A Night to Remember...

Game of Blogs - Team Story6d: A Night to Remember...

Chapter 05: Dream Chaser | Posted By: Nithya Kalyani 

Click here to read the Fourth chapter of this story on my team member Sneh Chandel’s blog

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24 Carat Apartments, 10th floor penthouse, Bandra

Shekhar slumped on his bed and closed his eyes. His eyes were burning, his heart threatened to implode in his rib cage. Slowly, he lay down and stretched himself out. Was it all true? Could Tara actually have a condition like that?
  

Shekhar tightly shut his eyes. He tried to sleep. He had to sleep. Sleep eluded him. She was luring him but shied away when he attempted to slip into the state of bliss. Instead, he was forced to keep his eyes and mind open and go through the mental torture.

Maybe it was the alcohol, Shekhar mused. Maybe Cyrus had said something else, and Shekhar had misunderstood him. He turned to ease the strain in his bad leg. His eyes fell on the bedside photo frame with Roohi’s photo. The girl’s smile was electric and he ran a finger on the photo, tenderly. He tossed and turned for some more time. As the drowsiness increased, his mind became calmer and eventually, he slept off. Dreams followed.

“Taraaaa”

“Shekhar, don’t be afraid, now come on, hold my hand” Tara was giggling.

“Taaaraaa, I can’t see a thing.” Shekhar was petrified of dark spaces and Tara had brought Shekhar to a limestone cave during their trip to Dehradun. The cave was very dark, cold, and the floor was very slippery. Shekhar had an intense dislike for such spaces and Tara loved such places. Shekhar held onto Tara’s outstretched arm firmly and she guided him deftly over the slippery portions. When Shekhar’s eyes got adjusted to the dim sunlight, he looked around in awe. Tara was looking around, her hands on her hips, a beatific smile pasted on her lips. Shekhar stood there stunned, his bald head shining with perspiration. Tara giggled and led them out of the caves.  

A dream has a weird sense of freedom. It has the ability to get into spaces that our conscious thoughts would not go; rather we control our thoughts when we are awake so much that we tend to keep unwanted thoughts at bay. Shekhar’s mind returned to that day and he relived each and every moment when that dreadful accident happened. He felt the bone crunching and the pain shooting through every single nerve end. He blacked out in his dream. An arm came out to pull him out of the wreckage, his good leg tried to shake off the car debris that had him pinned down. A small voice in his head kept screaming, “Roohi! Tara!”

Shekhar’s bad leg did an involuntary twitch and he woke up with a start, sweating profusely. He looked around his bedroom. The other side was cold and the occupant has not yet returned. Shekhar slumped back into the warm pillows. In a tiny part of his brain, he had put a reminder to speak with Tara, whenever she returned.    

6 a.m. | Tara and Shekhar’s bedroom  

A soft swoosh and the heady perfume made Shekhar stir. The heady perfume reached his nostrils before the owner entered the room. Shekhar’s mind registered the entry of his wife into their bedroom.

7: 40 a.m.

Tara had made coffee for herself and Jennifer. While the women were sipping their coffees silently, each lost in her thoughts, the cook knocked, and asked Tara what they wanted for lunch. Tara checked with Jennifer if she wanted to carry something to eat. Jennifer refused.

After the cook left, Tara asked Jennifer, “when I came in, you were checking the photos you took last night. Can you show them to me? I remember you clicked many pictures.”

“For sure,” Jennifer said, beaming. They spent a few minutes looking at the pictures. Tara marvelled at Jennifer’s eye for detail. The girl surely had talent, Tara mused in her head, making notes for future reference.

Tara then suggested that Jennifer get dressed. They could leave early as they had an important meeting to attend, they could eat some sandwiches from the canteen. Jennifer nodded.

When Tara was about to get up, a high pitched male voice sang out her name. Jennifer jumped.

 “Tara” “Tara”

Tara visibly squirmed. Sighing, she took her mug, looked at Jennifer, and replied loudly, “Ya, coming.”

Jennifer got up and closed the door. She hated arguments. She had grown up in a dysfunctional family and knew the effect of bickering parents on kids. Her heart went out to Roohi. 

When Jennifer stepped out of the guest room, dressed in Tara’s black trousers and mauve silk shirt, she looked nothing like the Hans Zimmer fan that she was. She looked suave and chic.

The scream caught her off guard.

“Shekhar!”

When Jennifer stepped into the hall, she heard the couple arguing, loudly.

“Shekhar, are you out of your mind? What have you done? Why did you do that?”

  Shekhar’s muffled shout egged Jennifer to run towards the couple’s bedroom. The door was ajar and she stopped just outside the room. She could hear Tara’s high pitched voice berating Shekhar.

“Shekhar, what did you tell Cyrus? What is all this nonsense? You owe me an explanation, Shekhar, talk to me.”

“Tara, we need to talk. But before that, stop screaming. Do you understand?” Shekhar said in a calm voice.

“No, Shekhar, you just accused me of hurting our child, and am in no mood for that kind of nonsense. At least not today,” Tara said, her voice trailing off.

Shekhar miffed with Tara’s arguments, egged her on, “Oh, am I accusing you now? Really? I saw a video where you were giving our child something, and what is so special about today? Tell me, what is so special? Why can’t I confront you? Answer me Tara!”

“Shekhar, shut up. We have a guest.” Tara said, her voice soft, but Jennifer caught each word.

“What? Who?”

“A colleague.”

“Oh, are you out of your fucking mind, Tara? You didn’t even bother to inform me earlier? Oh, did you want to show off your pitiful state to your colleagues? Oh, see, how poor Tara takes crap from her useless husband. Is that it, Tara? Tell me, is that what you wanted?” Shekhar hissed, bringing his mouth close to Tara’s ear.

“No, we got late, so I asked Jennifer to stay back.”

“Is it, I think you came back only this morning, am I right, my dear? Am sure, you would have told your colleague to record our fights so that you have proof of my torture. Isn’t it, my dearest wife?” Shekhar asked, his voice dripping venom.

Tara felt disgusted.

Only a few hours back, she had fondly reminisced about their love-filled days with Jennifer. Her eyes brimmed over and she rushed out of the room, her heart exploding with hurt, guilt, and anger.   

Shekhar banged the bedroom door behind her. The thud made her jump, but she walked on, out through the hall, out through the main door, through the lobby. She kept walking, tears streaming down her face. Instead of taking the elevator, she ran down the steps. She kept going till her tears stopped. She was on the fifth floor. Her heart felt heavy. She felt dejected and depressed. All the hurt and anger came gushing out.       

Tara sat down on the stairs. The sound of the lift doors opening made her alert. She wiped her tears and looked up to find Jennifer looking down at her, with concern. She had a bottle of water with her.

Tara looked at Jennifer’s concerned face and burst into fresh tears.   

Jennifer silently handed over the bottle of water and sat down next to Tara. Tara whimpered for some more time. Jennifer handed her a set of tissues. When Tara calmed down a bit, Jennifer said, “you may want to reapply your makeup.”

The inane comment caught Tara by surprise and she giggled. Jennifer winked and stood up. She held a hand to help Tara up.

Tara got up, brushed her trousers and smiled gratefully at Jennifer. “Thanks.”

“You are welcome, Boss!” Jennifer said, giving a mock salute. Tara giggled.

08:15 a.m.

When the women returned home, the cook informed Tara that Shekhar had gone out. Tara shrugged, went to reapply her makeup, and fetch her bag.    

The women took a cab to the office. In the 40-minute ride, neither woman mentioned the morning’s incident. Tara kept talking of Roohi and her school play. Jennifer looked at Tara fondly and realized that she had grown to admire her Boss more. Behind that tough exterior was a gentle, loving woman, who so much wanted to be loved and desired by the one man she adored, her husband. Jennifer sighed and looked out of the window. A few minutes and they would reach the office. She forced herself to think about their client meeting. She had worked on the storyboards, she would take a final look and they would be good to go. The cab came to a screeching halt. Tara insisted and paid the fare. Jennifer thanked her profusely for everything. Tara smiled, hugged the younger woman lightly, and said, “Thanks for being there. It meant a lot.” Jennifer’s heart felt heavy. They said bye and went to their desks.   

Tara’s room

The meeting with the client was at 09:30. She had exactly 30 minutes to do a dry run of the presentation and rehearse her speech. Tara was a stickler to details and never left anything to chance. Her meticulous nature had won her applauses. Carefully, she packed all the designs and made her way to the conference room. The client was expected to arrive at 09:30 a.m.

She wanted to ensure there were no last minute glitches. Her mind was in turmoil; it was unlike her. But the morning had not started off well. Also, she had not slept at all.

09:45 a.m. | The meeting

The meeting room was full. All eyes were on the suave slim woman passionately explaining their latest pitch. The client nodded and smiled. A smile always meant approval. Jennifer had walked in late and was sitting near the door. Tara was now showing the designs to the client, who seemed pleased with the team’s efforts.

After suggesting a few changes and asking a couple of questions, the client left. Tara heaved a sigh of relief and hi-fived her team members sitting next to her.

Jennifer came around to congratulate Tara. She had a newer perspective of her tough Boss. She was more in awe than ever. Tara smiled warmly and thanked her.  

The meeting had gone off well.

The morning went off in a couple of internal meetings. Shekhar’s thoughts cropped up in Tara’s mind once or twice but she pushed them back. She had work. Later, she decided.

Immersed in a design, Tara jumped when the alarm on her phone went off. It was time for her pre-lunch vitamins. She looked for her pill box in her desk drawers and popped one into her mouth and washed it down with water.

She got up and decided to get some food. She had not eaten at all since last evening. She pinged Jennifer, but the latter was away. Sighing, Tara decided to go to the canteen to get some food.           

The story continues here. The sixth chapter of this story is written by my team member Natasha Jain.

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”