there for him. That would not seem unusual as the business was flourishing. However gradually he began devoting all his waking hours to work, leaving precious little for their relationship. 

She compensated by focusing on her portfolio and making new friends, spending more and more time with her girlfriends shopping and clubbing. She often wondered if Randhir had met somebody else and was two-timing her but there were no such signs, he was simply just engrossed in work, as her own father and brother vouched for. By the end of the third year they were seeing each other much lesser than they did earlier and Nicole asked herself if she was willing to spend the rest of her life with a man who was married to his job.

"Do you want to come to bed or not?" Randhir had almost forgotten the girl who had spent the last couple of hours in his apartment sleeping in his bed. He turned around to see her sitting up. She still had her tank top on. 

"I mean, whether we do it or not, I am still billing you, so if you want your money's worth, come and get it!" Just as she started to peel off her tank top Randhir stopped her.