Changing Shades 9

Anjali looked up, her expression mirroring her shock.

“Mansi! What happened?”

“I've had it,” said Mansi, stuffing her drawings and plans into her briefcase with trembling hands. “I can't work here any more. He wanted to break me, well, he finally has. I'm going to my hostel. If he asks for me, tell him he'll have my resignation in the morning.”

“Mansi, you can't do that! What will you do? The bills…”

“Damn the bills!” said Mansi explosively. “As you said, they're not my concern anyway. I'll starve if I have to, but I cannot work with him anymore. Let him find another slave to work all the god-awful hours he expects and put up with the abuse also. I refuse to keep apologizing for what happened four years ago. I've paid for it enough, I don't have to pay any more, and not to him!”

She laid her briefcase on the table, her hands still shaking. In her mind, she heard her voice … ‘Manish knew everything,’ … she saw again the look on her husband’s face as he faced her on their wedding night with his knowledge of her love … and his contorted, twisted sense of triumph … when her personal journey into hell had started.

Anjali was aghast. She had never seen Mansi in this state. She came up to the other girl and put her arms around her.
“Mansi, what happened? What did he say? Mansi, calm down, for god's sake. You can't go home like this!”

“I'm going,” Mansi said, more calmly. She looked at Anjali in something akin to despair, her voice husky with unshed tears as she spoke.

“You see, Angel, the problem is that he doesn't know I would have given my right arm to be free to love him all those years ago. And I still would. But I’m not free – my life’s not my own – and it never has been. Anyway, forget it. He is not going to forgive me, and I can't make him understand. He doesn't want to understand. So the best thing is that I don't work here anymore. He's won. He wanted to break me, to drive me out of here – well, he has. Tell him I'll send the plans with the revisions in the morning, with my resignation.”

She picked up her bag, and made to move to the door. Anjali watched her helplessly.

Just then, the phone rang, startling them both.

“Who could it be, at this time of evening?” muttered Anjali, as she rushed to get it.

“Maybe the boss, saying he's had a heart attack?” asked Mansi half-jokingly, then she continued … “oh, can’t be – he doesn’t have a heart.” They both smiled wanly. Anjali picked up the phone.

“Suri Constructions, good evening. Can I help you?” she said, schooling her face into a solemn expression, then her face changed. “Just a moment , please.”

She held out the phone to Mansi, her face serious.

“It's for you. Some guy. Says he's calling from Kathmandu.”

Mansi looked at her, her own face changing, and the color draining from it. She came hesitantly forward, and her hand shook just a little as she took the phone.

“Hello?”

She listened for a while. “Yes, I am Mansi Dewan, that's right. Yes, I am an architect. What?”

Her face still pale, Mansi listened to the caller for another minute, then her voice very low, she answered again.

“Yes, that is correct. I am. Who are you?”

She listened again, and Anjali watched, getting more and more concerned. Mansi looked as though she was talking to a ghost. Her voice almost threadlike, she spoke again.

“I'll be there as soon as I can. Can you give me a contact number or an address? I'll call you as soon as I reach, or as soon as I get organized.”

She took a pen and wrote something on the pad next to her. Then she spoke again.

“Right, I'll get my ticket done and try to be there tomorrow morning at the latest. I will call you when I get there. Thank you.”

She made to put down the phone, then quickly spoke again.

“Just a minute. What is your name, and does he know you are calling me?”

She listened again, then put the phone down with a brief word. She turned to Anjali.

“Anjali, you'll have to cover my back from Aditya. Maybe for a day or two, I don't know how long. Can you do it?”

“Of course,” said Anjali, instantly. “You don't have to ask.”

Mansi nodded, and picked up the phone again, calling their travel agency. She quickly booked a single ticket to Kathmandu, and putting down the phone, looked at her watch.

“I don't have much time,” she muttered. “I'd better leave right away.”

Anjali looked at her.

“What's this all about?” she asked directly. “Or would you rather not say anything?”

Mansi smiled, but there was strain in her smile. She said one word.

“Manish.”

“He's there? In Kathmandu?”

Mansi nodded. “Seems to be. How they traced me, I don't know. I'll find out soon enough. Anjali, if Aditya comes comes, please make some excuse for me. I may need a couple of days, there seems to be some major problem.”

“Are you going to tell your in-laws?” Anjali asked. Mansi shook her head.

‘No, I don't know if this is a wild goose chase. I'll go to the nursing home, break my fast, and then go home. The flight is early morning. I don't want to raise their hopes, if there is a mistake. Let me find out first. I'll come back and tell them.’

“And Aditya?” Anjali asked quietly. Mansi looked at her helplessly, then she did something she had never done before. She came into Anjali's arms, rested her head on the other girl's shoulder, closed her eyes and held her tight.

“I need him,” she whispered, so softly, that Anjali barely heard her. “Oh, God, how I need my Adi …”

Neither of them noticed Aditya standing just outside the room, in the corridor, watching them, nor did they notice as he stepped quietly and noiselessly back.

Anjali hugged her back, her throat aching with unshed tears.

“Go,” she said, her voice suspiciously husky. “I'll handle Aditya.”

Mansi nodded and stepped back.

“What will you tell him?” she asked, as she got her things together rapidly. Anjali looked at her a little wickedly, wanting to lighten her mood.

‘I'll tell him you're pregnant and having morning sickness,’ she said happily, and Mansi looked at her for a horrified moment, and a smile grew on her face.

“You'll do it, too, if I know you,” she grinned, “but please, I think I need to live a little longer. Could you possibly think of another excuse that won't endanger my life?”

Anjali laughed. “I'll try,” she promised. “Now, off with you.”

Mansi nodded and disappeared. Anjali sat down with a sigh, frowning, as she tried to think of what to say to Aditya.

She needn't have bothered. He walked in a couple of minutes later, whistling, as though without a care in the world, greeted her and went straight into his office. After a little while he came out, and came to Mansi's desk, casually picked up her pad, on which she had written the Kathmandu address, and tore off the paper, while Anjali watched, horrified, completely unable to say a word.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asked, casually. “What's happening around here?”

“N…nothing much,” she managed to say, watching as he glanced at the piece of paper, before crumpling it in his hand, then she breathed more easily, as he wrote something on the fresh page of the pad.

“Can you contact these people for me?” he said, handing her the paper. “I have an appointment with them tomorrow afternoon. Reschedule it for next week, will you?”

She nodded, thankfully, and waited for him to ask about Mansi. But he didn't, and she didn't notice, as she looked at the paper he had handed her, that he had put the crumpled one in his pocket. He went back into his office, and she was left wondering at his uncharacteristic behaviour.

She wasn't left to wonder long. In about half an hour, he came out of his office, closing the door. Anjali looked at him in surprise.

“You're off, Aditya?”

“Yes, I am. Cancel all my other appointments, as well, will you, Anjali? For the week.”

“Week?” she stuttered, in complete shock. “Wh…wh…where are you going?”

He leaned over her desk casually.

“Kathmandu, of course. Where else?”

Leaving her completely and absolutely stupefied, and for once, totally bereft of words, he disappeared.