Nick of Time , livre ebook

Penguin Books Ltd - Mehta Komal

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157 pages

English

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Alehya is back in Chandigarh after ten years to attend her childhood friend, Shagun s wedding. However, her plans are rudely interrupted when she finds out about the man Shagun is going to marry. Vicky, is a sorted guy who knows exactly what he wants in life. His decision of marrying Shagun has the approval of everyone who means a lot to him everyone, except Shagun s best friend, Alehya. Shagun is excited about getting married to Vicky. This fulfills her childhood dream of marriage. But with her best friend and future husband being childhood frenemies, will things go by without a hitch? As the wedding draws near, Shagun, Vicky and Alehya grapple with issues of love, confusion and guilt to discover what their heart truly desires. They have to make life altering decisions, in the Nick of Time, before time runs out on them and the life of their dreams!

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Romance

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Publié par	Penguin Books Ltd
Date de parution	10 mai 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9788184756418
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

KOMAL MEHTA
Nick of Time
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Copyright Page
PENGUIN METRO READS
NICK OF TIME
Komal Mehta suffers from an overactive imagination and thinks she is good at making up stories. The idea of finding the right love at a wholly wrong time always fascinated her and Nick of Time is an attempt to capture the emotion of this exquisite dilemma; to know if there is anything such as the right time to embrace life-changing love. Komal is a senior manager with Hash Entertainment, a film marketing agency in Mumbai. This is her first novel. She can be reached at justkomal@gmail.com .

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
An adorable tale about being confused, being impulsive and being in love.
-Aditi Rao Hydari, Actor, London Paris New York, Rockstar, Yeh Saali Zindagi
With love to my Mom, Asha Mehta, and gratitude for the second chance I ve been given.
One
To Alehya Mehta! my friend, Jyoti, raised a toast along with all my office friends who had gathered for a goodbye dinner for me.
Everybody hooted, clinked their glasses together and sipped their drinks.
Except me. I wasn t much of a drinker. A glass of wine was all it took to get me drunk.
So, Alehya, what plans now that you have quit your awfully boring and time-consuming day job? Arun asked.
No plans as such. I may go on a trip, catch up on my reading. Let s see what life has in store for me. I really have no plans of my own, I replied truthfully.
I, frankly, did not have any plans in life. I wanted a good job and to do well in my career so much that I did not really think of anything else. Now that I d quit my job, because of a whole lot of politics and unpleasantness, I really did not want to jump into another one quickly. I just wanted to take the time and do something meaningful in life.
As the music went one notch louder, my phone rang. I was very surprised to see that it was my childhood friend, Shagun.
Shagun! What a surprise! How are you? I yelled into the phone.
Alehya! Kaisi hai tu ? she said, yelling equally loudly and sounding very excited.
What? I asked, sensing the excitement in her voice. What is it, Shagun? Jaldi bol!
Can you guess? she said, baiting me.
Arghh! Shagun, don t test me. Bol na kya hai! I can t guess.
Teri aas paas itna shor kyun hai?
I m partying with friends. But that s digressing. Bol, what s the news? I asked her again.
Are you ready for this? she said, building the tension.
I slowly made my way to the loo so that I could hear her properly.
I am so ready. Please tell, I said, begging her now.
I am getting MARRIED!
My heart stopped beating for a minute.
Did I hear you right? Did you say you re getting MARRIED?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
OH MY GOD! It s my best friend s wedding!
I started jumping with joy, just like I knew Shagun would be jumping at the other end.
How? When did it happen? To whom? And where?
It happened all of a sudden, Alu. The wedding is on the twenty-first of next month.
That s less than a month away! I exclaimed, feeling that there wasn t enough time to get things in order.
Yeah. It s soon. So, you know you have to leave everything. Chuck your job if you have to and get your ass back in Chandigarh, she commanded.
What luck that I found myself with a lot of time just when my best friend was getting married! Suddenly, my break from work seemed very exciting.
You bet, Shagun! And it s great to know that shaadi Chandigarh mein ho rahi hai and not in Delhi. I haven t visited Chandigarh in so long. How are Dadu and Dadi?
They are fine. They were thinking about you. Just come quickly, yaar. It s been a while since we spent any time together, Shagun complained.
There was a time in my childhood when Shagun and I couldn t stay apart. We used to spend all our vacations together, too! I felt stupid about not having visited her sooner.
I m going to fly there as soon as I can book the tickets.
Great! I need you here. There s so much to do
But Shagun, who are you marrying?
Someone I ve known pretty much all my life. Dad ke friend ka beta hai .
Poor guy! I said, mocking her.
Hahaha. Yes, he is.
Dad s friend s son means it s an arranged marriage?
Umm. Think that it s a love marriage that got arranged.
Okay, what s his name?
Shagun started to say something but her voice was drowned by a huge cry of ALEHYA ! My three friends who had come looking for me in the loo wanted to drag me back to the party.
I d missed his name. But how did that matter? I d make it a point to ask Shagun about it later on.
My best friend is getting married. I m flying off to Chandigarh next week! I declared to my group of friends with Shagun still on the phone.
All of them cheered.
Who are you talking to? Shagun asked.
I said I was partying with friends, na. Just told them about you. Shagun, I ll have to hang up now, but I m so happy to hear this. This news is probably the best I ve heard in a long time! I told her truthfully.
Then come here quickly. I ll see you in Chandigarh, babe. It s been years since the two of us were here together.
Yup! See you in Chandigarh! I said as I disconnected the call.
I had a smile on my face all evening, a smile that was difficult to wipe off. Suddenly, there was so much to look forward to.
Two
Motion sickness and my fear of flying notwithstanding, I could barely contain my excitement as the plane landed in Chandigarh. I was feeling extremely buoyant. It had been years since I d taken a vacation and even longer since I d been in Chandigarh. All I wanted to do was to run out of the plane and see Shagun and her family once again. However, I had so much luggage with me that it was quite a while before I could actually come out of the airport to the parking lot.
There were a lot of people waiting to collect their loved ones, but I couldn t see anyone familiar in that crowd. I walked some distance around the parking lot to see if Shagun was waiting for me somewhere else. I knew the airport was slightly far away from their home in sector 1, making travelling a bit of an issue. I remembered, as kids, Shagun and I would come to pick up everyone who ever arrived by plane to visit us because it was such an outing.
I was expecting her, or at least Dadu and Dadi, to be there to receive me. Almost everyone from my plane seemed to have left and the parking lot was emptying fast. I spotted a guy leaning against a car, staring at me intently. I looked closely to see if I knew him and if he had come to pick me up. But he didn t look familiar at all. In fact, I was a little bothered by the way he was staring at me. I looked around and saw the rickshaw stand some distance away. I was very tempted to just take a rickshaw and leave.
Had they forgotten I was going to arrive today? I took out my cellphone and called Shagun.
Shagun, where are you? I said as soon as she had answered her phone.
Alu! You ve landed?
Yeah! But where are you?
Arre, I was going to come too and collect you but something came up at the last moment.
I was a little disappointed. So should I take a rickshaw and come?
Rickshaw kyun? Oh, you haven t met him yet? she asked somewhat belatedly realizing my plight.
Met who?
Arre, look around. Someone very special has come to pick you up.
I looked around to see who she was referring to, when I realized that the weird guy who was staring at me from afar was standing right next to me. I was slightly unnerved.
Excuse me? I said as he picked up my luggage and started walking towards his car.
He turned around and glared at me. He seemed disappointed.
Was I supposed to recognize him?
I, for the life of me, couldn t place him. I looked at him and racked my brains a little harder.
He snatched the phone from me and spoke to Shagun. Haan. Idhar hai , he said, eyeing me distastefully.
I suddenly placed his voice.
Haww! Vicky?
He handed the phone to me and started walking towards the car.
Vicky, it s you! I said. And to think I d thought he was some hooligan staring at me! Shagun, I m on my way, I said as I hung up the phone.
Vicky was one of my childhood friends. I only saw him in Chandigarh when I was there for my yearly vacations. Come to think of it, we weren t really friends; we just knew each other because Shagun and his family were close. In fact, we weren t particularly close and all my old memories, of me and him, were of us fighting and squabbling-we couldn t stand each other unless we had to. But I was so happy to be back in Chandigarh that I didn t even mind him.
I m sorry I didn t recognize you, I said, trying to keep up with his long stride.
It s okay. It took me some time to recognize you, too.
There was an awkward silence.
Vicky opened the dickey of his car and started putting my luggage in. I just looked at him.
The last time we d met was about seven years ago, before he had left for Vancouver. I didn t have great memories of that time. In fact, I had some very uncomfortable memories of our last meeting. He still looked the same and I wondered how I hadn t recognized him. He used to be the tallest person in our group, and he appeared even taller than I remembered. He still had his arrogance about him. His hair was longer now and he was much better dressed than he used to be. He actually looked quite good.
He caught me staring at him. Dekh kya rahi hai? Gaadi mein baith.
I did as I was told. I couldn t understand the someone very special Shagun had been thinking of when she sent him to pick me up.
So, how have you been? he asked, as we settled down in the car.
Been okay. You?
Not bad.
We both lapsed into silence again.
When did you come back from Vancouver?
He looked at me surprised. I guess I was really behind things. Six months after I went there