Chapter 2

Neal waited for her at J W Marriott Hotel, New Delhi. Generally he met his clients at the K3 Private dining room but that day he preferred to sit at the open. He looked around the Cabana and admired the hotel view. He  took a lonely spot and swiped across his smart phone playing games trying to keep his mind distracted from the news he had got in the morning and that ha been churning his head out since then. He looked at his watch, something in his mind was pulling him. He wondered how she might look like, the blog had no pictures of hers.

Neal had hardly ever spent time waiting for someone in recent times. The last time he did that was with Palak. They were madly in love with each other but Neal had his priorities, wrong priorities. He was so much busy with his work that he hardly remembered Palak had need. She enjoyed shopping with the other girls, partying and going to fancy restaurants but she would have enjoyed everything better had Neal also provided the time she needed. Love ceased to exits or to be true, never existed. Love never exits with priorities; it is just there, always there. Tears were there in his eyes but they were unable to force them outside. Neal Roy had forgotten how to cry.

That day sitting at the cabana,he for the first time felt the importance of his life, the stuffs that he could have done the stuffs he had always wanted to do but he forgot things don't happen on their own. They need time and nurture for them to happen. Aishwariya walked towards him, the waiter had showed her the way. Neal didn't notice her, he was busy thinking about the things that were important to him but he had lost them in time without remorse.

"Good Evening Sir" a feminine voice cracked out.
Neal raised his head to look at her. She was very young,  a childlike beauty, white as talc and her hair auburn. She wore a yellow gown, blue leather jacket and a pair of silver shoes underneath. A  pair of beige stockings added sheen to her beautiful legs. She wore a pair of colored beads and a silver bracelet at her right hand. She was an absolute charm. Neal for a moment forgot everything around him and also the thoughts that gripped his mind only to stop and admire the girl- Aishwariya. She was very young almost half his age yet she seemed filled with maturity and charm.

"Please have a seat" Neal said and got up from his seat. He gestured the waiter to step back and he pulled the chair for her.
"Thank you Sir" she said as she sat on the chair adjusting her gown.
 "Please call me Neal pleasure would be all mine. I hope you have not gone through much trouble in the car" Neal spoke out soon taking himself back. He thought she would feel awkward as he is very old compared to her tenderness. Too much frankness can be perceived as a sign of desperation. He wasn't desperate he was just troubled.
"Yeah... I had a little bit trouble; my legs were itching to move up and down but all I could do is sit politely in the car." Aishwariya spoke out cutting a joke trying to lighten the mood. She could clearly see that Neal was not comfortable enough being with her; probably because he didn't expect her to be in twenties.
"Pardon! I didn't get you" Neal told her. He didn't make out what she was trying to say.
"I apologize but you wont. Its a kind of feeling you would have got if you had shifted from riding a bicycle everyday to all of a sudden in an expensive car " she said and passed out a quirky smile.
Neal burst out in laughter.
"You are really funny Miss Bakshi. I am glad to have met you" Neal said. He took a glass of water and had a sip. He needed to be alright for Aishwariya to enjoy the dinner, he thought.
"Your eyes say something else sir, You seemed to hide back something sad, something that is troubling you" Aishwariya said. Over the years, that was something she had perfected upon; reading people's faces.
"What shall you have for dinner?" Neal asked trying to avoid the conversation for a while about his disease. On the contrary he was sure sooner r later he had to answer her for she didn't seem like a girl who would give up on the quest of finding the reason and concentrate on the delicacies and a dinner with a page 3 celebrity tycoon.
"The services are fancy, I would be happy if you do the honors. You are a regular here. All I could do is settle into the ambiance", she replied

Neal took the menu card and ordered their dinner, a pair of mocktails, and dessert.
"You didn't answer my question. What is that is troubling you?",she asked
"Well, if its personal I won't ask you again, Neal" she further added
"Its nothing personal but I am not in comfort to share. Its...its painful" he replied back. He rested his hand on the table and pulled the fingers of his left hand with his right.
"You are a sadist" Aishwariya told him. She gave her a sly look as she said that.
"Sorry what! what makes you think that?" he asked. He was a bit surprised at what she said. He was not expecting a conversation as such.
"You love pain. Doesn't it make you a sadist?" she asked. This time she passed a cunning smile aware of the fact where she was dragging the conversation.
"Ha Ha, you really have an art to pay with words" Neal answered. He was perplexed he couldn't make out what she was trying to do. He had met several girls who had flattered to make their way in his pants but she was different, her approach was different if at all she was planning for that. On the other hand she didn't seem to be a girl who has any interest in his wealth, rather she seemed she was such open to everyone.
"I know a lot of art besides playing with words" she said and Neal gulped. The heat in the conversation has almost made him forgotten everything about himself and think about the girl in front of him; judge her, understand her.
"And what are they?" he asked. The heart was pumping hard, the music and the lighting around added to the mood of the conversation. His thoughts were running wild, he was nervous. He looked over and over again at his cellphone to unnecessarily check if her had received any client mail so that he could divert away from the conversation but at the same time he wanted to engage in the conversation. She was young yet she had the charm he didn't want to deny at the moment. No one was ever like her, he doubted if he would ever find any other like her.
"I love to paint, I love to eat and I love to feel myself" she replied. Neal wild thoughts came to a halt. She was a girl after all.
"You seem to have a very interesting life" she asked back.
"I bet not as interesting as yours but yes I loved my life" he answered back. Aishwariya could understand he was not happy with the life he was living or there was something else that was poisoning his mind. She wanted to press  the question again but he was still a stranger to her and it would not be proper for her to do that.
"'Loved' the life...yeah" she added.
"Any poem you had been writing lately?" he asked trying to liven up the conversation again.
"Yes, but I am not sure if I should share the one I wrote today" she said.
"Why not? I shall be very happy to listen to that" Neal said.
"Its pretty discreet, actually sultry" she said in a low voice but pressing the word sultry to make him realize what it was all about.
"I don't mind listening to it as long as you don't feel I am way passed you age" he replied back. He also thought if his words would now put her at a level of discomfort. He wanted to suggest her not to say if she was uncomfortable with that but before he could do so she spoke out.
"Years don't just define a wine, the texture and flavor defines it too" she said.
"Before I do I want to ask you one more question do you believe in God?" she added
Neal took a deep breathe. He looked towards her trying to decide what his stand was, "I don't Miss Bakshi."
"What about you? Do you believe in God?" he further asked her back.
"I never saw my parents. I was brought in an orphanage run by a temple. Yes,... I believe in God and so I guess, we are on the same page" she told him and then leaned against the chair and looked him in his yes smiling.
"You heard me wrong I guess. I said I don't believe in God" he told her trying to make his stand clear.
"I heard you just fine. Believing or not believing in God is just the same way as you not having control over being born as a boy and I had no control over being born as a girl." came the answer.
"You are truly way past your age" Neal told her. There was a charm in her that pleased Neal. Neal forgot when was the last time he was there sitting with a girl or a man and have a lively conversation. The world was so busy; he was so busy.
"Thank you for such words" she said.
"Ah! about the poem; this is something I wrote about as I peeped through my neighbor's bedroom. He was there all alone at his room. I went in to visit his wife but she  was not at home. I went into a curiosity when I head sounds coming out of the bedroom. I opened the door and bit and looked inside. he was there on his bed all bare. There was a bottle of whiskey beside him along with soda and ice cubes. His body is bushy with grey hair and his head all bald. His chest have fallen apart because of his withering age and his palms have winkles. He was playing with himself. I have seen many play with themselves, even I did a lot; but that sight excited me and forced me to write lines on what I felt. The feeling was strange and pumping." she said and halted. She kept looking at him, a part with shyness and a pat with admiration.
"Continue" Neal said and waited.

Aishwariya began to recite the words as she felt.

"A rub on the skin that lay all bare,
And feel the rush all that you care.
A leak of scent that excites the mind,
A whirlpool of thoughts, the legs intertwined.
You press your hand and tweak the privates.
You get all wet and spire your legs.
You close you eyes and bite your lips;
You moan when you get a thrust at the hips.
Your throat is all dry and flesh so warm,
As the fingers move around to do their charm.
You bend your back, an arch with the bed-
A louder moan, as blood rushes to your head.
A shiver run across your temple as you came;
Pouring water to the erupting body flame.

"Neal had a strange feeling as she said the poem. He felt excited, sweat ran on his body and he was trying to control the emotions that was protruding out. He adjusted his privates tucking them back in with his left hand, looking around and keeping a constant gaze at Aishwariya to ensure she wasn't noticing

"You..." she said and halted as if the words would not come out of his mouth.
"I think you are  feeling to be a bit judgmental now about my actions. For you its taboo, for me it was art. To write about passion, one needs to feel it or at best observe it. You have by now created a good idea about my character" She said. She had this idea as many talks ruthlessly about her, she felt the rich baby would not be an exception to that. The actions don't fit into the cultured society everyone wants to be a part of

"A kiss or a touch hasn't ever excited me like the words did. You are so young and I feel strange to having said this to you" Neal said and clapped his hands in admiration for her thoughts, admiration for her love for freedom.
"Yet you dared to say me what you felt. Its takes the same courage to tell about your pain, the one you have buried deep in you heart. pain are like seeds, one day or the other  they shoot out of the ground" she etched out the topic that he had left unanswered a while ago. Neal had no choice this time but to tell her that was troubling him, tearing him apart.
"I...I am going to die" he said in a feeble town. A drop of tear rolled out. He had no control over it then.
"Everyone has to" she answered
"I am going to die soon" he told her.
"I am going to die even sooner" she answered. At this words Neal was taken back. What was she talking about?
"What?" he inquired, trying to find out what was troubling her
"What if I die eating the food that's about to come? What if I die falling from a high ground now?" she asked.

"You have got a reason for your death but what if you don't die because of that but for some other reasons. The pain is not in dying, the pain is in the regret of not living the life you had a dream of" she further added.
"I...I want to roam free, break away from the shackles of the ordinary  life I am living" he said and stooped to drink water again.
"Ah! the food is here. The culinary art looks so marvelous. I hope it  tastes that good" Aishwariya said as she turned her head towards the food trolley the waiter had carried from them.
"Meet me tomorrow at my place early in the morning at six. I will work something out to make sure you run free" she passed out a smirk.
"And what is that going to be?" Neal asked as he neatly placed the napkin at his thighs.
"Let Tomorrow come" she answered