The Bestseller She Wrote (30 page)

She placed her hand on his and asked him softly. ‘Is everything all right, Aditya?’

‘Maya has sent me a divorce notice.’

‘Oh shit!’ Shreya exclaimed.

Aditya tilted his head and looked at her from the corner of his eyes. The cynicism was unmistakable.

‘Oh come on, Aditya. You know I want to see you happy. Whatever makes you unhappy, distresses me.’ She snaked her other hand ahead and it too now rested on top of his.

‘Anyway,’ Aditya didn’t want to carry the discussion forward. ‘Today is not about me, it is about you—your success, your first book, the first day of your book going on sale.’

‘Pre-booking, not actual sale,’ Shreya corrected him. She was elated. Happy that Aditya was with her that night and thrilled that he was celebrating her success. Deep within, she was also ecstatic that Maya had sent him a divorce notice.

‘You need to now tell me what all I need to do to kick off the action on my book,’ Shreya said. It was at the top of her mind; the only thing that mattered to her.

‘Let’s draw up a detailed plan, Shreya. The next thirty days to the launch are very crucial. Don’t let up steam. This is going to be the make or break period. Don’t miss a single opportunity. And don’t be ashamed to promote your book.’

‘Did I miss one when I got into the car?’ she laughed. She was happy after a long time. At one point in time during the evening, she held Aditya’s hands, looked him in the eye and said, ‘I love you, Aditya. If unknowingly I have done anything to hurt you, I am sorry.’

‘I have lost count, Shreya,’ he said. ‘But the good thing about losing count is that I have stopped counting.’

Shreya just placed her hand on his and patted him. She didn’t know what to say.

Aditya stayed on course. ‘Let’s try and see if we can get some large corporate deals. Like say 500 to 1000 books. Get them to buy and gift author-signed copies.’ He was trying hard to stay away from an emotionally charged discussion.

‘You think corporates will do that?’

‘No harm in trying. Even if they don’t and we convince them to do an email campaign to their employees, talking about your book, it will be worth it.’

‘Did they do it for you?’

‘Our own National Bank did it. They emailed every employee. I didn’t push them to buy, for that would have created an issue internally. Vested interests, some would say.’

‘Hmm . . . That’s nice. Do you think our bank will do it for me? My book?’ Shreya asked.

‘Ask Sanjay. You know him so well.’

‘Sanjay? How will I ask him? I am not that comfy with him. Can you ask him?’

Aditya laughed. ‘He is not going to eat you alive. What’s the worst that can happen? He will say that he can’t do it. If he refuses, I will step in. Happy?’

‘No, no. You only ask him, Aditya. I am not that close
to him.’

Aditya smiled and nodded his head. ‘Fine, I will do it. But we need many such corporates to help us to actually affect sales.’

‘Should we buy my book from the stores? Just to show some movement . . .?’

‘Well. You can. Some authors do it too. But it is a very expensive proposition, unless your publisher supports you.’

‘Why do you need the publisher’s support?’ Shreya asked. She was all ears.

‘How else will you dispose of the books that you buy from the stores? Assuming Amazon buys 200 copies of your book from your publisher. You buy 100 off Amazon. Who will you give those hundred books to? Giving it for free to friends and relatives is an expensive proposition. One way is to give it back to the publisher who will buy it back from you at the rate they would have sold it to Amazon, and they would put those books back in circulation. So the only loss for you will be the markup that Amazon or for that matter any bookstore puts up. But there is no point discussing it as Kiwi will not support you in this. And more importantly it is unethical,’ Aditya summarily dismissed the thought. ‘Instead try and get some bloggers who will write honest reviews. Reviews will help promote the book, and also give you content for social media promotion. I can talk to a few of my blogger friends.’ After a pause he added, ‘Remind me tomorrow, I will connect you with Nirav Sanghavi of Blogadda. He will be able to help you out. I will also introduce you to Sangram Surve of ThinkWhyNot, the agency that does my marketing promotions. He will help you promote your book.’

The discussion on books and what Shreya should do to promote hers went on for an hour, during which time dinner was served.

Later, as they were walking out, Shreya looked at him and asked, with all sincerity, ‘You still think I was behind the
Bombay Times
article?’

Aditya smiled but didn’t respond. She slipped her arms in his as he led her out of the restaurant. His left hand
went into the pocket of his trousers to pull out the valet parking slip.

The moment they stepped out, they were blinded by the glare of what seemed like a million flashbulbs going off simultaneously. The entire paparazzi that had been hungry for news on the two of them had got wind of the fact that they were at the restaurant and had gathered there waiting for them to come out.

‘Get back in,’ Aditya angrily muttered as he turned and pushed her back inside the restaurant. He stood there alone waiting for the car to come. The moment it arrived, the two of them got in and left. The walk from the restaurant to the car was enough for the media to get the pictures they needed.

*

It was too late for the media to carry the pictures in the next day’s edition. However they did carry them the day after.

That afternoon Sanjay called Aditya on his mobile. ‘Your boss has been harassing me. You refuse to stay out of the media’s glare and I bear the brunt of it.’

‘How about I send you a letter where I officially inform HR of this relationship—we could use that as another tool to buy time before we figure out a way to get rid of Shreya from my life? You could show the letter to Tim to calm him down,’ Aditya offered.

Sanjay agreed to his proposal as an email would serve as a written confirmation for his records.

*

That night, Aditya tweeted about Shreya’s book. He even posted the cover image on his Facebook page and asked his readers to pre-order the book.

Just by virtue of Aditya getting involved in the promotion the book rocketed from obscurity to #8 on the Amazon bestseller list. Shreya was thrilled. How many fabulous new authors disappear into oblivion because they are unable to market their wares to the reader base. Aditya’s involvement had taken her well past that stage. Looking at the response to Aditya’s tweet, it was clear that she could be a rock star author too.

Meanwhile, Aditya called Vaishali , to discuss the promotional plan. His involvement had upped the stakes for Kiwi. They were now forced to invest promotion money to back the book. Book trailers, media articles, PR stories, alliances—everything was discussed.

Once they were done discussing the plan, Vaishali asked him, ‘Is there anything we are missing out, Aditya?’ She was very impressed with Aditya’s thoroughness.

‘In fact, there is one last thing which I wanted to discuss with you,’ said Aditya, leading Vaishali to let out a long sigh of frustration.

72

T
HE SAME NIGHT,
Aditya typed out a letter and handed over the draft to Sanjay. ‘Do you think this is fine?’

‘It will only help cover your backside, my friend,’ Sanjay responded even as he looked at the letter and scanned it from end to end. The letter acknowledged a more than personal interest in Shreya and also said that it was being tabled with HR in the interest of disclosure. It also stated that Aditya was not sure about the direction the relationship would take and also that it was dependent to a large extent on the divorce battle that seemed imminent.

‘I have bought time from Tim. I told him that we will get to some clarity on you and Shreya in the next thirty days. You might as well mention that in the letter. Hopefully in the next month or so this Shreya situation will be resolved.’

‘Or you will have to find me another job.’

‘Haha . . . I think Tim would love that.’

‘Wouldn’t you?’ Aditya asked in a very strange manner.

Sanjay just chuckled in reply.

‘I mean it, Sanjay. Wouldn’t you?’

The chuckle disappeared and Sanjay turned grim. ‘Aditya, was that a serious question?’

‘If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have asked.’

‘Shut up, asshole. Why would I be happy if I have to find you another job?’

‘Diana can move into my role, can’t she? If I move out . . .’

‘Technically, yes,’ Sanjay nodded his head, ‘but both of us are happy the way things are. I think she is beginning to like you.’

‘I am beginning to like her too. But at one point in time, she was screwing around with my team. Wasn’t she?’

‘I know you guys haven’t had a great past. But now that things have started to look up between the two of you, do we necessarily have to bring up the past?’

‘The vestiges of the past, unless buried, will always keep cropping up and impact relationships,’ Aditya said and then added, ‘But to be fair, over the past few weeks she has been more of a support than you. I think I misunderstood her.’

‘I can never understand you or your thoughts,’ Sanjay said as he walked away. ‘Send me the final letter, once you are in office tomorrow morning.’ He stopped, turned to Aditya and said with a troubled look on his face, ‘Maya called today. She wanted the papers back. Signed.’

Aditya didn’t like what he heard. He suddenly lost his cool. ‘Why is she calling you? Ask her to call me.’ Maya had stopped all contact with him. If she needed anything, she would call Sanjay or Diana and that made Aditya feel helpless.

‘Next time she calls, I will tell her that.’ Sanjay paused for a bit and said, ‘What have you decided about the papers? Are you going to talk to Maya? Or are you going to sign them?’ He looked around the room, as if searching for words and then continued, ‘Diana will kill me for saying this. But why don’t you just sign the papers and end the agony?’

‘I don’t know. I want her to be happy. But I know I will never be able to live without her and Aryan.’

‘Then don’t you think you need to proactively do something about it?’

‘Hmm . . .’ Aditya nodded. ‘I don’t know how to get her to believe me.’ He thought for a second and reached out for the phone lying on the table in front of him. Sanjay went to fix himself a drink. Aditya keyed in the password and brought up the dialled numbers list. He saw Maya’s number and touched it. The call connected. Maya came on line.

‘Yes, Sanjay.’

‘Maya, it’s me Aditya.’

‘Oh. Yes, Aditya? Why have you called?’

‘Can I come over and meet you right now?’

‘All I need from you now are the divorce papers. I don’t think I want to meet you, ever.’

‘Maya. Please Maya,’ Aditya pleaded. ‘Don’t you think I deserve another chance? You want to wish away fifteen years of togetherness for one mistake of mine?’ Aditya heard a call waiting tone in the background. He glanced at his screen. Shreya was calling. He ignored it for the time being.

‘Correction, Aditya: one known mistake.’

‘There has been no other mistake, Maya. None. Trust me. I swear on Aryan.’

‘Stop it, Aditya. I don’t want your mistakes to weigh heavily on our son’s future.’

The call waiting tone came up again. It was Shreya this time too. ‘I regret everything that happened, Maya. I am terribly sorry. Believe me.’

‘If that was so, would you still be in touch with that woman? You are happily tweeting and facebooking about her and her books. And you expect me to believe you, Aditya? Come on. You might think so, but I wasn’t born yesterday.’

‘Can I come and see you please? I will explain everything. I will leave everything and be with you and Aryan.’

Shreya was calling again. He looked at the screen before holding the phone to his ears. ‘Maya, I am in a soup. I will be doomed if I don’t play along. I am stuck. It’s not that everything that I am doing is because I want to do it. Give me a chance to meet you and explain. I am confident that I will be able to convince you.’

‘Forget it, Aditya. I am not interested in carrying on this conversation further. I have got to go,’ she abruptly disconnected the line.

Aditya kept the phone on the table and walked to the other room. Sanjay was waiting for him at the bar. His Laphroaig had already been poured in his glass. He picked it up and downed it in one go.

‘Wohooo. Hold on, buddy. Not so fast!’ Sanjay exclaimed. ‘Eat something if you are going to drink like this.’ Sanjay walked towards the kitchen. ‘Let me see if we have something.’

Aditya sat there thinking about his conversation with Maya. He didn’t like the way it went. In fact he didn’t like the way it began. It was playing on his mind. Something was not right. He couldn’t figure out what it was. And it was bothering him.

Sanjay returned with two packets of chips and some cashews.

‘Is Diana coming?’ Aditya asked sinking into the beanbag next to the bar.