To Love or Not To Love

Chapter 54

"Arnav, you're such a loser." Words spoken years ago still echoed in his ears. A slap on his face. A reality check. At 21, he'd learnt women didn't like being denied, anything.

11 years ago

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Rashi Keswani was a bright student. The only child of India's wealthiest oil baron, she had everything she wished for. And even though she was polite and personable, there was a certain air of superiority about her. She never accepted no for an answer and she never felt the need to justify her actions.

Rashi and Arnav crossed paths during the MBA program at Harvard. On a fated day the two were grouped together to work on a project. What started as classwork soon turned extra-curricular. Arnav was smart and handsome and Rashi was smitten with his looks. She tried her best to draw his attention to her assets. It all started with wearing clothes with extremely low necklines, then the accidental brushing of her hands against his body, the fluttering of her lashes, the accidental dropping of the books - the damsel in distress act. What started as a fling soon turned into something more serious. At least for Arnav. For two weeks they sought each other out, secretly making out, canceling their group engagements, missing lectures to spend time with each other. Then one night, the feverish make-out session crossed all boundaries and the two ended up making love. After his parents' death, Arnav had finally begun to smile.

But the happiness was extremely shortlived. It was Valentine's Day. Arnav wanted to do something special for Rashi. Armed with a box of chocolates and a teddy bear that said I Love You, he made his way to Rashi's dorm. He knew she wasn't expecting him. It was meant to be a surprise. When he opened the door to her room, he found Rashi half-naked straddling the quarterback of their college baseball team, moaning her pleasure.

He stood there stunned for a few minutes, till the other two noticed his presence. The interruption was not well received. Embarrassment gave way to anger. Rashi pulled the teddy-bear out of his hand, stomped on it, called him a loser and threw him out of her dorm.

*****

It had been a little over two hours since the Khushi and he had made their way back to the hotel. A caretaker, responsible for cleaning the Sforza Castle had let them out in the wee hours of the morning. When they returned, no one inquired about their whereabouts. Clearly no one had missed them.

Arnav had showered and changed, fully intending to catch a few hours of sleep before a meeting with the investors in the evening. He tossed and turned on his bed for half an hour and then was back at his laptop, browsing through emails. Images of his night at the Chapel with Khushi flashed through his mind. Voices screaming "ASR I love you", "Oh! Baby, let's get married", "ASR, take me home", "ASR we make a great couple" dominated those images. They were making it difficult for him to work. Another 15 minutes, a room service order for toast and orange juice; four cups of black coffee later, he walked up to the large glass window in his room that overlooked the courtyard.

Anjali and Shyam were sitting down there, drinking their morning tea. The two looked so happy. It seemed Anjali was growing younger by the day. She had a naughty glint in her eye. Something Shyam said made Anjali throw her head back and laugh. She then got up from her chair, walked up to her husband and placed a kiss on his cheek. When she turned to go away, Shyam tugged at her hand and Anjali landed on his lap. He kissed her back, a peck on her lips and tucked a wayward curl away. He then placed his hand on her growing stomach and said something that made Anjali throw her arms around him.

The voices in his head grew more aggressive. Had he missed his chance at happiness? He'd had so many women walk in and out of his life. Maybe one of them could have been his happily ever after. After Rashi, he'd become so cynical, he hardly gave any of those women a chance at his heart. He'd judged them, sometimes prematurely. He remembered his first casual fling after Rashi. He wasn't in love with the girl. She was too immature for him. The second, a control freak. The third, too traditional for his liking. The fourth, too ambitious. The fifth, manipulative. Then he'd stopped counting.