Little girl's wild side

Chapter 24

After about one hour, Sindhu finally actually woke up and went to freshen up. Gautham went in search of John and finally found him in what looked like a study room.

He knocked on the huge door before entering.

The room was brightly lit. Both sides of the room were covered with shelves and they were all filled to the brim with books.

But the wall straight opposite to the door was fully empty except for a huge piece of a painting of the mansion with a sunset on the background. The mansion was actually small compared to the background sky. And from the looks of it, it was probably painted by Sindhu. It was not a realistic painting. It was slightly abstracted. And like the ones in her apartment, the whole painting was done with reddish-yellow shades and blacks peeping here and there.

"That's Sindhu's handiwork isn't it???" Gautham asked out loud. But the question was actually rhetoric.

John looked up then followed Gautham's line of sight to the painting hanging back of him. He would go into trance every time he saw the painting even now. It had an allure that transfixed the watcher. This mansion never looked that good outside of this painting for him. But this painting always seemed like its bleeding. Sindhu's paintings always gave out a dark and volatile feeling. Not once had he seen her use positive colors like green or blue.

"WOW", Gautham said seeing it up close. John came out of his trance when he heard Gautham beside him. Up close, the painting was at least 50 inches in length and more when it came to height.

"Breathtaking, right??," John asked and the sense of pride cannot be missed in his voice.

"It sure takes your breath away," Gautham replied to himself under his breath.

After a while, Gautham noticed the signature at the bottom. It read, Ms. Annonymous in a cursive font.

"Ms. Annonymous???" Gautham asked confused.

"That's how she signs it. It's a pen-name of sorts I guess." John replied.

"Oh," Gautham replied. Gautham is what you call an artistic- handicap. So he was completely oblivious to that world.

"You do not know anything about the art world do you??" John asked. He tried so hard to not be sarcastic but failed miserably.

"How did you guess??" Gautham asked confused.

"Just a guess," John replied nonchalantly. He wanted to give Sindhu the chance to reveal it to him. He could almost imagine the shell shocked expression Gautham will have when she tells him how she is the best-selling artist within the country.

When John first floated the idea of selling her pieces, Sindhu was adamant not to reveal her identity. But later on, the same had actually paved a great way to build her brand. The mystery surrounding the identity ignited the curiosity and in turn, made her so much more famous in the art world. More than John had initially anticipated. More than if she had actually revealed her identity.

And John knew that she would never reveal her identity to the world. Sindhu hated being the center of attention more than anything. She wanted her paintings to speak for themselves without a backstory attached to it. And she will never be able to share her privacy.

So she was that one artist who was actually rich and famous without a face.

"Anyways why did you come looking for me??" John asked Gautham.

"I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about Sindhu. I will take care of her. I mean I know you love her like a daughter. And I can see that it's mutual. Or else she wouldn't have brought me here." Gautham paused.

John had a pleasant smile on his face but he did not say anything seeing as Gautham was not done.

"I know you wanted to assess me for yourself that is why you were so stubborn about bringing me here. I don't know if I passed in your assessment. But I wanted to let you know that I care a great deal about Sindhu. And I will do my best to take care of her." Gautham finished but felt slightly nervous under John's piercing gaze.

John chuckled slightly at Gautham's nervous fidgeting.

"Relax Gautham. I have lived long enough to know when a person is being honest. I know you care a great deal about Sindhu. I know you will take care of her the best you can. But that gal can take care of herself." John said with a prideful expression.

"Yea. I know... Sometimes I feel so useless around her that it's not even funny anymore." Gautham said with a long face, gloominess emitting from every inch of his body.

John just stared at Gautham for a while. He saw the helplessness. Just like how he used to feel. He was this big shot tycoon but he couldn't make her smile. He gestured Gautham to come near to the table. Then he showed him a picture of Sindhu.

Gautham barely recognized her. She wore a crop top and black leather jacket with jean shorts that were rather too short. Her hair was short and dyed bright red. She had a cigar clutched between her teeth. She was leaning against a sports bike. But what was staggering was her face. It was expressionless. It was completely devoid of any emotion. Gautham recognized that face. It was the same face he saw when she first rode his bike.

"That's her even before drinking became a problem. The only time she was ever excited was when she was doing something insane. She was what you call an adrenaline junkie. She was as wild a person can ever be. Nothing I ever did stopped her from getting on that bike. I am not talking about riding fast here. She did all sorts of stunts and crazy shits behind those wheels. And don't even start on the people she used to hang out with. But that was the only time she would actually smile."

"It was almost like she is daring the universe to take her down. It was as if she felt alive only at that moment when she was that close to death. Drinking just made her forget that. So in a way it was a blessing in disguise actually. If not for the bottles she would have ended up in a body bag long before that."

"But after that accident, she restrained herself from everything with great effort. Even though she chased death for so long when she was actually there... it scared her. Not for herself but for her parents. So for their sake, she practiced that smile in front of the mirror for 6 months straight before she perfected it. She thought she was fooling everyone around. But anyone who knew could see how suffocated and empty she was."

"But the Sindhu I met this weekend was not that empty shell. She is crawling out of it. She might not be fully there yet but she is trying her best. And the reason she is trying is you." John said.

"But I did not do anything," Gautham said with a complicated frown.

"You accepted her just the way she was. You might not know the whole story but you knew enough but still accepted her. You know the cultural stigmas surrounding a girl. Especially that of a middle-class girl. The way she dressed, the way she partied... her actions are often seen as that of a characterless woman. That is why she hid everything from her parents the best she could all her life. And that is suffocating. And she is scared of herself. She is scared she would go wild again. And in all honesty, I can't really promise she won't. But she is trying. That accident was like a wake-up call for her. She finally realized how irrational and toxic her habits were. But the fact that you were not repulsed or terrified by her, that's what's going to push her to get over it." John completed.

Just then they heard Sindhu shouting their names from the living room.