Anupam led theminside, ignoring the office area, but explaining that the sofa's were thewinnings of a wager between Siddharth Jhaveri and Steve Jobs and the woodencoffee table between them was crafted by “Rajendra Kumar” as a gift. Arpitdidn't quite know what to say, finding it all very surreal.
He followed theold man through a gap in the walls, seeing a bedroom off to the right, and thenit opened up to a large area at the back. Directly in front of him was a verylarge bed, a four poster draped at the corners with fine linen. To either sideof it the white walls curved from the sides to the back, with archways in each.
"To yourleft is your en-suite bathroom, Master Arpit," Anupam explained."Over on the right is your dressing room. Your luggage has been unpacked,although many of the items are being pressed and will be returned within thehour."
"This is mybedroom?" Arpit asked, looking around. A couple of big armchairs sat tothe right with another TV on the wall, while the left side of the room wascovered in bookcases.
"This is it,Arpit," Shikha told him. "My room is just over there," Sheadded, pointing to the right at the bedroom he'd spotted as they came in.
"This ismessed up," He muttered, feeling really awkward. He'd never been in suchluxury in his life, let alone inheriting it. The idea of being an owner ofthis... paradise was overwhelming.
"Can yougive us a minute please, Anupam," Shikha said quickly. As the old mandisappeared, she took Arpit by the elbow and steered him over to the bed andsat him down. "Are you okay?"
He spread hishands, looking around. "This is insane."
Shikha frowned."Maybe you should get some sleep, Arpit. You'll feel better for it."
Arpit shrugged,knowing he was exhausted but there was just too much going on in his head."I don't think I could sleep if I tried."
"Try,"She said firmly. "What's your usual sleeping habits?"
"What do youmean?"
"Do yousleep on one side of the bed in particular? Do you wear pyjamas or sleep in thenude? Do you usually read, or watch TV, or just shut your eyes until you driftoff?"
"Let's see.I usually sleep on the right side of the bed, and I don't wear pyjamas,"He explained.
"You sleepin the nude?"
Arpit blushed alittle, but nodded.
Shikha shrugged."It's no biggie. Me too. What about before you drift off?"
Arpit grinnedsheepishly.
"Okay,"Shikha said immediately. "Probably time we had a frank discussion,actually."
Arpit satupright, wondering where this was going.
"I workedfor Siddharth Jhaveri for a long time. It's a demanding job, often witheighteen hour days, meetings, office days, social events, vacations, everywherehe went I went."
"Okay."
"You can'twork that closely with someone without knowing a lot about thempersonally," She continued. "When it came to Mister Jhaveri I knewalmost everything."
"Likepersonal stuff?"
"Verypersonal stuff," She nodded. "Intimate stuff. I can't tell you howmany times I've seen him naked, or he's seen me naked. When you pretty muchlive with someone in hotel rooms, places like this, or you're getting changedin a limo between a meeting and a social engagement, it kind of makes personalmodesty a bit of a nuisance."
"It kind ofsounds a bit... above and beyond the job description," Arpit said, reallynot sure where she was going with this. The thought of seeing Shikha naked atsome point definitely held a great deal of appeal though.
"Let me giveyou a hypothetical example," She said, grinning. "You lie down hereand go to sleep, right. I come and wake you up in a few hours and you need tourinate. What does that mean?"
"I need togo to the bathroom," Arpit shrugged.
She rolled hereyes. "If you're asleep and you need to urinate, how does your bodyreact?"
"Oh,"Arpit said quickly. "I'd get an... erection."
"Right,"She nodded. "So I've come in to wake you up, you're lying sleeping on yourback with only a sheet covering you and you've got a bad case of morningwood." Shikha grinned. "Do you think I'm not going to notice?"
Arpit laughed."Okay. So I won't sleep on my back."
She shook herhead. "The point I'm making is that stuff like this is going to happen. Atsome point I'll see things, you'll see things, and it's important that youdon't get all bent out of shape about it."
Arpit just shookhis head. Another bizarre conversation amidst a series of bizarre experiences.
"Let me giveyou another example," She continued. "From time to time MisterJhaveri would entertain... female company. I would sometimes make thearrangements."
"You meanhookers?" Arpit asked bluntly, frowning.
Shikha laughedand shook her head. "Do you think Mister Jhaveri ever had to pay someoneto sleep with him?"
Arpit thoughtback to all the times he'd seen him in magazines or on the TV, often with amodel or actress or singer on his arm. He was a common recurrence on the top100 bachelors lists on a frequent basis.
"I guessnot," He replied. "But then some people like that."
"Theydo," Shikha nodded. "If that's something you're into then I canarrange that for you too."
"Hookers?"
She nodded calmlyas if it was like ordering a sandwich. "Sure."
"Not reallyto my tastes," Arpit said, shaking his head.
She smiled."I didn't think so. That's good for me. However, if you're attending filmpremieres or public events, sometimes it will be good for your profile to havesomeone on your arm."
"Agirl?"
"Yes, butmore specifically a public figure. Actress, musician, model, TV presenter. Wetend to steer clear of the reality TV crowd."
"So youarrange stuff like that?"
"Sure,"Shikha nodded. "Sometimes it's only for walking the carpet, get a fewpictures. Sometimes it's a real date. Occasionally it's a hookup."
"Holy shit.Talk about a different world."
"That's oneof the million reasons why I'm here, Arpit," She reminded him. "It'dprimarily business but I'm here to help you personally too. There's lots tolearn and I'm here to help. Now, back to the topic at hand. Getting you somesleep."
"Yeah."
"I'm gonnabe blunt here, Arpit. Sometimes it's the best way," She said, looking himin the eye. "Most people masturbate before they go to sleep. I take it youdo too?"
Arpit laughed,unable to hide the slight blush that hit his cheeks. "And I thought allthis was insane before."
"You'll getused to it. Incidentally, if I know this now then it means I won't be walkingin on you midway through."
"Okay, fairenough. Yeah, I usually do." His thought flitted to Tanmy and Trisha, theinspiration for many of his late night fantasies. He pushed those thoughtsaway, knowing that to think of that now was kinda fucked up.
"Okay. I'mmore of a shower girl myself," Shikha added, shrugging. "Fair's fair,so if you tell me, I'll tell you."
"That'sgonna mess with my head," Arpit said, grinning.
"You'll getover it," Shikha chuckled.
"You sure?In the last five minutes you've talked about me having erections, told me I'llsee you naked tons of times and told me how you play with yourself. You dorealise you're really hot, right?"
Shikha laughed."Oh, I know where this conversations headed, and I'm telling you, acceptright now that it's never going to happen, Arpit."
"What? Meand you?" The idea was tantalising, and maybe it was lack of sleep butArpit decided to throw caution to the wind. "I think it's a greatidea."
"It's nevergonna happen, Arpit," She said, smiling. "It never happened withMister Jhaveri, and it's not going to happen with you either. We won't havethat type of relationship."
Arpit chuckled."Well that's a bit depressing."
"Let me clarifysomething. You've seen your friends Vishal and Rohit naked, right?"
Arpit screwed uphis face. "Why did you have to put that thought in my head?"
Shikha chuckled."They're your friends, right? You sometimes see things with them, but itdoesn't make it a sexual thing. You don't actively look, but sometimes you seestuff. Sometimes you even joke about it, right?"
"Iguess."
"Well, thinkof me that way."
Arpit chuckled."You know you're a woman though, and they're guys, right?"
"As I said,you'll get used to it. We don't cross that line though, okay? I can't do my jobif things start getting weird... emotional, know what I mean?"
Arpit saw she wasbeing serious and met her gaze. "I hear what you're saying," He saidfinally. "There'll be moments, but if we talk about it now, then it won'tbe a big deal when it happens and we can just move on, right?"
"Prettymuch."
"You knowyou're hot though, right?" Arpit grinned.
"Oh, I knowit. I know at some point you'll get drunk and make a move on me too, and I'llhave to put you to your bed and mock you mercilessly for days about it. I knowat some point I might even get a bit smitten with you, but I'll get overit." She shrugged. "The gist of this conversation? You can talk to meabout anything. I'll help you out with whatever you want or need, nojudgements, but there's a line. Fair enough?"
Arpit frowned butnodded. "I guess so. This couldn't have been easy for you to bringup."
Shikha laughed."I've been planning this conversation in my head for two days."
"Did it goas planned?"
"Nowherenear it," She laughed. "But I think we're pretty clear on where westand, right?"
"Yeah,"Arpit nodded, actually feeling closer to her now as a result of it.
Shikha grinned."And you know that it's not an invite to just walk in on me when I'mshowering?"
Arpit chuckled."Well, the temptation will be there, but I'll restrain myself."
"Good,"She said. "Now try and get some sleep. And if you need some femalecompany, just let me know. There's a very good masseuse who works on theIsland, and she's certainly enthusiastic."
Arpit's eyeswidened. "You mean?"
"I mean shewas about to go into a career in porn because she's that enthusiastic."
"You'rekidding?"
"Nope."
"So that'swhy she works on the Island?" Arpit asked, his eyebrows raised.
"Actuallynot at all," Shikha replied.
He followed theold man through a gap in the walls, seeing a bedroom off to the right, and thenit opened up to a large area at the back. Directly in front of him was a verylarge bed, a four poster draped at the corners with fine linen. To either sideof it the white walls curved from the sides to the back, with archways in each.
"To yourleft is your en-suite bathroom, Master Arpit," Anupam explained."Over on the right is your dressing room. Your luggage has been unpacked,although many of the items are being pressed and will be returned within thehour."
"This is mybedroom?" Arpit asked, looking around. A couple of big armchairs sat tothe right with another TV on the wall, while the left side of the room wascovered in bookcases.
"This is it,Arpit," Shikha told him. "My room is just over there," Sheadded, pointing to the right at the bedroom he'd spotted as they came in.
"This ismessed up," He muttered, feeling really awkward. He'd never been in suchluxury in his life, let alone inheriting it. The idea of being an owner ofthis... paradise was overwhelming.
"Can yougive us a minute please, Anupam," Shikha said quickly. As the old mandisappeared, she took Arpit by the elbow and steered him over to the bed andsat him down. "Are you okay?"
He spread hishands, looking around. "This is insane."
Shikha frowned."Maybe you should get some sleep, Arpit. You'll feel better for it."
Arpit shrugged,knowing he was exhausted but there was just too much going on in his head."I don't think I could sleep if I tried."
"Try,"She said firmly. "What's your usual sleeping habits?"
"What do youmean?"
"Do yousleep on one side of the bed in particular? Do you wear pyjamas or sleep in thenude? Do you usually read, or watch TV, or just shut your eyes until you driftoff?"
"Let's see.I usually sleep on the right side of the bed, and I don't wear pyjamas,"He explained.
"You sleepin the nude?"
Arpit blushed alittle, but nodded.
Shikha shrugged."It's no biggie. Me too. What about before you drift off?"
Arpit grinnedsheepishly.
"Okay,"Shikha said immediately. "Probably time we had a frank discussion,actually."
Arpit satupright, wondering where this was going.
"I workedfor Siddharth Jhaveri for a long time. It's a demanding job, often witheighteen hour days, meetings, office days, social events, vacations, everywherehe went I went."
"Okay."
"You can'twork that closely with someone without knowing a lot about thempersonally," She continued. "When it came to Mister Jhaveri I knewalmost everything."
"Likepersonal stuff?"
"Verypersonal stuff," She nodded. "Intimate stuff. I can't tell you howmany times I've seen him naked, or he's seen me naked. When you pretty muchlive with someone in hotel rooms, places like this, or you're getting changedin a limo between a meeting and a social engagement, it kind of makes personalmodesty a bit of a nuisance."
"It kind ofsounds a bit... above and beyond the job description," Arpit said, reallynot sure where she was going with this. The thought of seeing Shikha naked atsome point definitely held a great deal of appeal though.
"Let me giveyou a hypothetical example," She said, grinning. "You lie down hereand go to sleep, right. I come and wake you up in a few hours and you need tourinate. What does that mean?"
"I need togo to the bathroom," Arpit shrugged.
She rolled hereyes. "If you're asleep and you need to urinate, how does your bodyreact?"
"Oh,"Arpit said quickly. "I'd get an... erection."
"Right,"She nodded. "So I've come in to wake you up, you're lying sleeping on yourback with only a sheet covering you and you've got a bad case of morningwood." Shikha grinned. "Do you think I'm not going to notice?"
Arpit laughed."Okay. So I won't sleep on my back."
She shook herhead. "The point I'm making is that stuff like this is going to happen. Atsome point I'll see things, you'll see things, and it's important that youdon't get all bent out of shape about it."
Arpit just shookhis head. Another bizarre conversation amidst a series of bizarre experiences.
"Let me giveyou another example," She continued. "From time to time MisterJhaveri would entertain... female company. I would sometimes make thearrangements."
"You meanhookers?" Arpit asked bluntly, frowning.
Shikha laughedand shook her head. "Do you think Mister Jhaveri ever had to pay someoneto sleep with him?"
Arpit thoughtback to all the times he'd seen him in magazines or on the TV, often with amodel or actress or singer on his arm. He was a common recurrence on the top100 bachelors lists on a frequent basis.
"I guessnot," He replied. "But then some people like that."
"Theydo," Shikha nodded. "If that's something you're into then I canarrange that for you too."
"Hookers?"
She nodded calmlyas if it was like ordering a sandwich. "Sure."
"Not reallyto my tastes," Arpit said, shaking his head.
She smiled."I didn't think so. That's good for me. However, if you're attending filmpremieres or public events, sometimes it will be good for your profile to havesomeone on your arm."
"Agirl?"
"Yes, butmore specifically a public figure. Actress, musician, model, TV presenter. Wetend to steer clear of the reality TV crowd."
"So youarrange stuff like that?"
"Sure,"Shikha nodded. "Sometimes it's only for walking the carpet, get a fewpictures. Sometimes it's a real date. Occasionally it's a hookup."
"Holy shit.Talk about a different world."
"That's oneof the million reasons why I'm here, Arpit," She reminded him. "It'dprimarily business but I'm here to help you personally too. There's lots tolearn and I'm here to help. Now, back to the topic at hand. Getting you somesleep."
"Yeah."
"I'm gonnabe blunt here, Arpit. Sometimes it's the best way," She said, looking himin the eye. "Most people masturbate before they go to sleep. I take it youdo too?"
Arpit laughed,unable to hide the slight blush that hit his cheeks. "And I thought allthis was insane before."
"You'll getused to it. Incidentally, if I know this now then it means I won't be walkingin on you midway through."
"Okay, fairenough. Yeah, I usually do." His thought flitted to Tanmy and Trisha, theinspiration for many of his late night fantasies. He pushed those thoughtsaway, knowing that to think of that now was kinda fucked up.
"Okay. I'mmore of a shower girl myself," Shikha added, shrugging. "Fair's fair,so if you tell me, I'll tell you."
"That'sgonna mess with my head," Arpit said, grinning.
"You'll getover it," Shikha chuckled.
"You sure?In the last five minutes you've talked about me having erections, told me I'llsee you naked tons of times and told me how you play with yourself. You dorealise you're really hot, right?"
Shikha laughed."Oh, I know where this conversations headed, and I'm telling you, acceptright now that it's never going to happen, Arpit."
"What? Meand you?" The idea was tantalising, and maybe it was lack of sleep butArpit decided to throw caution to the wind. "I think it's a greatidea."
"It's nevergonna happen, Arpit," She said, smiling. "It never happened withMister Jhaveri, and it's not going to happen with you either. We won't havethat type of relationship."
Arpit chuckled."Well that's a bit depressing."
"Let me clarifysomething. You've seen your friends Vishal and Rohit naked, right?"
Arpit screwed uphis face. "Why did you have to put that thought in my head?"
Shikha chuckled."They're your friends, right? You sometimes see things with them, but itdoesn't make it a sexual thing. You don't actively look, but sometimes you seestuff. Sometimes you even joke about it, right?"
"Iguess."
"Well, thinkof me that way."
Arpit chuckled."You know you're a woman though, and they're guys, right?"
"As I said,you'll get used to it. We don't cross that line though, okay? I can't do my jobif things start getting weird... emotional, know what I mean?"
Arpit saw she wasbeing serious and met her gaze. "I hear what you're saying," He saidfinally. "There'll be moments, but if we talk about it now, then it won'tbe a big deal when it happens and we can just move on, right?"
"Prettymuch."
"You knowyou're hot though, right?" Arpit grinned.
"Oh, I knowit. I know at some point you'll get drunk and make a move on me too, and I'llhave to put you to your bed and mock you mercilessly for days about it. I knowat some point I might even get a bit smitten with you, but I'll get overit." She shrugged. "The gist of this conversation? You can talk to meabout anything. I'll help you out with whatever you want or need, nojudgements, but there's a line. Fair enough?"
Arpit frowned butnodded. "I guess so. This couldn't have been easy for you to bringup."
Shikha laughed."I've been planning this conversation in my head for two days."
"Did it goas planned?"
"Nowherenear it," She laughed. "But I think we're pretty clear on where westand, right?"
"Yeah,"Arpit nodded, actually feeling closer to her now as a result of it.
Shikha grinned."And you know that it's not an invite to just walk in on me when I'mshowering?"
Arpit chuckled."Well, the temptation will be there, but I'll restrain myself."
"Good,"She said. "Now try and get some sleep. And if you need some femalecompany, just let me know. There's a very good masseuse who works on theIsland, and she's certainly enthusiastic."
Arpit's eyeswidened. "You mean?"
"I mean shewas about to go into a career in porn because she's that enthusiastic."
"You'rekidding?"
"Nope."
"So that'swhy she works on the Island?" Arpit asked, his eyebrows raised.
"Actuallynot at all," Shikha replied.
"She's a first class massage therapistand a very good physio too. She just happens to have a very high sex drive andan open attitude about it."
"Sounds likethe perfect girlfriend," Arpit laughed.
"Maybe inyour old life," Shikha smiled. "Now you'll have to get someone morein line with your status. Once we get you in shape, of course."
"Oh yeah.The personal trainer," Arpit said, deliberately looking glum but kind ofrelieved to change the subject. He was all too aware that the conversation withShikha was creating a little tingly feeling, but the thought of her arranging acasual hookup for him with someone who might work for him made him more than alittle uncomfortable.
"When you'vegot a rippling six-pack and pecs that women drool over you can thank him."
Arpit shook hishead. "Shikha, you seem pretty sure I'm going to get plenty women. I knowthat Siddharth Jhaveri was pictured with all these different hotties all thetime, but I've never been successful in chasing girls."
He stood up,wanting to go outside to have a smoke. Shikha followed.
"Arpit,there's something you should understand about Mister Jhaveri," She said asthey walked back through the suite. "I only put this together a few daysago, but in all the time I knew him I never saw him fall in love with anyone.He would date these beautiful women, but only for a few weeks at a time andthen he'd withdraw. I don't think he liked letting people get close tohim."
Arpit sat on awooden armchair on the balcony and lit up, listening intently to Shikha talkabout the man, not the public figure.
"People likeAnupam or Mister Rawal became like brothers to him, and in some ways he treatedus, me and the other assistants, like his family, but he was always that bitwithdrawn, as if there was something he kept inside himself that no-one couldtouch."
"Okay."
"I think heloved his wife so much that after she died, when you and your sisters were born,it kind of broke him. I think he wouldn't allow himself to feel pain like thatagain, so he never allowed anyone to get close to him in an intimate way."
"Sounds likea shit way to live," Arpit said, meaning it.
"It soundslonely," Shikha replied. "The thing is, he acted like he wasn't. NowI just think it was all a front, but I'm sure inside he was miserable. It wouldcertainly explain why he was a workaholic."
Arpit sat for amoment thinking about that. "You know, he didn't need to give me up. OrTanmy and Trisha. He had the means to take care of us, and I get it. It must betough to lose your wife, but other people do it and carry on every day."
"Actually,at the time he didn't really have the means. He was up to his eyeballs in debtfor years, taking on as much as he could manage to grow the business as fast aspossible. He was in a real technology race and couldn't afford to fall behind,so really, he didn't have the means back then."
"He couldhave managed," Arpit said flatly.
"Maybe,"Shikha allowed. "The truth is we'll never know. You can find out a lot ofinformation and make educated guesses, but the only person who knew therationale behind everything was Siddharth."
"Isuppose," Arpit shrugged. "Hey, what did you mean earlier when yousaid someone more my status?"
"Oh,that." Shikha said, taking a seat. "I mean that you can't just turnup at a black-tie event with some girl who works in the local Mall and liveswith her parents."
"Why not?Lots of good people work in Mall," Arpit said, frowning.
"Becauseit's not what's expected of you. Because it's not someone you'll have much incommon with, and because there would be this enormous gulf between you. Youwouldn't be equals, or even in the same social circles."
"Different canbe good though."
"Don't getme wrong, I'm not looking down on people or being elitist when I say this,Arpit," Shikha explained. "Imagine a year from now what you'd have totalk about. She's just had a shit day at work because a customers kid peed in oneof the aisles and she had to clean it up. You just flew into town from HongKong on a private jet, dumped your stuff in a nearby mansion and met withGiorgio Armani for lunch."
Arpit frowned."It doesn't mean it couldn't happen though."
"No, it doesn't,"She agreed. "But it would take a special kind of woman not to beintimidated or out of her league holding her own in a conversation at a dinnerwith three movie stars and a couple of millionaires while the media dig intoher life for the latest exclusive scraps and scandal. No disrespect to thestaff at Mall or anyone else who works their ass off to put food on the table,but there aren't many people like that around."
"So what'smy options then?" Arpit asked out of frustration. "It's not that I'm lookingfor a girlfriend, by the way. I think my life's complicated enough rightnow."
Shikha chuckled."Yeah, I hear you. Okay, options. You can date athletes, actresses,musicians, socialites, anyone with the means to retire in their twenties,basically. Oh, and they have to be hot."
"Why?"Arpit blurted, not that he objected.
"That's asocial profile thing. People will expect you to be confident, on top of yourgame, so you date beautiful women. It makes you look powerful and it's good forbusiness."
I have accommodationthat I share with Bina, one of the other Executive Assistants. It's just to theleft as you go out the main house, but because of.... everything that's goingon, I'll be staying in your suite."
"You'rejoking," Arpit said, but from her expression he could see she was serious."And that's how I'm meant to live my life?"
"Arpit, isthere something wrong with dating someone beautiful, talented andsuccessful?" Shikha asked, an amused smile on her face.
Arpit shook hishead, finding this conversation a bit much. "I think I'm gettingirritable. I'm going to try and have that sleep now, I think."
"Goodidea," Shikha nodded. "I'll wake you in a few hours."
As Arpit strippedoff in the bedroom and slipped under the sheet he thought about what had happenedsince he got out of bed over twenty four hours ago. Adoption, inheritance, thecruel twist of fate when it came to his siblings, Shikha, where he was and whatwas else was happening to him. It was like watching a movie, he realised. Aseries of insane events happening to someone else.
His thoughtsdrifted back to Shikha. Arpit knew she was hot, and she knew he thought so. Hewondered what the hell that conversation was about, telling him she friggedherself in the shower. How the hell was he meant to sleep after that.
"Arpit."
"I'mawake," He blurted, feeling Shikha shaking his shoulder."Hello."
"Have a goodnap?"
"Uh..What?"
Arpit lookedaround, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he tried to focus. He rememberedwhere he was instantly, exactly where he was, what had happened and what wasabout to, but he felt like he'd only just nodded off.
"What timeis it?"
"It's one.You've slept for nearly six hours."
"Oh,balls," He muttered. "What time are they arriving?"
"You've gota couple of hours," Shikha grinned.
Arpit was lyingin the middle of the bed on his side and Shikha was sitting on the edge.
"I figuredit's time you woke up, had some lunch and then met with a few people beforeyour sisters arrive, so you need to get up and get in the shower, Arpit."
He rubbed at hiseyes and yawned. "Okay."
"I'vealready turned the shower on for you so you can walk right in. Towels are onthe rail." Shikha got up and walked away from the bed, her back to him."Move it, sleepyhead."
Arpit looked inthe doorway to the bathroom, the soft light in the oval white room coming fromthe floor. "Shikha, is the lighting in the bathroom from the floor, or aremy eyes screwed up?"
"Clever,isn't it?" She replied. "The white walls reflect the light to giveyou an even soft light. No harsh lights or shadows in your face."
"It'sweird," Arpit grunted. "I'm getting up now."
"Finally,"She chuckled.
Arpit slipped outthe bed, all too aware he was naked and Shikha was only six feet away, her backturned. He shook his head and walked into the bathroom, idly noting that therewas no door, just an arched gap in the wall. The glass shower cubicle lookedroomy and Arpit stepped inside and closed the door. As soon as it closed heblinked as the walls turned from clear to an opaque white.
The water wasn'tlike a normal shower, but came from a series of heads and vents, more like asteam clean than a blast of hot water, but it enveloped him in a foggy cloud ofwarm moisture that both cleaned and refreshed him at the same time.
"You in theshower now?"
"Yeah, theglass stopped being clear," Arpit called back. "Kinda freaky."He heard her heels click on the floor as she entered the bathroom.
"So here'swhat's happening," Shikha said.
"You're inhere while I'm showering?" Arpit said, chuckling. He grabbed a bottle ofshower gel and sniffed at it.
"You can'tsee me, I can't see you," Shikha pointed out. "It saves me shoutingfrom outside the room."
Arpit smiled andshook his head at the strangeness of it all. He squeezed out a dollop of geland began to soap up.
"When youget out the shower we'll have some lunch, and then Shraddha will join us. Trynot to get crabby with her."
"Is she thatannoying?" Arpit asked, soaping his chest and stomach.
"Sometimes,but keep that to yourself," Shikha replied. "Then we're off down tosee Pawan, the personal trainer. He'll start putting a program together foryou. After that we see the Doc, then back here to get changed."
"How manytimes a day do I need to get changed?" Arpit asked. "I seem to begoing through a weeks worth of clothes in the last twenty four hoursalone."
"You gotsomething against looking good?" Shikha laughed.
Arpit didn'treply. It was a bit weird soaping his balls up while he talked to her. Hepaused as he realised he could be standing here jerking off while she sat a fewfeet away and she'd be none the wiser.
"Sounds likethe perfect girlfriend," Arpit laughed.
"Maybe inyour old life," Shikha smiled. "Now you'll have to get someone morein line with your status. Once we get you in shape, of course."
"Oh yeah.The personal trainer," Arpit said, deliberately looking glum but kind ofrelieved to change the subject. He was all too aware that the conversation withShikha was creating a little tingly feeling, but the thought of her arranging acasual hookup for him with someone who might work for him made him more than alittle uncomfortable.
"When you'vegot a rippling six-pack and pecs that women drool over you can thank him."
Arpit shook hishead. "Shikha, you seem pretty sure I'm going to get plenty women. I knowthat Siddharth Jhaveri was pictured with all these different hotties all thetime, but I've never been successful in chasing girls."
He stood up,wanting to go outside to have a smoke. Shikha followed.
"Arpit,there's something you should understand about Mister Jhaveri," She said asthey walked back through the suite. "I only put this together a few daysago, but in all the time I knew him I never saw him fall in love with anyone.He would date these beautiful women, but only for a few weeks at a time andthen he'd withdraw. I don't think he liked letting people get close tohim."
Arpit sat on awooden armchair on the balcony and lit up, listening intently to Shikha talkabout the man, not the public figure.
"People likeAnupam or Mister Rawal became like brothers to him, and in some ways he treatedus, me and the other assistants, like his family, but he was always that bitwithdrawn, as if there was something he kept inside himself that no-one couldtouch."
"Okay."
"I think heloved his wife so much that after she died, when you and your sisters were born,it kind of broke him. I think he wouldn't allow himself to feel pain like thatagain, so he never allowed anyone to get close to him in an intimate way."
"Sounds likea shit way to live," Arpit said, meaning it.
"It soundslonely," Shikha replied. "The thing is, he acted like he wasn't. NowI just think it was all a front, but I'm sure inside he was miserable. It wouldcertainly explain why he was a workaholic."
Arpit sat for amoment thinking about that. "You know, he didn't need to give me up. OrTanmy and Trisha. He had the means to take care of us, and I get it. It must betough to lose your wife, but other people do it and carry on every day."
"Actually,at the time he didn't really have the means. He was up to his eyeballs in debtfor years, taking on as much as he could manage to grow the business as fast aspossible. He was in a real technology race and couldn't afford to fall behind,so really, he didn't have the means back then."
"He couldhave managed," Arpit said flatly.
"Maybe,"Shikha allowed. "The truth is we'll never know. You can find out a lot ofinformation and make educated guesses, but the only person who knew therationale behind everything was Siddharth."
"Isuppose," Arpit shrugged. "Hey, what did you mean earlier when yousaid someone more my status?"
"Oh,that." Shikha said, taking a seat. "I mean that you can't just turnup at a black-tie event with some girl who works in the local Mall and liveswith her parents."
"Why not?Lots of good people work in Mall," Arpit said, frowning.
"Becauseit's not what's expected of you. Because it's not someone you'll have much incommon with, and because there would be this enormous gulf between you. Youwouldn't be equals, or even in the same social circles."
"Different canbe good though."
"Don't getme wrong, I'm not looking down on people or being elitist when I say this,Arpit," Shikha explained. "Imagine a year from now what you'd have totalk about. She's just had a shit day at work because a customers kid peed in oneof the aisles and she had to clean it up. You just flew into town from HongKong on a private jet, dumped your stuff in a nearby mansion and met withGiorgio Armani for lunch."
Arpit frowned."It doesn't mean it couldn't happen though."
"No, it doesn't,"She agreed. "But it would take a special kind of woman not to beintimidated or out of her league holding her own in a conversation at a dinnerwith three movie stars and a couple of millionaires while the media dig intoher life for the latest exclusive scraps and scandal. No disrespect to thestaff at Mall or anyone else who works their ass off to put food on the table,but there aren't many people like that around."
"So what'smy options then?" Arpit asked out of frustration. "It's not that I'm lookingfor a girlfriend, by the way. I think my life's complicated enough rightnow."
Shikha chuckled."Yeah, I hear you. Okay, options. You can date athletes, actresses,musicians, socialites, anyone with the means to retire in their twenties,basically. Oh, and they have to be hot."
"Why?"Arpit blurted, not that he objected.
"That's asocial profile thing. People will expect you to be confident, on top of yourgame, so you date beautiful women. It makes you look powerful and it's good forbusiness."
I have accommodationthat I share with Bina, one of the other Executive Assistants. It's just to theleft as you go out the main house, but because of.... everything that's goingon, I'll be staying in your suite."
"You'rejoking," Arpit said, but from her expression he could see she was serious."And that's how I'm meant to live my life?"
"Arpit, isthere something wrong with dating someone beautiful, talented andsuccessful?" Shikha asked, an amused smile on her face.
Arpit shook hishead, finding this conversation a bit much. "I think I'm gettingirritable. I'm going to try and have that sleep now, I think."
"Goodidea," Shikha nodded. "I'll wake you in a few hours."
As Arpit strippedoff in the bedroom and slipped under the sheet he thought about what had happenedsince he got out of bed over twenty four hours ago. Adoption, inheritance, thecruel twist of fate when it came to his siblings, Shikha, where he was and whatwas else was happening to him. It was like watching a movie, he realised. Aseries of insane events happening to someone else.
His thoughtsdrifted back to Shikha. Arpit knew she was hot, and she knew he thought so. Hewondered what the hell that conversation was about, telling him she friggedherself in the shower. How the hell was he meant to sleep after that.
"Arpit."
"I'mawake," He blurted, feeling Shikha shaking his shoulder."Hello."
"Have a goodnap?"
"Uh..What?"
Arpit lookedaround, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he tried to focus. He rememberedwhere he was instantly, exactly where he was, what had happened and what wasabout to, but he felt like he'd only just nodded off.
"What timeis it?"
"It's one.You've slept for nearly six hours."
"Oh,balls," He muttered. "What time are they arriving?"
"You've gota couple of hours," Shikha grinned.
Arpit was lyingin the middle of the bed on his side and Shikha was sitting on the edge.
"I figuredit's time you woke up, had some lunch and then met with a few people beforeyour sisters arrive, so you need to get up and get in the shower, Arpit."
He rubbed at hiseyes and yawned. "Okay."
"I'vealready turned the shower on for you so you can walk right in. Towels are onthe rail." Shikha got up and walked away from the bed, her back to him."Move it, sleepyhead."
Arpit looked inthe doorway to the bathroom, the soft light in the oval white room coming fromthe floor. "Shikha, is the lighting in the bathroom from the floor, or aremy eyes screwed up?"
"Clever,isn't it?" She replied. "The white walls reflect the light to giveyou an even soft light. No harsh lights or shadows in your face."
"It'sweird," Arpit grunted. "I'm getting up now."
"Finally,"She chuckled.
Arpit slipped outthe bed, all too aware he was naked and Shikha was only six feet away, her backturned. He shook his head and walked into the bathroom, idly noting that therewas no door, just an arched gap in the wall. The glass shower cubicle lookedroomy and Arpit stepped inside and closed the door. As soon as it closed heblinked as the walls turned from clear to an opaque white.
The water wasn'tlike a normal shower, but came from a series of heads and vents, more like asteam clean than a blast of hot water, but it enveloped him in a foggy cloud ofwarm moisture that both cleaned and refreshed him at the same time.
"You in theshower now?"
"Yeah, theglass stopped being clear," Arpit called back. "Kinda freaky."He heard her heels click on the floor as she entered the bathroom.
"So here'swhat's happening," Shikha said.
"You're inhere while I'm showering?" Arpit said, chuckling. He grabbed a bottle ofshower gel and sniffed at it.
"You can'tsee me, I can't see you," Shikha pointed out. "It saves me shoutingfrom outside the room."
Arpit smiled andshook his head at the strangeness of it all. He squeezed out a dollop of geland began to soap up.
"When youget out the shower we'll have some lunch, and then Shraddha will join us. Trynot to get crabby with her."
"Is she thatannoying?" Arpit asked, soaping his chest and stomach.
"Sometimes,but keep that to yourself," Shikha replied. "Then we're off down tosee Pawan, the personal trainer. He'll start putting a program together foryou. After that we see the Doc, then back here to get changed."
"How manytimes a day do I need to get changed?" Arpit asked. "I seem to begoing through a weeks worth of clothes in the last twenty four hoursalone."
"You gotsomething against looking good?" Shikha laughed.
Arpit didn'treply. It was a bit weird soaping his balls up while he talked to her. Hepaused as he realised he could be standing here jerking off while she sat a fewfeet away and she'd be none the wiser.
His cock gave a slight lurch in responseto the idea, but he shook his head and moved on.
"So after Iget changed? What then?"
"You go tomeet your sisters, Arpit."
"Fuck,"he muttered.
"Nervous?"
"Terrified,"He admitted. "Looking forward to it, but also shit scared, if you knowwhat I mean?"
"Yeah, Ido," Shikha replied. "You done in there yet?"
"Justabout." Arpit began to rinse off all the gel, feeling a lot more awakethan he was before.
"Cool. I'llstep out so you can get dried. There's some shorts and a top on the bed foryou."
"You'repicking out my clothes for me too?" He laughed.
"Justkeeping you moving," Shikha called from outside the bathroom.
Arpit cracked thedoor open on the shower cubicle, blinking again as the white glass suddenlyturned clear, but he could see Shikha wasn't in the room anymore, so he grabbeda towel and dried off.
Wrapping itaround his waist he stepped into the bedroom, spotting a baggy pair of darkblue shorts and a dark green sleeveless t-shirt on the bed. He got dressedquickly and walked around the suite, looking for Shikha.
He found hersitting on the balcony, a low table in front of her with half a dozen differentplates of food on it.
"The chefwasn't sure what you'd like for lunch, so he made you up a few platters withdifferent stuff," She explained.
Arpit sat down andlooked at the dishes. "Wow."
Shikha smiled."Yeah, Chef's fantastic."
Arpit could seefour or five different types of fish, lobster and prawns. There was chicken,steak, a pate of some sort on crumbly biscuits, different breads, vegetablesand fruit, as well as several sauces, dips and garnishes.
"There'senough here for ten people," Arpit noted, grabbing a prawn. "Oh mygod, that's delicious."
"I'mallergic to prawns or I would try it myself," Shikha replied, putting apiece of seared tuna and some salad on a plate. She drizzled a dressing overit, then leaned back with a fork to eat.
Arpit knew it wasuncultured, poor etiquette and not a particularly good display of manners, buthe simply pulled his chair closer to the table and got stuck in with his fork.
After a fewminutes picking at different dishes Shikha reminded him not to overdo it as hewas getting fitted for a suit and meeting with the trainer, so Arpit made a sadface and put his fork down. Any punchlines he could have made were stopped bythe arrival of Shraddha, a heavy older woman with a stern expression.
"You wouldbe Arpit," She said, looking him up and down like a piece of meat that hadgone mouldy. "Hmmm."
"You must beShraddha," He guessed.
"Who elsewould I be?" She asked, looking at him as if he was dumb. "Standup."
Arpit looked atShikha who had a slightly amused look on her face, obviously having dealt withShraddha before. He stood and moved away from the chair.
"Arms up.Feet apart." Arpit did as she ordered.
"Hmmm. Youneed to get him in shape, Shikha," Shraddha stated, scowling.
"We'reseeing Pawan right after you."
"Can'thappen soon enough," She muttered. Shraddha produced a measuring tape fromher pocket and began to poke and prod at Arpit, occasionally takingmeasurements and sighing in exasperation when he didn't lift his arms or turnaround quick enough.
"Make surePawan recommends injections, Shikha."
"Injections?"Arpit asked. "What do I need injections for?"
Shraddha lookedhim straight in the eye. "Because you're in a pitiful condition and mywork will be impossible unless every possible step is taken. Just do as you'retold."
"Excuseme!" Arpit blurted. "I don't like your tone, Shraddha."
"I imaginethere's lots of things in life you don't like," The old woman replied."Now, can you stop talking so I can get finished up and do my job?"
"Jesusfucking Christ," Arpit muttererd.
"Shraddha,"Shikha said, standing at her shoulder now. "I think you're done. Arpit hasanother appointment now."
"Two moremeasurements," She replied, ignoring Shikha's words. "I'll tell youwhen I'm done."
At that shedropped to her knees and Arpit felt a hand at his groin, probing and searchingfor his genitals. He stepped back quickly.
"What thefuck are you doing?"
Shraddha lookedup at him. "Have you never been fitted for trousers before, young man? Ineed to know what side you dress to and how much room I need to allow. Nowstand still."
Arpit looked atShikha who was trying not to laugh. "This isn't funny," He mutteredas he stood there, trying not to think about the annoying woman cupping hisballs.
"Hmmm. Youdress to the right then?"
"Yeah,"Arpit grunted.
"You shouldhave just said so," Shraddha replied, sighing as she measured his insideleg.
"You didn'tgive me the chance."
"Whatever,"Shraddha said, getting to her feet. "I'm done. I'll be back tomorrow for afitting. I'll need forty minutes."
"I'll letyou know," Shikha replied. "Shraddha, can you go and select an outfitfor Arpit to wear when he meets his sisters please."
The old womansniffed, then cast her eyes up and down Arpit again. "Very well."
As soon as sheleft Arpit lit a cigarette. "I see why her reputation proceeds her."
Shikha chuckled."Wait until you see the suit she'll put together for you though."
Arpit put on themock sad face. "Still, I feel violated."
"You'll getover it," Shikha said. "Come on. We need to go see Pawan now."
Pawan turned outto be much nicer than Shraddha. Inanely cheerful and almost overdosing onenthusiasm, he bounced around full of energy and Arpit found it upliftingtalking with him. He'd been working on the Island for three years now, havinghad a chunk shot out his buttock during military service in Afghanistan. Whilethe Army had patched him up, he was left with a decidedly odd-looking ass, sowhen he was raising money for surgery to fix it, he came to the attention ofSiddharth Jhaveri.
"MisterJhaveri paid for the surgery, then my qualifications as a trainer, and then hehired me to work here with the staff. I've been here for nearly three yearsnow. Man, it's an awesome place to be."
"It seemsit," Arpit had agreed.
After Pawan had alook at him, he had pulled out a rapid tone-up plan that would require Arpit tohave three workouts per day, a special diet and he finally found out about theinjections.
The first was abooster to his metabolism, enabling a rapid burn-off of his body fat. The secondwas a little more unusual. One of the pharmaceutical research companies ownedby Siddharth Jhaveri had come up with a muscle-repair serum that enabled tornor injured muscles to repair themselves at a rapidly accelerated rate. It wasdesigned with injured troops in mind, allowing those with minor injuries toreturn to the front line much quicker, and those with major injuries to repairand heal faster too. Part of it's design also assisted the extraction ofprotein from his diet, which helped to build more muscle. It was classified andnot publicly available, being restricted to the military for the time being,but it had also been tested with a number of body builders and the results werephenomenal. Arpit was concerned that it was some form of anabilic steroid buthe was assured by Pawan that it was 'all cool'.
Then they wereoff to meet the Islands resident physician, Doctor Kapoor. The doctor was inher late thirties, with short and tidy red hair, but her cheeks were flushed,as if she was having trouble with the heat.
While she gaveArpit a physical examination, he asked her about the injections that Pawan hadrecommended. To his surprise she seemed perfectly fine with it, as long as heagreed that they lasted no more than two weeks. She also informed him that heneeded a Tetanis booster, and he should probably have a contraceptiveinjection.
"Awhat?" Arpit asked.
"It's ahormonal contraceptive injection for men," She had shrugged. "Shortterm, only lasts for a month or so and then things are back to normal a fewweeks later, but it stops the production of sperm. Given the injections you'realready getting, the enhanced endorphins from the exercise and a sudden boostin confidence that you're likely to receive, it's almost certain that your libidowill sky-rocket."
"Mylibido?" Arpit asked. "Right now it's at absolute zero."
"Oh well.That'll change."
"You seemreally sure of that, Doc," Arpit pointed out.
"Arpit, I'mvery good at my job. Everyone here on the Island is," She explained. "I'mrecommending you have this injection, because it's the smart thing to do, andit certainly won't do any harm. Now, are you planning on having any babies inthe next eight weeks?"
"What?No."
"Then what'sthe big deal. Take the injection." She shrugged and disappeared into aside room.
"Fuckinghell," Arpit muttered, realising that no matter what had happened in thelast thirtysix hours, things just kept getting crazier. "Shikha!" Heshouted.
The door opened."Yeah?"
"The Doc'ssaying I should have a contraceptive injection."
"Go forit," Shikha said, shrugging as if it was a no-brainer. "What's theproblem?"
"I'm...."
"Arpit,women have been taking the pill for years. Now they get injections, or thesenew implant things too. If you ask me, it's about time men took theirturn." At that she grinned and closed the door.
Doctor Kapoorre-appeared, a small tray with four needles on it. "Yes or no,Arpit?"
He closed hiseyes, sighed and reminded himself it was only temporary. "Okay."
"Drop yourshorts and turn around," The doctor told him, taking a seat on a chairbeside him.
With a slightflush, Arpit did as requested and felt her rubbing at his buttock with anantiseptic wipe.
"You shouldfeel a small prick," Doctor Kapoor warned him. "Probably notsomething a lot of guys want to hear when it comes to something going in theirass, is it?"
Arpit chuckled,then flinched as she chose that moment to stick the needle in him."Sneaky, doc."
"Only forthe first one.".
Arpit felt theprocess repeated on his other buttock a moment later, although this time hefelt heat in the muscle as the fluid entered his system.
"So after Iget changed? What then?"
"You go tomeet your sisters, Arpit."
"Fuck,"he muttered.
"Nervous?"
"Terrified,"He admitted. "Looking forward to it, but also shit scared, if you knowwhat I mean?"
"Yeah, Ido," Shikha replied. "You done in there yet?"
"Justabout." Arpit began to rinse off all the gel, feeling a lot more awakethan he was before.
"Cool. I'llstep out so you can get dried. There's some shorts and a top on the bed foryou."
"You'repicking out my clothes for me too?" He laughed.
"Justkeeping you moving," Shikha called from outside the bathroom.
Arpit cracked thedoor open on the shower cubicle, blinking again as the white glass suddenlyturned clear, but he could see Shikha wasn't in the room anymore, so he grabbeda towel and dried off.
Wrapping itaround his waist he stepped into the bedroom, spotting a baggy pair of darkblue shorts and a dark green sleeveless t-shirt on the bed. He got dressedquickly and walked around the suite, looking for Shikha.
He found hersitting on the balcony, a low table in front of her with half a dozen differentplates of food on it.
"The chefwasn't sure what you'd like for lunch, so he made you up a few platters withdifferent stuff," She explained.
Arpit sat down andlooked at the dishes. "Wow."
Shikha smiled."Yeah, Chef's fantastic."
Arpit could seefour or five different types of fish, lobster and prawns. There was chicken,steak, a pate of some sort on crumbly biscuits, different breads, vegetablesand fruit, as well as several sauces, dips and garnishes.
"There'senough here for ten people," Arpit noted, grabbing a prawn. "Oh mygod, that's delicious."
"I'mallergic to prawns or I would try it myself," Shikha replied, putting apiece of seared tuna and some salad on a plate. She drizzled a dressing overit, then leaned back with a fork to eat.
Arpit knew it wasuncultured, poor etiquette and not a particularly good display of manners, buthe simply pulled his chair closer to the table and got stuck in with his fork.
After a fewminutes picking at different dishes Shikha reminded him not to overdo it as hewas getting fitted for a suit and meeting with the trainer, so Arpit made a sadface and put his fork down. Any punchlines he could have made were stopped bythe arrival of Shraddha, a heavy older woman with a stern expression.
"You wouldbe Arpit," She said, looking him up and down like a piece of meat that hadgone mouldy. "Hmmm."
"You must beShraddha," He guessed.
"Who elsewould I be?" She asked, looking at him as if he was dumb. "Standup."
Arpit looked atShikha who had a slightly amused look on her face, obviously having dealt withShraddha before. He stood and moved away from the chair.
"Arms up.Feet apart." Arpit did as she ordered.
"Hmmm. Youneed to get him in shape, Shikha," Shraddha stated, scowling.
"We'reseeing Pawan right after you."
"Can'thappen soon enough," She muttered. Shraddha produced a measuring tape fromher pocket and began to poke and prod at Arpit, occasionally takingmeasurements and sighing in exasperation when he didn't lift his arms or turnaround quick enough.
"Make surePawan recommends injections, Shikha."
"Injections?"Arpit asked. "What do I need injections for?"
Shraddha lookedhim straight in the eye. "Because you're in a pitiful condition and mywork will be impossible unless every possible step is taken. Just do as you'retold."
"Excuseme!" Arpit blurted. "I don't like your tone, Shraddha."
"I imaginethere's lots of things in life you don't like," The old woman replied."Now, can you stop talking so I can get finished up and do my job?"
"Jesusfucking Christ," Arpit muttererd.
"Shraddha,"Shikha said, standing at her shoulder now. "I think you're done. Arpit hasanother appointment now."
"Two moremeasurements," She replied, ignoring Shikha's words. "I'll tell youwhen I'm done."
At that shedropped to her knees and Arpit felt a hand at his groin, probing and searchingfor his genitals. He stepped back quickly.
"What thefuck are you doing?"
Shraddha lookedup at him. "Have you never been fitted for trousers before, young man? Ineed to know what side you dress to and how much room I need to allow. Nowstand still."
Arpit looked atShikha who was trying not to laugh. "This isn't funny," He mutteredas he stood there, trying not to think about the annoying woman cupping hisballs.
"Hmmm. Youdress to the right then?"
"Yeah,"Arpit grunted.
"You shouldhave just said so," Shraddha replied, sighing as she measured his insideleg.
"You didn'tgive me the chance."
"Whatever,"Shraddha said, getting to her feet. "I'm done. I'll be back tomorrow for afitting. I'll need forty minutes."
"I'll letyou know," Shikha replied. "Shraddha, can you go and select an outfitfor Arpit to wear when he meets his sisters please."
The old womansniffed, then cast her eyes up and down Arpit again. "Very well."
As soon as sheleft Arpit lit a cigarette. "I see why her reputation proceeds her."
Shikha chuckled."Wait until you see the suit she'll put together for you though."
Arpit put on themock sad face. "Still, I feel violated."
"You'll getover it," Shikha said. "Come on. We need to go see Pawan now."
Pawan turned outto be much nicer than Shraddha. Inanely cheerful and almost overdosing onenthusiasm, he bounced around full of energy and Arpit found it upliftingtalking with him. He'd been working on the Island for three years now, havinghad a chunk shot out his buttock during military service in Afghanistan. Whilethe Army had patched him up, he was left with a decidedly odd-looking ass, sowhen he was raising money for surgery to fix it, he came to the attention ofSiddharth Jhaveri.
"MisterJhaveri paid for the surgery, then my qualifications as a trainer, and then hehired me to work here with the staff. I've been here for nearly three yearsnow. Man, it's an awesome place to be."
"It seemsit," Arpit had agreed.
After Pawan had alook at him, he had pulled out a rapid tone-up plan that would require Arpit tohave three workouts per day, a special diet and he finally found out about theinjections.
The first was abooster to his metabolism, enabling a rapid burn-off of his body fat. The secondwas a little more unusual. One of the pharmaceutical research companies ownedby Siddharth Jhaveri had come up with a muscle-repair serum that enabled tornor injured muscles to repair themselves at a rapidly accelerated rate. It wasdesigned with injured troops in mind, allowing those with minor injuries toreturn to the front line much quicker, and those with major injuries to repairand heal faster too. Part of it's design also assisted the extraction ofprotein from his diet, which helped to build more muscle. It was classified andnot publicly available, being restricted to the military for the time being,but it had also been tested with a number of body builders and the results werephenomenal. Arpit was concerned that it was some form of anabilic steroid buthe was assured by Pawan that it was 'all cool'.
Then they wereoff to meet the Islands resident physician, Doctor Kapoor. The doctor was inher late thirties, with short and tidy red hair, but her cheeks were flushed,as if she was having trouble with the heat.
While she gaveArpit a physical examination, he asked her about the injections that Pawan hadrecommended. To his surprise she seemed perfectly fine with it, as long as heagreed that they lasted no more than two weeks. She also informed him that heneeded a Tetanis booster, and he should probably have a contraceptiveinjection.
"Awhat?" Arpit asked.
"It's ahormonal contraceptive injection for men," She had shrugged. "Shortterm, only lasts for a month or so and then things are back to normal a fewweeks later, but it stops the production of sperm. Given the injections you'realready getting, the enhanced endorphins from the exercise and a sudden boostin confidence that you're likely to receive, it's almost certain that your libidowill sky-rocket."
"Mylibido?" Arpit asked. "Right now it's at absolute zero."
"Oh well.That'll change."
"You seemreally sure of that, Doc," Arpit pointed out.
"Arpit, I'mvery good at my job. Everyone here on the Island is," She explained. "I'mrecommending you have this injection, because it's the smart thing to do, andit certainly won't do any harm. Now, are you planning on having any babies inthe next eight weeks?"
"What?No."
"Then what'sthe big deal. Take the injection." She shrugged and disappeared into aside room.
"Fuckinghell," Arpit muttered, realising that no matter what had happened in thelast thirtysix hours, things just kept getting crazier. "Shikha!" Heshouted.
The door opened."Yeah?"
"The Doc'ssaying I should have a contraceptive injection."
"Go forit," Shikha said, shrugging as if it was a no-brainer. "What's theproblem?"
"I'm...."
"Arpit,women have been taking the pill for years. Now they get injections, or thesenew implant things too. If you ask me, it's about time men took theirturn." At that she grinned and closed the door.
Doctor Kapoorre-appeared, a small tray with four needles on it. "Yes or no,Arpit?"
He closed hiseyes, sighed and reminded himself it was only temporary. "Okay."
"Drop yourshorts and turn around," The doctor told him, taking a seat on a chairbeside him.
With a slightflush, Arpit did as requested and felt her rubbing at his buttock with anantiseptic wipe.
"You shouldfeel a small prick," Doctor Kapoor warned him. "Probably notsomething a lot of guys want to hear when it comes to something going in theirass, is it?"
Arpit chuckled,then flinched as she chose that moment to stick the needle in him."Sneaky, doc."
"Only forthe first one.".
Arpit felt theprocess repeated on his other buttock a moment later, although this time hefelt heat in the muscle as the fluid entered his system.
"Right, turnaround."
"With myshorts still down?" He confirmed, feeling a little uncomfortable at havinghis genitals right in her face.
"Yep."
Arpit took abreath and turned around, carefully examining the wall on the other side of theroom in detail. He felt her pinch the skin a couple of inches below his bellybutton.
"Try andstay still, Arpit," she said as she slid the needle in.
Arpit frowned,really feeling that one. It seemed like it was in for ages and felt reallyuncomfortable. As soon as it was withdrawn he tensed his stomach muscles up,tilting his pelvis to try and relieve the discomfort. As he looked down he sawDoctor Kapoor chuckle.
"Trying tomake the little man dance?" She asked, teasing him.
"I swear,you're the strangest doctor I've ever met," Arpit replied, trying to makea joke, despite the discomfort and the awkwardness.
"I have mymoments," She replied, lifting the last needle from the tray. "Youknow where this one goes, right?"
"Noidea," Arpit shrugged, then realised what it must be. "Oh,Jesus."
"Just relax.Would you prefer to lie down?"
Arpit just wantedit over and done with. "No, as long as I don't have to look."
"There's aneyechart on the wall behind me for that very purpose."
Arpit looked atit, concentrating on reading the letters to himself. He tensed as the Doctortouched his penis, gripping it between finger and thumb and he felt her pull itupwards.
"Try to pushyour testicles towards me, Arpit," The Doctor said, sounding all business.
He tilted hiships again, feeling utterly exposed, but reminding himself it must be nothingin comparison to getting a smear or giving birth. "Man up, Arpit," hemuttered, then it was all he could do not to move at all as he felt the needleslide in just below the base of his penis.
It tingled likecrazy when the injection went in, like being tickled on the inside of yourballs by feathers and he tried hard not to squirm. It was like instant reliefwhen the needle came out and he could move around, and without consciousthought he turned and scratched furiously at his genitals, trying to relievethe tingle.
"I swear,every guy does that the instant the injections done," The doctor said,sounding like she was about to burst out laughing. "Now, you'll want tomasturbate a couple of times in the next twelve hours to empty the good spermout your testicles and then that'll be you sorted."
"Thanks, Ithink."
"Noproblem," She shrugged. "You can get dressed now, Arpit."
"Oh, shit.Yeah, of course." He grabbed his shorts and pulled them back up, sortinghis top back into place. "Is that us done then, Doctor?"
"Yeah. I'llwant to see you again in a couple of days to check how the program is going. Ifyou have any trouble sleeping or are feeling particularly stressed, come andsee me anytime. I can give you medication to help, or just a confidential earif that's all you need."
"Thanks,Doc," Arpit said, shaking her hand.
"How did itgo?" Shikha asked as they walked out the clinic.
"Um...interesting injection for the male contraceptive," Arpit repliedcarefully.
"Where aboutdid it go in?"
"Under my err...penis," Arpit said flatly. "Felt really fucking weird."
"Oh.Ouch." Arpit could see the sympathy on her face.
"Oh, andapparently I've to masturbate a couple of times in the next twelve hours to getrid of my good sperm." Arpit shook his head at the insanity of thepersonal information he was telling Shikha, a relative stranger.
Shikha chuckled."On doctors orders too? They should give you a note for that."
Arpit laughed."Or at least a special lubricant or something."
"You canalways go back and ask for one," She suggested.
"And riskgetting another needle stuck in me? No, I'll pass on that one, thanks."
It only took afew minutes to walk from the clinic to the salon, so Arpit had a cigarettewhile they followed the path. It was the first time he'd been to the east sideof the Island and he loved the flowers and bushes between the palm trees, themixture of fragrances and fresh air being so much better than the city he wasused to.
As they walkedShikha pointed out various paths leading to the helipad, the recording studios,guest and staff accommodation and the main security office. The time passedquickly and all too soon they were entering the salon.
There were threestylists who worked in bright open space. The Senior Stylist was a short Indianman with a bright purple mohawk. Both his arms were covered in tattoos, andShikha introduced him as Ketan. Working with him was Betty, a short petiteblonde who seemed to have trouble meeting his gaze and Alex, a tall bald manwith a razor-thin goatee.
The three of themset to work, with Ketan taking position behind Arpit in the chair, doling outorders and cutting his hair with rapid movements. Arpit thought it was likewatching the team dealing with a trauma on ER. Ketan kept asking for thingsArpit had never heard of and everyone moved very quickly.
While the teamgot on with his hair, Shikha moved into view.
"Want me torun through the schedule for the rest of the day, Arpit?"
I haveaccommodation that I share with Bina, one of the other Executive Assistants.It's just to the left as you go out the main house, but because of....everything that's going on, I'll be staying in your suite."
"Sure."
"Well, afterthis we go back to the suite. You get changed and we go to the dock to meetTanmy and Trisha."
Arpit swallowednervously, feeling the nerves rise again in his stomach suddenly.
Shikha leanedforward and looked him in the eye. "It'll be fine. Now, immediately afterthey get off the boat, the three of you are meeting with Mister Rawal to havethe will read to you. That's probably going to take a while by the time he runsthrough it all with you."
"Okay. Notlooking forward to that, but okay."
"After thatit's dinner, a few drinks, time for you guys to chat and get to know eachother. I'll be around too if you have any questions, or if you just need totalk."
"Thanks,"Arpit replied. He would have nodded, but Ketan was doing something around hisear with a very sharp pair of scissors. "That's it for the night?"
"Yeah, butyou should remember you have an early start tomorrow with Pawan." Shikhagrinned at him as his face fell. "Six o'clock sharp."
"Oh,balls." Arpit rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll give it a go, see how Iget on, but if that guys a sadist then I'm out of there."
"Don'tworry, Pawan's cool." Shikha flipped open her phone, tapping away at it toget whatever information she was after. "Let's see. After that you've gotbreakfast with your sisters, then a business briefing for two hours, then ameeting with a Security Consultant."
"Ah, crazyMister Jadeja?" Ketan said suddenly, breaking into a broad grin.
"Yeah,"Shikha nodded, then looked back at Arpit. "Ajay Jadeja is a CloseProtection specialist, runs his own bodyguard team and he's a guest on theisland just now while he recovers from injuries."
"What kindof injuries?"
"Gunshotwound to the right leg. Did you hear about Sir Richard Branson's Island? Had a bigfire on it a while back?"
Arpit frowned,remembering seeing headlines about it on the net. "Something about KateWinslet rescuing his mom?"
"That'sit," Shikha nodded. "Well, Jadeja is a friend of Kate's. He's donesome work for her in the past and is tight with her family, so he was out thereon vacation with them, as guests of Richard Branson."
"And therewas a fire?"
"There wasan attempted kidnapping."
"Holyshit," Arpit muttered. "So the fire was just a story then?"
Shikha rolled hereyes. "Stop jumping ahead of the story, Arpit. This team of criminals goton the island in the middle of the night, set off some alarms, and RichardBranson escaped on this mini-scuba submarine thing he's got."
"That'sgood."
"Well, notreally," Shikha frowned. "He left everyone else to the criminals,including his mother, Kate Winslet and her kids and twenty three other people.Including Ajay Jadeja."
"So he tookthem out?"
She nodded."Not without cost though. He had to set fire to the main building as adiversion, and when he was taking the kidnappers out, he got badly beaten andtook a bullet to the leg in the process, but he did it."
"Wow. Soundslike Rambo or something."
"I know. SoBranson comes back at lunchtime the next day from where he's been hiding in acave, and by that time there's Police and extra Security all over the place.His media people have already put the story out about a lightning strikecausing a fire, and this whole thing about Kate Winslet rescuing Bransonsmother."
"So why is AjayJadeja here instead of on Bransons Island recovering?" Arpit asked."Did they fall out?"
"Yeah.Branson made this big song and dance in front of all his staff about how Jadejawas a hero and he would be getting all his medical bills picked up, as well asa large bonus for protecting his family. Jadeja called him a cowardly bitch infront of everyone and told him he'd rather shove wasps up his own ass thanaccept a penny from a piece of shit like him."
"He reallysaid that?"
"Yeah.That's from three different people who were there," Shikha said firmly."Of course, as soon as Mister Jhaveri heard about it, he had Jadejawhipped off to the best medical staff, then brought him here to recover. MisterJhaveri even flew in Jadejas mother and nephew for a couple of weeks too."
"Can Iask," Arpit said, hesitating for a minute. "Surely Richard Bransonescaping was a good thing, right? I mean, if he wasn't there, then thekidnappers wouldn't have their target. Isn't that what he was supposed to do?"
It took anotherten minutes before he left the salon, and Arpit had to admit, his hair lookedawesome. They'd left the stubble on his face but trimmed it to a uniformlength, and while he thought it sounded a bit Sandip Michael, it didn't lookit.
Shikha hustledhim up to his suite and bluntly ordered him to get dressed.
"With myshorts still down?" He confirmed, feeling a little uncomfortable at havinghis genitals right in her face.
"Yep."
Arpit took abreath and turned around, carefully examining the wall on the other side of theroom in detail. He felt her pinch the skin a couple of inches below his bellybutton.
"Try andstay still, Arpit," she said as she slid the needle in.
Arpit frowned,really feeling that one. It seemed like it was in for ages and felt reallyuncomfortable. As soon as it was withdrawn he tensed his stomach muscles up,tilting his pelvis to try and relieve the discomfort. As he looked down he sawDoctor Kapoor chuckle.
"Trying tomake the little man dance?" She asked, teasing him.
"I swear,you're the strangest doctor I've ever met," Arpit replied, trying to makea joke, despite the discomfort and the awkwardness.
"I have mymoments," She replied, lifting the last needle from the tray. "Youknow where this one goes, right?"
"Noidea," Arpit shrugged, then realised what it must be. "Oh,Jesus."
"Just relax.Would you prefer to lie down?"
Arpit just wantedit over and done with. "No, as long as I don't have to look."
"There's aneyechart on the wall behind me for that very purpose."
Arpit looked atit, concentrating on reading the letters to himself. He tensed as the Doctortouched his penis, gripping it between finger and thumb and he felt her pull itupwards.
"Try to pushyour testicles towards me, Arpit," The Doctor said, sounding all business.
He tilted hiships again, feeling utterly exposed, but reminding himself it must be nothingin comparison to getting a smear or giving birth. "Man up, Arpit," hemuttered, then it was all he could do not to move at all as he felt the needleslide in just below the base of his penis.
It tingled likecrazy when the injection went in, like being tickled on the inside of yourballs by feathers and he tried hard not to squirm. It was like instant reliefwhen the needle came out and he could move around, and without consciousthought he turned and scratched furiously at his genitals, trying to relievethe tingle.
"I swear,every guy does that the instant the injections done," The doctor said,sounding like she was about to burst out laughing. "Now, you'll want tomasturbate a couple of times in the next twelve hours to empty the good spermout your testicles and then that'll be you sorted."
"Thanks, Ithink."
"Noproblem," She shrugged. "You can get dressed now, Arpit."
"Oh, shit.Yeah, of course." He grabbed his shorts and pulled them back up, sortinghis top back into place. "Is that us done then, Doctor?"
"Yeah. I'llwant to see you again in a couple of days to check how the program is going. Ifyou have any trouble sleeping or are feeling particularly stressed, come andsee me anytime. I can give you medication to help, or just a confidential earif that's all you need."
"Thanks,Doc," Arpit said, shaking her hand.
"How did itgo?" Shikha asked as they walked out the clinic.
"Um...interesting injection for the male contraceptive," Arpit repliedcarefully.
"Where aboutdid it go in?"
"Under my err...penis," Arpit said flatly. "Felt really fucking weird."
"Oh.Ouch." Arpit could see the sympathy on her face.
"Oh, andapparently I've to masturbate a couple of times in the next twelve hours to getrid of my good sperm." Arpit shook his head at the insanity of thepersonal information he was telling Shikha, a relative stranger.
Shikha chuckled."On doctors orders too? They should give you a note for that."
Arpit laughed."Or at least a special lubricant or something."
"You canalways go back and ask for one," She suggested.
"And riskgetting another needle stuck in me? No, I'll pass on that one, thanks."
It only took afew minutes to walk from the clinic to the salon, so Arpit had a cigarettewhile they followed the path. It was the first time he'd been to the east sideof the Island and he loved the flowers and bushes between the palm trees, themixture of fragrances and fresh air being so much better than the city he wasused to.
As they walkedShikha pointed out various paths leading to the helipad, the recording studios,guest and staff accommodation and the main security office. The time passedquickly and all too soon they were entering the salon.
There were threestylists who worked in bright open space. The Senior Stylist was a short Indianman with a bright purple mohawk. Both his arms were covered in tattoos, andShikha introduced him as Ketan. Working with him was Betty, a short petiteblonde who seemed to have trouble meeting his gaze and Alex, a tall bald manwith a razor-thin goatee.
The three of themset to work, with Ketan taking position behind Arpit in the chair, doling outorders and cutting his hair with rapid movements. Arpit thought it was likewatching the team dealing with a trauma on ER. Ketan kept asking for thingsArpit had never heard of and everyone moved very quickly.
While the teamgot on with his hair, Shikha moved into view.
"Want me torun through the schedule for the rest of the day, Arpit?"
I haveaccommodation that I share with Bina, one of the other Executive Assistants.It's just to the left as you go out the main house, but because of....everything that's going on, I'll be staying in your suite."
"Sure."
"Well, afterthis we go back to the suite. You get changed and we go to the dock to meetTanmy and Trisha."
Arpit swallowednervously, feeling the nerves rise again in his stomach suddenly.
Shikha leanedforward and looked him in the eye. "It'll be fine. Now, immediately afterthey get off the boat, the three of you are meeting with Mister Rawal to havethe will read to you. That's probably going to take a while by the time he runsthrough it all with you."
"Okay. Notlooking forward to that, but okay."
"After thatit's dinner, a few drinks, time for you guys to chat and get to know eachother. I'll be around too if you have any questions, or if you just need totalk."
"Thanks,"Arpit replied. He would have nodded, but Ketan was doing something around hisear with a very sharp pair of scissors. "That's it for the night?"
"Yeah, butyou should remember you have an early start tomorrow with Pawan." Shikhagrinned at him as his face fell. "Six o'clock sharp."
"Oh,balls." Arpit rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll give it a go, see how Iget on, but if that guys a sadist then I'm out of there."
"Don'tworry, Pawan's cool." Shikha flipped open her phone, tapping away at it toget whatever information she was after. "Let's see. After that you've gotbreakfast with your sisters, then a business briefing for two hours, then ameeting with a Security Consultant."
"Ah, crazyMister Jadeja?" Ketan said suddenly, breaking into a broad grin.
"Yeah,"Shikha nodded, then looked back at Arpit. "Ajay Jadeja is a CloseProtection specialist, runs his own bodyguard team and he's a guest on theisland just now while he recovers from injuries."
"What kindof injuries?"
"Gunshotwound to the right leg. Did you hear about Sir Richard Branson's Island? Had a bigfire on it a while back?"
Arpit frowned,remembering seeing headlines about it on the net. "Something about KateWinslet rescuing his mom?"
"That'sit," Shikha nodded. "Well, Jadeja is a friend of Kate's. He's donesome work for her in the past and is tight with her family, so he was out thereon vacation with them, as guests of Richard Branson."
"And therewas a fire?"
"There wasan attempted kidnapping."
"Holyshit," Arpit muttered. "So the fire was just a story then?"
Shikha rolled hereyes. "Stop jumping ahead of the story, Arpit. This team of criminals goton the island in the middle of the night, set off some alarms, and RichardBranson escaped on this mini-scuba submarine thing he's got."
"That'sgood."
"Well, notreally," Shikha frowned. "He left everyone else to the criminals,including his mother, Kate Winslet and her kids and twenty three other people.Including Ajay Jadeja."
"So he tookthem out?"
She nodded."Not without cost though. He had to set fire to the main building as adiversion, and when he was taking the kidnappers out, he got badly beaten andtook a bullet to the leg in the process, but he did it."
"Wow. Soundslike Rambo or something."
"I know. SoBranson comes back at lunchtime the next day from where he's been hiding in acave, and by that time there's Police and extra Security all over the place.His media people have already put the story out about a lightning strikecausing a fire, and this whole thing about Kate Winslet rescuing Bransonsmother."
"So why is AjayJadeja here instead of on Bransons Island recovering?" Arpit asked."Did they fall out?"
"Yeah.Branson made this big song and dance in front of all his staff about how Jadejawas a hero and he would be getting all his medical bills picked up, as well asa large bonus for protecting his family. Jadeja called him a cowardly bitch infront of everyone and told him he'd rather shove wasps up his own ass thanaccept a penny from a piece of shit like him."
"He reallysaid that?"
"Yeah.That's from three different people who were there," Shikha said firmly."Of course, as soon as Mister Jhaveri heard about it, he had Jadejawhipped off to the best medical staff, then brought him here to recover. MisterJhaveri even flew in Jadejas mother and nephew for a couple of weeks too."
"Can Iask," Arpit said, hesitating for a minute. "Surely Richard Bransonescaping was a good thing, right? I mean, if he wasn't there, then thekidnappers wouldn't have their target. Isn't that what he was supposed to do?"
It took anotherten minutes before he left the salon, and Arpit had to admit, his hair lookedawesome. They'd left the stubble on his face but trimmed it to a uniformlength, and while he thought it sounded a bit Sandip Michael, it didn't lookit.
Shikha hustledhim up to his suite and bluntly ordered him to get dressed.
Shraddha had laidout a pair of heavily faded black jeans by Armani with a belt already lacedthrough them, a pair of black leather boots and a loose black shirt with asheet of paper in the pocket. "Roll the sleeves, don't fold them. Leavethe top three buttons undone," He read. A pair of sunglasses lay to theside of them on the bed.
He got changed asfast as he could and met Shikha back on the balcony.
"Have I gottime for a smoke?" He asked, his stomach rolling like a rowing boat in ahurricane with nerves.
She frowned andchecked her watch. "Have one as we walk down. You'll smell like smokethough."
"It's eitherthat or I need half a bottle of tequila and a sedative to calm my nerves."Arpit muttered.
The closer theygot to the pier the more nervous Arpit got. It didn't matter that he'd met bothTanmy and Trisha before. If anything, that made it worse. He didn't know ifTrisha would recognise him at all, or if she did, would she have him chalked upas one of a thousand perverted losers who'd paid to see her naked. Worse, hemight be remembered as that creep who jizzed in his pants.
As for Tanmy,Arpit knew that she'd remember him. That night they'd spent together was burnedin his memory, and he knew how she felt about it at the time too. They'd madelove in the dark, then again when they woke in the morning, not a wordexchanged. They'd showered together, then lay holding each other until theycouldn't avoid getting up. Even then, he'd accompanied her all the way to theairport, shared a really tender goodbye kiss with her, and then kicked himselffor months that he hadn't got her contact details, or just up and moved to Mumbaito find her.
What would herreaction be now? He was sure she'd recognise him in the photo that Mister Rawalwould show her, and he only hoped that his message had got through to her. Toboth of them, if Trisha remembered him at all.
"Arpit,"Shikha said, stopping just before they got to the beach. He stopped walking andshe steered him to one side of the path. "Take a deep breath, relax. Bothof them are probably going to be as terrified as you are, so now would be agood time to step up, be confident and show them around. Show them that you're anice guy."
Arpit lookedaround and admitted his worst fears, knowing Shikha already knew the worst ofit. "What if they're disgusted with me, Shikha? What if they think I'msome sleazy scumbag pervert weirdo?"
"The onlything you can do right now is show them who you are, Arpit. That's all that'sexpected of you, and once you get the chance to chat with each of them alone, Ibet you'll find that they're as scared as you are. Plus, you had to come tothis place on your own. At least they're doing it together, with Mister Rawalaccompanying them and their own assistants too."
Arpit rubbed atthe stubble on his chin. "Fuck my life."
"You'll befine," Shikha said firmly. "Come on. We need to get out on the pier.I can see the boat coming in."
"It's herealready?" Arpit blurted. "Fuck."
They hustled downto the beach to meet Anupam and the three of them walked towards the end of thepier. Arpit could see the Betsy coasting towards them, slowing as it approachedthe end of the wooden walkway.
His palms weresweating and he could feel his heart beating fast in his chest as the boat gotwithin a few feet of the pier and one of Captain Kothari' crew hopped up andtied the boat to one of the posts.
"Fuck fuckfuck," Arpit whispered, knowing the moment was fast approaching.
"Hey,"Shikha whispered. "Take a breath and stop looking so grim. Justrelax."
Arpit took a deepbreath and tried to get a grip, but he saw his hands were shaking."Fuckety fuck fuck."
Shikha moved alittle closer until she was standing directly beside him. As Arpit watched thecrew setup the gangplank between the boat and the pier, she whispered,"Maybe I should just push you in the water. What do you think?"
Arpit looked ather and saw the smile twitching at the corners of his mouth and despite hisnerves, he smiled.
"That's alittle better. Now you don't look like you've just discovered you're in bedwith an angry Lorena Bobbitt."
"The penischopper woman?" He muttered, shaking his head.
"That'sher," Shikha nodded. "Striking fear into mens pants the world over.At least you know she's not your sister."
"That's noteven funny," Arpit whispered, knowing that he couldn't help but chuckle.As Captain Kothari stepped out the cabin onto the rear deck, Arpit realised thatShikha's jokes had settled his nerves a bit and he made a mental note to thankher later.
It was too lateto think about anything else as a woman appeared on the rear deck and shookhands with the Captain. Arpit recognised the long, dark curly hair, the taughtphysique that couldn't be hidden by the calf-length olive shorts or the loosewhite blouse.
As she turned towalk up the gangplank to the pier, Arpit knew she was looking at him, knew thaton the other side of the huge sunglasses that completely covered her eyes thatthose eyes were looking at him.
He swallowed andtook a step forward to take her hand as she stepped clear of the gangplank.
"Hi,"He managed to croak, his mouth dryer than a drought in death valley.
"You must beArpit," Trisha said, shaking his hand.
He recognised hervoice immediately, that slight huskiness bringing back memories of her talkingto him in the strip club.
"Pleased tofinally meet you," He mumbled. Then remembering Shikha's earlier advice tojust be himself, he added, "Sorry. I'm really nervous."
"Oh, you'renot the only one," She smiled, and Arpit felt himself relax a little.
"That's goodto know." Arpit turned a little and gestured towards Anupam. "This isAnupam, the Island Manager."
Trisha movedclear of the gangplank to shake hands with Anupam and Arpit felt his stomachtighten again suddenly.
Tanmy.
She was standingat the boat end of the gangplank looking directly at him, searching with hereyes, seeking assurance it was really him, he knew. He did the same, anunconscious gesture, his eyes taking in her dark hair framing her face, herfigure that closely resemlbed her sister but seemed somehow more voluptous,more natural. Arpit watched as she gently bit her lip, then stepped forward.
"You mustbe..." Arpit began.
"Call meTanmy," She said, cutting him off with a friendly smile. She reached thegangplank and as he offered a handshake, she bypassed it and he felt her bodyclose with his.
Arpit wasstartled and froze, not sure exactly what to do. Tanmy gave him a kiss on thecheek and he felt her squeeze him, so somewhat awkwardly he gave her a quickhug.
"Sorry tostartle you," She said stepping back. "I just thought if I'm meetingmy brother for the first time, I should give him a hug." She made definiteeye contact with him for those two important words, letting him know she'd gothis message from the lawyer, and it had been understood.
Arpit let out abreath and nodded. "Nice to finally meet you," He said, steppingback. He knew as soon as he did it that it was a bad move. He felt the tip ofhis toe brush the edge of the wooden walkway, and as his arms flailed to reachthe nearby wooden post he knew he'd failed on an epic level.
Arpit fell intothe water.
"I stillcan't believe I just did that," Arpit said as he showered the salt wateroff his body in his en-suite. "What a fucking moron."
He heard Shikhachuckle from her seat on the edge of the bath. "Hey, it could have beenworse."
"How?"
There was apause. "Good point."
"Cheers,"He grunted.
"Oh, Iknow," She said quickly. "You could have dragged Tanmy in with you.Or you could have fainted and broke your nose. Those would have beenworse."
Arpit paused."Yeah, okay. I'll give you them. Either of them would have beenworse."
"Plus, it'skinda like making a dramatic entrance. The proverbial big splash." Heheard her chuckle again.
"How longyou been saving that one up?"
"Sincebefore Captain Kothari pulled you back onto the pier."
Arpit finishedrinsing the gel off him and turned the shower off. "I'm done."
"Alright.I'm gonna go grab you some clothes."
Arpit heard hermove out the bathroom and opened the door, still surprised at how the whiteglass turned clear as he opened the door. He grabbed a towel, dried himself offand then wrapped it around his waist and walked through to the bedroom.
Shikha had throwna pair of faded blue jeans on the bed and a pair of Converse All-Stars with apair of socks sticking out the top.
Arpit grabbed thedenims and turned his back to the dressing room. He got his left leg into themwhen the towel fell off and as he hurried to put the right leg in and pull themup, Shikha appeared from the doorway.
Arpit knew she'djust seen his ass as he hopped upright, yanking the jeans up to cover himself.He glanced over his shoulder, seeing her amused expression.
"Sorry."
"Don't worryabout it," She smirked, and turned back into the dressing room. "Youneed to get some sun on that."
Arpit chuckled."You talking about my ass?"
"Yeah,"She called back. "Don't tell the boss though. I dont' want to get firedfor harassment."
"I thinkthat only happens if I talk about your ass, doesn't it?"
"Don't knowwhat to tell you, Arpit," Shikha called back. "I guess we're a longway from sexual equality in the workplace. Someone should look into that."
Arpit smiled ashe sat on the bed to pull on his socks and sneakers. He'd been really enjoyingthe conversations recently with Shikha. He didn't know if it was just him, orif they had a bit of a flirty thing going on. Maybe it was her frank honesty,but Arpit felt drawn to her, as if she was a friend he'd known for a long time.
With a frown herealised she was the only thing he had on the Island that was even close to afriend. He didn't know what Tanmy was and he was all too aware that he'd feltlike a lovestruck teenager when he saw her on the boat.
He got changed asfast as he could and met Shikha back on the balcony.
"Have I gottime for a smoke?" He asked, his stomach rolling like a rowing boat in ahurricane with nerves.
She frowned andchecked her watch. "Have one as we walk down. You'll smell like smokethough."
"It's eitherthat or I need half a bottle of tequila and a sedative to calm my nerves."Arpit muttered.
The closer theygot to the pier the more nervous Arpit got. It didn't matter that he'd met bothTanmy and Trisha before. If anything, that made it worse. He didn't know ifTrisha would recognise him at all, or if she did, would she have him chalked upas one of a thousand perverted losers who'd paid to see her naked. Worse, hemight be remembered as that creep who jizzed in his pants.
As for Tanmy,Arpit knew that she'd remember him. That night they'd spent together was burnedin his memory, and he knew how she felt about it at the time too. They'd madelove in the dark, then again when they woke in the morning, not a wordexchanged. They'd showered together, then lay holding each other until theycouldn't avoid getting up. Even then, he'd accompanied her all the way to theairport, shared a really tender goodbye kiss with her, and then kicked himselffor months that he hadn't got her contact details, or just up and moved to Mumbaito find her.
What would herreaction be now? He was sure she'd recognise him in the photo that Mister Rawalwould show her, and he only hoped that his message had got through to her. Toboth of them, if Trisha remembered him at all.
"Arpit,"Shikha said, stopping just before they got to the beach. He stopped walking andshe steered him to one side of the path. "Take a deep breath, relax. Bothof them are probably going to be as terrified as you are, so now would be agood time to step up, be confident and show them around. Show them that you're anice guy."
Arpit lookedaround and admitted his worst fears, knowing Shikha already knew the worst ofit. "What if they're disgusted with me, Shikha? What if they think I'msome sleazy scumbag pervert weirdo?"
"The onlything you can do right now is show them who you are, Arpit. That's all that'sexpected of you, and once you get the chance to chat with each of them alone, Ibet you'll find that they're as scared as you are. Plus, you had to come tothis place on your own. At least they're doing it together, with Mister Rawalaccompanying them and their own assistants too."
Arpit rubbed atthe stubble on his chin. "Fuck my life."
"You'll befine," Shikha said firmly. "Come on. We need to get out on the pier.I can see the boat coming in."
"It's herealready?" Arpit blurted. "Fuck."
They hustled downto the beach to meet Anupam and the three of them walked towards the end of thepier. Arpit could see the Betsy coasting towards them, slowing as it approachedthe end of the wooden walkway.
His palms weresweating and he could feel his heart beating fast in his chest as the boat gotwithin a few feet of the pier and one of Captain Kothari' crew hopped up andtied the boat to one of the posts.
"Fuck fuckfuck," Arpit whispered, knowing the moment was fast approaching.
"Hey,"Shikha whispered. "Take a breath and stop looking so grim. Justrelax."
Arpit took a deepbreath and tried to get a grip, but he saw his hands were shaking."Fuckety fuck fuck."
Shikha moved alittle closer until she was standing directly beside him. As Arpit watched thecrew setup the gangplank between the boat and the pier, she whispered,"Maybe I should just push you in the water. What do you think?"
Arpit looked ather and saw the smile twitching at the corners of his mouth and despite hisnerves, he smiled.
"That's alittle better. Now you don't look like you've just discovered you're in bedwith an angry Lorena Bobbitt."
"The penischopper woman?" He muttered, shaking his head.
"That'sher," Shikha nodded. "Striking fear into mens pants the world over.At least you know she's not your sister."
"That's noteven funny," Arpit whispered, knowing that he couldn't help but chuckle.As Captain Kothari stepped out the cabin onto the rear deck, Arpit realised thatShikha's jokes had settled his nerves a bit and he made a mental note to thankher later.
It was too lateto think about anything else as a woman appeared on the rear deck and shookhands with the Captain. Arpit recognised the long, dark curly hair, the taughtphysique that couldn't be hidden by the calf-length olive shorts or the loosewhite blouse.
As she turned towalk up the gangplank to the pier, Arpit knew she was looking at him, knew thaton the other side of the huge sunglasses that completely covered her eyes thatthose eyes were looking at him.
He swallowed andtook a step forward to take her hand as she stepped clear of the gangplank.
"Hi,"He managed to croak, his mouth dryer than a drought in death valley.
"You must beArpit," Trisha said, shaking his hand.
He recognised hervoice immediately, that slight huskiness bringing back memories of her talkingto him in the strip club.
"Pleased tofinally meet you," He mumbled. Then remembering Shikha's earlier advice tojust be himself, he added, "Sorry. I'm really nervous."
"Oh, you'renot the only one," She smiled, and Arpit felt himself relax a little.
"That's goodto know." Arpit turned a little and gestured towards Anupam. "This isAnupam, the Island Manager."
Trisha movedclear of the gangplank to shake hands with Anupam and Arpit felt his stomachtighten again suddenly.
Tanmy.
She was standingat the boat end of the gangplank looking directly at him, searching with hereyes, seeking assurance it was really him, he knew. He did the same, anunconscious gesture, his eyes taking in her dark hair framing her face, herfigure that closely resemlbed her sister but seemed somehow more voluptous,more natural. Arpit watched as she gently bit her lip, then stepped forward.
"You mustbe..." Arpit began.
"Call meTanmy," She said, cutting him off with a friendly smile. She reached thegangplank and as he offered a handshake, she bypassed it and he felt her bodyclose with his.
Arpit wasstartled and froze, not sure exactly what to do. Tanmy gave him a kiss on thecheek and he felt her squeeze him, so somewhat awkwardly he gave her a quickhug.
"Sorry tostartle you," She said stepping back. "I just thought if I'm meetingmy brother for the first time, I should give him a hug." She made definiteeye contact with him for those two important words, letting him know she'd gothis message from the lawyer, and it had been understood.
Arpit let out abreath and nodded. "Nice to finally meet you," He said, steppingback. He knew as soon as he did it that it was a bad move. He felt the tip ofhis toe brush the edge of the wooden walkway, and as his arms flailed to reachthe nearby wooden post he knew he'd failed on an epic level.
Arpit fell intothe water.
"I stillcan't believe I just did that," Arpit said as he showered the salt wateroff his body in his en-suite. "What a fucking moron."
He heard Shikhachuckle from her seat on the edge of the bath. "Hey, it could have beenworse."
"How?"
There was apause. "Good point."
"Cheers,"He grunted.
"Oh, Iknow," She said quickly. "You could have dragged Tanmy in with you.Or you could have fainted and broke your nose. Those would have beenworse."
Arpit paused."Yeah, okay. I'll give you them. Either of them would have beenworse."
"Plus, it'skinda like making a dramatic entrance. The proverbial big splash." Heheard her chuckle again.
"How longyou been saving that one up?"
"Sincebefore Captain Kothari pulled you back onto the pier."
Arpit finishedrinsing the gel off him and turned the shower off. "I'm done."
"Alright.I'm gonna go grab you some clothes."
Arpit heard hermove out the bathroom and opened the door, still surprised at how the whiteglass turned clear as he opened the door. He grabbed a towel, dried himself offand then wrapped it around his waist and walked through to the bedroom.
Shikha had throwna pair of faded blue jeans on the bed and a pair of Converse All-Stars with apair of socks sticking out the top.
Arpit grabbed thedenims and turned his back to the dressing room. He got his left leg into themwhen the towel fell off and as he hurried to put the right leg in and pull themup, Shikha appeared from the doorway.
Arpit knew she'djust seen his ass as he hopped upright, yanking the jeans up to cover himself.He glanced over his shoulder, seeing her amused expression.
"Sorry."
"Don't worryabout it," She smirked, and turned back into the dressing room. "Youneed to get some sun on that."
Arpit chuckled."You talking about my ass?"
"Yeah,"She called back. "Don't tell the boss though. I dont' want to get firedfor harassment."
"I thinkthat only happens if I talk about your ass, doesn't it?"
"Don't knowwhat to tell you, Arpit," Shikha called back. "I guess we're a longway from sexual equality in the workplace. Someone should look into that."
Arpit smiled ashe sat on the bed to pull on his socks and sneakers. He'd been really enjoyingthe conversations recently with Shikha. He didn't know if it was just him, orif they had a bit of a flirty thing going on. Maybe it was her frank honesty,but Arpit felt drawn to her, as if she was a friend he'd known for a long time.
With a frown herealised she was the only thing he had on the Island that was even close to afriend. He didn't know what Tanmy was and he was all too aware that he'd feltlike a lovestruck teenager when he saw her on the boat.
As for Trisha, he hadno idea if she'd recognised him or not. Whatever the case he knew he'd need totell her.
His good mood nowgone, he fastened on his sneakers and stood up. "Shikha. Have you got atop for me?"
"I can'tdecide," She called. "Come in and help me choose."
Arpit sighed andwalked into the dressing room, seeing her flicking through the racks of topsand shirts that hung neatly on two rails. She turned and looked him up anddown, then pulled at a lemon coloured polo shirt.
"No,"Arpit said, immediately shaking his head.
"The onlything I've got that goes with those jeans is this mental bermuda shirt,"She said, frowning. "I'm quite surprised that Shraddha put it on thelist."
"She didn't.I kinda bought it on impulse."
Shikha chuckled."Well you're gonna have to take the jeans off and change them,Arpit."
"Just giveme something black. It'll be fine."
"Hey, you'renot the one who's going to have to put up with an apoplectic Shraddha,"Shikha muttered as she pulled out a dark pair of loose linen trousers and ablack v-necked top. "Come on, Arpit. Get your jeans off so we can get outof here. Everyone's waiting for us."
"Righthere?"
"I'm notgonna look, so stop being a baby," Shikha replied.
Arpit stared ather for a second but she was busy browsing through the tops again. He shruggedand bent down to unlace the sneakers, then stepped forward to grab the linentrousers.
Shikha held themout to the side, and as he took them he saw her eyes flicker down to the side,as if trying to catch a glimpse.
He frowned as hereplayed it in his head, wondering if it had just been an involuntary movement,a sensing motion kind of thing, or if she'd deliberately tried to sneak aglance at his cock.
"For fuckssake, Arpit. Just get changed," He told himself.
With his eyesfixed on her, he pulled the denims off and slipped the linen trousers on. Itfelt a little odd to see her standing there, only a few feet away while he hadhis junk out.
"Maybe I'mjust imagining it."
"Got thepants on yet?"
"Yeah,"Arpit replied, lacing up his Cons again. Shikha turned and brought him thev-neck top and he slipped it on and shrugged it into place.
"You'lldo," She told him. "Let's go."
"Where arewe meeting?"
"Downstairsin one of the business suites."
"Wait, Ineed to dry my hair," Arpit said quickly.
"Leaveit," Shikha replied quickly. "They'll think you've been rushing andhaven't waited to dry it."
"That'skinda true."
"Except forthe wardrobe uncertainty," Shikha agreed. "You'll want to gloss rightover that part."
Arpit followedher downstairs and around the side of the pool, turning left to head into oneof the business suites where he could see Mister Rawal sitting behind a desk.On the other side of it sat three large leather chesterfield armchairs, Tanmyin the one on the left, Trisha on the right.
He took a deepbreath, feeling the tension of what was to come. He knew inside that room hewould find out what his future would be like, what his responsibilities wereand what Siddharth Jhaveri, the man who had gave him up for adoption would haveto say to him and his sisters.
"Good luck,Arpit," Shikha said quietly. "I'll see you when you get out."
He entered theroom and closed the door.
"It's a lotto take in," Shikha said gently.
Arpit was sat onhis balcony, chain-smoking and watching a spectacular sunset that he justcouldn't appreciate. The afternoon had been too draining.
I haveaccommodation that I share with Bina, one of the other Executive Assistants.It's just to the left as you go out the main house, but because of....everything that's going on, I'll be staying in your suite."
The meeting hadlasted nearly three hours. Mister Rawal had read them Siddharth Jhaveri' lastwill and testament, a lengthy document that had taken up forty one pages intotal and then he'd gone through each item on each page, answering questionsfrom the three stunned siblings.
"Do you wantto read it?" Arpit asked, nodding towards his copy of the will in itsbinder on the table.
She shook herhead. "I helped write it. I can tell you it's had one hundred and fourteenrevisions that I know about."
"Fuckme," Arpit muttered. He knew about document control and records managementfrom his work, but a document with a hundred and fourteen revisions belonged inGovernment.
"It's a lotof information."
"It's a lotof fucking money," Arpit blurted. He lit another cigarette.
"What is itthat's bothering you about it, Arpit?" Shikha asked after a moment."Most people would be delighted that they're suddenly rich."
"It's notthe money," Arpit said immediately. "It's the weight ofresponsibility. And he just fucking dumped it on us, having never said a wordto any of us in twenty three years. He's got no clue if we're up to the job andhe's made us responsible for the livelihood of thousands, tens of thousands ofpeople all over the world."
"He wouldn'thave done it if he wasn't sure, Arpit."
"How couldhe be sure though? He's got no way of knowing, no knowledge of us beyond whathe's read about us in reports from other people. He doesn't know us."
Arpit looked atthe blue binder on the table, seeing the big letter T embossed on the front. Hewanted nothing more in that moment than to throw it over the pool and into thesea, then pretend it was all some horrible mistake.
"So now meand Tanmy and Trisha have been landed with this massive burden ofresponsibility that we can't walk away from, and our lives are no longer ourown," He continued. "I mean, think about it. I'd have been lostwithout you here, and I can't imagine what it'll be like in a few weeks ormonths time without your help either. I can see clearly why I'll need securityaround me, why I'll need people to cook and clean for me, and I get all that. Iunderstand it. But my life's not my own anymore either. I can't date who Iwant, I can't finish work and then decide to just go to the cinema with myfriends. Or go get hammered and phone in sick. I can't go home and close mydoor or drop in on my mom and dad for a chat. My time's no longer going to bemy own."
He slumped downin the wooden chair and put his feet up on the table.
"It's likeprison for the uber-rich. You can have anything you want except free will, andthere's no escape. That's what's bothering me about it," He concluded.
"Just giveit a bit of time, okay," Shikha said gently. "Give your head a bit oftime to wrap itself around the enormity of everything that's happened. It's notas bad as it seems, believe me."
Arpit shrugged."We'll see."
"Am Iinterrupting?"
Arpit turned inhis seat, recognising the voice. "Hi, Tanmy."
"Hi Tanmy,I'm Shikha." Shikha moved forward and shook hands with Arpit's sister."I'm Arpit's assistant."
"Like Bhumikais for me?" She asked, smiling.
"Yes, exactlylike that," Shikha said, giving her a warm smile. "Or like Hemant isfor Trisha."
"Hemant?He's.... Um...." Tanmy's voice trailed off.
Arpit rememberedthe strange looking black man he'd seen walking down the pier behind Trisha.There was something about him that reminded him of Mister Potato Head inspandex. Arpit remembered a few of Vishal's favourite put downs, and the oneabout Forest Whitaker and Ugly Betty having a lovechild who didn't so much fallout the ugly tree as smash it to bits on the way down seemed particularly apt.
"He's areally nice guy and smart too," Shikha said quietly. "Thinks all menare secretly in love with him though, which I'm pretty sure qualifies him asdelusional. I love him to bits."
"He seemsnice," Tanmy agreed. "Arpit, you got a minute?"
"Sure."Arpit took a deep breath and got up.
"I've got acouple of things to do," Shikha said, moving towards the stairs."I'll see you in ten, Arpit."
"Okay."
Arpit turned toTanmy and beckoned her inside and they sat down on the leather sofas in frontof the TV.
"“RajendraKumar” made this table," Arpit said, feeling nervous and immediatelycursing himself for blurting out the first thing that popped into his head.
Tanmy rolled hereyes. "That's... interesting."
For some reasonit made Arpit chuckle. "Okay, fair enough. So how you doing?"
"Shocked.Scared. Confused. Exhausted. I haven't slept since I found out." Tanmylooked at him closely and lowered her voice. "I couldn't believe it when Isaw your photo."
"I nearlypassed out," Arpit admitted. "I must have gone white as asheet."
"Metoo." She frowned. "So what are we gonna do about this, Arpit?"
"Well, it'sprobably not the best idea to pick up where we left off, is it?"
"That wouldbe no," Tanmy replied flatly. "So we keep quiet, right?"
He nodded."I think that's the way to go. The problem is Vishal and Rohit know."
"Oh,fuck," Tanmy blurted. "And my friends too."
"Yep."
Tanmy ran herhands through her hair then rubbed her face. Her eyes met Arpit's. "Areyou still close with them?"
"They're mybest friends, both of them. What about yours?"
"Still closewith Sonam, not so much with Asin or Kajol," She replied.
"Listen, Irealised this problem yesterday, so I've had a bit of time to think about itand try and figure my way through it," Arpit began slowly. "Last nightI was freaking out, and Mister Rawal told me I should trust in Shikha, soI..."
"You toldher." Tanmy's expression hardened instantly, and for the first time, Arpitsaw her angry.
"We needhelp with this," He told her bluntly. "There's ways we can make sureit's in everyones best interests to conveniently forget."
Tanmy's mouthfell open and Arpit quickly clarified.
"I'm nottalking anything dark or dodgy. I mean positive things. Like annual vacations,a career, or college scholarships for kids, medical stuff. Helping people havea good life. Not threatening them or blackmailing them, or anything likethat."
Tanmy took amoment to think about what he was saying, then gradually settled. "I wasworried there.
His good mood nowgone, he fastened on his sneakers and stood up. "Shikha. Have you got atop for me?"
"I can'tdecide," She called. "Come in and help me choose."
Arpit sighed andwalked into the dressing room, seeing her flicking through the racks of topsand shirts that hung neatly on two rails. She turned and looked him up anddown, then pulled at a lemon coloured polo shirt.
"No,"Arpit said, immediately shaking his head.
"The onlything I've got that goes with those jeans is this mental bermuda shirt,"She said, frowning. "I'm quite surprised that Shraddha put it on thelist."
"She didn't.I kinda bought it on impulse."
Shikha chuckled."Well you're gonna have to take the jeans off and change them,Arpit."
"Just giveme something black. It'll be fine."
"Hey, you'renot the one who's going to have to put up with an apoplectic Shraddha,"Shikha muttered as she pulled out a dark pair of loose linen trousers and ablack v-necked top. "Come on, Arpit. Get your jeans off so we can get outof here. Everyone's waiting for us."
"Righthere?"
"I'm notgonna look, so stop being a baby," Shikha replied.
Arpit stared ather for a second but she was busy browsing through the tops again. He shruggedand bent down to unlace the sneakers, then stepped forward to grab the linentrousers.
Shikha held themout to the side, and as he took them he saw her eyes flicker down to the side,as if trying to catch a glimpse.
He frowned as hereplayed it in his head, wondering if it had just been an involuntary movement,a sensing motion kind of thing, or if she'd deliberately tried to sneak aglance at his cock.
"For fuckssake, Arpit. Just get changed," He told himself.
With his eyesfixed on her, he pulled the denims off and slipped the linen trousers on. Itfelt a little odd to see her standing there, only a few feet away while he hadhis junk out.
"Maybe I'mjust imagining it."
"Got thepants on yet?"
"Yeah,"Arpit replied, lacing up his Cons again. Shikha turned and brought him thev-neck top and he slipped it on and shrugged it into place.
"You'lldo," She told him. "Let's go."
"Where arewe meeting?"
"Downstairsin one of the business suites."
"Wait, Ineed to dry my hair," Arpit said quickly.
"Leaveit," Shikha replied quickly. "They'll think you've been rushing andhaven't waited to dry it."
"That'skinda true."
"Except forthe wardrobe uncertainty," Shikha agreed. "You'll want to gloss rightover that part."
Arpit followedher downstairs and around the side of the pool, turning left to head into oneof the business suites where he could see Mister Rawal sitting behind a desk.On the other side of it sat three large leather chesterfield armchairs, Tanmyin the one on the left, Trisha on the right.
He took a deepbreath, feeling the tension of what was to come. He knew inside that room hewould find out what his future would be like, what his responsibilities wereand what Siddharth Jhaveri, the man who had gave him up for adoption would haveto say to him and his sisters.
"Good luck,Arpit," Shikha said quietly. "I'll see you when you get out."
He entered theroom and closed the door.
"It's a lotto take in," Shikha said gently.
Arpit was sat onhis balcony, chain-smoking and watching a spectacular sunset that he justcouldn't appreciate. The afternoon had been too draining.
I haveaccommodation that I share with Bina, one of the other Executive Assistants.It's just to the left as you go out the main house, but because of....everything that's going on, I'll be staying in your suite."
The meeting hadlasted nearly three hours. Mister Rawal had read them Siddharth Jhaveri' lastwill and testament, a lengthy document that had taken up forty one pages intotal and then he'd gone through each item on each page, answering questionsfrom the three stunned siblings.
"Do you wantto read it?" Arpit asked, nodding towards his copy of the will in itsbinder on the table.
She shook herhead. "I helped write it. I can tell you it's had one hundred and fourteenrevisions that I know about."
"Fuckme," Arpit muttered. He knew about document control and records managementfrom his work, but a document with a hundred and fourteen revisions belonged inGovernment.
"It's a lotof information."
"It's a lotof fucking money," Arpit blurted. He lit another cigarette.
"What is itthat's bothering you about it, Arpit?" Shikha asked after a moment."Most people would be delighted that they're suddenly rich."
"It's notthe money," Arpit said immediately. "It's the weight ofresponsibility. And he just fucking dumped it on us, having never said a wordto any of us in twenty three years. He's got no clue if we're up to the job andhe's made us responsible for the livelihood of thousands, tens of thousands ofpeople all over the world."
"He wouldn'thave done it if he wasn't sure, Arpit."
"How couldhe be sure though? He's got no way of knowing, no knowledge of us beyond whathe's read about us in reports from other people. He doesn't know us."
Arpit looked atthe blue binder on the table, seeing the big letter T embossed on the front. Hewanted nothing more in that moment than to throw it over the pool and into thesea, then pretend it was all some horrible mistake.
"So now meand Tanmy and Trisha have been landed with this massive burden ofresponsibility that we can't walk away from, and our lives are no longer ourown," He continued. "I mean, think about it. I'd have been lostwithout you here, and I can't imagine what it'll be like in a few weeks ormonths time without your help either. I can see clearly why I'll need securityaround me, why I'll need people to cook and clean for me, and I get all that. Iunderstand it. But my life's not my own anymore either. I can't date who Iwant, I can't finish work and then decide to just go to the cinema with myfriends. Or go get hammered and phone in sick. I can't go home and close mydoor or drop in on my mom and dad for a chat. My time's no longer going to bemy own."
He slumped downin the wooden chair and put his feet up on the table.
"It's likeprison for the uber-rich. You can have anything you want except free will, andthere's no escape. That's what's bothering me about it," He concluded.
"Just giveit a bit of time, okay," Shikha said gently. "Give your head a bit oftime to wrap itself around the enormity of everything that's happened. It's notas bad as it seems, believe me."
Arpit shrugged."We'll see."
"Am Iinterrupting?"
Arpit turned inhis seat, recognising the voice. "Hi, Tanmy."
"Hi Tanmy,I'm Shikha." Shikha moved forward and shook hands with Arpit's sister."I'm Arpit's assistant."
"Like Bhumikais for me?" She asked, smiling.
"Yes, exactlylike that," Shikha said, giving her a warm smile. "Or like Hemant isfor Trisha."
"Hemant?He's.... Um...." Tanmy's voice trailed off.
Arpit rememberedthe strange looking black man he'd seen walking down the pier behind Trisha.There was something about him that reminded him of Mister Potato Head inspandex. Arpit remembered a few of Vishal's favourite put downs, and the oneabout Forest Whitaker and Ugly Betty having a lovechild who didn't so much fallout the ugly tree as smash it to bits on the way down seemed particularly apt.
"He's areally nice guy and smart too," Shikha said quietly. "Thinks all menare secretly in love with him though, which I'm pretty sure qualifies him asdelusional. I love him to bits."
"He seemsnice," Tanmy agreed. "Arpit, you got a minute?"
"Sure."Arpit took a deep breath and got up.
"I've got acouple of things to do," Shikha said, moving towards the stairs."I'll see you in ten, Arpit."
"Okay."
Arpit turned toTanmy and beckoned her inside and they sat down on the leather sofas in frontof the TV.
"“RajendraKumar” made this table," Arpit said, feeling nervous and immediatelycursing himself for blurting out the first thing that popped into his head.
Tanmy rolled hereyes. "That's... interesting."
For some reasonit made Arpit chuckle. "Okay, fair enough. So how you doing?"
"Shocked.Scared. Confused. Exhausted. I haven't slept since I found out." Tanmylooked at him closely and lowered her voice. "I couldn't believe it when Isaw your photo."
"I nearlypassed out," Arpit admitted. "I must have gone white as asheet."
"Metoo." She frowned. "So what are we gonna do about this, Arpit?"
"Well, it'sprobably not the best idea to pick up where we left off, is it?"
"That wouldbe no," Tanmy replied flatly. "So we keep quiet, right?"
He nodded."I think that's the way to go. The problem is Vishal and Rohit know."
"Oh,fuck," Tanmy blurted. "And my friends too."
"Yep."
Tanmy ran herhands through her hair then rubbed her face. Her eyes met Arpit's. "Areyou still close with them?"
"They're mybest friends, both of them. What about yours?"
"Still closewith Sonam, not so much with Asin or Kajol," She replied.
"Listen, Irealised this problem yesterday, so I've had a bit of time to think about itand try and figure my way through it," Arpit began slowly. "Last nightI was freaking out, and Mister Rawal told me I should trust in Shikha, soI..."
"You toldher." Tanmy's expression hardened instantly, and for the first time, Arpitsaw her angry.
"We needhelp with this," He told her bluntly. "There's ways we can make sureit's in everyones best interests to conveniently forget."
Tanmy's mouthfell open and Arpit quickly clarified.
"I'm nottalking anything dark or dodgy. I mean positive things. Like annual vacations,a career, or college scholarships for kids, medical stuff. Helping people havea good life. Not threatening them or blackmailing them, or anything likethat."
Tanmy took amoment to think about what he was saying, then gradually settled. "I wasworried there.
"
"Yeah, I wasthe same. Anyway, Shikha's getting each of our friends investigated. It's allbeing done discretely and she's confident we can sort it out." Arpitsighed. "As if everything else wasn't bad enough."
"I'll needto have a chat with her," Tanmy said a moment later. "Asin's got akid now and he's got some kind of health problem. I don't know what, but she'sin and out the hospital all the time."
Arpit thought fora second. "You should call her and tell her we'll cover every medicalexpense she's got, get her the best physicians, expense money for trips to thehospital and shit like that. All she hs to do is keep her mouth shut."
"Hi, Asin.It's Tanmy," Tanmy said, looking at Arpit as if he was stupid as she madeher mock phone call. "Yeah, I know we haven't spoken in over a year, butI'm just gonna promise to cover all your costs and I can't tell you how, oreven verify that I have any money. Yeah, that's right. I fucked my brother on SummarVacation, but don't tell anyone, okay?" She paused and shook her head."Yeah, I can see that going down well, Arpit."
Arpit sat there,lost for words.
"Sorry,"Tanmy muttered a moment later. "I'm pretty... stressed, you know?"
He noddedimmediately. "I know."
"And it hadto be you, of all people."
Arpit smiled,despite the situation. "I know that feeling. Probably the closest, mostintimate experience of my life and now...."
"Fuckingruined," Tanmy concluded. "I thought about you a lot, you know."
"Metoo," He admitted, surprising himself with his honesty. "I kickedmyself for months for not getting your number or address."
"So didI," Tanmy replied. "All things considered, it's just as wellreally."
"You thinkwe'd have hit it off?" Arpit asked.
Tanmy's eyes methis. "I used to daydream I'd bump into you in Mumbai."
"I used todaydream about looking for you. In a city of eight million people though?"Then he chuckled. "Do you have any idea how many photographers are listedfor Mumbai?"
"Yeah,there's a few of us kicking around," She replied, then frowned."Trisha doesn't know."
"Nope.Listen, about Trisha..." Arpit began, frowning.
Tanmy's eyebrowshot up. "She was the stripper that you thought was me?"
Arpit noddedslowly.
"I wonderedabout that when we were on the plane," Tanmy explained. "Man, when heshowed you those photographs...."
"Yeah. Look,did Trisha give any indication she recognised me?"
Tanmy shook herhead. "She plays things close to her chest, Arpit. She's quiet,withdrawn."
"I have totalk to her about it."
Tanmy thoughtabout it for a second. "You going to tell her about us?"
"I don'tknow," He admiited. "I wanted to talk to you first."
"Let methink about it for a bit."
"Ofcourse." He nodded. "So how insane is all this?"
"It'sbizarre," Tanmy replied. "I keep feeling like someone's gonna jumpout and shout Candid Camera or something."
"I havethese surreal moments where it's like watching a movie. Weird shit happening toother people."
"Yeah, Iunderstand that. How's the Island?"
"Oh, it'sgorgeous. Stunning. And it's got everything."
"Has it gota trampoline?" Tanmy grinned.
"Probably.It's got its own hair salon."
"Yeah, Bhumikatells me I'm down there tomorrow at some point," Tanmy smiled. "Didthey do your hair?"
"Yeah, abouttwenty minutes before I fell off the pier," Arpit replied, rolling hiseyes.
"Well, Ithought you looked hot," Tanmy said quietly. "Before you got all wet,of course."
"Thanks, andno problem. Glad I could entertain you."
There was a knockat the door and Arpit stood up as Shikha entered.
"Sorry tointerrupt. Dinner's going to be served in ten minutes. Thought I'd better letyou know."
"Cheers,Shikha," Arpit nodded.
"I bettermake a move," Tanmy said, getting up. "Cheers for the chat,Arpit."
"Anytime."
Shikha waited untilTanmy was inside her own suite before she spoke. "How did it go?"
Arpit shrugged."Okay, I guess. What's happening with the whole...."
"Discreteinvestigation?" Shikha asked quietly.
Arpit nodded."I told Tanmy you know."
"How did shereact?"
"Angry atfirst, but she's had a lot to deal with. She told me about one of her friendsthough. She's got a kid that's got health problems. Can we help her withthat?"
"I alreadyknow about it," Shikha said quietly. "As I said, we move quick andquiet when we need to."
"So whatelse do you know?"
"Who do youwant first?"
"Vishal?Rohit?" Arpit shrugged. "Whoever."
"Okay,Vishal's maxed out on his credit cards, he's on the verge of defaulting on aloan too, and he's got an online gambling problem. Also, some very unhealthyporn habits, but you don't want me to go into that, do you?"
Arpit shook hishead. "I know about Vishal's taste in porn. He's not exactly quiet aboutthings he finds on the internet. How bad's the debt?"
He felt bad pryinginto his friends personal business, but Arpit reminded himself the problems itwould cause. Besides, he realised, if his buddy needed some financial help thenhe would be happy to help him out anyway.
"He's inabout forty grand," Shikha replied.
Arpit's eyeswidened. "Fucking hell. How many cards has he got?"
"I'm notsure," She admitted. "I can find out for you if you really want toknow."
Arpit frowned andshook his head. "I don't suppose it matters, really."
"No. Notreally."
"And Rohit?"
"Rohit'ssqueaky clean. We can't find anything bad on him at all, which is kindaimpressive, I guess," Shikha admitted.
"I'm notreally surprised. Rohit's an honest guy, and he's really conscientious aboutwork and bills and shit like that," Arpit replied. "He'd be a goodguy to put on a fast-track promotion ladder."
"That we cando. I guess it depends on what he wants. Do you think he'd keep the secret ifyou asked him to?"
Arpit thoughtabout it and nodded. "Yeah, I think he'd do that. In fact, I don't thinkI'd even have to ask him."
"Well, we'lllook at that. Now, Tanmy's friends."
"Okay."
"Sonam isher best friend, financially pretty normal. Bit of debt but working to pay itoff. Setbacks for shoes and handbags. Just the usual, really. We haven't foundanything in her transcripts from college or school, and her family is cleantoo. We're still working on her though."
"Maybe Tanmycan ask her to keep quiet and that'll be that?" Arpit suggested.
"Maybe."Shikha said, not looking convinced. "Moving on, Now Asin, We've got a tonof stuff about her."
"Likewhat?"
"Affair witha professor at college and knowledge that he was married with kids. A homemadesex tape of her with another girl at a party. History of drugs and wild partiestoo."
"Wow. Iwould never have guessed any of that," Arpit admitted. "I thought shewas the quiet one of the four of them too."
"Differentstrokes for different folks, Arpit."
"So is shestill doing all that now?"
"No, she'sgot a job in a law firm and she's doing quite well for herself. She won't wantany of this to come out though, and like Rohit, we can help her with hercareer, so we made an approach to her."
Arpit's eyeswidened. "You what?"
"We don'tknow when this is going to break, so we made an approach to her," Shikharepeated. "We asked her to attend a meeting with one of our agents posingas a head-hunter out of Delhi, looking to recruit the brightest talentgoing."
"You shouldhave spoken to me first," Arpit said immediately.
"Therewasn't time, because we don't know when this is going to break," Shikhasaid flatly. "Anyway, we made her an offer of a post with guaranteedcareer progression, a fantastic salary, house, company car, expense account.The job is working for our talent agency in Mumbai, and the offer keeps herthere for three years, then she can transfer to Delhi if she wants."
Arpit looked ather, feeling nervous and a little pissed that she'd just steamed ahead withoutconsulting him. "And?"
"And shesaid she'd have to think about it, so we dangled the stick too," Shikhaadmitted. "We told her we'd managed to secure all copies of the video ofher at the party and they would stay hidden. We also told her we could ensurethe affair with her professor or her history with drugs wouldn't ever come out.Then we repeated the offer, added a signing bonus to sweeten the pot, and thentold her the condition attached to it."
"What wasthe condition?" Arpit asked, immediately concerned that someone else wasnow in the know about his history with Tanmy.
"That shedoesn't ever mention her friendship with Tanmy or anything that may or may nothave happened in the past. Basically a gag-agreement," Shikha said simply."Anyway, she went for the offer and starts work tomorrow in her newjob."
Arpit nodded,unhappy that the proverbial stick had been used, but glad to hear there was apositive outcome in there somewhere. "How about Kajol."
"Well, herlittle boy has cystic fibrosis, so we can get him the best of care and her thebest of support."
"How bad isit?"
"Theillness? I don't know," She admitted. "I'll get some briefingmaterial put together for you if you want, but to be frank, you don't reallyneed to know. You've got other things to be filling your brain with."
Arpit nodded."So have we done anything to help her?"
"She's beennotified that Tanmy has come into an inheritance, and wants to help her out,cover all her costs, etc, using a charity foundation that she's going to setup. Apparently the news was very gratefully received and she wept." Shikhashrugged. "Anyway, she's keen to speak with Tanmy and signed theconditional agreement without complaint. Bhumika is going to set up a call withher sometime tomorrow."
"So, we canhelp out Vishal, we've got Kajol and Asin covered. That just leaves Rohit andSonam as the problems?"
"Prettymuch," Shikha nodded.
"That's fastwork, Shikha."
She shrugged."We got information and acted on it before it became a problem."
"True, butit's helping me." While he still felt uncomfortable prying into peoplesprivate lives and bribing people, he did feel a little safer, a little lessexposed.
"Yeah, I wasthe same. Anyway, Shikha's getting each of our friends investigated. It's allbeing done discretely and she's confident we can sort it out." Arpitsighed. "As if everything else wasn't bad enough."
"I'll needto have a chat with her," Tanmy said a moment later. "Asin's got akid now and he's got some kind of health problem. I don't know what, but she'sin and out the hospital all the time."
Arpit thought fora second. "You should call her and tell her we'll cover every medicalexpense she's got, get her the best physicians, expense money for trips to thehospital and shit like that. All she hs to do is keep her mouth shut."
"Hi, Asin.It's Tanmy," Tanmy said, looking at Arpit as if he was stupid as she madeher mock phone call. "Yeah, I know we haven't spoken in over a year, butI'm just gonna promise to cover all your costs and I can't tell you how, oreven verify that I have any money. Yeah, that's right. I fucked my brother on SummarVacation, but don't tell anyone, okay?" She paused and shook her head."Yeah, I can see that going down well, Arpit."
Arpit sat there,lost for words.
"Sorry,"Tanmy muttered a moment later. "I'm pretty... stressed, you know?"
He noddedimmediately. "I know."
"And it hadto be you, of all people."
Arpit smiled,despite the situation. "I know that feeling. Probably the closest, mostintimate experience of my life and now...."
"Fuckingruined," Tanmy concluded. "I thought about you a lot, you know."
"Metoo," He admitted, surprising himself with his honesty. "I kickedmyself for months for not getting your number or address."
"So didI," Tanmy replied. "All things considered, it's just as wellreally."
"You thinkwe'd have hit it off?" Arpit asked.
Tanmy's eyes methis. "I used to daydream I'd bump into you in Mumbai."
"I used todaydream about looking for you. In a city of eight million people though?"Then he chuckled. "Do you have any idea how many photographers are listedfor Mumbai?"
"Yeah,there's a few of us kicking around," She replied, then frowned."Trisha doesn't know."
"Nope.Listen, about Trisha..." Arpit began, frowning.
Tanmy's eyebrowshot up. "She was the stripper that you thought was me?"
Arpit noddedslowly.
"I wonderedabout that when we were on the plane," Tanmy explained. "Man, when heshowed you those photographs...."
"Yeah. Look,did Trisha give any indication she recognised me?"
Tanmy shook herhead. "She plays things close to her chest, Arpit. She's quiet,withdrawn."
"I have totalk to her about it."
Tanmy thoughtabout it for a second. "You going to tell her about us?"
"I don'tknow," He admiited. "I wanted to talk to you first."
"Let methink about it for a bit."
"Ofcourse." He nodded. "So how insane is all this?"
"It'sbizarre," Tanmy replied. "I keep feeling like someone's gonna jumpout and shout Candid Camera or something."
"I havethese surreal moments where it's like watching a movie. Weird shit happening toother people."
"Yeah, Iunderstand that. How's the Island?"
"Oh, it'sgorgeous. Stunning. And it's got everything."
"Has it gota trampoline?" Tanmy grinned.
"Probably.It's got its own hair salon."
"Yeah, Bhumikatells me I'm down there tomorrow at some point," Tanmy smiled. "Didthey do your hair?"
"Yeah, abouttwenty minutes before I fell off the pier," Arpit replied, rolling hiseyes.
"Well, Ithought you looked hot," Tanmy said quietly. "Before you got all wet,of course."
"Thanks, andno problem. Glad I could entertain you."
There was a knockat the door and Arpit stood up as Shikha entered.
"Sorry tointerrupt. Dinner's going to be served in ten minutes. Thought I'd better letyou know."
"Cheers,Shikha," Arpit nodded.
"I bettermake a move," Tanmy said, getting up. "Cheers for the chat,Arpit."
"Anytime."
Shikha waited untilTanmy was inside her own suite before she spoke. "How did it go?"
Arpit shrugged."Okay, I guess. What's happening with the whole...."
"Discreteinvestigation?" Shikha asked quietly.
Arpit nodded."I told Tanmy you know."
"How did shereact?"
"Angry atfirst, but she's had a lot to deal with. She told me about one of her friendsthough. She's got a kid that's got health problems. Can we help her withthat?"
"I alreadyknow about it," Shikha said quietly. "As I said, we move quick andquiet when we need to."
"So whatelse do you know?"
"Who do youwant first?"
"Vishal?Rohit?" Arpit shrugged. "Whoever."
"Okay,Vishal's maxed out on his credit cards, he's on the verge of defaulting on aloan too, and he's got an online gambling problem. Also, some very unhealthyporn habits, but you don't want me to go into that, do you?"
Arpit shook hishead. "I know about Vishal's taste in porn. He's not exactly quiet aboutthings he finds on the internet. How bad's the debt?"
He felt bad pryinginto his friends personal business, but Arpit reminded himself the problems itwould cause. Besides, he realised, if his buddy needed some financial help thenhe would be happy to help him out anyway.
"He's inabout forty grand," Shikha replied.
Arpit's eyeswidened. "Fucking hell. How many cards has he got?"
"I'm notsure," She admitted. "I can find out for you if you really want toknow."
Arpit frowned andshook his head. "I don't suppose it matters, really."
"No. Notreally."
"And Rohit?"
"Rohit'ssqueaky clean. We can't find anything bad on him at all, which is kindaimpressive, I guess," Shikha admitted.
"I'm notreally surprised. Rohit's an honest guy, and he's really conscientious aboutwork and bills and shit like that," Arpit replied. "He'd be a goodguy to put on a fast-track promotion ladder."
"That we cando. I guess it depends on what he wants. Do you think he'd keep the secret ifyou asked him to?"
Arpit thoughtabout it and nodded. "Yeah, I think he'd do that. In fact, I don't thinkI'd even have to ask him."
"Well, we'lllook at that. Now, Tanmy's friends."
"Okay."
"Sonam isher best friend, financially pretty normal. Bit of debt but working to pay itoff. Setbacks for shoes and handbags. Just the usual, really. We haven't foundanything in her transcripts from college or school, and her family is cleantoo. We're still working on her though."
"Maybe Tanmycan ask her to keep quiet and that'll be that?" Arpit suggested.
"Maybe."Shikha said, not looking convinced. "Moving on, Now Asin, We've got a tonof stuff about her."
"Likewhat?"
"Affair witha professor at college and knowledge that he was married with kids. A homemadesex tape of her with another girl at a party. History of drugs and wild partiestoo."
"Wow. Iwould never have guessed any of that," Arpit admitted. "I thought shewas the quiet one of the four of them too."
"Differentstrokes for different folks, Arpit."
"So is shestill doing all that now?"
"No, she'sgot a job in a law firm and she's doing quite well for herself. She won't wantany of this to come out though, and like Rohit, we can help her with hercareer, so we made an approach to her."
Arpit's eyeswidened. "You what?"
"We don'tknow when this is going to break, so we made an approach to her," Shikharepeated. "We asked her to attend a meeting with one of our agents posingas a head-hunter out of Delhi, looking to recruit the brightest talentgoing."
"You shouldhave spoken to me first," Arpit said immediately.
"Therewasn't time, because we don't know when this is going to break," Shikhasaid flatly. "Anyway, we made her an offer of a post with guaranteedcareer progression, a fantastic salary, house, company car, expense account.The job is working for our talent agency in Mumbai, and the offer keeps herthere for three years, then she can transfer to Delhi if she wants."
Arpit looked ather, feeling nervous and a little pissed that she'd just steamed ahead withoutconsulting him. "And?"
"And shesaid she'd have to think about it, so we dangled the stick too," Shikhaadmitted. "We told her we'd managed to secure all copies of the video ofher at the party and they would stay hidden. We also told her we could ensurethe affair with her professor or her history with drugs wouldn't ever come out.Then we repeated the offer, added a signing bonus to sweeten the pot, and thentold her the condition attached to it."
"What wasthe condition?" Arpit asked, immediately concerned that someone else wasnow in the know about his history with Tanmy.
"That shedoesn't ever mention her friendship with Tanmy or anything that may or may nothave happened in the past. Basically a gag-agreement," Shikha said simply."Anyway, she went for the offer and starts work tomorrow in her newjob."
Arpit nodded,unhappy that the proverbial stick had been used, but glad to hear there was apositive outcome in there somewhere. "How about Kajol."
"Well, herlittle boy has cystic fibrosis, so we can get him the best of care and her thebest of support."
"How bad isit?"
"Theillness? I don't know," She admitted. "I'll get some briefingmaterial put together for you if you want, but to be frank, you don't reallyneed to know. You've got other things to be filling your brain with."
Arpit nodded."So have we done anything to help her?"
"She's beennotified that Tanmy has come into an inheritance, and wants to help her out,cover all her costs, etc, using a charity foundation that she's going to setup. Apparently the news was very gratefully received and she wept." Shikhashrugged. "Anyway, she's keen to speak with Tanmy and signed theconditional agreement without complaint. Bhumika is going to set up a call withher sometime tomorrow."
"So, we canhelp out Vishal, we've got Kajol and Asin covered. That just leaves Rohit andSonam as the problems?"
"Prettymuch," Shikha nodded.
"That's fastwork, Shikha."
She shrugged."We got information and acted on it before it became a problem."
"True, butit's helping me." While he still felt uncomfortable prying into peoplesprivate lives and bribing people, he did feel a little safer, a little lessexposed.
"Anyway,you've got to get changed for dinner," She said.
"Again?"
"You got aproblem with looking nice, Arpit?" Shikha chuckled.
"Nope. Ithink you've got a problem with me wearing the same clothes for more than twohours though."
"If it's anyconsolation, Shraddha picked out these ones. Same jeans you had on at pier,different shirt and shoes though."
"The soakingwet jeans?"
Shikha rolled hereyes as she stood up. "They've been washed, pressed and back in yourwardrobe for hours, Arpit."
Arpit shook hishead, remembering again how weird it was to have staff who looked after him."Okay, I'm going to get changed."
"Don'tforget to fix your hair."
"Yes,mother," He chuckled.
Dinner wasn't asfantastic as Arpit expected when it came to the food. Due to Pawan'sinterference Arpit had his own menu with his options dramatically reduced. He'dbeen looking forward to some more of the lobster or those delicious prawns fromlunch, but ended up with a grilled tuna steak and poached egg on a bed ofquinoa, a substance a lot like couscous, but delicately spiced. It wasdelicious, but when he saw everyone else tucking into steak, lobster, mussels,spicy noodles, and a dazzling array of vegetables he definitely feltrestricted.
Eight of them sataround a table in the dining area next to the bar. Arpit was joined by hissisters, Shikha, Bhumika and Hemant, and Anupam and Mister Rawal completed theparty. What started off as a fairly subdued group quickly opened up as each ofthem told funny stories about themselves, knowing that Arpit, Trisha and Tanmydidn't really know any of them.
Arpit told themof how he'd been so hungover in a lecture at college once that he'd fallenasleep and when he woke up it took him three hours to discover he had drawingson his face. Tanmy told them of a photoshoot she'd done where she fainted infront of a client but still got the job, and of how she once did the infamous'skirt-tucked-into-her-underwear' thing and no-one told her.
Mister Rawaltalked for a few mnutes of former clients who wanted to sue the government forsituating the movie industry in Hollywood instead of Nebraska, or one whowanted to sue twitter for allowing him to tweet a picture of his own peniswhile drunk. Another who wanted to sue Blackberry because their phones didn'tcontain any actual berries.
Shikha, Hemantand Bhumika told funny stories involving Mister Jhaveri, crazy meetings withcrazy people, and then told of dozens of letters they'd dealt with from peopleclaiming bizarre things, like a proclamation they received that SiddharthJhaveri was the new messiah, along with a completely updated bible about himfrom an obsessed housewife in Texas. Shikha insisted it was on the Islandsomewhere.
Anupamcontributed a couple of stories too, delivered in a quiet voice, telling of thetime Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie were visiting the Island and she'd got in afury during an argument and threw a vase at a reinforced window. The vase hadbounced off and knocked her out cold, and they'd ended up staying an extra weekuntil the bump on her head disappeared. Another story told of Salma Hayekjogging on the Island and how her breasts were bouncing so much that one of thestaff broke his nose by walking right into a tree.
Trisha was theonly one who didn't contribute anything and on a couple of occasions, Arpittried to draw her into the conversations but he could see what Tanmy meant whenhe said she was withdrawn.
After dinner sheexcused herself for a visit to the bathroom and Arpit took the opportunity toslip outside for a smoke. It was only a couple of minutes later when shereappeared.
"Trisha.Have you got a second?"
"Sure."
Arpit stood upand began to walk slowly around the pool and his sister joined him.
"What'sup?"
"We haven'treally had a chance to talk," He said gently. "How you doing with allthis?"
Her eyes narrowedas she looked around at the main house, then back to Arpit. "Haven'tdecided."
"Yeah, it'sa lot to take in."
"No, Ihaven't decided if I'm going to stay or not."
"Oh."Arpit was about to tell her he was the same, but he paused, realising that he'dalready decided. The responsibility of the people relying on him was too great.Despite feeling boxed in and manipulated he knew he would do as he always did.Take his responsibilities seriously and try his best.
He took a deepbreath and got back on with the reason he wanted to speak with her."Trisha, you know we've met before, right?"
"I don'tthink so," She said, shaking her head, her long dark hair bobbing aroundher face.
"I was on avacation with my friends a few years ago in Pattaya Beach," He explainedsoftly, letting that hang in the air.
She didn't sayanything, but stopped at the railing and looked out over the water.
"I was inwith some friends, and I thought you were someone else," He continued, butshe raised a hand.
"Arpit, doyou have any idea how many people I've danced for over the years? If you'retelling me you saw me dance, then that's pretty fucked up, but don't expect meto remember you."
"I justthought I should let you know," He said quietly.
"Maybe youshouldn't have," She said, turning to face him. "Now I know that mynewly-discovered brother visits strip clubs like all the other perverts,weirdos and losers I've ever met. Do you think that I'll think better of youbecause you were honest about it?"
Trisha shook herhead and looked back out over the water. "Now you're just one ofthem."
"I wanted totalk to you to see if you remembered me," Arpit said, taken aback."And I was only there because I promised my friend we'd go in."
She turned herhead, catching his eye again. "So it was your first time in a lapdancingbar, was it?"
Arpit frowned,trying to think how to answer the question but she cut him off before he couldsay anything else.
"I didn'tthink so. And no, I don't remember you."
"Trisha...."
"Was thereanything else you wanted to tell me, or can I go back in now?"
Arpit sighed."Nothing else. Sorry to bother you."
"It'sfine," She said, walking off.
Arpit watched herwalk around the pool, her movements confident and sure.
"Well, thatfucking sucked," He whispered, feeling as if he'd been punched in thestomach.
Arpit was back inhis suite half an hour later, having returned to the table for a short time,then excused himself, telling them he had a six o'clock workout to get up for.
Shikha had got upto leave with him, but he waved her back into her seat, wanting a little timeto himself.
He felt like he'dtotally blown things with Trisha. Their first conversation was a disaster, andhe knew first impressions counted. She'd all but named him a pervert, and hertone left it pretty clear that she thought the customers at the clubs she'dworked were all low-life scumbags.
"Fuck mylife," He muttered, not for the firs time in the last twenty four hours.
He turned off thelights in the suite and the balcony and sat in the near darkness, enjoying thesolitude. On his third cigarette, he was thinking over the the events of theday when his eyes fell to the shape of the blue binder on the table, barelyvisible in the dark..
"Privateaccommodation in Delhi,Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Johanisbrrg, London,Italy and here," He recited aloud from memory. "ComputerManufacturing in the India, Mexico, UK, Germany, India and China. SoftwareDevelopment in the India, Canada, India and the UK. Telephone factories inseven countries across the globe including France, the UK, the India and China.Pharmaceutical Research and Production in the India, Canada, India, China andHolland. Games developers in Scotland and the India. Commercial Properties in Mumbai,Chicago, London, Paris and Berlin."
Arpit paused andrubbed at his temples as he concentrated, seeing a mental picture of the pagesof the binder.
"A movie andTV production company with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Toronto. A Talentagency with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and London. A record label in the Indiaand UK, with studios in each country as well as Brazil, Barcelona and Sydney.Magazine publishers with offices in Chicago, Mumbai and Delhi. Then the oddballstuff. The copper mine in Zambia. The Private Security firm in Zambia and nowAfghanistan. The Alternative Energy Research in Scotland. The accountancy firmthat specialises in small businesses in Las Vegas."
Arpit paused fora breath. "And last but not least, that fucking strip club in PattayaBeach."
He stubbed outhis cigarette.
"That waspretty impressive, you know," He heard from behind him, recognisingShikha's voice.
Arpit shrugged ashe lit another cigarette. "I deal with a lot of information at work, soI'm pretty good at taking stuff in. Plus, we spent hours on this today."
"You missedone," She said gently, taking a seat beside him. To his surprise sheleaned over and picked up his cigarettes and lit one for herself, then grinned."I've had a couple of drinks."
"What did Imiss?" Arpit asked, not really caring if she smoked or not. Who was he tosay anything, given he was chain-smoking like an addict on death row.
"TheBusiness Consultants you work for?" She said, making it a question.
"Of course.With offices in the India, UK, Canada and Australia," He finished.
"Seriously,that's really impressive, remembering all that."
Arpit exhaled along, smooth breath. "I spoke to Trisha. Told her I was at the club inPattaya Beach. Now she thinks I'm a low-life pervert and that I shouldn't havebrought it up. And she didn't remember me anyway, so it was all fornothing."
"Everything'sbeen a huge shock to her recently, Arpit. To all of you."
"Why don'twe have any property for commercial letting in Tokyo?" He asked. "Imean, Tokyo is one of the most expensive places to rent in the world,right?"
Shikha chuckled.
"Plus wehave no presence in Japan at all. Tell me again, what did he do to set up thisfake persona for Trisha?"
"The coverstory if anyone looks her up?" Shikha asked.
"Again?"
"You got aproblem with looking nice, Arpit?" Shikha chuckled.
"Nope. Ithink you've got a problem with me wearing the same clothes for more than twohours though."
"If it's anyconsolation, Shraddha picked out these ones. Same jeans you had on at pier,different shirt and shoes though."
"The soakingwet jeans?"
Shikha rolled hereyes as she stood up. "They've been washed, pressed and back in yourwardrobe for hours, Arpit."
Arpit shook hishead, remembering again how weird it was to have staff who looked after him."Okay, I'm going to get changed."
"Don'tforget to fix your hair."
"Yes,mother," He chuckled.
Dinner wasn't asfantastic as Arpit expected when it came to the food. Due to Pawan'sinterference Arpit had his own menu with his options dramatically reduced. He'dbeen looking forward to some more of the lobster or those delicious prawns fromlunch, but ended up with a grilled tuna steak and poached egg on a bed ofquinoa, a substance a lot like couscous, but delicately spiced. It wasdelicious, but when he saw everyone else tucking into steak, lobster, mussels,spicy noodles, and a dazzling array of vegetables he definitely feltrestricted.
Eight of them sataround a table in the dining area next to the bar. Arpit was joined by hissisters, Shikha, Bhumika and Hemant, and Anupam and Mister Rawal completed theparty. What started off as a fairly subdued group quickly opened up as each ofthem told funny stories about themselves, knowing that Arpit, Trisha and Tanmydidn't really know any of them.
Arpit told themof how he'd been so hungover in a lecture at college once that he'd fallenasleep and when he woke up it took him three hours to discover he had drawingson his face. Tanmy told them of a photoshoot she'd done where she fainted infront of a client but still got the job, and of how she once did the infamous'skirt-tucked-into-her-underwear' thing and no-one told her.
Mister Rawaltalked for a few mnutes of former clients who wanted to sue the government forsituating the movie industry in Hollywood instead of Nebraska, or one whowanted to sue twitter for allowing him to tweet a picture of his own peniswhile drunk. Another who wanted to sue Blackberry because their phones didn'tcontain any actual berries.
Shikha, Hemantand Bhumika told funny stories involving Mister Jhaveri, crazy meetings withcrazy people, and then told of dozens of letters they'd dealt with from peopleclaiming bizarre things, like a proclamation they received that SiddharthJhaveri was the new messiah, along with a completely updated bible about himfrom an obsessed housewife in Texas. Shikha insisted it was on the Islandsomewhere.
Anupamcontributed a couple of stories too, delivered in a quiet voice, telling of thetime Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie were visiting the Island and she'd got in afury during an argument and threw a vase at a reinforced window. The vase hadbounced off and knocked her out cold, and they'd ended up staying an extra weekuntil the bump on her head disappeared. Another story told of Salma Hayekjogging on the Island and how her breasts were bouncing so much that one of thestaff broke his nose by walking right into a tree.
Trisha was theonly one who didn't contribute anything and on a couple of occasions, Arpittried to draw her into the conversations but he could see what Tanmy meant whenhe said she was withdrawn.
After dinner sheexcused herself for a visit to the bathroom and Arpit took the opportunity toslip outside for a smoke. It was only a couple of minutes later when shereappeared.
"Trisha.Have you got a second?"
"Sure."
Arpit stood upand began to walk slowly around the pool and his sister joined him.
"What'sup?"
"We haven'treally had a chance to talk," He said gently. "How you doing with allthis?"
Her eyes narrowedas she looked around at the main house, then back to Arpit. "Haven'tdecided."
"Yeah, it'sa lot to take in."
"No, Ihaven't decided if I'm going to stay or not."
"Oh."Arpit was about to tell her he was the same, but he paused, realising that he'dalready decided. The responsibility of the people relying on him was too great.Despite feeling boxed in and manipulated he knew he would do as he always did.Take his responsibilities seriously and try his best.
He took a deepbreath and got back on with the reason he wanted to speak with her."Trisha, you know we've met before, right?"
"I don'tthink so," She said, shaking her head, her long dark hair bobbing aroundher face.
"I was on avacation with my friends a few years ago in Pattaya Beach," He explainedsoftly, letting that hang in the air.
She didn't sayanything, but stopped at the railing and looked out over the water.
"I was inwith some friends, and I thought you were someone else," He continued, butshe raised a hand.
"Arpit, doyou have any idea how many people I've danced for over the years? If you'retelling me you saw me dance, then that's pretty fucked up, but don't expect meto remember you."
"I justthought I should let you know," He said quietly.
"Maybe youshouldn't have," She said, turning to face him. "Now I know that mynewly-discovered brother visits strip clubs like all the other perverts,weirdos and losers I've ever met. Do you think that I'll think better of youbecause you were honest about it?"
Trisha shook herhead and looked back out over the water. "Now you're just one ofthem."
"I wanted totalk to you to see if you remembered me," Arpit said, taken aback."And I was only there because I promised my friend we'd go in."
She turned herhead, catching his eye again. "So it was your first time in a lapdancingbar, was it?"
Arpit frowned,trying to think how to answer the question but she cut him off before he couldsay anything else.
"I didn'tthink so. And no, I don't remember you."
"Trisha...."
"Was thereanything else you wanted to tell me, or can I go back in now?"
Arpit sighed."Nothing else. Sorry to bother you."
"It'sfine," She said, walking off.
Arpit watched herwalk around the pool, her movements confident and sure.
"Well, thatfucking sucked," He whispered, feeling as if he'd been punched in thestomach.
Arpit was back inhis suite half an hour later, having returned to the table for a short time,then excused himself, telling them he had a six o'clock workout to get up for.
Shikha had got upto leave with him, but he waved her back into her seat, wanting a little timeto himself.
He felt like he'dtotally blown things with Trisha. Their first conversation was a disaster, andhe knew first impressions counted. She'd all but named him a pervert, and hertone left it pretty clear that she thought the customers at the clubs she'dworked were all low-life scumbags.
"Fuck mylife," He muttered, not for the firs time in the last twenty four hours.
He turned off thelights in the suite and the balcony and sat in the near darkness, enjoying thesolitude. On his third cigarette, he was thinking over the the events of theday when his eyes fell to the shape of the blue binder on the table, barelyvisible in the dark..
"Privateaccommodation in Delhi,Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Johanisbrrg, London,Italy and here," He recited aloud from memory. "ComputerManufacturing in the India, Mexico, UK, Germany, India and China. SoftwareDevelopment in the India, Canada, India and the UK. Telephone factories inseven countries across the globe including France, the UK, the India and China.Pharmaceutical Research and Production in the India, Canada, India, China andHolland. Games developers in Scotland and the India. Commercial Properties in Mumbai,Chicago, London, Paris and Berlin."
Arpit paused andrubbed at his temples as he concentrated, seeing a mental picture of the pagesof the binder.
"A movie andTV production company with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Toronto. A Talentagency with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and London. A record label in the Indiaand UK, with studios in each country as well as Brazil, Barcelona and Sydney.Magazine publishers with offices in Chicago, Mumbai and Delhi. Then the oddballstuff. The copper mine in Zambia. The Private Security firm in Zambia and nowAfghanistan. The Alternative Energy Research in Scotland. The accountancy firmthat specialises in small businesses in Las Vegas."
Arpit paused fora breath. "And last but not least, that fucking strip club in PattayaBeach."
He stubbed outhis cigarette.
"That waspretty impressive, you know," He heard from behind him, recognisingShikha's voice.
Arpit shrugged ashe lit another cigarette. "I deal with a lot of information at work, soI'm pretty good at taking stuff in. Plus, we spent hours on this today."
"You missedone," She said gently, taking a seat beside him. To his surprise sheleaned over and picked up his cigarettes and lit one for herself, then grinned."I've had a couple of drinks."
"What did Imiss?" Arpit asked, not really caring if she smoked or not. Who was he tosay anything, given he was chain-smoking like an addict on death row.
"TheBusiness Consultants you work for?" She said, making it a question.
"Of course.With offices in the India, UK, Canada and Australia," He finished.
"Seriously,that's really impressive, remembering all that."
Arpit exhaled along, smooth breath. "I spoke to Trisha. Told her I was at the club inPattaya Beach. Now she thinks I'm a low-life pervert and that I shouldn't havebrought it up. And she didn't remember me anyway, so it was all fornothing."
"Everything'sbeen a huge shock to her recently, Arpit. To all of you."
"Why don'twe have any property for commercial letting in Tokyo?" He asked. "Imean, Tokyo is one of the most expensive places to rent in the world,right?"
Shikha chuckled.
"Plus wehave no presence in Japan at all. Tell me again, what did he do to set up thisfake persona for Trisha?"
"The coverstory if anyone looks her up?" Shikha asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay. Forfour years someone named Trisha has been writing trashy romance novels andscraping a living from it. The novels are all ghost-written, and the photo onthe jacket could be her, deliberately shot to be ambiguous."
"Right. Whatelse?"
"Severalblogs that were started for a month or two but fell by the wayside. The usualtwitter, facebook, myspace, all that stuff."
Arpit nodded forher to continue as he sat there in the dark.
"Basically,if anyone who went to school with her looks her up, they'll have her down assomeone who moved to an undisclosed town in Illinois, took up writing anddidn't really socialise much."
"And if theyrecognsie her as a dancer?"
"MisterJhaveri found out she was there a few years ago, and I don't know how he didit, but he bought the club purely so he could make sure any CCTV tapes were inhis control. He even paid to have the previous owners house turned over and anytapes or photos that were there were stolen."
"Were theretapes of her?"
"Her andevery other dancer who had ever worked there," Shikha said quietly."We got this from Mister Jhaveri only a few weeks ago. He had evidence ofsome of the girls offering extras, snorting lines of coke, doing meth, allsorts of stuff like that. The owner was just as bad, apparently. Nearly halfthe girls who ever worked there used to do.... favours for him, or he'd firethem. The rest refused but made too much money dancing for him to firethem."
Arpit moved theashtray onto the table in front of them both. It was a little weird seeingShikha smoking, but much weirder things had happened in the last thirty sixhours.
"Thesecurity staff who worked there were checked out too," She added.
"And sheleft nine months ago, right?" Arpit asked.
"Yeah. Livedoff her savings for a bit."
"So what didJhaveri do to get all her colleagues to keep quiet?"
"The dancersshe worked with who took cash for extras or took drugs were shown tapes ofthemselves, then offered clean-up programmes and jobs. The previous owner wasfound by the police with half a kilo of cocaine and is doing a stretch inprison. Five of the security guys who worked there are now working as freelancesecurity contractors in Zambia. One of them is in Afghanistan. The other guywho worked there but didn't want to go abroad got a nice big business grant tostart a building business with his brother, and they're about to get alucrative maintenance contract to keep them going for a few years."
"What aboutthe dancers who weren't into anything dodgy?"
"A fewscholarships and expenses packages, helping out with a few medical bills forrelatives, a few jobs here and there. One of them demanded a Porsche to keepquiet, so she was shown the stick instead of the carrot."
"What thehell does that mean?"
"You go forthe carrot, you get a nice reward for positive behaviour. You go for the stick,you get thumped for negative behaviour. The carrot and the stick."
"I know whatthe carrot and stick shit means," Arpit muttered, rolling his eyes."I mean what metaphorical stick was she shown?"
"I believeshe was woken up one night surrounded by half a ton of flour in clear bags, inher own bedroom. The bags looked like drugs, you know?"
Arpit nodded forher to continue.
"On her bedwere photos of her showing she'd been slipped a roofie, had been taken out herown apartment, photographed at a local landmark, then put back into bed, allwithout her knowing anything about it. Next to the photos on the bed was a listof every address she'd ever had, the addresses of all her family, her passwordsfor her email accounts, bank account numbers, a frightening amount of personalinformation."
"So she wasthreatened and her family were threatened?" Arpit asked, scowling."Is this what I'm inheriting?"
Shikha sighed,but pressed on. "When she woke up, a disguised man pointed out to her thatthis could have been the police raiding her and finding all these drugs. Itcould have been a rapist or serial killer who slipped her a roofie. It could besomeone trying to find her in any of the places on those lists, who can findout anything about her at any time. Then the guy pointed out to her that if shewanted a disproportional carrot, she would see a disproportional stick. Ibelieve she settled for twelve grand."
"That's anasty way of doing business. I don't like it," He said firmly.
"Oh, growup, Arpit," Shikha said bluntly, startling him. "You're playing withthe big boys now, and information is power. Do you think every single one ofyour competitors isn't going to investigate each of you and leak whatever theywant to the press? Or try to use it to discredit you and cause a drop in shareprice? Do you think if they have something they can blackmail you with, thenthey'll decide that he's a good guy and we'll just leave him alone? That's nothow it works and deep down you know it."
Arpit shook hishead in frustration. "So what if I decide I'm above all these power gamesand I'm not going to play?"
"Then you'llget killed with a thousand paper cuts," Shikha replied. "Fortunatelyfor you we've got people who are really good at this stuff, so it's notsomething that's going to cross your desk very often."
"What afucking day," He muttered.
"You getthem like that sometimes. Then other days are awesome." She paused to puther cigarette out. "Mister Jhaveri used to say you need a few shit days soyou can appreciate the good ones."
"Bring onthe good ones," Arpit replied.
"You shouldget some sleep, Arpit," Shikha reminded him, standing up and heading intothe suite.
Arpit sat in thedark for a few more minutes and then stubbed out his cigarette and headedinside. He turned off the lights in his bedroom, plunging the place intonear-total darkness, stripped off and got into bed.
Sleep eluded himthough.
He fidgetted, rolled over, couldn't get comfortable and couldn't quite drift off, so he got up again, grabbed a pair of shorts and a hooded jersey from the dressing room and went outside again.
"Psst. Arpit."
It took him a moment to trace the source of the loud whisper, but he saw Tanmy walking round the balcony from her suite to his. "How you doing?"
"Can't sleep," He told her, taking a seat.
"Me neither. I think that's been forty hours now or something," She replied.
"Jesus, Tanmy. You should be in your bed."
"It's not happening though. I just can't drift off."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I just got back up myself."
She looked at him for a minute, her head tilted to one side. "Come with me, Arpit." She turned and began to walk around the balcony, her white trackpants and vest top making her easily visible in the dark. "Come on."
Arpit got up and followed her round the balcony and into her suite, seeing it was similar to his own in layout, but different in its decor. Everything in here was much lighter in colour and tone from the furniture to the walls. The lounge area was larger and the bedrooms were to the side instead of the back.
As he followed he began to get a little nervous, his stomach tensing as Tanmy led him into her bedroom.
"This is my room."
"Yeah. You know it's not a great idea for me to be in here, right?"
"Oh, chill out, Arpit. I just want to try something," She told him firmly. "Remember when we snuggled and fell asleep together?"
He shrugged. "Of course I do."
"Well I'm shattered, Arpit," She continued. "Like I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in two days, I'm jetlagged and I feel ill. I'm desperate to sleep, so at this point I'm willing to try anything."
Arpit frowned at her. This wasn't a good way to start things off as brother and sister. Plus, he could feel that hint of nervous excitement at the thought of holding her again.
"We don't have to get undressed, or get under the covers or anything like that. I just want to see if I can get as comfortable as I can, and hopefully get some rest."
"You're kidding, right?"
To his surprise her eyes immediately began to fill up with tears, and her hands flew up to cover them.
"Tanmy, I didn't mean to upset you," He said quickly. "I just think that the two us sleeping together is not the smartest thing to do."
"I'm tired, Arpit. I'm tired, and I'm all alone here, and the only person I know is you. I don't know who I can trust, I'm completely out my depth, and all I want is to get some sleep."
Arpit took a couple of steps forward to where she sat on the edge of the bed and gave her a hug. He could feel her holding him, grateful for the comfort, and after a couple of minutes she let him go and wiped her eyes.
"I'll stay for a little while, but as soon as you're asleep, I'm going back to my room," He said, feeling a huge pang of empathy for her, going through all the same crappy emotional rollercoaster he was.
"Arpit, if I can get to sleep, then that's all I need," She replied, giving him a little smile.
He nodded and walked round the side of the bed, lying on his side on top of the sheets, and Tanmy rolled herself in so he was snuggled in behind her.
The smell of her hair and the feel of her against him brought back memories of Pattaya Beach in her room and Arpit took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Without conscious thought they both made small adjustments to accommodate the other. The positioning of a hand, the turn of an elbow. A foot sliding between his, the angle of his hips and her buttocks, and within moments his arms were wrapped tight around her, her arms holding him in place.
"Arpit,"She whispered in the darkness.
"Yeah?"
"I've missedthis."
"Metoo," He whispered back. "Now close your eyes and go to sleep."
She was gonewithin a few minutes, and Arpit slowly slid his arm out from under her, takinga great deal of care to not wake her, but eventually he was able to extracthimself from the bed. He lifted the sheet over her carefully, then leftquietly.
"Okay. Forfour years someone named Trisha has been writing trashy romance novels andscraping a living from it. The novels are all ghost-written, and the photo onthe jacket could be her, deliberately shot to be ambiguous."
"Right. Whatelse?"
"Severalblogs that were started for a month or two but fell by the wayside. The usualtwitter, facebook, myspace, all that stuff."
Arpit nodded forher to continue as he sat there in the dark.
"Basically,if anyone who went to school with her looks her up, they'll have her down assomeone who moved to an undisclosed town in Illinois, took up writing anddidn't really socialise much."
"And if theyrecognsie her as a dancer?"
"MisterJhaveri found out she was there a few years ago, and I don't know how he didit, but he bought the club purely so he could make sure any CCTV tapes were inhis control. He even paid to have the previous owners house turned over and anytapes or photos that were there were stolen."
"Were theretapes of her?"
"Her andevery other dancer who had ever worked there," Shikha said quietly."We got this from Mister Jhaveri only a few weeks ago. He had evidence ofsome of the girls offering extras, snorting lines of coke, doing meth, allsorts of stuff like that. The owner was just as bad, apparently. Nearly halfthe girls who ever worked there used to do.... favours for him, or he'd firethem. The rest refused but made too much money dancing for him to firethem."
Arpit moved theashtray onto the table in front of them both. It was a little weird seeingShikha smoking, but much weirder things had happened in the last thirty sixhours.
"Thesecurity staff who worked there were checked out too," She added.
"And sheleft nine months ago, right?" Arpit asked.
"Yeah. Livedoff her savings for a bit."
"So what didJhaveri do to get all her colleagues to keep quiet?"
"The dancersshe worked with who took cash for extras or took drugs were shown tapes ofthemselves, then offered clean-up programmes and jobs. The previous owner wasfound by the police with half a kilo of cocaine and is doing a stretch inprison. Five of the security guys who worked there are now working as freelancesecurity contractors in Zambia. One of them is in Afghanistan. The other guywho worked there but didn't want to go abroad got a nice big business grant tostart a building business with his brother, and they're about to get alucrative maintenance contract to keep them going for a few years."
"What aboutthe dancers who weren't into anything dodgy?"
"A fewscholarships and expenses packages, helping out with a few medical bills forrelatives, a few jobs here and there. One of them demanded a Porsche to keepquiet, so she was shown the stick instead of the carrot."
"What thehell does that mean?"
"You go forthe carrot, you get a nice reward for positive behaviour. You go for the stick,you get thumped for negative behaviour. The carrot and the stick."
"I know whatthe carrot and stick shit means," Arpit muttered, rolling his eyes."I mean what metaphorical stick was she shown?"
"I believeshe was woken up one night surrounded by half a ton of flour in clear bags, inher own bedroom. The bags looked like drugs, you know?"
Arpit nodded forher to continue.
"On her bedwere photos of her showing she'd been slipped a roofie, had been taken out herown apartment, photographed at a local landmark, then put back into bed, allwithout her knowing anything about it. Next to the photos on the bed was a listof every address she'd ever had, the addresses of all her family, her passwordsfor her email accounts, bank account numbers, a frightening amount of personalinformation."
"So she wasthreatened and her family were threatened?" Arpit asked, scowling."Is this what I'm inheriting?"
Shikha sighed,but pressed on. "When she woke up, a disguised man pointed out to her thatthis could have been the police raiding her and finding all these drugs. Itcould have been a rapist or serial killer who slipped her a roofie. It could besomeone trying to find her in any of the places on those lists, who can findout anything about her at any time. Then the guy pointed out to her that if shewanted a disproportional carrot, she would see a disproportional stick. Ibelieve she settled for twelve grand."
"That's anasty way of doing business. I don't like it," He said firmly.
"Oh, growup, Arpit," Shikha said bluntly, startling him. "You're playing withthe big boys now, and information is power. Do you think every single one ofyour competitors isn't going to investigate each of you and leak whatever theywant to the press? Or try to use it to discredit you and cause a drop in shareprice? Do you think if they have something they can blackmail you with, thenthey'll decide that he's a good guy and we'll just leave him alone? That's nothow it works and deep down you know it."
Arpit shook hishead in frustration. "So what if I decide I'm above all these power gamesand I'm not going to play?"
"Then you'llget killed with a thousand paper cuts," Shikha replied. "Fortunatelyfor you we've got people who are really good at this stuff, so it's notsomething that's going to cross your desk very often."
"What afucking day," He muttered.
"You getthem like that sometimes. Then other days are awesome." She paused to puther cigarette out. "Mister Jhaveri used to say you need a few shit days soyou can appreciate the good ones."
"Bring onthe good ones," Arpit replied.
"You shouldget some sleep, Arpit," Shikha reminded him, standing up and heading intothe suite.
Arpit sat in thedark for a few more minutes and then stubbed out his cigarette and headedinside. He turned off the lights in his bedroom, plunging the place intonear-total darkness, stripped off and got into bed.
Sleep eluded himthough.
He fidgetted, rolled over, couldn't get comfortable and couldn't quite drift off, so he got up again, grabbed a pair of shorts and a hooded jersey from the dressing room and went outside again.
"Psst. Arpit."
It took him a moment to trace the source of the loud whisper, but he saw Tanmy walking round the balcony from her suite to his. "How you doing?"
"Can't sleep," He told her, taking a seat.
"Me neither. I think that's been forty hours now or something," She replied.
"Jesus, Tanmy. You should be in your bed."
"It's not happening though. I just can't drift off."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I just got back up myself."
She looked at him for a minute, her head tilted to one side. "Come with me, Arpit." She turned and began to walk around the balcony, her white trackpants and vest top making her easily visible in the dark. "Come on."
Arpit got up and followed her round the balcony and into her suite, seeing it was similar to his own in layout, but different in its decor. Everything in here was much lighter in colour and tone from the furniture to the walls. The lounge area was larger and the bedrooms were to the side instead of the back.
As he followed he began to get a little nervous, his stomach tensing as Tanmy led him into her bedroom.
"This is my room."
"Yeah. You know it's not a great idea for me to be in here, right?"
"Oh, chill out, Arpit. I just want to try something," She told him firmly. "Remember when we snuggled and fell asleep together?"
He shrugged. "Of course I do."
"Well I'm shattered, Arpit," She continued. "Like I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in two days, I'm jetlagged and I feel ill. I'm desperate to sleep, so at this point I'm willing to try anything."
Arpit frowned at her. This wasn't a good way to start things off as brother and sister. Plus, he could feel that hint of nervous excitement at the thought of holding her again.
"We don't have to get undressed, or get under the covers or anything like that. I just want to see if I can get as comfortable as I can, and hopefully get some rest."
"You're kidding, right?"
To his surprise her eyes immediately began to fill up with tears, and her hands flew up to cover them.
"Tanmy, I didn't mean to upset you," He said quickly. "I just think that the two us sleeping together is not the smartest thing to do."
"I'm tired, Arpit. I'm tired, and I'm all alone here, and the only person I know is you. I don't know who I can trust, I'm completely out my depth, and all I want is to get some sleep."
Arpit took a couple of steps forward to where she sat on the edge of the bed and gave her a hug. He could feel her holding him, grateful for the comfort, and after a couple of minutes she let him go and wiped her eyes.
"I'll stay for a little while, but as soon as you're asleep, I'm going back to my room," He said, feeling a huge pang of empathy for her, going through all the same crappy emotional rollercoaster he was.
"Arpit, if I can get to sleep, then that's all I need," She replied, giving him a little smile.
He nodded and walked round the side of the bed, lying on his side on top of the sheets, and Tanmy rolled herself in so he was snuggled in behind her.
The smell of her hair and the feel of her against him brought back memories of Pattaya Beach in her room and Arpit took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Without conscious thought they both made small adjustments to accommodate the other. The positioning of a hand, the turn of an elbow. A foot sliding between his, the angle of his hips and her buttocks, and within moments his arms were wrapped tight around her, her arms holding him in place.
"Arpit,"She whispered in the darkness.
"Yeah?"
"I've missedthis."
"Metoo," He whispered back. "Now close your eyes and go to sleep."
She was gonewithin a few minutes, and Arpit slowly slid his arm out from under her, takinga great deal of care to not wake her, but eventually he was able to extracthimself from the bed. He lifted the sheet over her carefully, then leftquietly.
He sat in whatwas fast becoming his 'usual' chair and lit up, enjoying being back in thedarkness when he heard footsteps from his right, and spotted Trisha on herbalcony. He was in two minds if he should say anything to her or not when shespotted the cigarette flare as he inhaled.
"Arpit?"
"Hey,"He said softly. "I can't sleep."
"Neither canI."
"Come andhave a seat," He suggested.
She hesitated fora moment but then walked round and sat down.
"Sorry againabout earlier, Trisha," Arpit said, keeping his voice low. "I wasn'ttrying to make you feel uncomfortable or anything."
"Yeah, Ikinda bit your head off," She admitted. "I'm not great at dealingwith guys."
Arpit caughthimself about to point out that she was exceptional at dealing with guys whenit came to the lapdance he remembered so vividly, but he wisely kept his mouthshut.
"Plus, it'sa bit messed up, knowing that your brother has seen you stripping," Sheadded.
"Infairness, I didn't know we were related, and neither did you," He pointedout.
"I know, butstill....."
His thoughtsturned to Tanmy and the things they'd unwittingly done together. "It couldhave been worse, Trisha."
"Yeah, Icould have given you a private dance."
Arpit wasthinking that it would have been worse if they'd had sex, but now he realisedshe didn't know she'd given him a lapdance that was so hot it had made him cum.
His silence cuedher in. "Oh, fuck. I gave you a private dance?"
"Afraidso," He said quietly a moment later. "If it's any consolation to yourprofessional pride, I thought you were excellent."
"Really notthe best time to point that out," She murmured.
"Yeah, Iknow," Arpit agreed. "The whole thing's a bit.... awkward tonavigate."
"Youthink?"
He shrugged."I guess."
"When wereyou in?"
"SummarVacation, three years ago. You want some details of the conversation we had,see if you can remember?" He offered.
"I'm notsure if I want to remember or not."
"Okay. Letme know if you do. If it helps. Whatever you need."
"I'll thinkabout it."
"So you grewup in North India then?" He asked, trying to change the subject ontosomething that might be more comfortable for her.
"Yeah."
"How wasit?"
"North India?"
Arpit chuckled."No, growing up. What was your life like?"
"It was gooduntil I turned ten and my mom died."
"I'msorry."
She shrugged."Just one of those things. Drunk driver hit her, killed her instantly. Atleast it was quick. After that Dad began to drink and things went toshit."
Arpit didn't knowwhat to say. By the sounds of it, she had it rough growing up.
"I left homeas soon as I could, and by that point he had lost his job and didn't want towork anyway. I had two part-time jobs when I was at school, and I used to hidethe money I made so we had food and the bills got paid. Otherwise he drank it,or sold stuff."
Arpit wonderedwhy Siddharth Jhaveri didn't help her out at that point, or at least, help outher father and get him back on the right path again.
"That soundslike a tough way to grow up, Trisha," Arpit said quietly.
"Justanother of life's learning experiences," She replied, rolling it out likean automatic response.
"So wheredid you go when you left home?"
"I went tostay with a guy I'd met online in Bangkok, but that turned out to be bullshit,so then I travelled for a few months, doing odd jobs, crashing in my car."
Arpit frowned."And then you ended up in Pattaya Beach?"
"Yeah,eventually. I was working the bar there and some of the girls were encouragingme to dance. When I saw them doing it a few times and I saw the money they madeI gave it a go. The rest you know."
"Did youenjoy it?" Arpit asked, genuinely curious.
"Most of thetime? No. Most of the time it sucked, having old men pawing at you, or guystreating you like shit. Sometimes it was hard to keep from showing your contempt."She paused for a moment, then grabbed his cigarettes.
Arpit grinned,reminded of Shikha earlier.
"You don'tmind, do you?" She asked, lighting one up.
"Helpyourself."
She tilted herhead back and Arpit was immediately reminded of the silhouette of her, lit fromabove as she danced for him.
"Sometimes,just once in a while, you'd get a hot guy, or you'd be having a good night andsomething would just click. That was rare though."
"It soundsit," Arpit nodded, secretly hoping that he was one of the rare ones.
"Plus,working in heels all night long gets a bit tiring." She smiled a littleand Arpit realised that despite the topics they'd been discussing, she wasactually starting to relax.
"I'm gladwe're talking a bit, Trisha," He said. "This is a lot better than ourconversation earlier."
"Yeah,you've not been doing too good with the first impressions, Arpit," Shesaid, then chuckled. "Get all nervous, fall off the pier, then tell meyou've seen me naked. Are you always this smooth with the girls?" Shefinished, openly grinning.
Arpit laughed."Yeah, when it comes to girls I generally suck at chatting them up."
"Yeah?"
"Totally.King of the crash and burn."
Her expressionturned serious again and she was obviously thinking about something, so Arpitkept quiet, waiting to see what she had to say.
"Arpit,I.... never mind."
"Goahead," He told her.
"No, doesn'tmatter."
He looked her inthe eye. "I know that right now you don't know me from Adam, but you cantrust me, okay? Ask me whatever you want, or if you want to talk to me aboutsomething, you can. Any time at all, alright?"
Arpit saw her nodfaintly, then her expression became more determined.
"So I havetrust issues with men."
"That'shardly surprising."
"Shush,"She said, making him grin. "Anyway, I have problems trusting guys, and I'dbe quite happy to not have to rely on one ever again. I know you're thisbrother who's appeared out of nowhere and I should try and trust you, get toknow you, all that stuff that Hemant is telling me to do, but it's not going tobe easy, okay?"
"Nothingworthwile ever is," He pointed out.
"Do youalways interrupt?"
He shrugged."Sometimes."
Trisha rolled hereyes. "Anyway, what I'm saying is I'll try, but I can't promise Iwon't.... behave like a bitch from time to time, okay?"
"Okay,"Arpit nodded. "I appreciate your honesty."
"You mightnot in the future, okay? Consider yourself warned."
Arpit grinned."Duly noted."
He paused for asecond, considering something else. "Listen, all three of us, you, me andTanmy. None of us know what it's like to have brothers or sisters, so we'regoing to make mistakes and any relationships we have or end up having will besomething that's going to grow out of trial and error."
"That's acheerful picture," Trisha said, sarcastically.
"What I'msaying is that we'll make mistakes. At some point you'll do something that'llupset me, I'll do something that will upset you. Tanmy will do somethingthat'll upset both of us. We just have to remember that we're all new atthis."
"Okay,"She nodded. "I'll try, but no promises."
"That's allany of us can do," Arpit agreed. "And on that note, I think I'm gonnahead to bed."
"Oh, that'sright. Your six o'clock workout."
"Yeah,"Arpit replied, putting on his glum face. "Hence my unrestrainedenthusiasm."
Trisha chuckled,and Arpit felt a lot happier that they'd been able to talk.
"Goodnight,Trisha."
"Night,Arpit."
"Morning,Arpit."
He felt thegentle hand rubbing his shoulder, and recognised Shikha's voice. He opened hiseyes, seeing a hint of brightness in the room from the bedside lamp.
Shikha was sat onthe side of the bed, wearing an oversized football shirt, her hair hangingloose, grinning at him.
"It's sixo'clock already?" He mumbled.
"Quarterto," She replied. "Time to get out of bed, Arpit. Rise and shine,although I think you've got the rise part taken care of." Her eyes flickeddown the bed at the same instant that Arpit realised he had an erection, andwas lying on his back, tenting the sheet just as she had predicted twentyfourhours ago.
"Oh, shit.Sorry," He muttered, sitting upright and making sure the sheet coveredhim.
Shikha chuckled,a wicked noise that made him grin a little sheepishly. "Told you."
"Yeah, youdid," He replied and his eyes narrowed. "Is that my footballshirt?"
"You don'tmind?"
He shook hishead, his eyes running over how it hung loose around her figure. "Looksbetter on you anyway."
"Hey!"She said sharply, slapping him on the hip, a broad grin on her face."You're not meant to be eyeing me up."
Arpit shrugged."I've just woken up. I'm blaming it on being sleepy."
Shikha laughedand stood up, heading back towards her room. "Get dressed, Arpit. Oh, myshower's not working. Can I...."
"Ofcourse."
"Thanks,Arpit." She disappeared from the room.
Arpit sighed,knowing there was a lot worse ways to be woken up than by a hot blonde whoteased you about your boner, but it certainly took a bit of getting used to.
He threw back thesheets and headed to the bathroom, urinated and had a quick wash, then draggedon some shorts and a top, tied on some sneakers and headed for Shikha's room.
"Shikha,"He said, approaching her room, the lack of doors in the suite meaning he didn'thave one to knock on.
"Yeah?"
"AmI meeting Pawan at the gym?"
"No,he'll be downstairs," She replied. "Have fun. See you when you getback."
"Right,"He replied, and squaring his shoulders he went downstairs.
Pawanworked him hard. He'd started Arpit doing some stretching exercises on the wayto the gym for a few minutes, then put him onto the weights machines in thegym, working solely on his arms, shoulders, pecs and stomach.
Theincreasingly heavy weights burned his muscles and proved to be an agonizingexperience, but Pawan's unflagging enthusiasm kept him trying to do one more.Then another, and another until he was trembling with exhaustion.
Whenhe thought he couldn't do any more, Pawan made him do one more, and then whenhe was done with the machines, the trainer had him on the floor doing crunches,like sit-ups but without sitting up.
"Arpit?"
"Hey,"He said softly. "I can't sleep."
"Neither canI."
"Come andhave a seat," He suggested.
She hesitated fora moment but then walked round and sat down.
"Sorry againabout earlier, Trisha," Arpit said, keeping his voice low. "I wasn'ttrying to make you feel uncomfortable or anything."
"Yeah, Ikinda bit your head off," She admitted. "I'm not great at dealingwith guys."
Arpit caughthimself about to point out that she was exceptional at dealing with guys whenit came to the lapdance he remembered so vividly, but he wisely kept his mouthshut.
"Plus, it'sa bit messed up, knowing that your brother has seen you stripping," Sheadded.
"Infairness, I didn't know we were related, and neither did you," He pointedout.
"I know, butstill....."
His thoughtsturned to Tanmy and the things they'd unwittingly done together. "It couldhave been worse, Trisha."
"Yeah, Icould have given you a private dance."
Arpit wasthinking that it would have been worse if they'd had sex, but now he realisedshe didn't know she'd given him a lapdance that was so hot it had made him cum.
His silence cuedher in. "Oh, fuck. I gave you a private dance?"
"Afraidso," He said quietly a moment later. "If it's any consolation to yourprofessional pride, I thought you were excellent."
"Really notthe best time to point that out," She murmured.
"Yeah, Iknow," Arpit agreed. "The whole thing's a bit.... awkward tonavigate."
"Youthink?"
He shrugged."I guess."
"When wereyou in?"
"SummarVacation, three years ago. You want some details of the conversation we had,see if you can remember?" He offered.
"I'm notsure if I want to remember or not."
"Okay. Letme know if you do. If it helps. Whatever you need."
"I'll thinkabout it."
"So you grewup in North India then?" He asked, trying to change the subject ontosomething that might be more comfortable for her.
"Yeah."
"How wasit?"
"North India?"
Arpit chuckled."No, growing up. What was your life like?"
"It was gooduntil I turned ten and my mom died."
"I'msorry."
She shrugged."Just one of those things. Drunk driver hit her, killed her instantly. Atleast it was quick. After that Dad began to drink and things went toshit."
Arpit didn't knowwhat to say. By the sounds of it, she had it rough growing up.
"I left homeas soon as I could, and by that point he had lost his job and didn't want towork anyway. I had two part-time jobs when I was at school, and I used to hidethe money I made so we had food and the bills got paid. Otherwise he drank it,or sold stuff."
Arpit wonderedwhy Siddharth Jhaveri didn't help her out at that point, or at least, help outher father and get him back on the right path again.
"That soundslike a tough way to grow up, Trisha," Arpit said quietly.
"Justanother of life's learning experiences," She replied, rolling it out likean automatic response.
"So wheredid you go when you left home?"
"I went tostay with a guy I'd met online in Bangkok, but that turned out to be bullshit,so then I travelled for a few months, doing odd jobs, crashing in my car."
Arpit frowned."And then you ended up in Pattaya Beach?"
"Yeah,eventually. I was working the bar there and some of the girls were encouragingme to dance. When I saw them doing it a few times and I saw the money they madeI gave it a go. The rest you know."
"Did youenjoy it?" Arpit asked, genuinely curious.
"Most of thetime? No. Most of the time it sucked, having old men pawing at you, or guystreating you like shit. Sometimes it was hard to keep from showing your contempt."She paused for a moment, then grabbed his cigarettes.
Arpit grinned,reminded of Shikha earlier.
"You don'tmind, do you?" She asked, lighting one up.
"Helpyourself."
She tilted herhead back and Arpit was immediately reminded of the silhouette of her, lit fromabove as she danced for him.
"Sometimes,just once in a while, you'd get a hot guy, or you'd be having a good night andsomething would just click. That was rare though."
"It soundsit," Arpit nodded, secretly hoping that he was one of the rare ones.
"Plus,working in heels all night long gets a bit tiring." She smiled a littleand Arpit realised that despite the topics they'd been discussing, she wasactually starting to relax.
"I'm gladwe're talking a bit, Trisha," He said. "This is a lot better than ourconversation earlier."
"Yeah,you've not been doing too good with the first impressions, Arpit," Shesaid, then chuckled. "Get all nervous, fall off the pier, then tell meyou've seen me naked. Are you always this smooth with the girls?" Shefinished, openly grinning.
Arpit laughed."Yeah, when it comes to girls I generally suck at chatting them up."
"Yeah?"
"Totally.King of the crash and burn."
Her expressionturned serious again and she was obviously thinking about something, so Arpitkept quiet, waiting to see what she had to say.
"Arpit,I.... never mind."
"Goahead," He told her.
"No, doesn'tmatter."
He looked her inthe eye. "I know that right now you don't know me from Adam, but you cantrust me, okay? Ask me whatever you want, or if you want to talk to me aboutsomething, you can. Any time at all, alright?"
Arpit saw her nodfaintly, then her expression became more determined.
"So I havetrust issues with men."
"That'shardly surprising."
"Shush,"She said, making him grin. "Anyway, I have problems trusting guys, and I'dbe quite happy to not have to rely on one ever again. I know you're thisbrother who's appeared out of nowhere and I should try and trust you, get toknow you, all that stuff that Hemant is telling me to do, but it's not going tobe easy, okay?"
"Nothingworthwile ever is," He pointed out.
"Do youalways interrupt?"
He shrugged."Sometimes."
Trisha rolled hereyes. "Anyway, what I'm saying is I'll try, but I can't promise Iwon't.... behave like a bitch from time to time, okay?"
"Okay,"Arpit nodded. "I appreciate your honesty."
"You mightnot in the future, okay? Consider yourself warned."
Arpit grinned."Duly noted."
He paused for asecond, considering something else. "Listen, all three of us, you, me andTanmy. None of us know what it's like to have brothers or sisters, so we'regoing to make mistakes and any relationships we have or end up having will besomething that's going to grow out of trial and error."
"That's acheerful picture," Trisha said, sarcastically.
"What I'msaying is that we'll make mistakes. At some point you'll do something that'llupset me, I'll do something that will upset you. Tanmy will do somethingthat'll upset both of us. We just have to remember that we're all new atthis."
"Okay,"She nodded. "I'll try, but no promises."
"That's allany of us can do," Arpit agreed. "And on that note, I think I'm gonnahead to bed."
"Oh, that'sright. Your six o'clock workout."
"Yeah,"Arpit replied, putting on his glum face. "Hence my unrestrainedenthusiasm."
Trisha chuckled,and Arpit felt a lot happier that they'd been able to talk.
"Goodnight,Trisha."
"Night,Arpit."
"Morning,Arpit."
He felt thegentle hand rubbing his shoulder, and recognised Shikha's voice. He opened hiseyes, seeing a hint of brightness in the room from the bedside lamp.
Shikha was sat onthe side of the bed, wearing an oversized football shirt, her hair hangingloose, grinning at him.
"It's sixo'clock already?" He mumbled.
"Quarterto," She replied. "Time to get out of bed, Arpit. Rise and shine,although I think you've got the rise part taken care of." Her eyes flickeddown the bed at the same instant that Arpit realised he had an erection, andwas lying on his back, tenting the sheet just as she had predicted twentyfourhours ago.
"Oh, shit.Sorry," He muttered, sitting upright and making sure the sheet coveredhim.
Shikha chuckled,a wicked noise that made him grin a little sheepishly. "Told you."
"Yeah, youdid," He replied and his eyes narrowed. "Is that my footballshirt?"
"You don'tmind?"
He shook hishead, his eyes running over how it hung loose around her figure. "Looksbetter on you anyway."
"Hey!"She said sharply, slapping him on the hip, a broad grin on her face."You're not meant to be eyeing me up."
Arpit shrugged."I've just woken up. I'm blaming it on being sleepy."
Shikha laughedand stood up, heading back towards her room. "Get dressed, Arpit. Oh, myshower's not working. Can I...."
"Ofcourse."
"Thanks,Arpit." She disappeared from the room.
Arpit sighed,knowing there was a lot worse ways to be woken up than by a hot blonde whoteased you about your boner, but it certainly took a bit of getting used to.
He threw back thesheets and headed to the bathroom, urinated and had a quick wash, then draggedon some shorts and a top, tied on some sneakers and headed for Shikha's room.
"Shikha,"He said, approaching her room, the lack of doors in the suite meaning he didn'thave one to knock on.
"Yeah?"
"AmI meeting Pawan at the gym?"
"No,he'll be downstairs," She replied. "Have fun. See you when you getback."
"Right,"He replied, and squaring his shoulders he went downstairs.
Pawanworked him hard. He'd started Arpit doing some stretching exercises on the wayto the gym for a few minutes, then put him onto the weights machines in thegym, working solely on his arms, shoulders, pecs and stomach.
Theincreasingly heavy weights burned his muscles and proved to be an agonizingexperience, but Pawan's unflagging enthusiasm kept him trying to do one more.Then another, and another until he was trembling with exhaustion.
Whenhe thought he couldn't do any more, Pawan made him do one more, and then whenhe was done with the machines, the trainer had him on the floor doing crunches,like sit-ups but without sitting up.
Bythe time Pawan brought a bottle of water and told him they were done untillunchtime, Arpit felt like he'd been run over by a steam roller. Even walkingback to his suite was a struggle even though they hadn't worked his legs atall, and Arpit knew he'd have to stop smoking, or at least, cut back a lot.
Hestumbled up the stairs and into his suite, heading straight for his bedroomwhere he considered face-planting on the bed and just staying there untildinner, but he knew he had too much to do, and he was decidedly hungry.
Hekicked off his sneakers and pulled off his top, groaning as he was forced tolift his arms, and as he entered the bathroom to get in the shower, the opaqueglass of the shower cubicle turned clear as Shikha opened the door from theinside.
Hesaw her before she hurriedly closed the door, saw her legs and that shavenplace between them, saw her taught flat stomach and her round, full breasts withher nipples tight and hard, jutting out. Her blonde hair, wet and shining likethe beads of water on her skin. She had the fingers of her right hand in hermouth.
"Fuck.Sorry, Shikha. I didn't realise you were in here," he said quickly,retreating out the door. Arpit frowned as he realised the water wasn't running.
"Ididn't hear you come in," She called back.
Arpitwas standing outside the bathroom, a slight smile on his face as his mindreplayed what he had just seen. "Holy fuck, she's hot," He muttered.
Shikhaappeared moments later, wrapped in a towel this time with another round herhead, holding her hair.
"Sorryabout that," She said quckly.
"No,no, my mistake," Arpit argued. "I forgot you were using myshower."
Theyboth paused, looking at each other and feeling a bit awkward until Arpitstarted to laugh. Shikha joined in seconds later.
"Seemsto be a day for seeing things," He said finally.
"Yeah.And it looks like my friendly predictions are coming true faster than I thought,"She added. "It's not gonna get weird or anything now, is it? After mewaking you up and then... this."
Arpitsmiled. "No, although I have to admit, that's an image that's going tostay in my head for quite a while."
"GladI could be of service," She laughed, giving him a mocking curtsy, her handclasped tightly round her towel.
"Soit's safe for me to go for a shower now then?" Arpit asked, chuckling.
"Definitely,"She nodded. "How was the work out?"
To be Continued
Hestumbled up the stairs and into his suite, heading straight for his bedroomwhere he considered face-planting on the bed and just staying there untildinner, but he knew he had too much to do, and he was decidedly hungry.
Hekicked off his sneakers and pulled off his top, groaning as he was forced tolift his arms, and as he entered the bathroom to get in the shower, the opaqueglass of the shower cubicle turned clear as Shikha opened the door from theinside.
Hesaw her before she hurriedly closed the door, saw her legs and that shavenplace between them, saw her taught flat stomach and her round, full breasts withher nipples tight and hard, jutting out. Her blonde hair, wet and shining likethe beads of water on her skin. She had the fingers of her right hand in hermouth.
"Fuck.Sorry, Shikha. I didn't realise you were in here," he said quickly,retreating out the door. Arpit frowned as he realised the water wasn't running.
"Ididn't hear you come in," She called back.
Arpitwas standing outside the bathroom, a slight smile on his face as his mindreplayed what he had just seen. "Holy fuck, she's hot," He muttered.
Shikhaappeared moments later, wrapped in a towel this time with another round herhead, holding her hair.
"Sorryabout that," She said quckly.
"No,no, my mistake," Arpit argued. "I forgot you were using myshower."
Theyboth paused, looking at each other and feeling a bit awkward until Arpitstarted to laugh. Shikha joined in seconds later.
"Seemsto be a day for seeing things," He said finally.
"Yeah.And it looks like my friendly predictions are coming true faster than I thought,"She added. "It's not gonna get weird or anything now, is it? After mewaking you up and then... this."
Arpitsmiled. "No, although I have to admit, that's an image that's going tostay in my head for quite a while."
"GladI could be of service," She laughed, giving him a mocking curtsy, her handclasped tightly round her towel.
"Soit's safe for me to go for a shower now then?" Arpit asked, chuckling.
"Definitely,"She nodded. "How was the work out?"
To be Continued