INDI A

SINGAPORE

M A L AY S I A

Notion Press Media Pvt Ltd No. 50, Chettiyar Agaram Main Road, Vanagaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 600 095 First Published by Notion Press 2021 Copyright © Dharmasish Behera, Abhipsa Mohanty 2021 All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-1-68538-243-8 This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work. For any defect in printing or binding the publishers will be liable only to replace the defective copy by another copy of this work then available.

For our parents

Dharmashish Behera Dharmasish Behera is a multi-talented personality. He is an actor, an engineer and is also pursuing his MBA. He started his career with pursuing theatre, in which he was always interested. Story-making and screenplay fascinate him. He also runs a self-funded organization named Artemin, which seeks to promote the arts and artists, performers and literatis from Odisha. Dharmasish wants to tell the youth that everything is possible. He wishes everyone to live their lives to the fullest extent and explore all their wishes. With this book, he makes a debut as a novelist.

Abhipsa Mohanty Abhipsa Mohanty has recently completed her Masters in English Literature from Pondicherry University. She is from the city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She has been published in several short-story and poetry anthologies, and also works as a freelance content writer and editor. She entered into the publishing arena after she was chosen among the best hundred authors across seven South Asian nations in the year 2014. Abhipsa explores the different shades of the human psyche in her works. This is her debut in novel writing.

Part I

I

S

ix in the evening. As he saw the clock on his desktop strike the hour, he immediately logged out of work for the day, shut down his PC and prepared to leave. It was his daily routine since he had joined the office. It was two weeks since his designation had changed. He had now become the assistant sales manager in this company selling logistics across the country. The salary was good, and though he was finding it quite difficult to adjust to the new work, he was learning fast. He had had a good working experience before this, and the company was kind enough to hire him, when he had to suddenly change jobs and move to this new city, and new life. His colleagues, however, found him very eccentric. It was not that he didn’t socialize or take part in gossips, those he did, to an extent, but there was always an air of melancholy about him, that was odd. It was as if he was always depressed. And there were other two stranger facts about him. One was his habit of logging out and vanishing from the office as the clock struck six in the evening. It was indeed the closing time, but he would hurry from the office without a minute’s delay, as if the place was on fire and rush out without saying goodbyes, or anything at all to anybody. Even if he would be asked 11

The Elite Escort

to stay in the office for extra time by his seniors, or a colleague asking for help or even asking him to stay back for a trip to the movies or pub, he would always refuse, make an excuse and leave at six o’clock sharp. And the second strange thing was his staying away from the women. Now, at thirty two, he was fairly good looking, and a couple of women in the office were interested in him, but he was always aloof from them, and also from all other women he came across. He never hit on anybody, neither flirted, nor even looked at the women. He would never discuss women too when the other colleagues started gossiping. Some thought he was gay, some thought he was asexual, and some others who did not agree, thought he had a girlfriend whom he loved a lot. But all these remained speculations. Only one thing was certain, that he drank a lot. Whenever any of them had made him work-related phone calls at night, his voice would always sound drawled and only half conscious. And in the office during the day, though he was sober and well-groomed, his red eyes told the story of a hangover. Nobody knew for sure what exactly the matter with him was. He had actually become quite famous for his eccentricity. Rumours about the new assistant sales manager were abound in the office among junior and senior colleagues, and other higher authorities alike. When asked about these things, his sadness, his leaving the office so soon and his aloofness from women, he would keep mum or avoid the questions. There was nothing the matter, and he liked to be home early, he would 12

Dharmasish Behera, Abhipsa Mohanty

say. As to the question about his sexual orientation, he had said once to a colleague, who was the closest to him, that he wasn’t gay, nor was he engaged to any girl. He was simply not interested in relationships right now. The colleague thought he was a lone lover who had probably had heard the news of his love being married off. That would explain his sadness and all. Maybe that’s why he had changed his residence all of a sudden and wanted to start a new life here, and perhaps he went home early to drink heavily and sleep off his sorrows. Someone else thought he had someone dear in a hospital in a critical condition. This made him sad and disinterested in life. He had probably shifted the person from his home town to the best hospital of the state that was in this city, switched his work accordingly, and he left early to make a hospital visit, and then went home and drank heavily. Similar kinds of speculations were made by various people every day.

13

II

O

ne Friday, some people in the office, who had no better work to do for the weekend, decided to follow him out of the office and see where he went after six. As it was nearing six, the circles of people which knew about this expedition were agog with excitement. At six, as usual, he left immediately. One by one, the four people who were the chosen ones for this task, followed him cautiously. He had a car and drove off in it as fast as he could in the traffic. They followed in another. But he was never headed at any particular destination. He drove around the city. First he went off to the main railway station, emerged back in a few minutes, then he went off to three different shopping malls and each time he came back in a short while, and then he drove off to a shady location where not-so-good families were known to stay, went into a particular house and again came back soon, and finally drove off to his house. It was almost midnight.

14

III

H

e wasn’t naïve. He knew people thought him odd. He knew the rumours they circulated about him. He knew the plan they had made. He knew he was being followed. But he did not care. It made no difference to him what they thought or did. So, instead of making any changes to his schedule, he had gone about his day as usual, during and after the office. He couldn’t help if their curiosity led them to drive around the city after him. He couldn’t help if they talked behind his back. He had to keep silent. There was no need to dispel these rumours. He had business to do, and he would need to do it as soon as possible, people following him, or no. But one of the speculations they made about him was right. Almost every night, he drank himself off to sleep.

15

When things go berserk overnight for two teenagers, Pooja and Rohan, they are left helpless and battling depression. Young in love and separated by traumatic circumstances, the two grow up to get involved in a seemingly impossible mission, risking their lives. But they are not aware of each other and meet after twelve long years as enemies. Will they recognise each other? And more importantly, will they be successful in their pursuit? The story is set in the past and moves towards the present, as surprising events unfold one by one. In a gripping tale, which involves thrill, action and drama, mingled with romance, life’s strange ways are explored.

Price 199