2.

Eliza stayed on longer than usual at the restaurant. She didn’t want to be alone. Being alone meant that she’d have time to think of him. She had thought that she was over him, over the effect he had on her when he was around. One touch was all it took and she was back to being a sucker for his practiced charm. The restaurant was closed for the night and she had no option but to head home. She got into her car, a brand new Black Honda Civic and drove back. She had only recently gifted herself this car. It was on her best friend, Sheena’s insistence that she had bought the car, a self-assurance booster after the disastrous damage that her self-confidence had borne following that fateful night with Charley . Resignedly, she entered her house, a comfortable apartment that she and her sister, Jiya, had inherited after their grandmother’s death. But Jiya was away in New York, studying, and Eliza was on her own. She missed her sister. But more than anything else she missed her best friends, Sheena and Keya. They were her pillars of support, her advisors, her critics, her everything. It had never mattered that Sheena came from a very affluent family or that Keya was an orphan or that Eliza was from a middle class background because what they had together was beyond special. They were her dearest friends and she was theirs. She dropped her keys on her nightstand and dropped down on her bed. Tonight of all nights she really needed them. It used to be so different back when both Sheena and Keya had been unmarried. She could pick up the phone and call either of them or just drop by their houses whenever she felt like it. Now, with them busy in their married lives, neither was right to do, so late at night. Facing Charley rs tonight had been so difficult for her. Sighing, she lay down on the bed. No matter how hard she had tried to erase their night together from her memory, she couldn’t. She had experienced heaven with him that night and then he had just left. That one night was the biggest mistake of her life. Charley rs! She said the name out aloud to herself. The Golden Boy of the Indian Real Estate and Hotel industry, Director, rs Corporation, Managing Director of the rs Real Estate & Hotels group. His work titles were impressive. His residential projects were some of the most exclusive and sought after in the country. He had bought and turned around some of the oldest hotels in India into massive money making ventures. Where he went, success followed. Like King Midas, what he touched, did turn to gold. Well, some part of his success had to be attributed to his family. He was after all Janak’s grandson. He had been genetically gifted with the finest business acumen and had learnt from the best. Janak rs was one of the most successful businessmen in the country today and he had ensured that his grandsons had attended the best schools first in the country and then in England. Only last year, with retirement on his mind, had he distributed the reins of his huge business to his grandsons, the hotels and real estate to Charley , the automobiles to Charley ’s younger brother, Rishi and the telecom and software to Kabier, his eldest grandson and now the head of the rs business empire. Janak himself handled only the media business now. Janak’s own son, Jai rs, Charley ’s father, headed the legal side of their business. But more than anything else, Janak rs was the dearest old man in the whole world. She loved him like her own grandfather and he loved her in return. She was one of his angels. She, Sheena and Keya − he called them ‘Janak’s angels’. They were as close to him as they were to each other. He had been there for her as long as she could remember. She was thirteen when her parents had died in a fatal car accident. Her grandmother was trying to run the restaurant they owned after her son and daughter-in-law had passed away. She had enrolled her and Jiya, her younger sister, in a prestigious boarding school in Dehradun. Eliza had met Keya and Sheena in the school and they had become best friends over a period of time. Through Sheena, she had met Janak and he had made a place for himself in her life and in her heart, always being there for her, listening to her, helping her. He was her friend and her mentor. She went to him for advice, almost always. The only instance she hadn’t gone to him was when she had the fiasco with Charley . She couldn’t bring herself to confide with him on that matter. She shut her eyes and recalled the first time she had met Charley . It was six months back, but she could recollect the incident as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. She had gone to fetch Sheena from her house. Sheena was getting late and instead of waiting up with her, Eliza had decided to get the car started and ready to leave as soon as Sheena showed up. She was reversing her car from Sheena’s driveway when a monstrous four-wheel drive had zipped right behind her, causing her to brake suddenly. Her heart beating and head buzzing from narrowly missing an accident, she had got out of the car to see who was driving so rashly. She had seen him and called out to him. He had left his car in the driveway and was walking coolly towards the house, completely unaware of what he had done. “Hey, I am talking to you,” she had yelled. He had turned around and then stood where he was, silently staring at her. “Who the hell do you think you are? You almost cost me my back fender, not to mention the fact that I could have been badly injured,” she had screamed at him. “Well, you could use more common sense while reversing,” he had replied back, calmly folding his arms together. His response had infuriated her. Instead of regretting his own hasty and careless entrance, he was blaming her. “Hey, you were the one driving too damn fast, that too in a private driveway. I could have been seriously crushed under that monster you have there.” She had refused to back down. He had raised an eyebrow. “But nothing happened, so what is the fuss all about then?” he had asked, shrugging his shoulders. “That is such an irresponsible thing to say.” “Lady, what is your problem? I can drive on this driveway blindfolded if I had to. I know it like the back of my hand. You were never in any danger.” “I could definitely question your driving skills. In any case, this conversation is leading nowhere. So, I’d rather not waste my breath on you any longer.” Eliza had seen him staring at her, his eyes flashing, clearly outraged by her last statement. What did she care anyway? She didn’t even know who he was. She had started to turn around, when she heard Sheena’s voice. “Charley , Hi,” Sheena had said excitedly. “It’s so good to see you again. I’m so glad that you’re back and for good.” Sheena had given him a tight hug and said, “Kabier is waiting inside for you.” Eliza hadn’t recognized him. This was Charley rs, Sheena’s cousin. She had never met him before, though she had seen pictures of him and heard a lot about him through Sheena. He had recently returned from London to take over the family real estate and hotel business. He had been operating primarily out of London, establishing a strong foothold in the European markets, but in the last few years he had slowly started taking over the Indian side of the business also. Sheena had mentioned that he had returned to set up his base in India permanently now. Sheena had held onto his arm and spoke again, “Charley , you met Keya last night. Well, this is my other best friend, Eliza.” Looking at Eliza, she had continued, “And Eliza, this is my cousin, Charley .” Eliza remembered how she had looked at him again. She had been so angry earlier that she hadn’t given his appearance a second glance. He was tall, really tall and she had to admit, Sheena’s cousin was extremely good looking and his clothes, though casual, screamed exclusive designer chic. She had looked back into his eyes again and realized he was smiling at her open appraisal of him. “Hi,” she had greeted him coolly. “Hello, Eliza! I guess an apology is due to you.” She had frowned at him and Sheena had also looked up at him questioningly. He had turned to Sheena, “I almost crashed into Eliza’s car as she was reversing.” Eliza had been quite surprised by the apology, but hadn’t made much out of it then. She had left with Sheena almost immediately and hadn’t thought of him again. Eliza turned to her side and thought how all those months ago their lives had suddenly become so entangled. She had met him at a club a few weeks after their first meeting. She was out partying with Keya and some of their close friends, Rithwik and Aditya, when she had stepped out off the dance floor and felt someone watching her. She had turned around and found herself looking straight into Charley ’s eyes. He was with Sheena’s elder brother, Kabier. He had waved at her and she’d responded back. She had gone with Keya to meet them. Kabier, like Charley , had also only recently returned to the country and had taken over the telecommunications and software arm of the rs business and was Keya’s boss, then. They had spoken very briefly to the two men. And for the rest of the night, every time she looked at him, she’d found Charley watching her. It had made her slightly uncomfortable, but, well, she had to admit she couldn’t get her eyes off him either. He was divine to look at and so attractive. But why of all the beautiful women she had heard he dated, would he be even mildly interested in her? Probably curiosity, she had concluded and brushed it all off. Back in those days she had never made anything of the first few meetings with him. They were as casual as she supposed they ought to be. He was Sheena’s cousin and she was Sheena’s best friend. That was the only connection she had with him. It was the third time that they had met, that changed the equation between them. They were on board Rajiv’s yacht, a few weeks before Sheena and Rajiv got married. It was a weekend party and though Charley had come with a date, he hadn’t paid much attention to her. He had been more attentive to Eliza the whole time, talking to her, dancing with her. And she had enjoyed the attention, and she’d liked being with him. He was funny, smart and oh, so charming! It was late in the night when they all started playing a game that was the Tequila version of ‘Spin the Bottle’, you either drank a shot of Tequila or dared to accept a challenge. The rules were simple yet naughty. If you chose to drink, you had to rub salt on a part of your challenger’s body and lick the salt from that very spot, before downing the tequila. Towards the end of the game, she was paired with Charley and he had chosen to drink a shot. He had stood observing her silently from top to toe and she had felt herself go warm everywhere. He had taken a turn around her and then another one and stopped right behind her. Then before she knew it, he had moved her hair to one side and rubbed salt on the side of her neck, just above her bare shoulder. Stunned, she had turned sideways in his direction to tell him, “No!” And he had said, “The rules state that I choose which part of your body I get to lick the salt from and I choose this.” And then he had bent his head and sucked the salt off her neck. Eliza still remembered the volatile impact of his lips and tongue on her neck. She still recalled, how he had continued to suck on her neck, a few seconds longer than needed. She had shuddered and she knew he had felt it. He knew because he had lifted his head, given her a mischievous wink and then gulped down his shot. That was the very first time she had felt her heart beat at double the pace. That was when she realized that she was crazily attracted to him. That was the first night she had dreamt of him. The next morning, she had been standing on the deck of the yacht, near the railing, observing the sea waves splashing gently, when Charley had approached her and made his intentions clear. He had acknowledged that he was attracted to her and had arrogantly told her that he was going to have her in his arms and his bed, very soon. She had brushed his declaration away and had continued to stay away from him as much as she could. She had no desire to sleep with him and be one of his many conquests. She did not do casual relationships, especially because she was no expert on men. She had only ever exchanged a few not so memorable kisses with some of her very few boyfriends and she was sure, in fact, certain, that if she did let Charley in her life, it would be volatile. He would sweep her away and she would lose herself and her heart in the process. But, fate was such that she crossed paths with him more often than she wanted to. First, Sheena got married in Goa and then Keya married Sheena’s elder brother, Kabier in a whirlwind marriage. All throughout, Charley had pursued her with a single-minded determination. He was always near her, never straying far. At times he would whisper something in her ear when she least expected him to be near or touch her arm or caress her cheek or neck, whenever he could. And on other times he’d just have a normal conversation with her, talking about mundane things. He was breaking all the walls she had built around herself and despite knowing his intentions towards her, she had started accepting him in her life. He had slowly and steadily softened her heart and there was nothing that she could have done to prevent it. On the contrary, she had enjoyed his attention. Finally, on the night of Keya and Kabier’s reception, she had given in to him. On looking back at that encounter with him, which she had done so many times in the last few months, she always cursed herself for being so vulnerable and having allowed him to seduce her. She had been especially low that night as both her best friends were married and had their own lives. And though she was genuinely happy for Keya and Sheena, she wasn’t sure that she herself could ever be as lucky as them. She had been lost in her own mind, thinking all those depressing thoughts when Charley had come and whisked her off, first to dance with him and then later to his bed. That moment just before she had kissed him, she had looked into his face and thought that perhaps she could also find her own happiness, like her friends, with him. The past months that she had spent with him had crossed her mind in a flash and she had realized that she had fallen for him. And so her heart glowing with happiness, she had taken his hand and let him take her to that hotel room. But, her happiness was not long lived. What had been a magical night for her had been nothing but a one-night stand for him. She had woken up and had been horrified to find herself all alone in a hotel room with Charley nowhere in sight. Naively, she had waited for him, thinking he would return soon until she’d finally accepted that he had walked out on her without a word. In the end, she had left the hotel disillusioned and hurt. Still, some part of her had hoped that he would call her. But he never did. She was not a fool; she had understood the situation for what it was. She had become just another one of Charley rs’s conquests. He had destroyed her self-esteem thoroughly and surely. So, keeping her own pride intact, she had never called him and had astutely avoided any public occasion where he would be present. Try as hard as she could, Eliza couldn’t help remembering the despair and the complete lack of self-confidence she had felt at his rejection, She had given into him that night believing with all her heart that he liked her and cared about her and that they could actually build a relationship together. But, of course, he hadn’t felt the same. Had she truly meant nothing to him? Had the night not been as magical for him as it had been for her? Had she dreamt the way he had made her feel? Was it her inexperience that had put him off? Why had he not called? Why had he so thoroughly rejected her? She had so many questions and no answers. She blamed herself for letting him seduce her. She had wanted him as much as he had wanted her that night and she hated herself as much as she hated him for that night. It had all been a game to him, a game to seduce her and she had fallen victim to his carefully planned seduction. She had asked him to stay the night with her because she was finally ready to let him into her life. She had finally accepted what she felt for him. She had assumed that he was also ready to take their relationship to the next level and see where it went from there. And mainly, she had asked him to stay because she did not want to feel inconsequential, like she was just another one-night stand. But, he had done exactly that. He had used her and left her and she had never felt more humiliated in her life than she had that morning when she had woken up alone. In the days following that fateful night, Eliza was heartbroken. She had not slept at all, eaten even less, hardly answered any calls, and barely lived, until the day when Sheena had come home to check on her, worried that something was wrong with her. One look at her and Sheena had hugged her tight and Eliza had poured her heart out to her. Sheena had wanted to confront her cousin, but on Eliza’s insistence, hadn’t. And since Keya had been away on her honeymoon, they had decided to keep this incident only to themselves. Slowly, Eliza had come around to being herself again. She had let Charley rs make a mess of her life, but she had come out of it stronger. She was never going to let him get close to her ever again. He was dangerous and judging by the way she still responded to his touch, she had to stay away from him at all costs.

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