High School Romance Revisited

Chapter 21 - The Talk **

My head was throbbing as I opened my eyes slowly trying to adjust in the unfamiliar surrounding. Soft breeze was coming from the balcony and the open windows along with the sound of the crickets. Actually that was the only sound I could hear.

Removing the blanket I got down from the bed. Where am I? The last thing I remember was meeting with Mahen. He had put a handkerchief on my face. "What was that?"

"Choloroform," I turned hearing Mahen's voice. Leaning on the doorframe he was staring at me with a very relaxed look.

I blinked trying to understand the situation, "what choloroform?"

He sighed and came inside the room, "Deepa I drugged you to bring you here."

I frowned and as the words sank my blood boiled! "What!"

"Well, I didn't have any choice," he shrugged. I could feel the anger building inside me, any moment I head might burst out! "You, you filthy crazy as*****," I strode towards him with all the intention of throwing some hard punches and change the geography of that deceptive face but he caught my hands and pulled me towards him.

"For once calm down," he shouted.

"How dare you?" I screamed.

"Deepa listen to me," He twisted my hands bringing them behind my back. His eyes were red with fury and my anger was rising with each moment. I struggled to get out from his grip but his tight hold had pinned me to the spot. 

"You always do this! You always say what you want to say and then leave, without even bothering that I might have questions too," he retorted.

"Really? You have questions? Then why the hell you didn't ask them when I was dying to answer? Where were you and where were your questions when I was suffering? Why didn't you ask me before when I needed to tell everything?"

"He is my father Deepa, I was a school kid back then who couldn't think beyond what he saw. But still I tried to ask several times."

"No you didn't!" I shouted, "you never did. You accused me and then left with Nupur."

"Then why didn't you stop me?" he screamed.

I was startled. Suddenly my body was not responding. My mind had shut down.

"Tell me Deepa, why didn't you stop me?" he asked again. He sat me down on the bed and kneeled down in front of me. "For ten years I have been waiting to know that if I drifted apart why didn't you stop me? What went wrong between us?"

Few strands of my hair had come loose from the bun and fell around my face. 

He was right. I never tried to stop him. He left and I let him go.

"Your father and my father went through a very difficult time. But why did you let that affect us? I understand we supported our parents but why didn't you asked me for explanation and when I asked you why you stole those confidential data from my desk and gave to your father then why didn't you tell me? Why did you just accepted that you did and never spoke about the matter again? Why Deepa?" he kept on asking and when I didn't answer he shook me, "Answer me Deepa. Why did you do it?"

I gulped. How do I tell him that whatever happened between us was created by his own mother? Mahen's father Mr. Biren Ganguly was accused of forging papers and bribing government officials for acquiring a vast property. Shekhar had put those document proves inside my project file so that it would reach my father.

Tugging the strands of my hair behind my ear Mahen caressed my cheek with his thumb. Then he got up and was about to leave when I caught his hand. I slowly got up, "That's not true, I didn't accepted I did it, I had said I didn't know those documents were inside my project file. Somebody had put them there."