Chapter 4: Dinner done

Being in such a small space with someone, whilst the rest of the world whizzed by, made Pooja realise that cars could produce a certain sense of intimacy that she would have preferred not to experience right now.

And even though Kabir Mittal's car was considerably roomy inside, Pooja still felt it was not spacious enough as she sat in the passenger seat next to him.

Her earlier bravado had deserted her, as she stared out the window in front of her at the passing streets and people, trying not to think too hard that the man sitting next to her was almost a stranger.

She had absolutely nothing in common with him, which give her no reason to trust him.

He could take her anywhere, do anything to her.

She was trying not to let her mind overrun with these alarming thoughts. But all her past experiences with men had unfortunately been bad, So she had no reason to trust them.

She just didn't like being alone with them either, especially with the that feeling they were in control. And at the moment Kabir Mittal had all the control, making her feel suddenly very vulnerable

"Are you alright? Miss Sharma he suddenly asked, eyeing her through the rear view mirror, as if sensing her unease.

"You are very quiet, which surprises me, considering you had plenty to say to me yesterday."

Pooja realised he was trying to goad her into a reaction of some sort, but she didn't respond

It made him take his eyes of the road in front of him, so he could briefly glance at her, noticing the way she was sitting up straight, looking out the windscreen in front of her with great concentration.

His brows furrowed slightly,

"You can relax you know, I don't bite," he then assured her, his tone softening, "And I promise you, I will be on my best behaviour tonight. I have no intention of further tarnishing the already bad opinion, you have of me," he added, shooting her a small meaningful smile

Pooja was glad that the car was in virtual darkness, so he couldn't really see her face heat up, bringing a flush to her cheeks.

She wondered how he was able to read her mind so easily, but suddenly she felt a little foolish for letting her imagination, once again run away with her

Some of the tension left her body, "I am sorry I am giving you that impression, I am sure you are on your best behaviour. I guess I am suddenly finding this whole thing a little overwhelming," she reluctantly found herself admitting.

"There is no need to feel overwhelmed," Kabir replied easily, "After all you are getting a free meal in an expensive restaurant, and the chance to finally speak to me in person, I thought you would enjoy it"

"I don't enjoy having to put myself on show Mr. Mittal, I would have been happy enough just speaking with you in one of your offices, but you give me little choice in the matter, and you more or less forced tonight on me"

"Actually it was you who forced us into this situation tonight," Kabir reminded her gently, as he steered the car around the roundabout with ease.

"I offered to have a meeting with you sometime through the week. You doubted I would keep my word. In fact you insisted I take action there and then to give you some sort of guarantee. So I was forced to prove you wrong. So really, you only have yourself to blame Miss. Sharma"

Much to her irritation she found herself unable to argue with him, as it had been more or less the truth. Once more he had got the upper hand

Realising she could probably sit in the car fuming at him for the rest of the short journey to their destination, Kabir decided to change the subject slightly. just to keep the conversation going.

"So what do you do for a living when you are not running around helping out your fellow woman in distress?"

"I work on a checkout till in a supermarket. Not exactly glamorous or exciting, but it helps me get by," Pooja replied, still sounding a little defensive.

"I imagine it does," Kabir replied his tone remaining neutral, "So no husband or children to care for? Is that why you devote the your time to the Women's Refuge?"

"Actually I have chosen to devote my time to the Women's Refuge rather than settling down and getting married and having kids," she informed him almost haughtily, "I don't need a man or a wedding ring on my finger to make me happy, and having kids is not the only thing women are useful for Mr. Mittal"

"I totally agree," Kabir nodded, "I am not a male chauvinist, if that is what you are implying. Actually I think it is admirable of you devoting yourself to helping those in need, very noble in fact. But I guess I was just curious to discover your view on marriage and having children, if it was something that had crossed your mind?"

She thought his query a little odd under the circumstances, but decided to give him an answer anyway, "When you see the results some of marriages, and what men are capable of doing to their wives, or partners and children that come into the Refuge, I find myself preferring to remain single," Pooja said stiffly

"I guess that is understandable," Kabir relented, "But there are lots of marriages and families out there, that are perfectly happy and working well Miss Sharma, You shouldn't let what you see at the Refuge, taint your view on relationships and men, or even prevent you of having the chance of one day settling down yourself, if the chance should come along"

"Your advice is noted Mr, Mittal, thank you for the enlightenment," she replied drolly, "I take it you must be one of those happily married people with a wonderful family?" she then queried

"Actually I am divorced, and there are no children unfortunately," Kabir told her with a small rueful frown

"Oh, and there was me thinking you were an expert on great relationships, I guess you haven't taken your own advice," Pooja said pointedly

Kabir just chuckled, "Now that sounds more like the feisty Miss Sharma I have come to know."

Despite her earlier concerns, Pooja found to her surprise she now felt quite relaxed in his company.

"I have to say, with you being a big powerful business man, I wasn't expecting to get advice about the affairs of the heart from you of all people. I didn't think that would be something you would care about," Pooja told him a little bemused

"Yes, well there is a lot you don't know about me, perhaps it will learn you not to make so many assumptions," Kabir pointed out, giving her the full benefit of those brown eyes steadily resting on her

Once more Pooja felt, she had been well and truly put in her place.

She swallowed down her annoyance, just relieved they had finally reached the restaurant as she realised Kabir was pulling into the car park next to it.

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The waiter greeted Kabir Mittal with a familiarity that he knew him well, as he led them to their table.

It was near the back in a more private corner. The place was busy, with many of the tables full with other customers enjoying their meal and quiet conversation.

The décor, with it's rich reds and browns, gave the place a cosy but classy feel at the same time. Pooja tried not to be overly impressed as she glanced around her after sitting in her the chair across the table from Kabir.

"What would you like to drink? They have some excellent wines available," Kabir addressed her as the waiter continued to hover by their table, waiting to take their order.

"Oh a glass of water will do me fine, I don't drink alcohol," Pooja informed him truthfully.

His eyebrows rose speculatively, for a moment; she thought he was going to press her to have something stronger. Perhaps he had been hoping he could get her drunk and she would end up making a fool of herself, then the meeting would turn out a disaster.

Well Pooja knew that wasn't going to happen.

He must have recognised the steely determination in her eye, and in the end he just nodded with a small smile, as if relenting

"Alright," he turned to the waiter, "A glass of iced water for the lady, and I will have my usual"

The waiter hurried off, leaving them with the menu's to look over so they could order their starters on his return.

After spending ten minutes mulling over the menu, Pooja decided to stick with something with chicken in it, knowing it would be safe and not very expensive. She didn't want Kabir Mittal thinking she was taking advantage of him.

In truth she was still feeling a little nervous about the whole evening, so she was not very hungry anyway

After they had ordered their food, she took a sip of her iced water and leaned forward across the table towards him.

"Shall we get down to business now?"

"I will leave that entirely up to you Miss. Sharma," Kabir replied dryly, realising she wasn't going to waste time with idle chit chat.

"Well seeing it's the real reason we are here, I think we ought to Mr Mittal" she reminded him.

"Fine," he nodded, now sitting forward himself "I am listening to what you have to say, so go ahead"

Despite just taking a drink of water, Pooja's mouth felt a little dry again, she found herself licking her lips. All day she had practised, and had thought about what she was going to say to him, hoping he would understand the urgency of their problem that he had help create. Hoping that he would give them the time they needed

His brown eyes rested on her intently, letting her see she had his full attention and interest. So it was now or never.

"If you want, or need prove of what Haven is all about, you are looking at it now, sitting here in front of you Mr. Mittal," Pooja informed him

"Really?" Kabir's eyebrows arched questioningly, realising she was referring to herself.

She was glad he seemed a little more intrigued. She decided brutal honesty was going to work best, even if it was at her own expense, which meant telling him things she would have preferred not to.

"You see, I can relate to many of the women in the Refuge, because at one time, not so long ago I was just like them," she said, now looking into the glass of iced water she held in her hand.

"My life has not always been easy," she continued quietly, "My father deserted my mother when I was young. She was never a strong woman, so she came to depend on alcohol and drugs as well as many men coming and going her life.

But it all finally took it's toll on her I was only fourteen when died on me because her body couldn't take any more of the abuse."

Pooja now looked up at Kabir, "I am not looking any kind of pity from you by telling you all this, just that you understand the circumstances that some of us unfortunately have to deal with"

"I see," Kabir replied his tone neutral, "and I do understand"

She managed a small shaky smile She always found raking over her past emotionally draining

"Anyway after that I was put in care. I went various foster homes until I was seventeen. It was never easy, the last foster home especially. Let's just say the woman was very religiously minded and ridiculously strict. She made me feel bad about myself, and I became what she considered rebellious. Her methods for rebellion were to lock me in my room and give me as little food as possible, to put the wilfulness out of me. But it had the opposite affect on me, and I decided I had enough of her and the authorities telling me what to do, so I ran away,"

Pooja broke off there as the food arrived, and waited until the waiter had gone, before continuing, "I am afraid it only gets worse Mr. Mittal. Being young, I made some stupid decisions in my life."

"I think we have all done that Miss Sharma," Kabir said, "Its part of life and growing up," he found he was careful to hide the disturbed state of mind her tale was having on him, remembering she didn't want his sympathy

Pooja lifted her fork and toyed with the food on her plate.

"My worst decision, was to get involved with a man called Dhruv Mittal, who took me in after I ran away. I thought he was a friend who cared about me.. I thought he wanted to look after me. My self esteem was pretty low at the time, espicially after all that I had been through. He offered me a place to stay, and made me feel wanted and needed for a little while.

So I felt grateful to him, and believed I loved him. Which why I excused his possessiveness and jealousy, and his dark moods when he had too much to drink At first the abuse was verbal, but then it became physical, and somehow, he always manage to convince me it was my fault. That I said and done things to make him angry and hit me"

Pooja looked up at Kabir, "That's how stupid I was Mr. Mittal," she stated quietly

"So what happened?" Kabir asked, finding he had lost interest in his own meal in front of him, and horrifyingly riveted by Pooja's tale

"Actually he was the one done me the favour," Pooja replied ironically, " This one time, he beat me up so bad, I had to be taken into hospital. Then while I was recovering he moved some other unlucky girl in with him, and left me out in the street homeless. That's when Mandira found me, and helped me," Pooja explained,

"She brought me to Haven, then took me under her wing... helped me get back on my feet, and find my confidence again. It took a while. but with her help I finally got myself a place of my own, and a job, and some self respect, since then I have never looked back"

Pooja sat back in her chair with a heavy sigh, "So you see Mr. Mittal, that's why I feel so strongly about the Refuge, and why I need you to understand how important it is for people like me. It's given them a chance to get back on their feet. If it wasn't for Mandira helping me, I don't know where I would be today. And if you don't give us more time on the lease to find another place to set up, a lot of people are going to suffer"

She was staring at him almost imploringly, hoping he would understand.

Kabir remained thoughtfully silent for a few moments, staring into his glass before taking a drink, and looking across at her.

"I will admit, your story was somewhat harrowing Miss. Sharma, and as much as you might not want my sympathy because of your circumstances, you still have it. It has help me understand why you feel as passionately as you do about the women's Refuge, and why you do not want to see it closed down," he finally said

"And I am glad you told me of your own life experience, and how it has helped you. It puts everything into a different perspective, and I know it wasn't easy for you," he smiled encouragingly

But then becoming more businesslike again, he put his glass down on the table.

"The least I can do, is give some serious consideration about what you have told me tonight. Perhaps see if I can do something to help in some way,and if I can make a few phone calls.. So why don't you let me worry about the rest Miss. Sharma, and enjoy the rest of your meal, you deserve it"

"Thank you," Pooja smiled, feeling suddenly relieved and a little more hopeful that Kabir Mittal would give them the much needed reprieve