Whose deceit is it anyway?

As the plane revved up and prepared to soar into the sky, Annie settled back into the seat. She hated to fly, and this flight happened to be a long one. But she had to be there for her. Although Lara had called her for celebrating Christmas, she knew that actually Lara needed her to be there for her. She had splurged her hard earned financial adviser money for the ticket to Cyprus and back, knowing it would be worth every penny.

Poor thing was all alone, her family had abandoned her, and her “friends” had abandoned her once they knew that she had no sugar daddy anymore. And of course the worst – the love of her life had kicked her out like a filthy parasite from his home and paid her money like he would pay a whore. Only Annie had stood by Lara in those hard times and promised to do so through thick and thin. “Just like soul mates “Annie sighed to herself. She had been attached to Lara for the past 5 years, waiting for her to come out of the closet, admit to her that she loved her. She suspected that was either too shy to admit them or was not aware of those emotions herself. At times she sensed that Lara wanted to respond to her silent pleas of love, but couldn't be too sure. A small gesture, simple touches had let her hope that Lara too felt the same that she did.

Ever since she and Lara had met during a computer course class five years back, they had been friends. Annie had started in a big international bank and Lara had joined a PR firm in Mumbai where she had risen high in a short time and had then settled in Singapore around 3 years back.

Hopefully, the events of the past 6 months would have brought things into sharper perspective for Lara, Annie hoped.

It had all started with Alex Lee, the handsome billionaire from Singapore, much younger than Lara. But Lara had been madly in love. She had recently joined as the main PR honcho in the rich man’s PR company. As the main person at the helm of affairs, it was inevitable that she meet the Boss himself, sooner or later. Once Lara set her eyes on Alex, her reason fled out of the window. She changed her outlook, her personality completely to become the woman Alex would like to be with. The fact that she was witty, intelligent and magna cum laude from Mumbai University also helped.

Annie had been consumed with jealousy. It seemed that all her work in the past would be laid to waste with Alex marrying her Lara. What had she not done to ensure that Lara stays out of trouble and other men’s and women’s clutches. Despite the distance ,Annie had ensured that she meet Lara at least once a year, if not more  and talk to her every day ,either on phone or Email or text message. The mode of communication had not mattered, as long as she was able to talk to her beloved. She listened to Lara’s boyfriend troubles and anytime she seemed to actually become serious about a man, quietly seeded doubts in her mind. She ensured Lara’s relations did not last long with any guy. Either, Lara broke up with her men or Annie would provoke them into doing so, gently encouraging most of them to find better partners than Lara.

To appease her guilt, Annie gave Lara sound advice on her money investments, so that Lara had a sound monthly income apart from her salary. She gave Lara extravagant gifts despite her protests. Annie was willing to bide her time and had planned to shift base to Singapore in a year’s time. That would have been her first step to coax Lara into recognizing her homosexuality and that only Annie could be her life partner.

And then Alex had arrived, throwing her plans into a tizzy. He had been easily lured by Lara’s beauty and wit into her apartment. Countless dinners, gifts of diamonds and nights spent together and Lara had actually started dreaming of a wedding and kids, although it had only been 3 months since they had been together. Maybe she would have fulfilled her dream, if Annie had not recognized the commitmentphobe in him and decided to make the most of it. All it had taken was a quite dinner with Lara’s “best friend” and Alex meeting each other and Annie had slipped in the poison in their relationship.

She had revealed to Alex that Lara was hoping for a white wedding in London, now that she was pregnant with his baby. Alex had stormed off to check the fact himself and when he had discovered the pregnancy kit in Lara’s closet and the accompanying blood report, all hell had broken loose.  Alex had accused Lara of cheating him and deliberately getting knocked up, when she had been responsible for the contraception. Lara had never been able to find out how Alex had discovered something she had told Annie in the strictest confidence. She kept on thinking that Alex had accidently discovered the kit and blood report. Arguments, counterarguments, shouting and screaming later, Alex had thrown Lara out of his penthouse. Mercifully he had given her all the jewellery that he had bought for her and had settled a huge amount for the baby in a trust and some for Lara. He had also agreed to by her a house, as long as it was not in South-East Asia where the scandal would affect his life and business.

Lara had taken herself off to Cyprus where she was now nursing a broken heart and a swollen belly, all alone .Well, not any longer. Annie would be there to hold her hand and more, she smiled to herself with wicked glee.

At the airport, she mentioned the address to the taxi driver whose expression changed from bored indifference to almost respect, as soon as he heard it. When she reached the house she understood why. It was fabulous, almost decadent in its beauty, with a vast stretch of sea behind it. Standing almost lonely on a hill, it would be the perfect setting for two lovers. Heart thumping in the chest, Annie climbed up to the top of the hill towards the house. And there she saw her, standing on the balcony, smiling, with a drink in hand, waiting to welcome her.

Her happiness seemed to make float in air, till she thumped to the ground rather harshly. Another female figure had joined Lara on the balcony and was now watching her come up to the door. Annie vaguely recalled the girl – Peony or Daffodil, some flowery name she had. She had accompanied Lara to couple of lunches in Singapore and Annie’s jealous disapproval had driven her away soon enough. Annoyed at this intrusion, Annie‘s mind whirred into action immediately. Once she knew what “flower-girl” was doing here, she would dispose of her. Maybe she was hanging on to Lara for money. God knew, she attracted the worst of the crowd.

Annie’s confidence melted into thin air when the “flower-girl” opened the door to Lara’s home. She was dressed in designer wear, with Dolce and Gabbana shades casually perched on her tinted hair. Her skin was smooth, zit free and hands manicured. She was no impoverished hanger-on. And when she welcomed Annie in, in a lilting mandarin accent, Annie‘s rage threatened to boil over. Moving into the hall, she saw a bare room with barely any furniture and a lone decanter sitting on the marble bar with matching glasses. Confused, she kissed Lara on the cheek, asking the identity of the mystery woman.

“She’s my life partner – Peony” Lara slipped her hand into the other woman’s hand. Annie all but fainted.”But...but... How...When?” She could only splutter. Her BP seemed to shoot up as she had a splitting headache all of a sudden. When had Lara become a lesbian? And when had she found a “Life Partner?” It had only been 6 months. Her carefully laid out plans seemed to crash down on her, with as little sound as possible.

“Oh, Peony and I have been together for over 3 years now. In fact, ever since I moved to Singapore. Would you like a drink? A mocktail or something stronger? You look like you could use a brandy.” Lara looked at her companion who nodded and poured a stiff brandy shot from the decanter at the bar.

“But, you’ve just been with a man; you are carrying his child, for God’s sake! “ Annie was still gasping and the brandy had just burned her throat and none of the cobwebs in her mind had cleared.

“Yes, how the heck was I supposed to get a child otherwise? And loving a woman does not mean I can’t bear a man’s seed. It was not enjoyable, had to imagine Peony all the time. And I had to be careful not to meet Peony too often as to raise suspicion. We had been very discreet in the past. So if Alex or you had decided to get me investigated I doubt he would have found anything. But what’s a girl supposed to do? We both wanted a baby so badly.” Annie looked transfixed as Lara and Peony looked lovingly at each other and then at Lara’s protruding belly.

“But you never told me. You never gave me any inkling. I never even knew. I could have got you a baby. I was there for you all the time. Dammit, you don’t know how much I love you.” Annie was gulping tears.

“But I don’t love you. And I knew about your obsession for me. I had to keep Peony away from you or you would have taken her away from me. I needed to keep you close to me though. ‘Keep your friends close and enemies closer’. I needed the money you gave me and the gifts too. I could pawn them off for more money. What we really needed was a child to make us into a family. Peony can’t have kids as she has had her tubes tied because of a gynaec problem. We had been searching for a perfect donor for a baby for the past 2 years. We didn’t want an anonymous hick for our child but somebody whom we knew as smart and good-looking and who would have no compunctions in letting the baby go. Good genes were important to us. We searched and searched and then zeroed in on Alex.” Lara’s voice was as cold as the ice she put in her iced tea.

“Seducing him was not a problem although catching him at the right moment to conceive the baby was. But thanks to ovulation charts, we got what we wanted in 3 months flat. Now the only step was to let Alex go, without any hard feelings or suspicions and preferably with a lot of moolah. So, I called you to Singapore. I knew you would work on Alex’s phobia to commitment. Although he was in love with me, the way you made it sound to him that I had become pregnant to get married, was priceless. Of course I had to work on his guilt to get money for the baby and myself.”

“Anyway, I got what I wanted. I got a baby, money to bring him up, a house in a beautiful place and most of all, the love of my life, right beside me”.

Annie was devastated.”Why did you string me along then, for five years? Letting me hope, letting me think we could be together? How could you deceive me?”

“Deceive you! You who tried to sweeten your selfish obsession with gifts for five years .You, who ruined your friend’s chance at love at every turn? Oh yes, I knew what you did with every relationship of mine. No, Annie, it’s just Tit for Tat.” Lara smiled while Peony patted her hand.

“Why did you disclose it all now? “ Annie slumped to the floor, too miserable to even find the chair right behind her.

“We wanted to say Thank you and bid good bye.” Peony spoke for the first time.”If it hadn’t been for you we wouldn’t have been able to sustain ourselves for the 3 years in Singapore and then come here. We are flying to California to get married. After that we’ll settle down there. We have sold off this property. Our child is taken care of. Lara has enough money and jewels from Alex to allow her a regular income, which comes from a fund which you advised for, apart from our funds in Singapore. Oh and don’t bother to come after us. We may not be this kind if you do so. I am an artist. I can thrive on controversy. But you, in your stiff colored world of finance will be doomed if it slips out that you are an obsessive lesbian. There’s our taxi for the airport. Good bye.”

As Annie watched, Peony and Lara walked out of her life, literally, leaving her with nothing. She who always had a card up her sleeve, had been swindled by another swindler. The trickster had been tricked and there were no more tricks left in her bag now.