33. Aarti
AARTI
T he next morning, I sat at my favorite brunch place in Plano, along an artificially created lake, pristine and well-groomed.
This was the last place I had shared a meal with Sameer before all the threads had unraveled, but its memory didn’t garner bitterness. Not after my chat with Tara last night.
For the short time I’d known her, Tara had always been graceful, gracious, and proud. I’d been hurting because I’d not had closure, as Tara pointed out, but talking to her and laying out my feelings had aided the healing process.
That evening months ago, I had barged in on them having an intimate dinner at his condo.
I was about to rush out, angry, humiliated, and injured, when Tara suggested that I should hear them out.
Her words were still vivid in my memory.
You have a choice. You can stay and let Sameer explain.
Or leave with this rage and carry the grudge for life .
I was ready to jump on the bandwagon of carrying the grudge for life, but then I heard her say, Neither can change the fact of his betrayal, but you can choose how you want to resolve this .
There it was. Betrayal. It was out in the open. Spelled out in red. Spoken in bold. She had called out Sameer’s actions for what they were. Betrayal.
I stood at the door, tears in my eyes, and made the decision to step back in. I wasn’t sure I had made a wise decision, but it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. Their apology was unconditional.
It was Tara’s honesty in calling a spade a spade that brought me back into the apartment.
As Sameer started confessing how I’d been merely a means to his ultimate goal—getting back the wealth and status they had lost in India—I felt more and more like a fool.
A fool who had thought she was in love with an honest and loving man.
I’d returned home in tears and confided in my family.
Dad had called Sameer’s father and pelted him with angry words and vengeful threats.
Dad was a powerful man, but I’d not known him to be vindictive.
Mom and I had talked him down. It was better we’d discovered the truth before the wedding.
It would’ve crushed my heart if I’d spent a lifetime trying to win Sameer’s love only to realize it would never have materialized.
It wasn’t the breakup that hurt me. It was the public declaration of our betrothal that unnerved me.
People break up all the time. It’s not a big deal.
But I’d announced to half the city that I was in love and planning to marry the man of my dreams. That’s the part that hurt the most. It was about my ego, not love.
As he had promised, Sameer had come to apologize the next day, and the next, and the day after that, but I’d refused to see him.
I’d asked Mom to turn him away. He had spoken to my parents with humility, accepting his guilt in all of it.
He’d confessed about his strained relationship with his father, who’d instigated the surprise proposal.
But I hadn’t seen him, hadn’t given him a chance to explain, hadn’t told him the extent of my hurt, and that’s where I’d faltered.
If I had, I probably have had some semblance of closure sooner.
Tara arrived with a smile, dressed in leggings, high boots, and a smart quilted jacket over a black top. A handmade long necklace and a beautiful bold purple on her lips marked her as the artist that she was.
“Hey,” she said as she pulled a chair across me. “You look great.”
I didn’t need to glance down at myself in jeans, a top, a jacket, and ankle boots. “You do too.” I smiled.
We placed our order amid a bit of initial awkwardness. After a few minutes of small talk, she went straight to business.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“You’re not going to let me have my coffee first?” I teased, and she smiled.
I readjusted myself in the chair. “I told you yesterday I met someone and felt something?”
She nodded just as the server approached and placed two artistically finished lattes before us. Tara grabbed the tiny tongs, dropped three sugar cubes from the ceramic holder, and put the lid back. I eyed her as I brought my cup to my lips.
“Go on,” she urged, stirring hers.
“It’s Sujit.”
Her spoon dropped in the cup, slumping against the rim. “ Sujit ? My Sujit?” she asked, and I laughed.
“Yes, the one you ditched for Sameer,” I teased, and her eyes traveled to the table with a smile.
“Tell me more. Tell me everything,” she said, looking back up at me.
When I finished narrating how we had met and how the friendship had evolved over the months, I confessed, “I think I might be falling for him.”
The smile on her face had grown systematically wider, and she finally lifted her cup to her lips. “I don’t blame you, he’s very lovable.”
I looked into her eyes. “Did you really love him, Tara?”
She placed her cup back and interlaced her fingers resting on the table.
“I did. I still do, in a way. I care for him deeply, but when I saw Sameer again, I remembered what we had. The heat, the need, the hunger, it was deeper, more urgent. I felt it in my heart, in the pit of my stomach. But when I am in his arms, it’s peaceful, quiet, and comfortable. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I know. It’s how I feel with Sujit. This yearning that arises sometimes in the heart, sometimes below the belly, and takes over completely. It’s warm and needy. It’s the kind of frenzy I can’t understand. But it’s more. I feel calm, grounded, and protected around him.”
She smiled and leaned in to pat my hand. “That sounds awfully like more than feelings, Aarti.”
“Don’t say it, don’t say the word.”
“I won’t. I know it’s scary. Been there, done that. Twice.” She nursed the giant cup in her hands.
“I feel like you’re the only person I can share all this with. I fear people will judge me for my desires. Ridicule me. With you, I have an upper hand since you stole my boyfriend and all,” I teased.
She gave me a wicked smile and said, “Not boyfriend, fiancé , remember?”
I shook my head as I drained the last of my coffee. “Don’t remind me.” And we both burst out laughing. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I was so envious of you, Aarti. The first time I saw you, I thought I could never compete with her. She’s the definition of perfect—beautiful, gorgeous, stylish. It pained me to see how good you both looked together.”
“And I was envious of how he looked at you with so much love and admiration. I’m still a little envious of how happy you are together.”
She turned more somber despite the slight smile gracing her face. “Have you told Sujit how you feel?”
I shook my head just as the server came back out again and put the omelets before us.
“You’re scared,” she observed as I picked up my fork.
“I’m terrified.”
“Because?”
Tara was a smart woman, and I was glad I was talking to her about this. She had the distance from me that made her objective, and she knew Sujit intimately, which made her the perfect person to advise me.
“Because even though I think he feels the same way about me, I can’t be sure. And because the world might ridicule us for falling for each other.”
She put her fork down with a frown. “What do you mean?”
I told her about my conversations with Aakash and Mary Beth.
“I don’t know how my father will take it.
He hates everything associated with Sameer.
Both my brother and my best friend warned me that Sujit is and will always be your ex.
Is it shameful to fall for him? Aakash says it reeks of desperation or vengeance, you know, because you fucked my boyfriend, I fucked yours. ”
She laughed a nervous laugh. “That thought never occurred to me, but tell me…” She dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “What does it matter what anyone thinks and says? If he makes you happy and you make him happy, isn’t that the only thing that matters?”
“Aakash says it might hurt our reputation, our standing in the business world and in society.”
“Does that bother you?” she asked.
I knew Sameer had declared he would put his and Tara’s happiness before the business, but it was his name at stake, not his father’s, not his family’s.
“I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I haven’t even told Ma, but I’m here to talk to my dad. I’m going to explain everything and beg him to give me and Sujit a chance at happiness.”
Tara reached out and grabbed my hand while my eyes remained downcast with everything that was weighing me down—the desire, the guilt, the shame, and the embarrassment about the shame.
“I don’t know your father, but Sameer speaks very highly of him.
He also told me how much your father loves and respects you.
So here’s my unsolicited advice. Don’t beg.
Demand. You shouldn’t have to beg for your happiness from the people you love and who love you. You should expect it, and demand it.”
My eyes shot up to her, staring at her with incredulity. “Damn, girl! You’ve got your perspective all sorted out!”
There was strength and conviction in her voice when she said, “When you’ve grown up without much, your ambition and happiness are the only things you can unflinchingly stake a claim to.”
The words stabbed at my heart. Unlike me, she’d had to claw her way to the top. I’d grown up with privilege, and even though I worked hard, some doors were already held open for me. Not for someone like Tara.
“You know, we could have been best friends in another life.” I surprised myself with this honest confession.
“I don’t believe in other lives,” Tara responded, shaking her head and sticking a gentle fork in her breakfast potatoes.
“Yes, if things were different, we could have been close friends, but nothing’s stopping us from being friends now.
” She met my eye. “You are always welcome in our life, Aarti. Sameer has nothing but the highest regard for you. When you find it in your heart to forgive us both, we would love to have you as a part of our lives again. If that’s something you want too. ”
I nodded. “I don’t make friends easily.”
“I know. All the more reason to keep us close, yeah?” Her warm smile enchanted me completely.
At that moment, I understood what Sameer saw in her. She completed him. She grounded him.
Sujit was right. Relationships are peculiar.
“I’d like that,” I said. “And I know we both will get along well. For one, I’ll be the perfect sounding board when Sameer annoys you. No one better to bash him than me.”
“Whoa, that’s definitely an unforeseen advantage,” she joked.
She reached across the table to pat my hand. “I’m genuinely happy for you and Sujit. Tell him the moment you’re back in New York. If I were the type, I’d be squealing and screeching with joy right now.”
Retracting her hand, she turned serious. “He’s a very good man, Aarti. Sona calls him a unicorn. Hurting him is something I’ll have to live with, but if you two make it work, please take very good care of him. Give him the love he deserved from the start. Did he tell you about Tejal?”
My eyes flickered in thought. “He didn’t mention her name, but he did share the story.”
“He had carried that hurt for a long time, and I turned around and crushed his heart. It doesn’t help that he has to keep seeing that bastard Manoj every so often.”
I sucked in a breath. “Tejal was married to Manoj?” I cried with a gaping mouth.
She put her fork down. “He didn’t tell you that part?”
I shook my head as it all made perfect sense suddenly. Manoj’s approaching me for the property, his interests in the same buildings I was showing Sujit, his asking me out. The puzzle was solved, the picture crystal clear before me.
“Thank you for telling me,” I said. “I suspected there was something off about that man. I just couldn’t figure out what.”
“Everything is off about that man,” she said and picked up the glass of orange juice before her. “Sujit must have a very good reason not to shove him out of his life. God knows, he should’ve years ago.”
Tara sipped her orange juice. Then she dabbed her mouth delicately and replaced her napkin by her plate.
This newfound camaraderie led us to exchange stories about our jobs and their stresses. The excitement in Tara’s voice was unmistakable as she told me about embarking on a career as an artist. Something she’d always wanted and worked for and which was finally within her reach.
“You get the guy and the career of your dreams, eh? Talk about finding your happily ever after,” I teased as I finished up my egg and placed my silverware down.
She blushed, then studied me with a doe-like tender gaze.
“You shouldn’t worry about what others think.
I’m talking for real here. You are the Aarti Bhatia, and he’s Sujit freaking Rao.
You’ll be the most charismatic, most dynamic power couple since…
hell, I don’t even know any other power couple who can hold a candle to you.
It’s a fucked up world, Aarti. Its lust for the misfortune of others will never be satiated.
You go get your happily ever after. Claim it, grab it, and never let it go. ”
I did the only thing I wanted to do at that time—grin wide and be grateful for the woman sitting across the table from me. “I think I’m going to do just that.”
“Now, that’s the kind of billionaire romance I can really root for,” she said with a wink.