The revenge (925 words)

“Sunil, I understand you go daily to AIIMS hospital to visit your grandpa. Can you please do me a favour? Can you hand over this packet to my friend Roopa at South Extension Part I? It is not far from the hospital.  Tomorrow is her birthday and I am tied up with something urgent.” said Praveen, his next-door neighbour.

“Surely, please write her address and phone number on the packet. You can inform her that I will be at her place around 6.30 pm,” replied Sunil.”

Both have been neighbours at Karol Bagh for two decades and classmates in B.Com.

While Praveen was a tall and handsome guy with curly hair, Sunil was short and stodgy with receding hair. While Praveen was outgoing, a man of wit and intelligence and sociable, Sunil on the other hand was a hardworking, insular and cautious type. Their circles of friends were different. Sunil suffered from an inferiority complex compared to Praveen’s good looks, height and winsome personality. The womenfolk in the college and locality usually gravitated towards Praveen in any gathering to catch his attention while Sunil was left alone to fend for himself.

When Sunil pressed the bell at the address given, a charming woman in jeans and a brightly coloured top opened the door.

“Is it Ms. Roopa? I am Sunil and my neighbour Praveen requested me to hand over this packet to you,” said Sunil as he handed over a colourful box tied with ribbons.

“Yes, I am Roopa, please come in. I am sorry he troubled you when visiting your grandpa at the hospital,’’ she said as she looked at the packet eagerly.

“You can open and see what Praveen has gifted you,” teased Sunil laughingly.

On opening it hurriedly. she found a cute black pen and exclaimed,” My god, it is a Mont Blanc.”

“Mont Blanc, it is an expensive pen,” he said as he took the box and the pen and scrutinised carefully as the colour on his face changed unseen by Roopa.

He remembered Praveen’s visit to his room a couple of days before to return a book.  Sunil showed him then the black Mont Blanc pen he had got as a gift at a three-day paid workshop. A day later he noticed that the box in which the pen was kept was missing on the table where he had placed it. There were no other visitors. The old maid who worked for them for years was very honest. He never suspected Praveen but wondered how it could have so mysteriously vanished.

When he returned the pen to Roopa, he could not banish the thought it was his pen and Praveen must have stolen it. All the pent-up jealousy and inferiority complex he suffered from added to the anger that arose in him but he did not show any sign of it.

“Sunil ji has Praveen ever mentioned to you that we love each other for quite some time though our parents are not yet aware? I do not think there would be any hurdle as he is a qualified Chartered Accountant working in reputed E&Y, very handsome to boot and comes from an affluent family. I am just confiding in you as you are his good pal,” she said.

“Did he say that he is a Chartered Accountant and is with E&Y? We studied B. Com together and he was an articled clerk in a small auditor’s firm. Please make independent and discreet enquiries without asking him. It is always wise to be sure of qualifications and the job. He is surely a handsome guy with a winning persona but….,” Sunil bit his tongue and stopped talking.

“My god, what a foolish person, I have been. I was falling for him madly by his false words based only on his charm. He must be a cheat. Let me ask my dad to check and if he is a cheat, he will pay dearly for it,” she said furiously and added, “Is there anything else you would like to warn me about?”

“Nothing much, I know of except that he has many girlfriends meeting him and possibly going out. I must, however, say there is nothing wrong with having friends. Nevertheless, do have this in mind while you probe. I am sorry. Let this exchange be between us,” Sunil said before taking leave of her in a show of hurry.

While driving home, he was inwardly happy that he had sowed seeds of doubt in Roopa’s mind and taken revenge for the pen stolen by Praveen. Roopa may reveal his name eventually but who cares, Sunil thought.

As he switched on the light and surveyed his room, he could not believe his eyes when he found the pen box on the table. He opened hurriedly to see his Mont Blanc pen secure inside and collapsed in the chair with both hands on his head.

His mother who entered the room asked, “What happened? Why are you sitting like this as if you had lost a kingdom? How careless are you? The maid told me this afternoon that she found the pen box under your table beneath a newspaper.”

“What a wretch I have been? How can I make amends for the heinous mistake now, I do not remember her number too” he racked his brain.

“Where are you going now at this hour, Sunil? You haven’t taken your dinner, “asked his mom anxiously as he hurried to his car.

“To South Extension. An important work to attend to immediately,” he replied.