Broken Promises Pt. 01

She couldn't punch Aryan, but her fist firmly hit Sid right on his right arm and he chuckled. She disconnected the call as she took off from the hotel lobby. The Embassy was not far, just three signals away, they were welcomed at the door by a lovely looking lady who said Namaskar with a European accent. She then checked the name on a I-pad and let them through.

It was very formal occasion, dinner table arranged in circles while a small podium for speakers. While the drinks were served few men spoke about the elder man who was being posted to his new job, bigger responsibilities. The elder embassy employee seemed to have lived in India for years, he greeted everyone and spoke of old days. He received a standing ovation when he concluded the speech in Hindi with few words from various states he had travelled. He then walked and met every guest.

Archana had lost Sid in the crowd and she was speaking about her work to an elder guest and how she had ended up at the embassy function. Most peopled didn't know Siddhart, they knew Sid. She would look around occasionally and get a glimpse of Sid talking to powerful men, even visiting ambassadors having an animated discussion. Their eyes would meet and he would raise his glass. A light dinner that is all he had, a sandwich and some salad, his thumb rule, she later learnt was when food is free always eat like you are full. She had chuckled to that joke.

As the function got to an end, the Ambassador walked up to her along with Sid. Sid introduced her and she shook hands with the Ambassador. He spoke to her for few minutes and despite guests interrupting frequently he had made sure he spoke to her as if she was the only person in the room. It made her feel special and as she walked out, Sid was smiling.

"You didn't know he was a diplomat or what..."

"But he listened to me carefully..."

"He does everyone he speaks to..."

"He was not even distracted..." Acchu tried to plead her case.

"That is what he is trained to do... he is a diplomat... he doesn't care about people he doesn't have to care about..."

"Now you are just making things up..."

Sid burst out laughing as they walked towards the exit door, the woman who had let them in handed Archana a gift basket, she thanked the woman and shook her hands as she followed Sid to the exit.

"I bet he has forgotten your name by now..." Sid walked up to the security guard, handed him the parking ticket. Her Vitara showed up. The valet held the door open for her and she was still blushing from her conversation with the Ambassador. She tripped on her sari as she was stepping into the car and the knot she had tied around yanked on her flat stomach going full few inches down, revealing her perfectly round navel. For a fleeting second she saw Sid look at her and then as quickly as she recovered he looked distracted.

She stepped into the car, straightening up the drape of her sari, buckled her seat belt and then drove out from the parking lot. The small incident was long left behind as they sped up through the empty road. Archana drove into his hotel lobby and he asked if she needed a coffee. A black coffee was how she started the beautiful day and she felt it was the best to end it. She left the car in the lobby handing the keys to the valet saying she would not be more than ten minutes. They finished their coffee and Archana thanked Sid for a wonderful day and dinner. They shook hands and leaned for a hug and she felt his warm breath on her neck as he lingered few seconds longer on the hug, she too had. They then parted and he walked her to the car and she drove out.

Archana knew about Sid.

His was a love story made for movies, hell even movies got it wrong. He saw this beautiful girl when he was a young school kid, whose only concept of romance were the good books and poems he had read, and it told him he had found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, he walked up to her and the first time in his life spoke like a mature man far older than his twelve years.

Aryan told her the story once, his mother had told him fondly about it, "I may be young and foolish but I like you..." Small boy Sid told his future wife, "All I ask is one day when I am capable and independent and if you happen to still seek for a partner, all I ask is your kind consideration... just that... I don't want to ruin this moment with dates and school romances... I trust you will give me that consideration..."

Unknown to Sid at that time, young beautiful Tanisha too had noticed him and had remembered what he had said. Years later when he found her, he walked up to her father and asked his permission to take her out for tea. Her father was shocked and he could not believe the young lad's attitude. Tanisha's mother came to the rescue, her daughter had told her about this boy, tall and handsome who had once proposed to her when she was twelve years old. None of them could believe he would follow up on his words. He had.

The marriage happened.

Two people who had loved each other for a decade and half and never been on a single date had gotten married as if they had known each other their whole life. Their child was born few years later and they had made him a strong confident young man. What was beautiful would not always remain beautiful. While she was still young she had suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. Sid was never the same person again, Aryan was just fifteen years old at that time, her parents took the young boy for an academic year since his father was in no shape to take care of him. It had taken years to rebuild himself. He knew his wife would have wanted him to be happy and he found that happiness in his work, leaving his high paying corporate job and starting a think tank group with his savings. Times were difficult for few years before he finally got the recognition he deserved. He still loved his wife. If Aryan has to be believed his father had remained a celibate since then, never dating, not even meeting anyone socially apart from family and very good friends. It was as if that part of his life had died with his wife and he was happy that he had spent his life with the one woman he wanted to, one woman whom he had seen as a young boy.

Archana stared at her own reflection in the mirror as she peeled off the drape of her sari that hung around her shoulder. Yes her navel was clearly visible, not that she needed to see it, she ran her fingers up and felt the soft hair that went all the way down between her legs.

"Jesus Christ..." she chuckled as she felt her body tremble at her own touch. Distracting herself from the thoughts she changed into her usual boxer shorts and an old vest, she switched on the television and tuned into Netflix, turned on a television series she was following.

Her mobile buzzed.

It was Sid.

"Thanks for a wonderful day... I hope you reached home safe...Good Night and Take Care..."

She stared at the message and then replied back.

I must be the one thanking you... you Sir know how to give a woman a good time...

His reply didn't come, she was expecting it and had reached for her mobile quiet few times, but he didn't reply, why was she expecting a reply.

Next day the usual work routine began and in two weeks she had soon forgotten about the unfortunate event that had happened and the way she had longed for few hours for a reply, monotony of profession always took over. It was strange, it felt strange. Her discussions with Aryan continued the way it used to earlier and the break had become just that, a distant memory, till one day she received a huge package in her office. Curious as to the sender she checked the card, it was Sid. Pulling down the drapes of her office room, she used the metal ruler to tear through the packing tape, she then pulled open the box and there was a cover in it. It was heavy. She lifted it out, checking the box if she had missed anything. It was empty she then discarded it near her bin and then used the scissors to tear the package. Covers spill-ed out along with a note. She grabbed the note and a USB was stuck on top of it. She read the note.

Hi,

Hope this finds you in good health and spirits.

I happened to show the pictures taken at the embassy (loaded into the thumb-drive) to an office colleague and she recognised the design of your evening wear as one a friend of hers makes, a few phone calls later, I was delivered this package.

I tried them on but it didn't suit me and I figured you looked better in it than your truly, so forwarding it to your address. Hope it reaches you intact.

PS: I didn't know these were so damn costly.

Regards

Sid

Monday

Archana tore the packets and yes there were three sari's, same design and make as the one she had worn for the evening at the embassy. One was cream yellow in colour, another black and one rare light gold. She popped open the fourth cover and the cloth for blouses for each of the sari's were packed in it. She sat back on her chair.

The knock on the door brought her back to the present, it was her boss who stepped in to the room. A look at the sari and the woman in her stepped forward.

"These are gorgeous..." she added, trying the fabric over her cotton shirt.

"Aren't they..."

"Fuck I didn't know Aryan had such good taste... the colour suits you..."

She didn't correct her boss.

"Let me know were he picked them up..."

Archana told the website, the small, hand craft store that employed women from remote tribes to make the finest sari's, with hand crafted borders.

"Fuck these are expensive..."

"Let me know if you are ordering... I could get you a discount..."

"That would be great..."

The boss left without saying what she had come for, as Archana sat back on her chair, re-reading the letter, it was hand-written and his penmanship was beautiful, like one of those old scrolls written for King's and Queens. Elegant and Precise, she felt the back side of the note, there were no marks or bloats, just smooth.

She smiled as she stuffed the gift into the cover, as she remembered she had received another gift, at the embassy while she was leaving. She had kept it on the rear seat of the car and must have slipped off, she would have to find them. It had been weeks now, hopefully nothing that would get damaged.

She dialled him on her phone and he answered almost immediately.

"Hey... how are you..." Sid spoke in his usual energetic tone.

"All fine..." she paused, "Thanks for the gift by the way..."

"Ah... not a gift... I just changed the address and sent it to you..."

"You must thank your colleague for them... they are lovely..."

"I know... remember I tried them..."

"My boss just walked in, saw the package and she too wants one.. So make sure the supply chain is kept alive..."

"I will..." he paused, "Wait did you get it today..."

"Yes... about ten minutes ago... why..."

"I had sent it a week back..."

Archana kicked the box and there it was the date on the time stamp.

"Ya... it must have taken a longer route..."

"So were are you..." Archana asked, "What is the loud noise..."

"Air port... headed down to your town..."

"What..."

"I am driving to the forest nearby... have work there for two days..."

"Saturday & Sunday..."

"Yes yes... will return by Sunday..."

"Work inside the forest..."

"You know me.." She heard him speak, "What are you upto this weekend... you want to join..."

"Inside the forest..."

"Yes..."

"Why not..."

"Okay... I won't be able to meet you in town... we will be headed down to the camp directly from airport... we have some heavy equipments along with us... costly... I need to get them cleared..."

"Oh okay..."

"So you finish your work and head off directly... I guess decent speed you'll reach by ten... eleven..."

"Yes.. I guess..."

"See you then..."

"Cool..."

Good few hours later she was off to the forest, she had packed a backpack mostly khakhi and jeans and t-shirt with a cotton shirt along with her mobile backup charger and spare mobile. She was told it was middle of forest. Electricity would certainly be a luxury.

She was wrong.

It was a proper camp with tents, a small ditch encompassing the whole crowd of tents, a small portable toilet and bathroom, tanks of water and a broad solar panel. The fence around the camp was electrified with motion sensors installed further away from the camp, just to watch out if any animals crept up.

Sid on break and Sid on work, were two entirely different people. He was running around, overseeing every bit of work, coordinating with researchers and forest officials as they set about the work. She understood it was mostly to analyse the health of the endangered and protected animals, which called for checking their stool samples and analysing the same. It also involved setting up camera's to study the night life and activities of the wild beast. Sid was involved in every aspect that needed to be overlooked and his team had been busy the whole day, working from morning to late after midnight for two days. Since the rains were not long, they also wanted to understand the erosion of soil and threat to the forests, human or otherwise. Despite all these he would look at her longingly as though asking her how she was and apologising to her that he could not come over and talk to her, the occasional smile, the way he ensured she did the least complicated stuff and at least had some work than just become a boring furniture. Maybe she was just imagining all these and he was lost in his own world, she was not sure. All she knew that he had arranged a beautiful camp for her with as much comfort as she would want and he could provide under the given circumstances.

Sunday night when the camp was finally over, Sid was fast asleep in the passenger seat and two other fellow researchers were also fast asleep on the back seat. She hadn't stopped for anything and drove home dropping them to their hotel.

The whole weekend was over before even she realised it had started. She was tired and her legs were aching, but her spirits were higher than ever. She had seen tigers in the wild, leopards and rare panthers. She knew colleagues who spent a fortune to get a glimpse of the big cats and she got it free of cost, staying right in the middle of the forest in a camp. It could not have gotten any better.

She had expected a courtesy call once she knew he had reached back, she didn't get any all she had was the memories of the weekend, right in the middle of the forest living with academic scholars who spoke in a language she didn't understand, it was like watching a foreign movie without the subtitles. That was her weekend. Week after week went by and she had settled back to the monotony of her daily chorus, glad that she had the required distraction and break when she needed the most. Her birthday was coming up soon and she would turn thirty five, she was literally counting the number of days before Aryan returned. He too had got busy with the final phase of his project, the calls were rare and she hardly got time herself.

One evening she reached home very late, the traffic was like hell, some wealthy business man was wedding his daughter and the guests were who's who of the country, police security was at maximum and the traffic was held up for miles. She crawled like snail, it would have been faster to walk than drive. Bumper to bumper traffic through out the city, while the wealthy and privileged drove in their tinted glass vehicles through empty roads cleared for them. She was sure the reaction on twitter was going to be horrible, some outright sarcastic.

It was around eleven when she finally reached home, she had unbuttoned the top buttons of her cotton shirt and had pulled off the belt buckle to be comfortable on her seat. She pressed parked the vehicle and checked the time, it was late, fucking late. There were no one in the parking lot, she grabbed her office bag, her over coat and took the elevator to the thirtieth floor penthouse apartment.

It was the costliest investment she had ever made, though ever since she got married Aryan was paying the monthly instalment's she too contributed to it every alternate month, despite her insistence that the loan was her headache, Aryan had insisted on taking on half the burden. She had objected but it fell on deaf ears.

"Sid..." she spoke out as she saw him on the floor leaning on to her door and with a back pack by his side.

He was sleeping.

And woke up when she called him out.

"When did you reach..."

"Not long..."

"Why didn't you call me..."

"I knew the traffic was hell..." Sid replied calmly wiping the sleep off his face, as she opened the door to her apartment, he helped her with her office bag and brought the luggage inside, "My usual hotel room was rented out... some wealthy bastard has booked the entire hotels..."

"I still don't understand why you stay in hotels..." Acchu quipped as she walked to her room, she knew she had left her belt buckle open and she tightened it, forgetting to button herself up.

"I don't want to impose myself..." he replied as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Ya... as if having me as a scarecrow in the middle of forest was not imposing myself..."

"Trust me when I tell you this dear..." he gulped down the cold water, drops dripping the side of his lips, down his chin, "You didn't scare anyone... on the other hand yes you were as useless as a scarecrow..." he grinned wiping his lips as he placed the water back in the fridge.

"You look like shit..." Archana replied.

"Yes I know... I had hectic few weeks..."

Archana could tell, he had hardly shaved, there was a two week stubble around his thick jaw, she noticed he had a square face, more like a male version of Demi Moore, tall and lean, thanks to all the trekking he was doing. He had put on a tan and his fair skin looked sun burnt now.

"You mind if we order dinner..."

"I could cook something fast..."

"Why bother..." His eyes fell on her breasts, just a fleeting glance and it quickly returned to her eyes, she had noticed it but didn't show any hint, "Will order something light... I have some work..."

"That would be great..." she replied, "I'll make some coffee then..."

"Black for me..."

"One cup black on the way..."

Archana heard his footsteps trail into the front hall, he had turned the television on, international news and she heard him on the phone. He was doing many things at the same time. She stared at her own reflection in the mirror, the top three buttons of her shirt were open and her cleavage could be seen and so did the narrow gold chain she wore slipped between her shapely breasts. She wondered if it would be wise to button up now, she decided to leave it like that, he had already seen what he wanted and she was sure buttoning up now would mean she had seen him, she didn't feel like embarrassing him. The water boiled over and she filled one mug for him while she added milk to the rest.

"With or without sugar..."

"Half a spoon would do..." he replied from the hall. She put the sugar and stirred the coffee and then walked to the hall. He was seated on the bean bag with his leg stretched on to the nearby couch with his laptop connected to nearby plug point.

"You could use the Wi-Fi..."

"No need dear... I have to make use of these things once in a while..." he took out the dongle.

She handed him the cup of coffee, she had noticed his eyes wander again, but she was quick to step back. She knew he had got a second view, maybe better view, she wanted to spare him the embarrassment. She fixed her cup of coffee and went to her own room to get refreshed.

Sid was the least intrusive guest, Archana had hardly noticed him, the next two days she was not even sure if he was home or not and had to occasionally call him out, he would be crouched on a bean bag in some corner, smoking and carefully dumping the stubs of the cigarettes in an empty packet. She had one day taken a day off and sat at home, wearing her cotton shirt and skirt she was in her room, on phone and checking with her marketing team regarding a campaign she was running. The print outs had to be procured the same day and she had to speak to the vendor. Easing back on the chair in her room, she stared at her own reflection as she was screaming at her vendor for the delay. She had changed to a new vendor after the previous had been charging her a premium and this was an important campaign she wanted the launch to happen while the international launch was happening. Last minute delays were expected but not one that could take half a day to resolve, the target audience had to be catered by now and it still hadn't. She had told the vendor as much as staking her own reputation and judgement on line. He had assured it would be solve before three in the afternoon.