chapter 16

MUMBAI, 10 YEARS AGO…     We were sent on an official trip to Bangalore to attend a client meeting. Kabir was not there in the initial team the boss had chosen for the Bangalore assignment. He was later included on my recommendation. He was both intelligent and zealous and I found him perfect to assist me with that particular assignment. We were seated in the conference hall and a young executive was presenting the details of the project.“I don’t think the figures are good,” I whispered my concern into Kabir’s ears as I was not completely satisfied with the deal.“It’s marvellous!” Kabir remarked.“What are you saying, Kabir?” I frowned.“Her’s is one of the best figures I have ever seen,” Kabir said with a nasty smile. I fell back in my chair in absolute dismay as I noticed that he was ogling the executive and hadn’t even seen the graph she was explaining. I noticed Kabir take off his wedding ring and slip it into the pocket of his blazer. He clapped ardently when the presentation was over.“What a brilliant presentation it was, Miss?” Kabir complimented her when everyone was preparing to leave.“Sarah D’Silva,” she said almost falling for his flattery, “thanks.”“Kabir,” he promptly added as he saw her packing her things, “may I drop you somewhere?”“No, thanks,” she sternly turned him down, “my company’s car is waiting outside.”“You can’t make her fall that easily,” one of Sarah’s colleagues warned Kabir after she had left.“Why?”“She has a broken heart,” he said. “Her fiancé dumped her and fled away with someone else.”“That’s good,” Kabir found an opportunity, “really very good.” *     * In the evening, we waited in the longue of the airport for our flight back to Mumbai. I sprung up as I heard the announcement that boarding had begun.“Come, Kabir,” I placed a hand on his shoulder, “it’s time to go.”Kabir got up and started walking in the opposite direction.“It’s this way, Kabir,” I beckoned him with a wave of hand.“I am going to Hyderabad.”The first question that came to mind was, ‘why’ but then I realized that the answer was quite obvious. He was going after Sarah who was headed to Hyderabad.“What shall I tell boss?” I called out.“I was having constipation and have ended up in a coma.” Kabir turned on his way to glare at me. *    * Kabir felt jubilant to have bribed his way out and made it to a seat next to Sarah in the flight.“Hi!” Kabir said as he surprised, or rather shocked, Sarah, who was absent-mindedly looking out of the window, “pleased to meet you again.”Sarah scanned him from head-to-toe with a skeptical frown as her mind screamed that this meeting was not coincidental but a planned one. She felt an urge to get him thrown out of the plane for pestering her. But then her business mind took over and advised her to deal with him tactically as the deal with his company was vital for her survival in her office.“Oh!” Sarah held her hand out to him. “Same here, Kabir.”During the first half of the journey, Kabir kept praising her enchanting beauty and supreme intellect. Sarah had no other option but to bear through even though he bored her to hell. As the plane passed through the clouds it jerked a little and the magazine placed on Sarah’s lap fell down.“I will get it for you,” Kabir bent down to pick it up.But just as he stooped a little, his wedding ring slipped out of his pocket and rolled over to Sarah. She picked it up and read the name engraved on it.“Sonia,” she raised her eyes from the ring to look at him, “who is Sonia, Kabir?”Kabir froze on his seat with a deadly pale face and horror-filled eyes. He felt like his game was up.  “Are you married?” Sarah almost screamed.It was only darkness Kabir could see in front of his eyes. But then a little light appeared against the dark screen and lit it up as Kabir found a perfect excuse that was going to sweep Sarah off her feet for sure.“She was the woman with whom I was once madly in love,” Kabir sobbed, “I wished to marry her and had this ring made. She made me a thousand promises of love, family and a future together. But when it came to fulfill them, she betrayed me and eloped with someone else. I can’t still forget her. I still hold this ring close to my heart. How stupid, I am, Sarah to still love the woman who back-stabbed me?” Kabir hid his face and burst out into tears.“Oh! Poor thing.” Sarah thought of her fiancé Joe who had deceived her in the same way and her heart melted for Kabir. “That’s okay, Kabir. One day you will find someone who is far better than the woman who ditched you.”This was the chance Kabir was eagerly waiting for.“I have found someone really special,” Kabir said looking straight into Sarah’s eyes. “Yes, Sarah, it’s you. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.”“Really, Kabir?”“Yes, Sarah!”By the time the captain made an announcement for the passengers to wear seat belts for their safety during the flight’s landing, Sarah and Kabir had safely landed within the belts of each other’s arms.  *      * Kabir came back to Mumbai a week after his Hyderabad adventure. We had coffee together that evening after office. He kept tapping his phone as his face glowed with a peculiar hue of ecstasy. I guessed that he was tossing amorous messages to his ‘new found’ love.“What the hell do you think you are doing, Kabir?” I finally said after waiting endlessly for his attention.“What?” He looked at me for a fraction of a second and then turned back to his phone.“You are a married man,” I warned, “don’t forget that.”“Oh, Sam!” He placed his phone back on the table and looked at me, offended. “Don’t you get bored of your routine life? I am just trying to do something creative and add a little taste to my bland life.”“Creative, huh?” I felt as much pity as contempt for him. “Then I have a better suggestion.”“What?”“Come,” I pulled him by his hand, “let me take you to the creative world.”