The Holiday Affair: A Match Made In Hell Novel Read online

  And no matter what, he was always respectful towards the women he was with. So when their time together ended, there were no hard feelings.

  But his father, an upcoming politician and a well-respected doctor, was not happy with his only son appearing in the gossip columns. And his father was not the kind to let his displeasure be shown quietly.

  "You are dragging the Bugati name through mud! How many times do I need to bow my head in shame when other politicians and reporters mock me because of you!" he raged, his voice echoing due to the tall ceilings in the huge living room of the three storied house.

  "Dad, I've told you several times that none of those rumors are true—"

  "I don't care! All I want is some peace of mind. I'm sick of having a weak link because of you. Did you or did you not have a relationship with Sudharshan Reddy's daughter?" his father asked.

  Rana frowned. "Who? Are you talking about the finance minister?" Even though, he wasn't interested in politics himself, the members of his extended family had been so involved in it that he knew most of the things happening in the political circle.

  "Yes!" his father shouted impatiently.

  "I didn't know he had a daughter, let alone be with her," he shouted back.

  Had his mother been home at that time, she'd have calmed them both. But since she was away, Rana's cousin tried to play the mediator between the hot-tempered son and father.

  His father scowled at him. "Well, I don't care whether or not you were with her. I need you to go away to somewhere safe immediately."

  "What are you talking about? I am not—"

  "Stop opposing me for everything and just go!"

  "Uncle, let me talk to Rana. I'll see to it that this issue gets resolved soon."

  Rana's father took a deep breath and sighed. "Help me reason with him, Rahul. The elections are only a few months away. Your father and I are already quite tensed with the campaigning. And now this..."

  "I'll handle the situation, uncle. Just give me a few minutes with Rana," Rahul requested.

  Rana didn't understand why his father was overreacting to the usual run of the mill gossip. But when it came to him, it took very little for his father to erupt.

  Irritated, he began to climb the stairs, taking two at a time, heading to his room. He heard Rahul following behind him.

  As soon as he entered the room, he began pacing furiously with a scowl on his face. He hated these confrontations with his father and being yelled at like a little boy. He was twenty eight freaking years old!

  Given a chance, he would avoid these irritating confrontations with his father, but he had to visit his parents' home for his mother's sake.

  "This is getting ridiculous. I don't know why he's so upset about a silly rumor."

  Rahul was quiet, typing something furiously on a tablet.

  "Did you hear me?" he asked Rahul. "What the hell was so upsetting about a silly rumor?"

  "It's not just about the rumor, Rana," said Rahul, scrolling down an article and frowning at the tablet.

  "What is it?" Rana asked.

  "Have you hooked up with some woman named Sweety Reddy?"

  "That name doesn't ring a bell. In fact, I haven't hooked up with anyone since the past three months. I—" his voice broke off as he looked at the picture on the screen. A really thin woman was standing next to Sudharshan Reddy, the finance minister.

  Shit, she did look familiar.

  "Have you slept with her?" Rahul asked, seeing the frown on Rana's face.

  "No."

  "Dated her?"

  "No."

  "But she seems familiar to you? When was the last time you saw her?" Rahul asked.

  "Hmm...Let's see. Maybe at a movie premiere or an award function. Why?" he asked, as he pulled up his own phone and began to look for information on her.

  There were quite a few results on the search engine.

  Sweety Reddy was a society girl by profession (If there was any such thing). She spent most her time hanging out with similar people (the idle rich), taking thousands of pictures and posting them on social media. Sometimes, she and her friends even paid to have their parties and events, appear on 'important' publications in the gossip sections.

  Rana had met and been with a few women like her in the past. But something about this particular woman had put him off. The expression in her eyes seemed a little too manic and obsessed when she looked at him.

  Even though he had an active sexual life, he was quite choosy about whom he slept with. Unlike what people expected most popular actors to do, he did not sleep indiscriminately with just about anyone.

  "Pull up an article about you both," Rahul requested.

  "What publication?"

  "Any of them. It's everywhere."

  Frowning, Rana typed the names in the search engine and more than a dozen articles popped up with various headlines screaming different versions of the same news.

  " Romance brewing between Finance minister's daughter and a famous actor who is also the son of the upcoming politician from a rich background. Do we smell a society wedding soon?"

  Just in case a few people didn't quite understand what the headline stated, there was also a picture of him with that woman at one of the movie premieres.

  Hell, the picture looked incriminating.

  His head was tilted down (since he was six feet four inches and had to always tilt his head while looking at most women), and he was smiling his usual polite smile.

  Meantime, the woman's eyes were locked on his with an intense look. He couldn't recall having any conversation with her that evening or any other time. But now that he thought about it, she did turn up at most places he went. Since he bumped into the same set of people at most places, he didn't think much about it.

  Hell, it had never occurred to him that she was stalking him.

  "I've never slept with her."

  "Are you sure?" Rahul asked.

  Rana put his phone away in disgust. That's why he hated reading articles about himself. Most of them were bullshit. "Of course I'm sure. I'm going to throw a defamation case against this garbage. I—"

  "Sudharshan Reddy is threatening to harm you if you don't do the right thing," said Rahul.

  "What?"

  "His daughter is playing the victim card, claiming you had promised to marry her before taking her virginity."

  "What the hell?"

  "Yeah. Apparently Sweety Reddy the sweet virgin was lured by you into sinning. Her father now wants you to make a honest woman out of her by marrying her."

  "I haven't touched her or gone out with her. Ever!"

  "Then why would she make such claims?"

  "How the hell would I know? I hate this sort of crap!" he said angrily.

  Rahul sighed. "I know. But it is happening and we'd have to deal with it."

  "Of course I'll deal with it. I'm going to send her a notice to cease and desist."

  "If you do that, no one is going to believe you," Rahul told him calmly.

  "Why not?" he asked.

  "Because you know how people are," Rahul said simply.

  He was right. Unfortunately people sometimes believed that actors had the same character as the roles they played in the movies. A villain in movies translated to a de-spoiler of woman and a bad boy in real life too.

  "Well, I've had enough of sitting in a corner with so called a dignified silence while people keep spreading slander about me."

  "Rana...it will turn into a he said, she said, war. Do you really have the time or patience for all of that? And Sudharshan Reddy is dangerous. He has a reputation of making people disappear at the slightest mistake made against him or his family. Your parents are worried."

  Rana paused. Shit. Was that why his father hit the roof with that news. Because he was worried.

  "What am I supposed to do? Marry her for my safety sake?"

  "No. You can disappear for a while. For a few weeks at least. Until the truth comes out. I'll have investigators check on on Swee
ty Reddy to prove you haven't been with her."

  Rana frowned at the suggestion. "You know I'm not the kind to run away because of some rumors or threats. Why can't the investigation go on while I'm here?"

  "This is not running away. It's simply avoiding a difficult situation that you'll have no control over. If you disappear, your parents won't worry about you."

  Rana loved his mother. And no matter how many times he and his father clashed over things, he couldn't deny the fact that he loved his father. He didn't want to worry them.

  "Shit, I hate this. And no matter how you put it, it's still running away."

  "I know. But it has to be done."

  Rana sighed. "Luckily, I just wrapped up shooting for a few movies last week. I won't be starting my next assignment, until after a month. I just have a couple of commitments I can complete in a week."

  "That's great! Meantime, why don't you arrange a trip to someplace where people don't recognize you," Rahul offered.

  "Fine," he grumbled.

  "Hey, cheer up. I'm sure there's some other scandal brewing. They'll soon forget about you," said Rahul.

  Rana wanted to tell his cousin not to bother, and that he didn't really care about the rumors. But it was a lie. He did care. He didn't know when he started to care about what was written about him, and whispered around him, but he did. And he hated it.

  Sometimes, he felt like a stranger in his own skin. He felt like something was still missing in his life. Maybe it sounded like it was something an overwrought cheesy actor would say in a overwrought cheesy movie, but it felt real.

  He was in a rut. And he didn't know why.

  He had everything he wanted. A family who loved him and that he could rely on. A good career in movies that he had always wanted. He earned good money—a lot— some would say for a relatively new comer of three years. Then, why the hell did he feel something was missing that would make him feel truly alive?

  Maybe he could use this forced holiday to contemplate whether he was simply burning out due to too much work or it was something else.

  "So, do you want me to look for a place for you to go?" his cousin asked.

  "No. I have a place in mind."

  Rana called one of his friends who had a holiday home in a beautiful location that was relatively isolated. He had rented that place a couple times when he felt he needed a break from his crazy schedules. It wasn't that far from home by flight that he couldn't get back quickly if needed.

  "Dude, I need to disappear someplace for a month and be completely off the grid. Is your place available still?" he asked his friend. He also explained the situation briefly.

  "Which place do you have in mind?" His friend loved travelling, and so he invested in holiday homes across the globe.

  "In Kandy, Srilanka."

  "That one is usually booked around this time of the year. But there is another home. More private and more modern. We just got it a few weeks ago, and it's not added to the system yet, I think. I don't handle the bookings, so I'll ask my property manager to get in touch with you. He's fix you up with the agent who can reserve this place or some other place in Kandy for you over the phone."

  "Yeah that should work. I'll be using my cousin's name, Rahul Bugati on the booking."

  "Sure. That shouldn't be a problem."

  "Thanks Abhinav. I owe you one."

  "Anytime dude."

  CHAPTER 7

  "Miss Shah, you have a visitor. Mrs. Sapna Shah," a voice on her speaker phone announced.

  Srishti frowned at the interruption. She was in middle of preparing notes for an important presentation that she had to demo in a few months.

  "Yeah. Send her up," she said absently, going back to the document in front of her.

  So far she felt she had enough information to convince a handful of India's most influential investors and scientists to release the product her team had been working hard on for over two years. Most twenty eight year olds would balk at such a daunting task. But, she had been contributing or giving many such presentations since she had been thirteen.

  She loved her work. Right from a young age, she had always been fascinated by science and technology. Her mother had always told her that it was a hereditary thing. And considering her uncle was one of the best renowned inventors and investors of modern sciences, she believed it. It was her uncle who had given her a good head start by allowing her to intern in his company when she was just thirteen. And since then, she had never looked back. Three years ago, after she quit her job in her uncle's company, she started her own company.

  "Srishti..." a woman's hesitant voice called out.

  "Sapna, what are you doing here visiting me this late?" Srishti frowned, checking the clock. It was close to nine o'clock in the night, and she had pulled enough long workdays to not be surprised by the time. Nine was rather little early these days.

  Sapna was watching her with a weird expression, which was a cross between worry and...pity? Sapna was not only her childhood friend; she was also her cousin Abhinav's wife.

  "What happened?" Srishti asked as worry crept into her.

  "It's Gaurav...I thought you might want...I mean people have been trying to reach you..." Sapna struggled to complete her sentences.

  "What happened to Gaurav? Is he okay?"

  "Gaurav is fine," Sapna said softly. "Why wouldn't he be? He's gotten himself a new fiancée."

  There was an absolute silence.

  "What?" Srishti asked, stunned.

  "Gaurav has—"

  "I heard that. But how can he get a fiancée when he is still engaged to me?" she asked.

  Sapna stared at her oddly. "Srishti...how can you not remember that you both broke up a month ago?" she asked in disbelief.

  And then, it slowly hit Srishti. "Oh crap," she muttered, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, while recalling the last time she heard from Gaurav.

  It was over a month ago.

  Srishti was in her office, scrambling to put things inside her purse when her phone rang.

  "Hello?"

  She flinched and pulled her phone away from her ear when she heard the shouting voice on the other end. "Where the hell are you, Srishti? Don't tell me you forgot about our dinner plans again."

  She was running late to their fancy dinner date that night. And she was still at work because of a last minute critical issue.

  "I didn't forget, Gaurav. I had an important meeting that ended—"

  He cut her off. "I don't bloody care. It's always something or other happening at your work. You need to pull yourself together and set your priorities right. It's quite obvious that I'm not a priority in your life."

  "Gaurav, listen—"

  But he wasn't done. "All I am to you is just a bloody dummy that is present in your life, so you can check the box called 'husband' in your extensive goals list," he raged.

  "Gaurav, calm down," she consoled. "I was just about to head out now? I'll try to be there in twenty minutes."

  "No. You've embarrassed me by making me wait alone like a loser. I don't want to ask them to hold the reservation for that long."

  "Then, let's go someplace else. There are a few good places that are open until late in the night. My team keeps taking me there sometimes after work—"

  "Stop. Don't tell me what to do!"

  "Gaurav, it's just dinner. I said I'm sorry."

  "No. It's not just about the dinner. I've had enough with your excuses. And with mine as well. I'm sick of coming up with excuses on behalf of you to my family when they ask me about why you never show up to most of the important occasions," he said, angrily.

  She didn't know what to say to that. There was always an 'important' family occasion almost every week in Gaurav's family. Either one of his grandmothers' birthday or one of his several cousins' child's birthday. Hell, even some cousin's third month wedding anniversary. Who the hell celebrated that? And she couldn't afford to attend every party and make small talk about things she had no inter
est in.

  Gaurav, who was her father's partner's son, proposed to her when they were eighteen. He had also promised to her at that time that he supported her ambitions wholeheartedly. Everything was perfect until she graduated from college and got engaged at twenty one. But once she began to work, things started changing.

  "Listen to me closely, Srishti" Gaurav continued, seething. "I'm telling you for the last time. You have to change. I need someone who has the time to go out with me. Someone..." he continued with his usual speech that she knew the overall gist of.

  She was listening to him until her phone received a call waiting notification. It was the CEO of a company she had been desperately trying to reach from the past few weeks.

  "Gaurav, I understand. Let's talk about this when we meet in a few minutes. I'm getting an important call—"

  He hung up on her.

  She stared at the phone for a couple of seconds, and then took the other call.

  After she had finished speaking to the CEO, convincing him to finally meet her and the team, she called back Gaurav. But he didn't pick up her calls.

  She thought he was simply sulking when he didn't answer. And she was irritated with him for putting her on a spot, asking her to choose between him and her career.

  But has it really been a month?

  "Oh Crap. I thought we were taking a break like before..."

  God, she felt stupid. Gaurav's and her relationship hadn't been ideal. Like any couple, during their ten years of being together, they argued, they broke up, but they eventually made up.

  But he had never been with anyone else during their break-up.

  She vaguely recalled her grandmother bemoaning to her a few days ago, about how she was dragging the Shah name through mud by not conforming, blah blah, who would want to spend their lives with such a woman, blah blah.

  Her grandmother's lectures were white noise to her and most of the time she ignored them.

  "Crap, Gaurav is really engaged to some other woman?" She asked Sapna.

  "Yes," Sapna replied softly. "With Pinky Reddy, that society girl who keeps appearing on Page three..." At Srishti's blank look, Sapna shook her head in exasperation. "Page three is where society or celebrity gossip is written. Anyway when Gaurav broke up with you, he was snapped up rather quickly by Pinky who had been eying him for quite a while."