What Dreams Are Made Of: Episode 38

#EPISODE_38

 

Chrissy’s hands trembled as she looked up from the pictures to Nikloi’s face. He was closely watching her each and every reaction. She was mortified, nervous, confused and Nikloi’s stare did nothing to answer her questions or dissipate the tension in the room.

 

When she couldn’t take his piercing look any more, she asked with a stutter, “Wh.. what are these pictures? Wh…who took them?”

 

“Stop feigning ignorance, you crook! You know very well what these are. These are proofs of your deception, your fraud”, cried Susan, pulling Chrissy to face her. Chrissy faltered with the sudden pull. The pictures dropped from her hand in a pool around their feet on the floor and she would have fallen herself if she hadn’t got hold of a chair close by for support.

 

“What deception?” She asked in a pained voice. She didn’t know what Susan was talking about but she could see the meaning written all over Nikloi’s face. He had already condemned her for whatever crime she was supposed to have committed. She was already judged guilty by him without even bothering to listen to her and that hurt her.

 

“Your wicked plan to sabotage this hotel’s inauguration with your lover Richard Susshell”.

 

Susan’s words pierced every shred of humanitarian feelings she had for her. She knew Susan never liked her but hearing her say such disgusting words for her was too much for even kind hearted Chrissy.

 

 

She spun around to face Susan. “What nonsense is that? Are you out of your mind?” She squealed miserably.

 

“No, babe. You are out of your league. You had hatched up this entire plan with Richard Susshell thinking you could destroy the hotel and Nikloi, knowing it was his dream project. You had hated this project right from the start. You never wanted this hotel to come up because you had lost your shop to Nikloi. The moment you could come up with a plan to get back at Nikloi, you didn’t waste a second. You got together with Richard Susshell and planned to cause a ruckus out tonight”

 

“These are all utter lies. I did no such thing”. This time Chrissy yelled and quickly looked in Nikloi’s direction. Surely he doesn’t believe the ridiculous things Susan was saying.

 

“But your bad luck that I got hold of your entire cunning scheme before you could implement it”, Susan continued as if she had not spoken.

 

Chrissy was getting at her wits ends. She wanted Susan to end her accusations. She had done nothing wrong and she needed Nikloi to believe her. She went upto him and said, “Nikloi, please listen to me. I don’t why Susan is saying all this about me but I haven’t done any of these hideous things. I don’t even know Richard Susshell”.

 

But Susan spoke from behind her, catching on to her vulnerabilities, “Isn’t it true that you never wanted his hotel in Regiment Estate?”

 

Chrissy turned to look at her. Surely that’s a thing of the past. That was too long ago.

 

“Answer me. You never wanted this hotel. For you, your insignificant shop was far

 

more precious than Nikloi’s dream”.

 

“Yes, but…”

 

“And didn’t you meet Nikloi to keep your shop in Regiment Estate?”

 

“Yes..”

 

 

“But none of your plans worked and that’s the only reason why you agreed to work at the Regency Palace.”

 

“Yes because Nikloi..”

 

Susan didn’t let Chrissy complete what she wanted to say, giving each of her answers a different twist. Then turning to Nikloi, she continued, “She had agreed to work with you, Nikloi, but she was always looking for opportunities to destroy your hotel. And that opportunity presented itself in the form of Richard Susshell. That man was never in love with you and together these two plotted this whole scheme

 

“That is not true. I never made any plans with Richard Susshell. I hardly know him”, Chrissy moaned.

 

“Then are you saying these pictures are fabricated? You never met Richard all by yourself?” Susan asked the pointed question.

 

Chrissy couldn’t deny meeting him. Those pictures proved it without a doubt and she couldn’t say they were false but the story Susan was presenting was a complete l

 

ie. Chrissy struggled how to say it without complicating the matters. Chrissy tried telling the truth, “I had met him once..”

 

“There you go”, Susan shrieked triumphantly, again not letting Chrissy complete her sentence.

 

“I did but it was not for what you are suggesting”, Chrissy still continued.

 

“So did you tell Nikloi about this meeting?”, Susan asked challengingly.

 

Chrissy was silent.

 

“Did you tell anyone about this meeting?”, Susan repeated.

 

Chrissy didn’t have any answer again.

 

Susan gave her an annoying smile and turned to face Nikloi. She had quickly replaced the smile with all her concerns. “Nikloi, the girl is big cheat. She is trying to find a way out of this situation when we all know what she was up to with Richard. She never mentioned anything about these meetings to anyone because it was all part of her conspiracy. You must get her thrown out of this place immediately.”

 

Chrissy heard her abuses in horror. Nikloi would not do it to her.

 

Nikloi who was silent all this time, looked at her face intently and asked, “What were you doing with Richard?”

 

“I.. I.. me.. met him only once”, Chrissy tried to keep her voice steady.

 

“Why?” he continued boring his eyes into her face.

 

“I.. He wanted to meet me”, Chrissy swallowed hard. “He said.. he wanted to talk about the hotel. But.. but when we met he talked about nothing in particular”, she knew it sounded hollow to even her own ears. But it was the truth.

 

Susan laughed sinisterly. “That is so ridiculous! You can see yourself, Nikloi, this girl has no explanation. She is cooking up stories”.

 

Chrissy looked at Susan and then back at Nikloi. She looked up to him beseechingly, hoping he would believe her.

 

“I am telling you the truth. I don’t know why he wanted to meet me but I met him only for y.. for this hotel. He said he wanted to talk about the hotel and I didn’t want to cause any trouble by refusing him. So I went with him. But when he didn’t have anything particular to say, I left. I never met him after that one meeting. I mean I never met him alone after that”, Chrissy said it all to him in one breath. She wasn’t sure she would be able to continue under that glare if she paused.

 

But if she had hoped to see him relax, she was wrong. If anything, he seemed to be more disturbed after her explanation. He paced through the room, stepping on

 

 

those pictures, and went to his desk. Sitting at his seat, he turned and said to her, “I think you should stick to the truth for once, Ms Smith”.

 

Colour drained from her face when she heard his words. She

 

knew what she was saying was not one of the best explanations, but it was the truth. Didn’t he have any faith in her to actually believe her words?

 

She tried to move towards him but he was already talking to someone on the phone. When he finally looked up, he told her,

 

“Steven would be up here. He will drop you at your place. My team will be in touch with you to settle all the formalities”.

 

“What?” Chrissy was shocked at what she heard. “You are going to dismiss me, just like that? She asked him wondering if she heard him right.

 

“No, Ms Smith. I have already dismissed you. You can leave.”

 

“Nooo”, she cried loudly.

 

Susan was enjoying every second of it, watching Nikloi insult her was everything she had hoped for and more.

 

But Chrissy ignored her and went upto Nikloi’s desk. She pleaded “You can’t do this to me. This doesn’t make sense. I did not do anything wrong. Even if I met Richard that doesn’t mean I was plotting against you”.

 

She knew she was going the wrong way but she couldn’t let him just throw her out of his life. Especially for a crime she never committed.

 

“I have had enough of this drama, Ms Smith. It would be better if you leave now”, he said between his teeth.

 

Chrissy felt her life slipping out of her hands. Her whole work seemed irrelevant compared to this accusation. Her pride was at stake as well as her heart. She had avoided him at all costs, only to give in at the end for this?

 

She was right all along. He proved he could just move on with his life without even a second thought to her. She w

 

 

as a fool to believe that she would have awakened some real emotions in his heart. Oh what a fool she had been even when she had tried to save herself from this misery all along.

 

But even the warnings her brain was sending her was not enough for her to make her fully see the reality. She couldn’t let this happen. Not because of a misunderstanding. Her heart had known all along that Richard Susshell should be avoided and she did avoid him. But after that one stupid mistake of meeting him at the restaurant. But that couldn’t be the reason for her losing out everything she held dear. She had to make Nikloi see sense.

 

“Nikloi, please don’t do this. You know I cannot do this”, she pleaded to Nikloi.

 

But before Nikloi could answer, there was a knock at the door. A few seconds later, Steven stepped inside the room. The moment his eyes landed on Chrissy, he gave her a huge smile but it was gone the minute he saw Susan in the same room. He looked up at Nikloi, waiting for his orders.

 

Nikloi told her to take Chrissy and drop her at her home. But Chrissy refused and asked him instead, “You have to answer me first. Why are you punishing for something I did not do?”

 

“You did not do? In spite of all this you are saying you did not do this. You think, I don’t really know”, he asked incredulously.

 

Standing to his full height he said, “I never take hasty decisions. I know already everything, Ms Smith”. There was revulsion in his voice as he said it.

 

Coming close to her, he looked straight into her face and said,

 

“Before speaking to you, I spoke to Richard Susshell. He has already told me everything. How you planned everything right from the hotel sabotage to his involvement. You thought you had found a good partner in him. But in the end, it was he who gave you away. I asked him to leave immediately. What is happening now, is just a closure for something that you had killed long ago with your hideous plans”. She saw his eyes burning with a fire that scorched her skin right to her core.

 

She was speechless at what he had just said. Richard Susshell had told him she wanted to destroy his hotel. This place, where she had worked hard day and night

 

 

last few months, which was the centre of her work, representation of all her work, where she got to give life to her beautiful imaginations.

 

She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. She wanted to scream and shout at the ugliness of the accusations. But more than that, she wanted to scream at Nikloi who hurled those accusation and condemned her to her devises. How could he believe that scoundrel of a man instead of her!

 

She had to do something. She had to say something. Steven was standing near the door, waiting for her to leave but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t leave like this.

 

“Nikloi, this is all wrong. Richard Susshell told you I was planning to sabotage this hotel and you believed him? How could you? You know how hard I have worked for this hotel in the last few months. I cannot cheat with my work, my profession. If I wanted to destroy it, why would I put my best work here?

 

Chrissy reasoned with him, hoping he would see the truth in her eyes. But his face remained devoid of any emotions. For a second, she felt she had reached him but immediately he turned away from her.

 

“You really believe him instead of believing me?”, she cried when there was still no response from him.

 

“Enough of your sweet girl act now. You must leave now before we decide to hand you over to the authorities for your treacherous conspiracy”, Susan stepped in, blocking her way to Nikloi. Her eyes were spitting venom just like her mouth. The way she was looking at her, Chrissy thought she would take great pleasure in getting her physically thrown out of the place.

 

“Steven, please escort Ms Smith to her home”. She heard Nikloi ordered Steven without looking at her. He had his back to her and Chrissy felt him moving far away.

 

She saw Steven looking at her with sad eyes willing her to leave. He knew once Nikloi had made a decision there was no way to change it. He didn’t want Chrissy to suffer anymore and wante

 

 

d her to come with him but Chrissy was on another level. He had never seen her so restless and disturbed. Not even on the day when she was evicted from her shop. He always had soft corner for this girl and watching her being insulted by Susan was too much for him to bear.

 

“No”, Chrissy said loudly. She didn’t know where she got the strength from but she knew she had to reach out to Nikloi.”I need to speak to you, alone”, she said in a clear voice urging Nikloi to hear her out.

 

That got Nikloi’s attention and everyone else. Steven was surprised at the sudden request and Susan grew outrageous.

 

“What the hell are you saying? You are not staying here for another minute”, Susan screamed. “Take her out, Steven. Now!”, she ordered Steven but he stood in confusion looking from Nikloi to Chrissy.

 

Chrissy stood her grounds even as Nikloi stared at her intently through narrow eyes as if challenging her request. But Chrissy didn’t falter. She had to stand it out to gain some time from him. Hopefully she would be able to make him see sense when Susan’s evil presence was gone.

 

Even though her heart was beating rapidly, she kept her face blank. When she didn’t show any signs of giving up, Nikloi said, “I’ll handle it, Susan. You can go back to the party”. A quick look to Steven was enough for Steven. He moved but Susan jumped towards Nikloi. Thrusting her body to his, she put her hand on his face to turn him around herself.

 

“What are you doing, Nikloi? She is trying to manipulate you. She is such a bitch!, Susan exclaimed.

 

“Susan!” he cut her off. “I don’t like to repeat myself”, he said, all the while his eyes were glued on to Chrissy, as if he was speaking to her.

 

Susan was not at all happy with these developments. She didn’t want to leave Nikloi with Chrissy. Given her choice she would have dragged Chrissy out of the hotel herself. But she had to control herself. She had done her part. Chrissy’s story was over. In her rage, she shouldn’t do anything that will hamper the entire plan. Thinking so, she reluctantly separated herself from Nikloi.

 

 

“As you say darling but remember who she really is”, she said to Nikloi. Throwing a final look of disgust at Chrissy, she walked out with Steven.

 

 

 

To_be_Continued