Sneak Peek  

A SENSE OF BETRAYAL

                                                              PROLOGUE                  

Pragati (age 5)

“Whew! what a hectic practice session, coach really wrung us out today”, says Vivek to Vikram, flopping down on the cushy armchair on the patio of his home.

Vikram follows him and takes up the other armchair across from him saying, “Well, can’t really blame him buddy, you know he always gets this way when we have a match against Model School, after all the rivalry between King’s High and Model has been....”

suddenly he’s interrupted by a ruckus coming from the back garden of Vivek’s huge traditional mansion.

“Nah…nana…Nah….na…... Girls are losers……” Nik says running around from the back garden.

Vikram gets up and catches hold of his little brother asking him what’s happening at the back.

Nik just gives him a cheeky grin and keeps repeating his slogan in a sing-song manner.

There are still sounds of screaming and scuffling coming from the back.

Vikram starts running to the back and Vivek gets up after him, muttering in an irritated manner,” Oh boy! I think the wild-child is at it again, why can’t she just be like other girls”

Just as Vivek gets down the front stairs from the patio to follow after Vikram, he is stopped by his dad’s voice calling out to him from the French windows leading to the house.

“Vivek, what the hell is happening outside, I was working on a very important project.”

“Haven’t I told you kids to keep it quiet and behave properly? Do you have to scream like uncultured people?”

“I don’t know exactly what happened dad, I was just about to find out,” says Vivek

Meanwhile, Vikram having reached the back lawn finds two little balls of fury rolling around in the grass like little gremlins. Besides them, a little girl stands weeping while a little boy stands clapping and cheering.

 “It’s all right Sweety, I’ve got this, please don’t cry,” he says to the little girl who’s crying and frowns at the boy, who’s found all this so entertaining, and tells them to join Nik in the front.

Vikram rushes forward to pry the entangled pair apart which is not easy, considering the little wild-child, as her brother called her, has her little fingers in the boy’s thick curly hair and he’s screaming in pain, trying to pull at her ponytails.

Finally, he succeeds in pulling them away from each other and looks sternly at both of them. “Are you crazy, both of you…. why are you both fighting?”

He looks closely and finds that although the boy had been screaming, he’s more or less unhurt, whereas the little girl looking very cute in pink dungaree shorts has skinned knees, one of the straps of her dungarees has lost its button and come undone and her ponytails are a mess.

“Well, Pragati, Neel, …. speak up…now”

“Vik…. Vikram”, stutters Pragati in a trembling voice her huge eyes glimmering with unshed tears, looking up at him with a hopeful expression on her innocent face.

“The boys, started it, they challenged us to climb that mango tree,” she says pointing to a little mango tree in the fruit orchard beyond the lawn.

“Sweety didn’t want to climb as she wanted to play with her doll, but then they called her a loser and so I told them that I would climb instead, but I fell down.”

Vikram felt sympathy as well as admiration for the little girl who had stood up for her friend.

“Well Vicky what we said was true, girls really can’t climb trees, but then she got mad and started fighting with me”, says Neel in justification.

Pragati looks up at Vikram with her cute face all scrunched up, looking ready to cry.

“Well, that’s not true at all,” he tells Neel, smiling at Pragati and offering her his hand.

“You just wait and see if Pragati doesn’t climb trees faster and higher than you boys within a week, ‘cause I am gonna teach her.”

“What do you say ‘Sparkles’?”

“Yes, Prince Vikram…. Now you guys just wait” says Pragati to Neel, who juts out his tongue at her and runs to join the others out front.

“Hey, ‘Sparkles’…. why are you calling me ‘Prince Vikram’ today?” Vikram asks walking with her hand in hand to join the others.

“Well, Janaki Masi was telling me the story of King Vikram who was very brave and solved everyone’s difficulties and you also do the same whenever any of us has problems…...but as you are still small you can’t be a King, so you are a prince for now.”

Vikram chuckles listening to the little girl’s logic.

As soon as they reach the front, Pragati’s dad gets really mad seeing her in such a disheveled state.

“Janaki……. Janaki……” he yells for the housekeeper, who immediately rushes out.

“Pragati, how many times do I have to tell you not to be a naughty girl, just look at yourself.” He scolds Pragati, who stands with her head down.

“Janaki please clean her up and see that she doesn’t indulge in such behavior again,” he tells Janaki, who is the one taking care of Pragati since her mother passed away.

“I don’t know what to do with her.” He says exasperatedly.

Pragati walks inside with her head down and tears trickling down her mud-streaked cheeks.

                                                                      CHAPTER-1   

Pragati (age 22)

Pragati looks out the window of the plane as it gets ready for the descent. It’s a pleasant day in mid-October, the passengers around her are all busy following the instructions of the air hostess and getting ready for the touchdown.

Pragati just stares out the window blankly, aware of the buzz of activity around her, but feeling detached from all of it mentally.

Seven years…. seven long years, she thinks with a little bitterness and anxiety, she was finally coming back home after being sent away in disgrace for seven years.

She had always known that she was a little different from the other kids and people in her social circle but she had not known that, she would be punished so harshly for that fact.

She was determined to show them all, how far she had come from being the wild child they remembered. She was also going to meet him, Vikram for the first time since she last saw him at fifteen, just before being sent away. She feels a nervous fluttering in her chest when she thinks of this.

She’s suddenly jerked out of her thoughts by a warm palm enveloping her fingers on her knees and a voice speaking softly in her ear saying,” Stop overthinking everything.”

She turns her head and smiles at Nik, who’s looking at her in concern, with a rare, serious expression on his otherwise cheerful face.

“I am absolutely fine buddy.” She says kissing his cheek.

“Besides, how can I be anything other than wonderful, when I have my best friend with me, always having my back.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Besides, everything will feel very normal once we reach home, you’ll see.” He tells her with a smile and a squeeze.

Soon after, they are outside waiting for their ride home. Pragati’s nerves are stretched tight, as she smiles and listens to Nik babbling on about everything and everyone they know. Her eyes search the crowd trying to find out who had come to pick them up.

She’s worried about having to face Vikram immediately before she has time to settle down and get her bearings straight.

“Oh wow, there he is finally,” Nik says, looking at Pragati from where he was scanning the crowd.

Prags’ heart starts thundering, as she turns to look in the direction Nik was staring, but she’s not able to make out any familiar faces.

Then she sees him, his tall head peeking through the crowd of people surrounding the busy entrance.

She’s relieved to find that it’s her brother Vivek who has come to bring them home. She studies him for the few minutes he takes to reach them.

He looks, so dignified and handsome, in the smart three-piece business suit. He’s grown really tall and has a lean muscular body, his straight hair was smartly cut short, his face looking more mature and manly than the boyish one she remembered.

There were some familiar things too like his light hazel eyes, which he got from their mom and the smile on his face.

Vivek reaches them, within a couple of minutes and pats Nik on the back welcoming him. Then looks at his sister, whom he is seeing for the first time in seven years. Pragati had opted to remain back at her boarding school in California during all the past vacations as she had felt unwanted at home.

And, not surprisingly enough, it had suited her busy father, who never had much time for anything other than his work since her mother passed away when she was three due to some health problems.

“Pragati, welcome home Lil sis”, Vivek says pulling her into a bear hug and kissing her forehead.

Pragati smiles up at him feeling happy to see him being so affectionate, unlike their childhood when he was mostly irritated and impatient with her.

“Well, Bhaiya, how do I look.” She asks smiling widely at him.

“Very Smart indeed,” he says, taking in her ensemble of branded white slacks, a sky-blue chiffon top with long sleeves along with the gypsy print scarf around her neck, and the Versace sunglasses she’d pushed on top of her head.

“Come on then, let’s get you home, dad has postponed his morning meeting for later as he wanted to be home when you arrived.” He tells putting his arms around her shoulder and leading her towards his parked car, with Nik following them with the trolley carrying their baggage.

“Guess, everyone has missed you a lot, Buddy”. Nik says, flexing his eyebrows and giving her a cheeky smile.

“Dad’s been very proud of your grades and all your accomplishments……. he’s even kept the few magazines in which your photographs were printed.

“That’s amazing, Prags, uncle was so opposed to the photography thing earlier, right?” Nik says with a wink.

“Now would be a good time for me to say, ‘I told you so’”, he whispers in her ears and she pokes his side with her elbow, glaring at him.

On the way home, Vivek mentions that their father had organized a ‘Welcome Home’ party for both her and Nik in the evening.

Finally, they reach home after dropping Nik. Pragati is nervous about meeting her father after such a long time, especially remembering how disappointed and angry he had been, the last time they had seen each other before he sent her away.

“Dad, Pragati’s home.” Announces Vivek as soon as they enter the hall.

Pragati stands just in the middle of the hall feeling a bit of foreboding as well as a sense of relief, on reaching home.

She’d never had much of a relationship with her dad but now knowing he was proud of her and had shifted his meeting for her, she didn’t know what to think.

Her inner musings are cut short when the door of the den opens and her dad comes out with a smile on his face, his arms open wide.

This was the first time her dad had ever shown any sign of affection for her and she was not going to miss it.

She rushes into his arms getting all teary-eyed and hugs him tightly. He oddly pats the back of her head saying, “Welcome home Sweetheart, you look wonderful. I think sending you to ‘Dukes Valley’ was the best decision I made.”

Pragati feels a prick of hurt when she remembers being sent away to ‘Dukes’ in San Francisco. How desolate she had felt during the few weeks before being sent away all alone.

It was only a week before her departure date, that Nik’s parents decided to send him along with her.

“Go on and freshen up, Janaki has made all your favorite dishes for lunch and then you also have to get ready for the party in the evening.” He says smiling at her indulgently.

“Vivek, you did tell her and Nikhil about this, didn’t you?” he asks looking at Vivek

Pragati immediately goes past her father and hugs Janaki masi who had been patiently waiting for her turn. Janaki masi looks at her with tears in her eyes and says, “Doll, you are all grown up, the time just seems to have flown away somewhere, leaving only memories behind.”

Pagati looks at her tired old beloved face, with tears in her eyes……. she had been the only person in this house, who had accepted her as she was without any expectations or attempts to change her.

 “You are the person I missed the most masi,” she tells her in a husky voice, her throat feeling choked up with unshed tears and all the emotions she was trying to contain.

Later that evening, Pragati is standing surrounded by her childhood friends, in the huge living room of the mansion, which has been completely transformed for the party.

She is very happy and finally feeling at home after meeting her gang, who were all exactly as they had been in the past and were bantering non-stop, talking to her.

She’d been so nervous coming down from her room for the party and facing all the snobbish people of their society, especially remembering the last party fiasco which had not ended well for her.

Luckily as always, her dear Nik had taken care of the situation even without her mentioning anything to him.

For there, he had been standing in the hall already waiting for her when she first came down. And had even brought their friends Sweety and Kevin with him so that she felt at ease.

“Prags, you look absolutely smashing, just how I imagined you would,” Sweety says looking over her before giving her a bone-crushing hug and squealing in delight.

After a lot of dilemma over what to wear for her first public appearance on her return, she had opted to go for her usual style of casual chic and not bother trying to be something she was not.

So, she was wearing a black snake-skin textured slacks, which glimmered when she moved and accentuated her long legs, further encased in brown knee-length leather boots. This was teamed with a white eighteen-century kind of flowing button-down top with pleats in the front and a high neckline and puffed long sleeves. A sleeveless brown corduroy vest completed her attire.

“Thank you, Sweets, and you are looking as pretty as always,” Pragati says happily hugging her back.

“Hey Prags,” Kevin says giving her a fist bump.

“Kev, looking quite handsome……. how did this happen?” She says with a cheeky grin at him.

“Ha……so happy to see that America didn’t succeed in taking away your quirky humor.” He says laughing aloud.

“Well, they tried but as you know, I am smarter.” She smiles at him.

“Alrighty then, now that everyone’s settled, why don’t you guys talk for a while and let me see all the new birds in town,” Nik says in a hurry to mingle.

“Nikhil Malhotra……. you are leaving your best friend alone on her first day back, just so you can flirt around,” Prags says in mock annoyance.

“Not alone, babes, see that’s why I brought you company.” He says starting to move away.

“What, Nik gets away calling you babes……. why isn’t his nose getting threatened,” says a voice behind them.

They turn around finding a smiling Neel and Jenny standing there.

“Hey! You guys” Pragati immediately gives them a quick hug feeling extremely happy just as Nik walks away pulling Kev with him.

No doubt to ask him about all the available girls and start flirting.

She watches him go and then turns to Neel with a smile saying,” Nik gets to call me anything he wants, and you can’t complain after the way he’s been there for me.”

“True, that and were we relieved that he was with you over there.” Jenny, the sensible one amongst them says.

“You do know, these two are together now, don’t you?” Sweety asks her

“Nik did tell me about it when he came back from his summer vacations last year.” She replies smiling.

Just then Vivek approaches them and asks her to go with him, as their dad wanted to introduce her to some people.

Pragati says a quick ‘bye’ to her friends promising to be back soon and finds Sweety looking shyly at Vivek with a blush on her cheeks.

Soon, Pragati is being carried away in a continuous stream of introductions to people, old as well as new acquaintances of her dad, when she suddenly feels a strange prickle of awareness and turns to look that way.

Her eyes collide with a pair of intense black eyes looking straight at her and her heart skips a beat. Her breath hitches in her throat and her palms start to sweat lightly.

Vikram had always been a very handsome guy, but now the boyish looks had transformed into a deadly magnetism, which seemed to pull her into his vortex. He looked devastatingly dashing in a blue pin-striped three-piece suit, he had forgone the tie and had the top two buttons of his white dress shirt open, giving a clear glimpse of his corded neck muscles and the bronze skin of his chest.

Pragati feels her heart beating faster and her mouth going dry as her eyes are drawn to the skin peeping between his undone buttons.

She’s finally facing the moment she’d been dreaming of, for the past seven years in her isolation and now that, it is really upon her, she realizes that it’s more intense and overwhelming than anything she ever imagined.

Vikram and Simi mom are walking towards her but she had been so caught up in seeing him for the first time, that she hadn’t realized that mom had been walking beside him with a broad welcoming smile on her face, looking very elegant in a black lace saree with exquisite tiny crystal work on them.

No wonder, as mom’s fashion house Illyria was one of the most exclusive in the country.

Pragati drags her eyes away from Vikram’s intense ones and smiles at the woman who has always been as loving and supportive as a real mom to her. She was the only one who had tried to dissuade her father’s decision of sending her away.

Seeing, Pragati looking elsewhere, her father finally turns around and hugs Vikram with a smile, and says,” When did you get back from London, my boy? Hope the meeting went well.”

Vikram replies positively, while his eyes are still intensely focused on her as if trying to reach into her mind and sift through her thoughts until he found whatever he was looking for.

Pragati feels completely out of sorts under his gaze, standing so close to him. She becomes very aware of how tall he is up close.

He is easily a couple of inches taller than her brother’s six feet one, and really well built. She could clearly see the molded muscles flexing under his suit when he had moved to shake hands with her dad.

Usually, she never gave a damn about others’ opinions and expectations and knew how to be just herself, but this was Vikram, the guy she had spent all her childhood adoring and admiring and then later falling for.

“………and you know it was only as Vikram agreed to go, that I was able to be here when you arrived.”

Her dad had been speaking to her all through her mind-wandering session, she realizes and blushes warmly feeling slightly embarrassed, nodding fervently hoping no one realized.

But Vikram is now looking at her with his right eyebrow slightly raised and an amused expression on his face.

“Well, then I should surely thank ‘Vicky’ for it,” she says smiling a bit too sweetly at him.

The amusement immediately vanishes from his face and his eyebrows narrow slightly, looking thoughtfully at her as he replies saying he was happy to help.

She then turns to Simi mom, who takes her in a warm embrace, kissing her forehead and telling her how much she missed her, and scolding her for not coming home with Nik during vacations.

“Mom, I’ll make up for all the missing time, now that I am back here.” She says feeling loved.

She then decides to just ignore Vikram, for the rest of the party and enjoy for now, until she could gather her thoughts in private later.

Over the past years, she had thought that maybe the close connection she had felt with Vikram was the overactive imagination of her childhood brain but now it only seemed to have increased ten-fold with an added chemistry, which had been absent before.

She had never believed in the term ‘sexual chemistry’ until now, thinking it was just some crap, that the brain-frizzled girls who were always busy, ogling boys and going to frat parties, in her college talked about for entertainment.

Her whole body tingled with a zing of awareness…….it seemed like there were tiny little antennas all over her skin, which only caught one signal “Vikram”.

She was stewing over how to get away from his presence when both she and Simi Malhotra are pulled together in a quick hug by Nik.

He smiles and kisses his mom’s cheek and then puts an arm around Prags saying, “babes, how rude of you to leave me all alone……and to think I came here just for you.”

“Alright Nicky baby, don’t pout……. Come on let’s join our friends.” She says cheekily turning around to leave after excusing herself to her dad and the others.

She finds Vikram looking at her and Nik with a slight frown and a puzzled expression on his face.

While mom just laughs commenting that life was going to be pretty colorful now that these two were back home.