Natasha

In the midst of attending one long ass lecture after another, I received a phone call from someone unexpected.

"I have something to ask. Are you busy?" Typical old man. Always skipping the basic greetings to jump straight to the point. "It's fine if you are occupied. I'll just ask someone-"

"No, Papa, I'm free at the moment. I have ten minutes before the Professor arrives. What is it?" I asked, putting the call on earphone. I was actually doing my assignment but I didn't feel the need to add. It wasn't everyday your father called in the middle of the day.

"Okay, well, it's my phone..." He cleared his throat. He sounded like he was hesitating to add further. "I think there's something wrong with it. It's not connecting to the Wi-Fi in my office when it connected just fine yesterday. I need to use WhatsApp to send something to my client."

"Did you turn on the Wi-Fi?" I asked while continuing to write on paper.

"Of course I did! Who do you take me for?"

"Oh- okay. Go to your Wi-Fi settings then..." I said, placing the tip of my pen near my mouth. Papa then recited the default settings to me. It was hard to detect the fault with just words alone. Then I recalled the hotspot and told him to check that. He had accidentally turned on the hotspot while having mobile internet pack expired.

"Ah, finally. Thank you, Natasha." He breathed out a sigh of relief.

My fist closed around my mouth to suppress a laugh. It wasn't precisely the problem that made my funny bones tick; it was the scenario. Papa was in office with several colleagues. His problem would have been solved in a matter of seconds but he chose not to confide in anyone. His prideful self wouldn't allow it. I wondered why he turned to me when he could have just called that crude brother of mine. Must have been busy, who knows.

I thought Papa was done with me but then he added, almost annoyingly, "And you better don't come up with any excuses this Saturday, understood? Come home."

"Yes, yes, I'll be there."

"There's something not- so- special on Saturday in case you don't recall."

"Indeed there is," I stopped writing again. "On eight of December, roughly about fifty-six years ago, in the small town of Varanasi, around 2: 14 PM, Aashish Patel was born."

Warmth pooled inside me, hearing my own father laugh at my answer. I chuckled along. "Quite ever the smart kid."

"Picked from the best."

He chuckled again. Someone's voice could be heard from the other end, "Yes, yes, I'm on it... Got to go now. I have a meeting to attend."

"Hm, okay," I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, "Bye, Papa."

"Bye beta. Have a good day."

~

"Oo', someone's smiling a bit out of proportion. We didn't even have sex yet." Rithik voiced out, propping his head against the palm of his hand, resting on the bed.

Because two strangers had a not- so- stranger like conversation. "The world doesn't revolve around sex you know. I'm just looking forward to eating that black forest cake tomorrow." I answered, feeling my lips curl. Maybe I should buy a gift for Papa. I was contemplating on what to buy, unaware of Rithik's intent gaze on me, until I noticed. "What?"

"Nothing," He replied, pulling me on top of him. His fingers grazed through the scalp above my neck,
giving me slight chills. "Too bad I won't be seeing you tomorrow but I understand."

"You'll just have to make it up today," I ran my fingers over his chest, stopping at his lower lip. He started sucking on it, shooting me a wayward glance before lowering my head to his. The kiss was slow and laidback. Comfortable. I knew it was just an initiative to sex, yet I wanted to go on. There were times when I only felt like kissing him. Just him, me and the butterfly effect between us. Barely two minutes had passed when we heard footsteps approaching the door. Inconsiderate bastards.

"Your loud speakers have arrived." I told him, buttoning up his shirt.

He let out an excruciating groan. "Fuck them and their timing."

I straightened up my top as well and stood up. "Well then, I shall leave-"

"Stay." He cut me off, coming around to take my hand in a firm grip. His piercing gaze towered above me, rooting me on the spot. "Come on, Nat, we barely met this week. Just wait, while I'll get rid of my pests for you. They can entertain me tomorrow."

"Fine," I replied, surprising myself as well. He smiled, letting go of my hand. It was true that we didn't met the whole week since we were busy with upcoming presentation and assignments. I decided to wait.

Only to regret it, twenty minutes later.

I didn't know why I fucking bothered. I had an inkling this would happen. Rithik had the tendency to nearly erase my fabulous existence in the presence of his puny free loaders. He threw Yash in my direction just so I could waste my sorry ass by talking while Rithik guffawed with his boy-friends. It was as if he wanted to say- Bros before hoes.

"I'm leaving!" I announced loud enough for the jackass to hear. Within no time, Rithik started pestering his friends to leave. They started throwing snide jokes at us, refusing to leave. Everyone was talking, simultaneously. It seemed like a war of words between the politicians at a parliament assembly. I caught his gaze in the midst of it, his eyes silently pleading me to stay but I shook my head, determined this time. His thick brows furrowed. He looked away, his lips puckering.

Fuck.

I didn't know what came over me, or my body but then I sauntered my way towards him. Probably had something to do with having the last word or how adorably cute he looked sulking like that. I sat on his lap, leveled my flirty eyes with his confused ones, and pressed my lips against the tip of his nose.

The commotion faltered right there and then.

I opened my eyes to see him,
stupefied. For a while we just stared. The getting- lost- in- each- other's- eyes kind of stare. I leaned my forehead against his, almost closing my eyes, "Bye, Rith. See you around."

With one quick peck, I got off him, trying incredibly hard to avoid everyone's eyes on me. To ease out the stinking awkwardness from the room, Snorlax asked who was hungry, followed by some shouts to order food. Rithik's eyes followed me all the way to the door. I craned my head back one last time but he still didn't falter. Not even when someone shook him. I hurried outside, biting my lip.

What the hell?

Heat flooded my cheeks as the scene replayed torturously in my mind. What was I thinking? Did I took off weed or what? I was busy spewing curses at myself but then, I recalled Rithik's starstruck like face. Inadvertently, my hands rose to my mouth, covering off my helpless smile.

Maybe it was worth it.

~

The following Saturday, Mister Aashish Patel (my father) celebrated his fifty-eighth birthday with his dysfunctional family. It wasn't too bad, actually. He took all of us out on a lavish dinner. I didn't remember when was the last time we went outside and returned without a single argument. It was like a spell cast on the family to behave themselves.

But that was the thing about spells. They never lasted forever.

Since I was staying home for the weekend, I decided to meet Abhishek on Sunday. I accompanied Mitali, appearing like I was accompanying her for shopping. I met Abhishek on the way and parted from there. We just started  walking towards a clothing shop where Mitali was when we stumbled across some ugly faces. Two girls and one boy. And I wasn't saying it from the face value either.

“I'm suddenly thinking about the sins I committed this morning. Does making someone wait for shit count?”

“Why, what happened?” Abhishek asked, half amused.

“Natasha, Abhi, hey!” Called one of the three musketeers, making me stiff to the bone. I glanced at Abhishek's direction, shooting a knowing look.

“Must be one hell of a sin,” Abhishek whispered and surprised me by holding my hand as if silently supporting me. Three pairs of eyes caught onto that action but they quickly replaced it with their plastic smiles.

“Long time no see, girl. Where have you been? Funny how we live in the same neighborhood, yet never cross paths for a year,” The plait haired girl known as Kaveri was the first one to speak.

I forced a laugh, “Funny indeed. I almost forgot you guys lived so near.”

“Oh, but we didn't,” Kaveri's lips twitched to the side, “You do such incredible things, Natasha. It makes it impossible to forget you even if someone wants to.”

My stomach dropped to the pit. I clenched my fists, thinking of a cunning reply but Heena beat me to it, adding. “She meant academics of course.”

“Abhi, man, how is it going?” The short guy approached Abhishek, extending his hand. However he withdrew it, when he noticed Abhishek's knitted brows, “Why that face? Don't you remember me?”

Abhishek scratched his head, “Uh, Girish, right?”

“No, dumbass. Gaurav.”

"Oh, yeah, Gaurav." Abhishek raised his brows in recognition then quickly gave an apologetic smile to all three of them. "Sorry, I'm just bad at remembering names... especially the ones who are insignificant in my life."

Holy fuck! Now that was shot well thrown. I could very well kiss Abhi's feet right now.

“Come on, don't joke. You hurt my feelings,” Gaurav feigned hurt, trying to take that remark as a joke but failed. Soon the conversation moved on to other things.

Kaveri and Gaurav studied at the same school as usual while Heena and Kaveri lived around the neighborhood. From outside, the conversation was pretty normal. Talks about what we were doing, our studies, future, etcetera. But only Abhishek and I noticed the deeper shade behind their selective words. Like how I must be living my dream life, away from my family. Or whether I stumbled across any hot older man to diffuse my charms into. They also made sure to tease both of us, despite denying it several times. Heena mentioned how it was terribly sweet of Abhishek to be still together with someone like me, despite the odds. I didn't feel like wasting my precious time and breath on people whose existence was as significant as the trash bin lying to the side.

When the conversation worse than lectures, finally came to an end, I did this really cool thing by rubbing my nose with my middle finger, almost succeeding in peeling off the smiling masks from their faces. Better.

Aside from that encounter, nothing unfortunate happened. My sour mood quickly died as I spent a fruitful afternoon with Abhishek. It became even better after he joined Mitali and me for shopping. Mitali was the only one from my family who was civil with Abhishek. They often spend time making fun of me together but honestly, I didn't mind. I was just elated from spending time with my two favourite people. We were planning to stay till seven when mother nature cried over in the form of rain, forcing us to abort.

Dread filled my being as Mitali and I walked home, drenched in rain. Something didn't seem right. My intuition came true. Usually I'd witness Sahil or Papa watching TV or Mum cooking dinner but there was none of it. Instead all three of them were sitting on the sofa, with a grim look on their faces. Mitali sidestepped near me, sensing the heavy atmosphere looming over the room. It was as heavy as downpour outside.

My guess was confirmed when Sahil informed how one of his sidekicks spotted Abhishek and me together. It could have been those musketeers, it could have been someone else, I didn't know. It didn't matter. All I knew that I was going to need a long cigarette drag after all this was over.

My family permanent disapproval over Abhishek, had something to do with befriending a person with a dick. I remember how my parents confronted me not- so- gently when they spotted us going home together from school years ago. Something else also followed in my eleventh class.

It was on the day Abhishek dropped me home from school early when I was down with a fever. When my mother dearest saw me coming home earlier than expected, that too, with a male, her short fuse burst. Thankfully, she didn't beat me to a pulp due to my health (she did slap me though) but that didn't stop her from throwing colourful words. To me, it was as normal but not to Abhishek. I ushered him to leave but instead, he stood on his ground, never leaving his killer eyes off my mother. Eventually he turned to leave but not before spilling out one of the most dramatic words I ever heard from his mouth.

"I bet teenage parents would be far better at parenting than you adults could be in her seventeen years of life." By her, he meant me.

Those words were ingrained deep into my brain. It was the first time an outsider stood up for me. At that time I knew. I knew that even if the whole world stood against me, Abhi would still be by my side. That's just the kind of friend he was.

Regardless, their hate for Abhishek only magnified from then on. Kinda understandable from their point of view. They strictly prohibited me from meeting him, but I never listened. I needed him as much as a body needs air to breathe. So I simply kept our relationship away from their watchful eyes.

Too bad, it didn't work everytime.

I mentally planned my activities for the night while my parents lectured, repeating the same shit about me being a kalank (black dot) to our family, a disappointment and what fucking not. Now I'd have spat out too, on how shallow parents they were, but I wasn't in the mood to have my precious skin decorated with scars. Instead, I shut them out of their verbal lashes, only feeling more emptier by the second. My eyes flickered to Ma's clenched fist and a smile threatened my lips. She snapped asking what was funny while I simply shrugged. I knew her game. She was waiting for me to snap so she could hit me. Her hands were just aching for that. Bloody sadist!

Since they weren't successful in opening my mouth, they spewed bad words on my best friend instead. The anger that I suppressed in the cold began to resurface. Eventually I lost my cool, muttering some angry words.

“Who's more important to you? Us or that monkey?”

The question surprisingly came
from my father. I cast a sideway glance at him, feeling the corner of my lips curl. "Really? I thought it would be obvious by now."

Even receiving two tight slaps from my father couldn't deter away from my answer. It only solidified my point and my belief in him. Or lack thereof.

~

I was sitting on the bed by the window, watching the raindrops crash against the window panes. The dark clouds were still pissing off, apparently. Detaching the cigarette from my mouth, held by my fingers, I blew out another puff of smoke, filling the air around me. I closed my eyes momentarily, taking it in. Much better. It wasn't like anyone was going to enter my room to check up on me. Mitali wouldn't be here before eleven. I was safe.

For the past hour, I'd been sitting on the same spot, puffing cigarette after cigarette. I contemplated on updating Abhishek with the latest, hapless news, but then decided against it. Didn't want to ruin his night after a peaceful day. Sooner I replaced the sinister voices inside me with my headphones. I leaned my head against the wall, closing my eyes. I was just getting lost in the passionate vocals of Sia when the familiar caller tune ruined it. What surprised me was the person calling. Or maybe it wasn't, consider their motive.

“Ahem, hi, can I speak to the person I want to?” came Rithik's cool voice from the other end.

“Unfortunately, that person is unavailable to have phone sex for the moment. You've dialled the wrong number,” I replied bluntly, not in the mood for his word games. For some reason, my voice sounded a little thicker than usual, even though I didn't cry once.

“Definitely the bitch I know.” He let out a small chuckle. “Just wanted to check in case if it was your father or brother. Wouldn't have been a pleasant experience.”

“Makes sense.”

There was an awkward pause. Maybe he was struggling to have a conversation with me now that I disagreed to have phone sex with him. We never really had a plain- ass conversation on call before. And why would we? But given my gloominess right now, a normal conversation was what I needed. A distraction. I spoke first.

“How was your weekend?”

Our conversation flew smoothly from then on. He stayed in his house all day, watching movies with his father and sleeping. Just now, his family had potato fritters (pakoda), even though they had dinner. We talked about fritters and weather for a bit before he threw my question back at me. I answered, obviously omitting my recent spat with my parents.

“Did you enjoy your Papa's birthday?”

“Yes.” A lump built my throat then another. I cleared my sore throat. “Ye-s, I did. We even had dinner together. Family dinner.”

"Nat, is something wrong? Your voice sounds a bit-"

“It's the soreness I'm experiencing after smoking, that's all,” I replied, quickly blinking.

“Okay.”

Rithik probed further about the day and I began to describe how it went. I told him how I surprised Papa with a rectangular case on his table that contained a leather wallet and a copper pen; how he thanked me with a warm hug and how the morning went. My memory rolled it's reel to the phone conversation on Friday. The happy memory soon faded to the bitter slap I received this evening. I couldn't get that smug face out of my mind. The satisfied face of my mother that said I fucking deserved it. My cheek wasn't the only part that stung.

'... you're just a temporary guest here. A liability until we marry you off. Nothing more, nothing less.'

"... And then we ate Ras Malai from the street stall. It was so fucking tasty, you know. Like I could ha-"

Something broke off like a screech of a radio after losing its signal, because then, my chest constricted and an involuntary sob escaped my throat. My immediate reaction was to cover my mouth, only to discover that rain wasn't the only water descending from the clouds.

“Natasha, hey, what happened? Are you alright?” Rithik asked, concern etched onto every word.

'Nothing,' I tried but my trembling voice failed me. It felt like a heavy weight sunk my neck, all the way to my chest. Before Rithik could call my name thrice, I abruptly ended the call.

Outside the window, the rain stopped. Though from the way the dark gray clouds were still gathering up, it was only a matter of time before it poured again. A small girl passed by the street, hurriedly, wearing a yellow raincoat. I felt like that small girl. A girl who ran in the dark searching for an orb of light in the form of hope. She found one- not more than a flicker. She tried to restrain it within her two tiny palms, knowing deep down it wasn't meant to last. Before long, that flicker buzzed off and the darkness enveloped over, once again.

Will their hatred ever end?

Sinking my head to my knees, folded against my chest, I let out a few sobs, falling insignificant to the sound of the pouring rain.

A few minutes passed, accompanied by few missed calls. Another call followed. Opening one glassy eye, I read the name of Rithik in the caller ID. Except it was a video call. I groaned.

“What was that for?” I sniffed hoarsely, when I picked the voice call afterwards.

“I wanted to see your face.”

“Excuse me?”

"Come on, I've seen you smile, angry, bossy, moaning and what not. Who the fuck would miss to see your crying face as well? I bet you would look adorable with those glassy greyish eyes. Can I-"

I almost sunk my head onto my knee, laughing. See my crying face? Was he for real? I bursted into titters, not minding the occasional bursts of breaths caused by my sobs earlier. Rithik laughed along as well, enacting useless dialogues of a crying girl, making it all more funnier.

It was already embarrassing that I almost cried in front of him, so when he didn't probe further, I was immensely relieved. Instead, we talked about nonsensical things. It was a welcome change- listening to his comforting voice that I have come to love. It warmed my heart and brought peace to my mind. He was being unusually sweet, trying to cheer me up with his stories. It was almost like he was physically here, next to me. I had this sudden urge to feel his broad arms around me, hugging me. To surround myself with his scent, to watch him smile. I kept visualising it again and again to the point where it almost became unbearable to talk. It had nothing to do with him though. I was emotionally weak right now. It was a foolish human instinct to seek comfort at times like this. I kept telling myself that this was why I was missing him.

And yet, it didn't lessen my desire.

I craved him to the point where I stopped speaking due to my anxiety building over. My hands balled to the sides. My chest constricted. It felt good and that itself wasn't good. He was pushing all the wrong buttons. Rithik obviously must have sensed my silence as he paused to ask me and in that moment of tranquility, I spoke out what I wished the most.

“I want to see you right now.”

My confession hung in the air, accompanied by a heavy silence. My heart hammered against my chest. It wasn't helping that he was mute.

“Say something.” I was forced to address when he didn't reply. Crap, even my voice sounded uncharacteristically soft. “Rithik?”

"I swear to God if you say that one more time..." I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end, "I'll sneak up your house to see you."

“You will, despite the weather?” I was chuckling when inside, my stomach was a fluttering mess.

“You bet I will.” His voice was deeper and soft when he spoke further, “Glad you're feeling better. Now will you tell me what happened?”

“Rithik, don't...”

"I was really surprised at first. You don't know how badly I wanted to run to you, take you in my arms and tell that everything will be alright." A pause later, he added cautiously. "Is it your family? Though it's hard to imagine when-"

“No, don't go there. Please.” I shook my head, even though he couldn't see me. “I had a bad day, nothing else. I- I'm not obliged to tell you. Neither you are obligated to ask. Okay?”

A dreadful silence accompanied the other end, that stretched from one second to several. Just when I thought the line was dead, he voiced out, “It stopped raining.”

I craned my head towards the window even though I knew, “Not here though.”

“It would after sometime. Just see,” Rithik said and it wasn't just about the rain. We foolishly stayed on line until the dark clouds cleared out, paving way for the faintest of stars. I was about to end the call when he asked, “See you tomorrow?”

"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

“Someday...” he trailed off while I twirled the wires of the earphones nervously, “I hope you'll conjure up the courage to share your troubles with me. That you'll talk to me. So that when you do, Nat- I can tell you, you can trust me with your secrets.”

As the night wrapped in, the harsh words of my parents wasn't the only thing clouding my mind.

And even though, I wouldn't give in to Rithik, those last words from him were my only solace.

~

I was planning to meet Rithik at his garage but looks like the wicked cupid made it happen earlier than expected. I was standing in front of the college counter, waiting for the Idli I ordered, when I noticed him entering the canteen. We locked gazes. Apparently, I forgot what I was supposed to do except stare at his physical form with our last conversation running at the back of my mind. Obviously someone had to accidentally jerk me from behind to snap me from my stupor. Before long, he sauntered his way towards me.

“Morning.”

My heart skipped a beat, “Morning.”

He stepped within my private space and I suddenly became self conscious in public. Frowning, I placed a hand before him, almost touching his chest. “Don't!”

His brown eyes twinkled, “Don't, what?”

“Don't kid me. I know exactly what you were about to do.” With that, I stepped away to take my order while he ordered his. Unsurprisingly, he accompanied me to the table with my bitches. He exchanged pleasantries with them, we settled down. It was normal.

Then, under the table, away from the prying eyes of the public, came his hand on top of mine. His large fingers enclosed in between my slighly smaller ones, circling its way to the back of my palm. His warmth seeped through my skin, tugging at my heartstrings. The idli was all ready to be devoured but alas, I lost my appetite.

My gaze lowered to our hands. I remembered how badly I wanted to see him yesterday and now, I was partially satisfied. I swallowed my inner protests and curled my fingers around his, welcoming his touch.

A small sigh escaped his lips. I sucked in a breath when his grip tightened. Funny how a mere touch brought such an effect on both of us. Maybe it was the outlet of my longing from yesterday. Or maybe Rithik wanted to hug me earlier.

We remained like that for the longest time. A little secret under the table. The tension between us was palpitable. I could sense it. Sense our unfulfilled desires, our unspoken words. Perhaps Rithik would hug me later when I would be alone but for now, this mere touch was our release. It was all we needed at the moment.

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A u t h o r s N o t e

Vote and Comment your thoughts about the chapter. Hope you're liking how the 온라인카지노게임 is proceeding. Expect more romantic moments from now on.

*And dreadful ones too*