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Chapter 2
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2021-07-24 21:58:40Before reaching her destination Sanvika travelled a lot. Just with a backpack and a camera. She travelled through the coastal line of India. And saw many people… and visited museums and emporiums. Took photos of old houses. She even went to Tibet. Some of her best photographs are from there.
Finally, she settled down on Goa. Because she met Mr Flower there. Now that is another story… Mr Flower aka Shardul Barve was a traveller too. He was a writer. He wrote about architecture and heritage buildings.
They met at a house. Sanvika was walking and she saw a beautiful old house. She wondered if she could ask permission to take photos of the house. She opened the gate and walked in but there was nobody there. She rang the calling bell, and no one answered.
“There is nobody inside.” She heard a voice and turned around to see a lean and fair young man of about 30. “May I ask what your purpose of the visit is?” He asked very politely.
“Are you the owner of this house?” She asked.
“No… No. This is my first time here as well.” He looked at her confused. Sanvika was wearing her camera around her neck and had a pedal pusher a t-shirt and a cap on. “I obviously took the permission of the owners. They are currently abroad.”
“Ah…” Sanvika uttered nodding. “Then can I just click a few pictures of the house?”
“You came to take pictures of the house?”
“Yes. Because it looked so pretty.”
“Are you an architecture student?”
“Huh? No… I was just walking, and the house looked so beautiful.” She smiled, carefree. Shardul thought afterwards that maybe the moment his heart started melting down for Sanvika.
“You can take photos.” He said smiling.
“Thanks.” Sanvika smiled widely and took a few steps behind and started clicking pictures of the house. Shardul was just watching her. After a second, Sanvika got conscious of that and looked at him, “You can do what you came to do.”
“I also came to just look at the house.” He said.
Sanvika just nodded. As she clicked more pictures, she saw that the guy was walking around the house writing some things down in a small notebook. After a while, he sat down on the steps of the house and continued writing. She came closer to see… “You have nice handwriting,” She said. He looked up and smiled. “Thanks.”
He closed the book and got up. A dried flower fell down from the book. Shardul missed it and walked ahead. Sanvika picked it up. It was a Pinkish-purple Flower pressed between two pages. Thin as paper. “Excuse me…” she called. Shardul turned back. “This fell down.” She held the flower up.
“Oh… Thanks…” He went to take it back. He took it back very carefully. “Really thanks. It’s kind of important to me.”
“Okay. What flower is that?”
“You don’t know…? This is a common flower. It’s Maharashtra’s state flower.”
“I have seen it. I just don’t know the name.”
“Pride of India. That’s what it is called.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Seriously. Pride of India. In Marathi it’s Tamhan. It’s a very common flower in the Konkan region”
Sanvika nodded. They walked out of the premises of the house together. Greeted each other polite goodbyes. And parted ways.
Sanvika did not meet Shardul until three days later. She was eating at an open restaurant by the beach and Shardul walked by. She recognised him instantly. “Oh. Mr Flower.” She uttered. She did not know his name, of course, because they never exchanged names. Shardul looked around.
“Oh…”
“Hi…” She waved with a smile.
“So, we meet again?”
“Yeah…” She was still smiling and Shardul thought she was a very pleasant person to be around.
“But what is with Mr Flower?”
“Coz I don’t know your name.”
“Right. It’s Shardul. Shardul Barve.” He extended his hand to her.
“Bond. James Bond…”
He laughed. She laughed and grabbed his hand. “I am Sanvika.”
“Hi, Sanvika.”
Shardul eyed Sanvika’s meal of seafood and beer. She noticed that “You wanna join me?”
“Sure…” he sat down and ordered food for him. But no beer. “I don’t drink.” He told Sanvika.
“You are in Goa and you don’t drink?”
“Hm… Not everybody has to drink alcohol.”
“True… So what do you do? You were scribbling something in your notebook that day…”
“I am a Writer.”
“Really?” She asked excitedly. “What have you written? Anything I know?”
“I don’t think so. My books do not sell that well.” He looked embarrassed.
“Hey, it’s okay. Even if it does not sell well, what matters is that you are doing something you love. It is something you love, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Luckey… I just ran away from home to escape something I don’t like.” Her smile flattened. Shardul noticed that. He understood that there is some back story.
“What is your age?” He asked.
“Twenty-Four.” She said. “Why?”
“You are an Adult. So you actually can do whatever you want.”
She smiled. “The plan is to buy a place to start a café…restaurant…pub…sort of thing…” She said.
“Can you cook?”
“Not really.”
Shardul raised an eyebrow. “Eh… I can hire someone who can cook.” She said.
“What about money?”
“Do I look like I have no money?” She laughed.
“Eh… you said you ran away from home. So…”
“Right. But I have some money my grandma had left for me. When she passed away, you know… And told me to live the life I want.” She looked thoughtful. Then she smiled again. “I have to buy or rent a place to stay as well. I always wanted to live by the sea.”
Shardul nodded and sat back as his food arrived. Sanvika took a sip of her beer. But suddenly Shardul sat up. “How much do you have?”
“Hm?”
“Eh… I know a place.”
After lunch, Shardul took her to a beautiful small two-storied building. It was not a house. It was not a restaurant either. It was both. It was a restaurant attached to a house. It was tiny and beautiful.
“If you buy this, can you rent that side room for me?” He pointed at a room that is detached from the main house and has a separate door to enter. “It’ was used for homestay service.”
“You know the owners of this one too?”
“Yes. It belongs to my sister.”
“Huh?”
“She wants to sell it. She got a better place.” He pointed to a restaurant a few feet ahead. Just next door. It was bigger and better. “I don’t really want this place to be sold. I wrote my first book in that room. The room is a really nice ambience to write. I write better there. I wanted to write the third one also here.”
“You said it’s your sister’s house. Can’t you just live in it?”
Shardul gave a timid smile.
“What are you doing here?” They heard a quick and angry voice. And they turned around. A plump sun-tanned woman of mid-thirties stood looking at them. “I am asking you, Shardul.”
“Didi, I brought you a client. She wants to buy the place.”
Shardul’s sister carefully looked at Sanvika. “This kid?”
“I am not a kid.”
“Do you even have the money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“How much do you need? I have like 75 lakhs.”
Now the sister’s attitude changed. “What was your name again?”
“Sanvika…”
“I am Suchil. We are all ‘S’.”
“Yeah. Yeah…”
Suchil turned to her brother. “Why are you so happy?”
“If she buys it, we agreed that I can live in the side room.” Shardul smiled.
“I did not agree yet.”
“See she is saying she did not agree yet. And how dare a young woman and man live in the same house?” She knocked on the side of Shardul’s head. “And what did I tell you…. Not to obsess over a room. Your books don’t sell because nobody wants to read the crap you write. At least write fiction novels, you idiot.”
“Just leave me alone.” He pushed his sister’s hand away. “I will show Sanvika Ji the insides. Where is the key?”
As Shardul showed Sanvika the inside of the house, he was talking… “So, didi ran away from home to marry jeeju. He is Christian. And did not have much money. They met on didi’s trip to Goa. So, they fell in love and later got married. They used to live here in this house. And ran the restaurant downstairs.”
The ground floor was a restaurant with a bar counter. It had no tables and chairs. But the space was perfect. When wooden pillars and windows. There was a kitchen space bathroom and a bedroom upstairs. Which was perfect for Sanvika.
“I guess I will have to buy all the furniture.” She looked around.
“So, you are going to buy it?” Shardul asked.
“Yeah. Sure. It looks good.”
“Then me… side room?”
“It seems like your sister does not want that.”
“She does not want me to be a writer. Not my parents too. They want me to give up and do some ‘proper job’.” He looked annoyed.
Sanvika understood how it feels to be not able to do something they love. She could see the strain in Shardul’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Mr Flower. You can stay in the side room.”
“Really? Thanks… I… I’ll help you buy the furniture. I will help you set everything up.”
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The upstairs house had a bed. The rest needed to be bought as well. As they did all this Sanvika stayed in the house itself. On the first day, Sanvika slept on the bed with no mattress. Even when she was used to sleeping on the best of the mattresses, she felt happy and peaceful to be sleeping in her own house.Shardul did help out Sanvika to set up the restaurant. He worked with Sanvika as they brought in the new tables and chairs and a new couch to be placed on the side of the restaurant. The upstairs house was set up similarly.“Mr Flower….”“Hm?”“What is the story behind that dried flower? You said that it’s important.”“It was given to me by someone I love.” He looked into the distance.“Ex-girlfriend?”“I am not sure if she is an ‘ex’. Because she died while we were still dating.”“They were quite cute of
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As a year went by, Shardul a.k.a Mr Flowers feelings for Sanvika grew. Even his sister could see it. Suchil rather liked Sanvika.“Tell her how you feel.” Suchil prompted Shardul.“She is so young…”“So, who told you to like someone young? You liked the young girl, right? So have the guts to admit it. And you guys are just 6 years apart.” Shardul still looked nervous. “Look you are 31 now. Time to get married. And San is such a gem. Don’t lose her.”But of course, these siblings did not know anything about Sanvika’s past, or about her parents. That she was from one of the richest families in the country. For them, she was just San. The girl who singlehandedly manages the restaurant at such a young age. She never lost smile. She was always so pleasant and so fun to be with.Sanvika took the role of the waitress at the restaurant while the two chefs cooked. The two chefs were a comic
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Sanvika came down from her room to the restaurant to see that somebody was sleeping on the couch. And that was not Tariq. The person had a cap over his face. She almost attacked him thinking it is an intruder when she saw the tattoo on his wrist. And his body structure.“Vivaan,” she said out loud.Vivaan removed the cap and looked at her. “Let me sleep ten minutes more. It was a tiring flight.” He covered his face with his cap again. Sanvika was taken aback and confused for a second. But then she kicked his leg.“Ouch…” He jumped up. “What is wrong with you?”“What are you doing here?”“How can you kick someone you are seeing after three years?” He yelled at her.“How can you say ‘ten more minutes to sleep’ to someone who you see after three years? And, How the hell did you get inside.”“A dark, scary-looking guy opened
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Sanvika was agitated. There was no reason for her to be so. Vivaan had said that he would not take her back to her home. Yet all the days Vivaan was in Goa, Sanvika was not herself. Shardul could notice that. Because Vivaan was always at the restaurant or near it. And all the time Vivaan was there, Sahvika looked uneasy. Her usual smile was not there. She occasionally stole looks at Vivaan with a look that clearly said that ‘I wish he just leave’.One evening, five days later… Vivaan started singing in front of the restaurant with a guitar. He was enjoying himself. In a short time, he managed to lure in Suchil, Aron and Shardul and San’s staff.“Mr Flower,” Vivaan called Shardul with excitement and pulled him along to sing with him. Shardul was startled and perplexed. But finally sang along. Everyone was clapping and happy. But Shardul could see that only one person was not happy – Sanvika.That night afte
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Now Vivaan could not understand why he was so frustrated and agitated about what happened with Sanvika. He always had a weird equation with his ‘Vicky’. He always knew that in the end, only she will be his wife. Also, she was his best friend. And the person with who he had his first kiss. She was just Vicky.But that did not mean he had no real feelings for the girls he dated. He was very sincere about them. At the time of Jaime, he even thought that was love.So he sat in his hotel room going over what happened. He spent one sleepless night unable to decide why he felt the way he felt. Usually, Vivaan is always, almost always a happy person. But he was not feeling happy or okay about this.The next afternoon, Sanvika came outside to see Vivaan with Shardul, Suchil and Aaron. They looked at each other. With a plain smartass bitter look.“Yeah, the flight is tonight.” Sanvika heard Vivaan say to Aaron.“We
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Sanvika arrived in front of Vivaan’s house, that is Vivaan’s family house on a Sunday morning. She looked up at the grand house. It had been ages since she came to this house.Sanvika walked to them… She tried calling on Vivaan’s mobile, but he was not picking up.There were two security guards at the gate. She walked up to them.“I came to see Vivaan.” She told them.“Does he know you, ma’am?” The guard looked down at her clothes. She was dressed simply in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and a shirt over it. Not any branded one. As cheap as they can be. And her hair was tied up with a colourful scarf.“Of course, he knows me…” Sanvika snorted. But then she remembered how the guys may have no idea who she is. “I am Sanvika Singhania.”“Who?” The guard asked.“You may know the Singhanias, right?”One guard lightly hit
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Vivaan hurried to get his shirt. While he was dressing, Sanvika got out of the bed and was staring at the door with fear. Vivaan could see Sanvika flustered and nervous. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “Relax,” he said.“I don’t want to face this right now…” She mumbled.“This is the 10th floor. You cannot even jump off the window.”Sanvika frowned. “Ah…shit. Better get this over with.” She took a deep breath and walked to the door. The doorbell rang three times again in the time she walked to the door. She unlocked it to see her mother, Nirmala and older sister Prathyuksha.“I am telling you, we should leave them alone. It’s good that they are alone in there.” Prathyuksha was telling their mother. Then she noticed the door opening. “Oh, Hi sis…”But Sanvika could only see her mother’s strict face.
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It was a busy day in San’s restaurant. It’s been one year. The restaurant has been bursting with activity ever since they had changed the location and concept recently. “We obviously work well in a warm homely feel atmosphere,” Tariq commented while playing with his baby boy. “Right, Ocean?” He asked the baby. Tariq and Astrid had named their baby ‘Ocean’. It was such a beautiful name that denoted no religion or country of origin. Sanvika smiled taking a wine bottle from the shelf. She had decorated this new shop exactly the same as the Goa one. The concept was Goa. The food, the wine, even the clothes the staff wore, reminded everyone of the beaches and beautiful sceneries. “Hey, did you see that article in the newspaper about Shardul Bhai?” “Yes. Finally, his book is being bought by the people.” Shardul’s book on the heritage of Goan architecture had gained a lot of attention and became a best seller. Vivaan walked into the restaurant.
Entwined Chaper 33
To: Nirmala.Singhania14@xmail.comFrom: viv.aan.o@xmail.comHi Ma,Since your phone is still off, I thought of sending an email instead. I told Vicky the truth. But shockingly she already knew about Taylor’s death. Yes, all our efforts to keep that fact from her were in vain. She knew about his death all this time. She left us because of the guilt she felt after knowing the truth.Vicky is still angry with you for my accident. But I think you two should sort that out. So please come back home.I was discharged yesterday and came back home. I am still supposed to take lots of rest, and Vicky and my mother would not let me do any office work. I cannot be sure when I can return to work. So please come back. We both cannot be gone at the same time from Singhania Industries Office.Regards,Vivaan To: Nirmala.Singhania14@xmail.comFrom: viv.aan.o@xmail.comHi Ma,It&rsquo
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It was bedtime, and Sanvika began to get into the bystander’s bed. Vivaan was watching her. He did not really like lying to her about the whole memory loss thing. But he did not want her hating her mother either. He was not sure how she will react after she comes to know about Taylor. She may not be the same Sanvika anymore. She could decide to leave him and go back to Goa. This could be the last happy night they have.“Vicky,” He called.“Hm?” She asked.“Can’t we sleep on the same bed? I mean, we are married now, right?She looked at him. “Oh… you don’t remember. You have been sleeping away from me.”Vivaan knew that. But he stayed silent. Pretending he does not remember.“You want to sleep together?” Sanvika asked.Vivaan nodded. Sanvika got up from the bystander’s bed and came to bed with Vivaan. They lay down together.Sanvika felt strange
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Sanvika adjusted the flowers on the table beside Vivaan’s bed. Vivaan had been shifted to a room. It has been three days since the accident and last day, Vivaan had woken up briefly. Just briefly. He did not say anything and went back to sleep.Vivaan‘s mother was at the hospital for a while and then she left him with Sanvika to go home. Astrid and Tariq had come to visit Vivaan earlier and left an hour before. Astrid was the one who brought flowers to be put in the room.Sanvika sat beside Vivaan after she arranged the flowers. One side of his head was shaved where they operated. That area was still bandaged. Sanvika fixed the remaining hair strands. Vivaan always had good hair. He took pride in his hair and always kept it in well-groomed condition. Sanvika thought that he may not be happy at the fact that one side of his head is now shaved. She moved her fingers through the front fringes.Vivaan stirred in his sleep. “Vivaan?” Sanvika c
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Vivaan breathed heavily as pain rushed through his whole body. He was still held on to his seat with the seat belt inverted since the car had turned over. The car’s top hand dented, crashing into his head. He bled from the wound… He was losing consciousness as his own blood made a pool on the roof of the car and oozing out to the asphalt road.“Vicky…” he mumbled as he saw people gather around the car. “will be waiting for me. Need to get home.” The guys following him pushed through the crowd and went to the car. One of them took out his mobile and called for the ambulance, and another one called Nirmala at once. Vivaan could not stay awake anymore and fell unconscious.Sanvika was wondering why Vivaan was getting late when Mansi - Vivaan’s mother rushed into their room. “Sanvika… Sanvika… Vivaan.” She appeared very flustered. That is when Sanvika got a call from Nirmala. “V
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Nirmala was about to go home for the day when Vivaan knocked and entered her cabin. She turned to him. “Oh, Vivaan. Is there any problem?” “No, auntie. Not official. I was hoping to talk to you about something personal.” “Of course,” Nirmala said. “And it is ‘Ma’ from now on, Son-in-law.” “Oh, right,” Vivaan said awkwardly, still not used to calling someone else ‘mother’. “Sit.” Vivaan sat down, and Nirmala sat down on her seat looking at her. “So what’s up?” Vivaan hesitated. He knew Nirmala would definitely be against telling Sanvika the truth about Taylor. He needed to argue with his mother-in-law now. And she was not just any mother-in-law. She was Nirmala Singhania. She could give a fright to anyone. But Vivaan decided to go directly to the subject. “Ma, I feel we should tell Sanvika about the boy’s death.” Nirmala’s expression changed. She blinked at Vivaan like she does not understand where this is coming from and this i
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Vivaan’s hands traced a line horizontally across Sanvika’s stomach over her t-shirt. His finger gently lifted up the fabric and his hand was placed against the naked skin of her stomach. “What are you doing?” Sanvika asked, quivering against his touch.“You wanted me,” he said, taunting her, looking into her eyes with a naughty look.Sanvika squinted at him. “Still want me?” He asked as his finger slid into the edge of her shorts and pull the waistband’s elastic of it. Sanvika got flustered as Vivaan leave the waistband suddenly. It snapped back to Sanvika, painfully colliding with her skin like a rubber band. But the pain just gave her more arousal. She gulped.Vivaan slid his finger against the waistband again as his other hand strongly clutched her side. His eyes looked into her hungrily now as he moved his finger over her soft skin. “Tell me, Vicky… Or should I stop touching you?”
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The staff at San’s Restaurant sat looking at the door on the opening day of the new restaurant. Not even a fly came in through the door. Astrid sighed loudly.“It’s okay. It’s just the first day,” Tariq said in general. “People will come eventually.” But when he turned around he saw that Sanvika looked pretty gloomy. She was not looking happy for a few days. She was easily irritable and rarely smiled.“Why don’t you go home, San?” He asked. “We will be here. We have more staff now. The boss need not be around all the time. Go home and relax.” He stopped talking as she shot him a stern look. She may be younger than him, but Sanvika always made sure to let him know who is the boss. That did not mean she was ever disrespectful to him. He was more or less treated like an older brother most of the time.“Oww,” Astrid said suddenly clutching her stomach.“What happen
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Sanvika looked at Vivaan lying on the couch. She felt insulted. Awkward. Perplexed. But more than anything, hurt. This was her wedding night. She always had dreams about her wedding night with Vivaan and her imaginations did not go like this.Her eyes threatened to spill tears. So she cleared her throat and looked away.“Hm… You are kind of taking things too far, you know.” She said looking back at him. “I mean… It’s just me. We have slept on one bed even we were just friends. Then what is the big deal in sleeping on the same bed now?”Vivaan did not reply.Now tears really began to come. She wiped them away. “Vivaan…” she called.“I am sorry,” He whispered, not looking at her. “Give me some time. Some days… I will tell you everything.”“Everything? What everything?” She asked.“Just…. Things.”“Wha
