18: A Silence, A Change:

It has become an unusual routine that he had developed over the past week. To hold his guitar, the only instrument he had packed along with him to Belhaven, as the windows of the store room opened out wide, inviting the late evening breeze, with that typical rush of sound waves hitting his ears, the ocean rising and falling in the exterior creating the typical rummaging sound, as his fingers holding the plectrum trailed around the strings, allowing them to pick up some aimless low nodes and he sat there, surrounded by just these sounds, which if he tried can be turned into some music.  He had been doing it, what can only be termed as getting his hands on the instrument, although he wasn’t really sure if he needed to. It was like he never really stopped using it in the first place. Whatever he tried to play, sounded good, if not necessarily perfect and he no longer remembered the reason for him not using the instrument any longer.

The tune that formed in his senses, which he even played it turning the vision to reality in that party, was like an insinuation to his sleeping music knowledge. He had this weird urge to just be around instruments and that definitely was a start. His father would be happy. That thought reminded him of the audition which he is yet to give which again, suddenly kept him on his edge to just do something with the sounds he had been hearing in his vision lately. Bringing him out of his thoughts, his phone vibrated on the table and he leaned over the guitar in his hand, to reach out picking it up lazily glancing at the caller id.

“Hey bro, you have been missed” he spoke bringing his warm voice, something that Aman hardly heard him speak. Definitely not to him. Or rather not from the moody Arnav that he was, back in India.

“Feels good to know Bhai, you sound relaxed..”

“Well, it’s the climate here, when are you flying? Your old man not letting you go yet?”

“Mr.Raizada really needs some help with that back office work Bhai, I will be there the next week, hopefully. I just called to remind you of the audition tomorrow. It’s the last entry level audition that will happen around Edinburgh and after this, the entries for this year will be closed”

“Wow! And I thought I was living in Scotland!”

“How else will the internet be useful? Bhai, you will have to give this audition, can you come on skype? I have something to show you that might help in a way…”

“Okay” Arnav plugged in his laptop connecting the internet and it took him another few minutes before logging in Skype and finally the two were connected facing each other.  “Whats up?” he said putting his guitar aside.

“Are you playing something bhai?” Aman looked quite taken aback seeing the guitar even near his boss.

“Not really..”

“Okay, so Bhai, I have some collection of international music. Some very rare ones of Korean, African and Russian languages. I was thinking maybe you might want to hear these out, mix them and come up with something?” Aman showed him some of the DVDs he had managed to pick and also pointed out few tracks, as he shared those files over the application.

‘This is like the technical level of music stealing that we do…”

“bhai….”

“Actually, I’m quite bored Aman. And I know you are dying to hear me refuse these right away. So, let me just make you happy”

“Really Bhai?” Aman’s face suddenly beamed up, with new found excitement.

“Well, I don’t know what is it making me say this, but yes, I’ll try to play something on my own”

If Aman was surprised, he didn’t show it on his face. Over the years of playing his loyal disciple, Aman has learned as much to keep his emotions at bay. Just like him. And he knew it. He looked on as Aman gave him one long stare of confusion combined with glee and then the moment broke away, when Arnav heard the familiar sound of a door being shut in the distance. He checked his time on the wrist watch. Quite late in the night. She was home.

“Have you, uh, been playing some music with Khushi bhai?”  

Aman asked out of nowhere causing Arnav to shift his attention completely back to his laptop screen. “What no!!? Why do you ask?” his question was rapid, as if to show he was annoyed even at the mere idea.

“uh, its just that, erm, never mind. I’ve got to go Bhai. Wish you all the best”

“Thanks. And be here soon. I’m sure the old man is getting on your nerves.”

With that the call ended and he walked out of the room just in time to see Khushi cuddling beside a sleeping Sameer on the couch and behind her was Coco, mirroring her actions. This was also something he had been observing every day. And just like it happened every night, Sameer talked sweet nothings to her, while she continued to keep her bitchy act intact, which was then followed by Sameer calling for dinner,  inviting Arnav along with him. Back in the dining hall, the three of them ate in silence, like they have been doing in the past one week.  It was like the time has slowed down, eventually to turn his life into this pace. He didn’t know what he had been doing since the time he had come to this part of the world, but in the last few days, he started to think if there was a reason why he was here. And he is yet to find that out.

Thinking of a random tune by himself was something he didn’t think he would ever be able to do again. But that happened, all too inevitably. Relishing certain times of an almost non-existing past has also happened inevitably to him. And he was surprised to find himself thinking of her, or rather them, more than he ever had. It made him curious. Of him, of them.

And like they were reliving the memories they have just visited, they really were spending some silent moments together. As if they were aware of what the other person had been thinking of. The time that demanded their silence, a rest from the war that they always seemed to have. It was like someone clearly showed them a picture of some old days to them and advised—see you both, if tried can actually be good to each other.

And it turns out that they both were in the same page. Because they indeed were having dinner in silence. Not caring to pass a comment on the other nor making an effort to annoy the other. They were just being two civil people, eating dinner sitting across the table and there was one person definitely benefited with this sudden change in the air. Sameer was a relaxed man. Finally.

**

He finished the dinner, exchanged his good-nights with Sameer, silently exchanging another look of acknowledgment with her and walked into his room in the store. He fixed his guitar in his hand and silently waited for it to happen again. After an hour or so, just like he had been noticing every day in the past week, he saw her jump from the door behind her room onto the sea-shore, with a back-pack intact at her shoulder and she walked towards the sea, in the same direction that she went every day, around the same time. Only today, he was curious beyond a limit. He fastened a sweat shirt over his shirt, covered his head inside the hood of the shirt and jumped out, just a few meters away from her, and walked with a mission to stalk her.

He hid behind the bushes occasionally, as she walked ahead of him along the shore towards a boat-resting area. He found a place behind a huge boat and effectively covered himself, as she continued to walk towards the smaller motor boats resting at the shore, tied to the railing that held a small harbor. He then saw her untie one of the ropes of a single speed boat, dropping her back pack into the boat’s cavity and positioned herself behind the wheel. Within the next few moments, the boat uttered a sound, the engine being ignited to power, as she wheeled away through the valley of waves, leaving behind and thick, white foam of water path. He was all but appalled, yet amused.

This was it? He wondered but he knew there was more to her sneaking away from home. It more seemed like some secret invasion that she had set herself into. And so, he stood where he was observing her little journey through the waves towards the center of the ocean. The boat travelled with a remarkable speed and it eventually slowed down when it reached a small island. An islet rather. An uplifted land featuring an atoll and covering it was thick grass, as much as he could see it in the darkness. He tried to recall if he had seen it clearly during the day and all he remembered was some green stack of uplifted land over the water bed.

He kept his eyes on the distant shadow figure of her, as she jumped down onto the land that rather was like a slope before she dragged the motor boat and tied it to a thick branch. She then fetched her back pack and walked across the islet and disappeared behind the mount of it that completely blocked his view. By then, he was beyond curious. He contemplated looking at the deserted islet for few long minutes and he found himself pondering over the thought, if he should follow her.  Something inside him suggested that he should and the decision was made instantaneously.   

After walking along the harbor for good few minutes, taking his time, he chose the not-so-loud engine boat, instead of the motor, just to make sure he wouldn’t scare her away. Or maybe he still wanted to stalk, not making her attentive. Nevertheless, he found himself sailing through the waves, towards the islet several minutes later, allowing her, her own sweet me-time alone at that deserted place. No sooner than he reached the edge of sloping land, he finally heard what he was hoping he would. And in that very instant he knew what forced him to follow her out of all odds. He knew what was driving him to go behind her and what it was that made him curious enough to stalk her all the way here.

He stepped onto the grassy uneven land, climbing the little slopes, and he started to hear the humming more and more clearly, filling him with some kind of unknown serenity, all of a sudden. It was her voice. She was humming. And there were soft guitar strings echoing along with her voice. He was right. It was guitar that she carried in that back pack. He took another step taking the small curve in the mount and there she was sitting over a stone, positioning her one leg over another stone, as she held the guitar all too professionally over her lap. The light house at a small distance away from them provided the required illumination in the darkness and he stood there observing her for another few long moments. Dressed in a light colored shaggy jeans and a sleeveless white tee, as he could see her side posture, her hair the artificial redness of which was starting to wither off, blew in all areas around her face, her hands positioning the guitar over her lap even as her fingers trailed along the strings of the instrument, creating soft rhythms, and as much exquisite as she looked in that exact moment, what stood apart mostly for him was her humming voice.

Kahaan hoon main
Kahaan hoon main ab..

When was the last time he heard her sing? He didn’t know, he didn’t remember rather. And so he tried to recall. It should be the one time when she made this amazing tune for a competition, which he later modified to make it flawless. He tried to remember the lines of that song they have created together.

Ye tumhari, meri baatein. Cathy helped her with the lyrics. He remembered. But then he also recalled, it possibly wasn’t the last time he heard her sing. There was this other time as well;which he rather would not want to recall at this moment. But what he particularly was trying to remember was the way her voice sounded back then. Definitely it was much younger, but the texture of it remained the same. He attributed as much. She had one of those voices, which sounded nothing like the one when she speaks. It was like she had two different voices to serve the both purposes. A little husky, not too sweet, yet deep, and when she takes that typical high node, it becomes unbelievably thin. Something that marks her voice apart from all the female voices that he ever heard. And now he was hearing it again. He felt rejuvenated.

Aahein, darr, khushi, raaste
Kachchi baatein, sachche vaaste
Kahin pe in sab mein
Kahaan hoon.. main ?

She sounded deep. The tune sounded soulful, meaningful, thoughtful. And all because there were words with the tune as well, not just some mere tune. A tune which he can probably think of, could sound soulful, meaningful and might also seem like it was trying to convey something. But whatever the sense could be, it would only be him who would be able to comprehend it. Nobody but him. But if a tune has words associated with it, the meaning was conveyed better. It makes sense. Perfect sense.

Where was she? She was finding herself.

The message was communicated to her audience. At that moment it was just him. And he heard her loud and clear.

And just as he was listening to her, completely attuned to her, she started to swing a little, allowing the instrument in her hand to pitch in, into some rhythm. He could tell she was trying to pitch in a right rhythm, and was not satisfied with herself. She picked up her book, wrote some notes, scratched it, rewrote again, and set it back aside, her hands resuming over the strings. And she played again. Whatever it was that she managed to tune in, sounded good enough. If not perfect. Thinking of a perfect rhythm to her enthralling tune was more of his area of expertise. And it was that moment that he knew why he was in this part of the world in the most absurd way possible. Yet it made sense.

Maine bhi toh aana tha isi taraf
Meri bhi toh raahein hain yahin kahin
Uljhano ke do raahe
Raaston ki ye baahein
Aate-jaate poochhti..
Main kahaan...?

He closed his eyes completely in awe of the choice of her words and then he felt himself drifting away into some deep trance. Mesmerizing. Magical. Blissfull.

Kahaan hoon, main..

Ab….

“Uh, uh, try taking it a little low..” he said with his eyes still closed and a moment after he said that out and loud is when he realized he had effectively managed to interrupt her. Or rather startle her.

He opened his eyes just in time to see her one foot loose balance over the muddy stone on which it had been resting. She jerked, the stone tilted, she turned and it fell into the water creating that splashing sound. But that was not all. She turned around swiftly completely oblivious to her imbalance of one leg causing her other leg to lose balance as well and the next moment he knew, she did a reverse wave throwing the guitar away into the water, and she fell but held herself to a sharp muddy stone at the edge of the islet with her hands gripping around the linear stone, allowing the rest of her body to hang above the water.

“Khushi!”

He reached her in a split second and sat down, offering his hand for to help. “Come on!” he said when he noticed that she actually was holding onto her notebook instead of the stone at the edge. It so happened that in her little fall, the book fell, tumbled down and the stone prevented it from falling. She chose to grip the book which in turn was forced to a stop by the stone and the whole little debacle, seemed ridiculous to him.

“Arnav! Arnav! I cant swim!” she finally uttered, her voice in panic, as she took turns to look behind her and at him, her eyes filling her face.

“Yeah, I know. Come on! Let go of the book Khushi and take my hand, so I could pull you up!”

That’s when she finally noticed what she was holding on to. Her eyes widened more, only if that was possible. “NO!” she cried.

“What!?” he uttered incredulously.

“You might just take the book away and leave me here, alone!”

“— ARE YOU INSANE?! Do you seriously think I’m that inhuman?”

“I don’t know! You always have had an eye for my notebook…”

“This looks like a perfect time to discuss our indifference, isn’t it?”

She just looked at him, with her narrowed gaze, a little innocence, a little pout and huge amount of panic all evident in her eyes. “WILL YOU FOR FUCK’S SAKE STOP WASTING TIME AND LET GO OFF THE BOOK!?”

He yelled and she was appalled. “Promise that you won’t run away with the book?”

He sighed impatiently. “I promise. I’m least concerned about your notebook, or whatever it is inside it. How about you letting go off the book, I’ll place it right here. Come on. You have to do this in a split second. Leave the book and take my hand”

But it wasn’t really that easy. She did leave the book and the stone was too moist and slippery that she didn’t really have enough time to hang on before he could grab her. And she fell, splashing water on his face.  It didn’t take him much to decide, and he jumped to her rescue. He grabbed her drowning self, amidst her squeals and dragged her along with him as he swam in the ocean, which thankfully was silent and calm in the night. Instead of swimming to the little high, slippery land of the Islet, he chose to swim towards the engine boat in which he had come. He dragged in her water towards it, whilst swimming and helped her to jump inside the boat cavity, with his one hand holding the anchored boat in place while the other helped her to climb into it. Once she was settled inside, he placed his hands on the rim of the boat attempting to climb, when she offered her hand from above causing him to lift his eyes to look at her.

She was coughing, splitting out the salty water she might have gulped. Her attire all wet. Her wet hair sticking to the sides of her face, and her face void of any expressions. Just plain, pale, innate face of hers. Like she had just been washed away from all the thoughts and her face was just breathtakingly spanking. He took her hand, and allowed her to pull him up. Once inside, they wandered off to the two edges of the boat composing and drying themselves as much as they could, occasionally giving awkward glances. But the little peaceful moment, didn’t last long. She got up all of a sudden, looked around in panic and the next moment he knew, she was reaching the edge of the boat to jump again.

He reached out in a whim to stop her holding the both of her shoulders.

“What the..?! What now?”

“Guitar!” she said still in the trance of her panic mind and he looked at the direction in which she was looking. The guitar was floating over the water, not much away from their boat.

She pushed him away and reached again towards the edge. He pulled her in. She was persistent, stubborn as she pushed him again. “Let go”

He pulled her back in. “Wait!” he clenched his teeth, holding the both of her arms tight.

“No! I need to get it, let go!”

“I said WAIT!!” he yelled.

“NO!! If I don’t have the one thing that I retained of my mom, I’d rather die!” she yelled back and it was his turn to be stumped. Alarmed. Shocked and all that. He looked into the pools of her eyes and she looked back into his. A moment of cognizance of a common pain that they both shared, yet neither aware of the extent of it. The moment came and passed, when he finally let go off her hands, pushed her away into the boat and jumped yet again into the ocean. He swam, picked up the guitar, patted his limbs against the water finding his way back into the boat, all in some new found thoughtful trance.

She took the guitar away from his hands as soon as he joined her, and walked away to her corner of the boat. He observed her for a minute, confused and baffled, before walking to his side, still observing her all the way. She wiped the water away from the base of the instrument, blew air, attempted all she could and it only resulted in one of the strings to be detached from his hinge. She pouted and as an instant reaction looked up at him. They exchanged another long stare, both quite clueless if a conversation should be started, when he finally let go off the anchor hinge of the boat and turned the engine wheel, to start their voyage back to the shore.

It indeed was a long night. But the journey was not yet accomplished. Neither the literal, nor the one within. It had only just begun.

17.2: Chapter-17(Part 2)

The speed racing car, the excited shrieks of laughter and encouragement around, drinks and loud music, the darkness of the night illuminated with the bright headlights of the vehicles, fun, zeal and thrill, the night was all but eventful for Arnav. It had always been. He enjoyed the mere adrenaline rush he is subjected to and enjoyed the attention that comes with winning the race. The most exciting part as he would like to conclude is when in the end, as soon as the police patrolling at the Juhu beach road would begin, all the kids would run in all different direction, not stopping to care where there were going and in what. Each of them would grab whatever they could, a bike or a car in the vicinity, and rush, laughing out loud even, enjoying the thrill, all over again. And more because to ensure their vehicles wouldn’t be caught, they ended up grabbing the ones used for racing as they flew away into the distance in all different directions, away from the place.

The whole process was tiring. Yet exciting enough. On his way back late in the night, as he drove some care all alone, to reach home, generally he wouldn’t really care to return the racing car and get his own car from the parking. It was the job of his driver the following day. However that night, he found himself at the parking of the racing place, unusually, as he wandered around the closed shutter of the cellar, contemplating his decision to take his car back. Nevertheless after a few more minutes, he reached out to open the shutter only to be met by thick darkness.

As he stepped down the small of the staircase that lead into the parking space, his footsteps echoed around, with his insides suddenly churning with slight fear. The darkness was such. He found himself thanking his stars to have parked the Mercedes just beside the curve of the foot-steps and he reached out his hand to touch it, to make sure it indeed was there. The next moment he knew, he was puzzled. Shocked. Confused and Alarmed. To say the least.

There was a loud squeal of a girl, clearly petrified. A Sudden hit on his back with her feeble hand-fists. Continues punches across his neck from behind and soon the girl even started kicking him at his legs, her voice breaking away into distressed screams.

“Stop, stop!” He tried to say, already recognizing who that could be and finding it hard to believe it was her. He was too confounded to even process what was going on. And when she stopped suddenly, pausing a little, he rushed to the front of the car, patted his pockets, removing the keys in quick hurried moments, and he turned the ignition on, switching on the head-lights, to illuminate the place. The light flashed over the wall ahead of the car, reflecting glow back and then he turned around to see her standing still, her posture alert than ever, her hands joined together all set to continue the beating, and there was that one look in her face, which he was sure he had never seen before. Khushi was terrified.

“What the----”

Before he could say anything else, he saw her stance suddenly relaxing. She fixed her eyes on him, her breathing long yet fast, as if she had been running a race and has just stopped, her stance tired and she processed him for another minute before leaning onto the body of the car, closing her eyes releasing those last deep breathes before her breathing became even. He continued to observe her for another moment, figuring out what to say. There were a lot of questions actually. His initial immediate reaction was to blast at her, like he did in the canteen, putting some sense into her senseless mind. But something stopped him to react in the traditional way that they followed.

“What the hell!? What took you so long to take your car? The race was done long back!” she definitely didn’t or cannot think of any other way to talk, other than their traditional way. He could have retorted back to that tone, like he always did, but then he didn’t. Perhaps, he didn’t want to. For some odd reason.

“Haunted?” he just said, still not being able to come out of the shock. Had she been there inside, all the time, all alone? What if he didn’t suddenly decide to get the car himself?

“What else will you call this?” Her yelling suddenly toned down into a voice with much lower decibel. But then he could tell she still was pissed. Horrified rather.

“Did you see a ghost?”

*

Was that supposed to be sarcasm? She wondered before looking away from him, her initial anger, terror, frustration everything of which weathering off, in rapid moments; The familiarity of being around him working as magic, after hours of spending in distress and panic.

“Almost” she said indicating him. “You could have killed me”

“And you plan to defend yourself with that strong fist of yours?” he said with a straight face, but the humor was evident. She looked at him amazed, and took a second glance to observe if he was smiling. Yes, there was a ghost of a smile, which soon turned big and then into a laughter. He was teasing her. She frowned, folding her hands across her stomach.

“Auch! My neck hurts Maddy! Did you have some practice in Martial arts?” he mock massaged his neck.

“Very funny” was all that she could say. She definitely was not in mood to retort back and fight. She was just genuinely, truly relieved that he had come, let alone late.

When he observed her relaxed state for another moment, he walked towards her and took a complete look in whatever little light that was available. “Are you okay?” he asked quite seriously.

“Huh?” she batted her eye-lids, alarmed.

“There isn’t any mental imbalance that happened, is there?”

“---what?”

“Yeah, if your brain is damaged more than it already is, we might have to move you into an asylum. The trauma didn’t get into your mad mind, did it?”

She resumed her fist hits this time, much stronger than before and all he did was to defend himself, laughing at her. Few moments later, she laughed along with him too, but the moment their laughs met, it died off causing them to stare awkwardly. “Uh, lets just go” he declared, walking to open the car door and she chose to be silent for once, sitting the car, as he turned wheel reverse, took the deep turn towards the upward slant, that opened outside, driving away as soon as he can.

*

“Cathy must have been worried” he said as soon as they stopped at her place.

“Uh, I’ll say I have been at Lavanya’s place” she replied absent mindedly as if she is replying to her own question in her mind. She had been thinking the same too.

He raised an eye-brow at that, when she chose to give him a side way look. “Else I’d have to say where have I been and for what?” she answered the question in his mind, handing him the camera that she had brought along with her that evening. Without much argument or any further probing, she got out of the car, walked away into her home, not giving him another glance but somehow being aware of his staring gaze until she stepped inside and locked the door behind her.

**

The following couple of days until the weekend have seen weird silent encounters of the two. There had been silent encounters before too, but then they were filled with angst. They were teamed with eye-rolling, tongue-poking, arrogant glances with attitude. Now that seemed to have changed. Or maybe not. They didn’t know. While she no longer wanted him to give him that attitude, just to be grateful although not verbally, he waited to see if she resumes her banter. She didn’t. And hence he didn’t.

He helped Aman with the party organization at her place the weekend, just before their father’s arrival and that’s how he ended up wandering around the familiar home, lazily dismissing the people who greeted him on his way, waiting to escape into the adjoining veranda for some fresh air. Just when he released a sigh, his eyes caught the wooden coated shining metal that was leaning on to the grand piano in Khushi’s room. The place where the two have practically learnt the whole of their music lessons, the ones taught by Cathy.

As on cue, he found himself walking towards it almost fascinated by the instrument and just as he reached, his two fingers found their place over the strings and the next moment he knew, a high note echoed in the room.

“A Cello Maddy? Wow!” he found himself say still fascinated by the new instrument in her room.

He said just when she walked into the room listening to the sudden sound.

“Yeah Bhai, that’s what we thought, we will do something with it”

He looked between Aman, who just entered the room as well and Khushi before looking at the fascinating instrument for one long minute.

“What do you have in mind?”

**

He let his fingers swing over the white keys of the piano and she waited for the tune to kick in. With the giant front piece placed in between her legs, she adjusted the Cello-body with her toes and let the bow in her hand move over the strings, as she used the pegs to alter the pitch. And just like that the room was filled with their instrumental blend of piano and Cello, mesmerizing and awing one and all.

It was nothing but magic.

**

17:A Banter, A Possession:

Arnav and Khushi @ 15:

He ran across the field, with the ball rolling along his feet and as his team continued to encourage him, Arnav glanced at the net ahead of him whilst using his energy to kick the ball allowing it to travel in air. The ball remained in air in the split of a second, the anticipation of everyone around increasing along with its angling height and before he knew it the ball hit the net escaping the goal keeper just in time for Arnav to successfully complete the goal.

“Yea!!” he squealed throwing his hands in air, his lips going round with delight, even as the players around him, ran to give him the pat on his back. He then looked to his side and winked at the cheer-leader who was standing amongst the cheer-girls, practicing their moves for the upcoming match. The girl openly flirted back with him.

“Bhai”

He turned around, fetching the bottle of water to see Aman standing at the periphery on the accelerating long stair case of the field, where there were other pupils watching the practice match. “You didn’t come for the practice again, two days in a row. You might soon be out of the team Aman.” He warned, before lifting his head behind to sip on the water, just when his eyes caught the girl standing behind Aman.

“uh, bhai, I was just coming”

“Well, you are late. The match has already started” he chose to ignore her. As usual. Like they always did with each other.

 “Just come to the point Aman!” he heard the annoying voice after what seemed like ages and turned around to face them completely only to be greeted by the tom-boyish Khushi. He never really understood what was with her and the urge to be different from all the teenage girls. Every girl he knew in their school tried and tried harder to look like the perfect eye-candy competing to be the next top model, while Khushi’s dressing sense took a complete U-turn.

“What does she want?” he asked not giving her a second glance.

“Mr.Raizada and Sameer uncle are coming back this weekend” Aman started speaking even as the two standing on either side of him began to give each other, eye-rolling glances.

“Yeah so?”

“We…we have a party at khushi’s place, celebrating the success of their recent movie, the five Filmfare awards that they have received for their music….”

“---oh! Wow!! Are you here to invite me Maddy?” He cut him off, setting himself in a mission to have his banter with her.

“An invitation from me, you wish!”

“—Just in case you are forgetting, I don’t need an invitation. It’s my party too”

“Oh really! In that case the least you could do is, try and organize things”

“---Oh I have much better things to do  event managing, unlike you, Nerdy!”

“Everyone is aware of your better jobs, cheapo!” she threw him a look, before momentarily glancing at the cheer-leading gang, standing at a distance from them.

“Whoa! Whoa… easy! Khushi! I thought we are here to talk!” Aman exclaimed helplessly. “What? He stated it first! Your good for nothing Bhai!” she twisted her words.

“you!”

“Bhai, please. Just one minute., We have something to talk”  Aman was all but pleading.

“What?” Arnav spat at him.

“Uh, this weekend will also be Khushi’s parents’ anniversary. 25^th is it?” Aman asked when Khushi nodded. “And she thought maybe we should perform something together and surprise them”

“---I’m sorry what?” he cut him off completely struck by the words. Performing is something they haven’t really done for ages, let alone performing together. After that little lecture by Cathy to be precise. He knew for the fact that she didn’t prefer to do anything with him, when it came to music. Also, that academic year being their Eleventh standard, studies have been keeping them quite busy and a good reason to stay away from music. At least he has decided not to try hands on anything new until he would feel like. Meanwhile, the typical upper class Mumbai teenager life style that he was newly introduced to kept him completely occupied, in a good way. At least for him, it was. But she on the other hand has become weirdly isolated.

If the girls of her society and her beauty reduced the size of their dresses and belonged to the cheerleading campaign, she chose the nerdy gang and loose jeans with her newly developed spectacles forming the effective look that she needed. If the other girls spent weekends partying with guys like him, she chose literature world and spending time with her mother. She had become weirdly insane over the year and has matured in a complete different way when compared to him. That being noticed, they hardly crossed each other’s paths except for such family events, which now happen only when their fathers were home. He spent his time with his Cathy when she wasn’t around and she made sure there was no reason to cross his path, neither at home nor at school. Finally, their worlds were separated, something they had been asking for years and they were in much saner space, for the first time in years. Or so they thought.

And hence she bringing it up out of the blue baffled him.

“Bhai!”  Aman broke into his little trance and Arnav just looked between the two still confused.

“You want to perform?” he asked her directly and she just looked at him with an unreadable expression. He didn’t know if she practiced or did music any longer. He had been away from her monotonous life to such an extent. Suddenly he found himself wondering, if she had been doing music even while not practicing with him, and that thought left him figuring it out if she had mastered and excelled in the art, discovering the true talent all by herself. Did she?

“Uh, we don’t really have to play anything new. Maybe we can take one of their hit tracks and perform. It will be surprising enough” she spoke, with an even voice ever since she had come, breaking into his thoughts and answering his question, much to his relief. No, she didn’t. She seems to be in the same place as he is. Good. He was relieved. Although he didn’t really want to acknowledge, why that knowledge made a big difference to him.

“We have a match this weekend Aman, did you forget?” Just because she asked, he wouldn’t run to play music. He would do it, only if he wanted to.

“But Bhai, the party is in the evening, we can practice a few hours every day?”

“I’m occupied Aman and so are you. Let’s just not waste time in these and get back to practice. Come”

“I told you talking to him is in itself a waste of time! Go be his tail, coward Mathur!” khushi yelled at Aman. “Thank you so much Mr.Busy-Raizada! I can plan the surprise myself; I should be blamed to even think of giving this a shot!”

“Please blame yourself. You don’t really do that often”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up!”

Khushi groaned with frustration and stamped her foot hard, before turning around to walk away leaving a helpless Aman and a victorious Arnav behind.

**

He pinned the girl to the pillar, as his one hand tugged at her half t-shirt, and his other playing with the bangs of her hair while he continued to whisper coyly comments into her ear. It was then, that he heard that loud sound. He chose to ignore. The canteen was big enough and eventful enough for him to hear dramatic things quite often and he was not really bothered.

“Hey diner-girl! You could have asked for help!”

“---well, if it’s not for your oversized pants waitress”

“Don’t forget the sweat-shirt!”

He heard people bullying targeting someone. It wasn’t new either. He could still choose to ignore. But then the description of the girl that he heard, sounded familiar.  “Get your lives everyone! She isn’t a waitress!”

He heard Aman’s voice and the next moment he knew he was pushing the crowd to have a look at the drama himself. The food items were scattered everywhere, from what seemed like a stack of at least four trays, her hair was covered with coke, the place was more or less has become a mess and Khushi was sitting amidst the mess, with Aman trying to help her get up. Agitation creeping into his nerves from nowhere, he rushed to pull her up in one swift moment and even as the people around him continued to bully her, he turned around abruptly, his eyes turning fierce. “Quite everybody!” He yelled and thanks to his reputation, the room was all but silent in the next split second.

He then caught hold of her elbow before walking hastily pulling her along with him away from the canteen, into the adjoining corridor. “What the hell is going on there?” he yelled once they were alone, letting her go, even as she winced at his grip.

“How dare you pull me like that??”

“Can’t you be anything else other than clumsy?”

“Can’t you be anything else other than a playboy?”

“Why don’t you get yourself good clothes to wear at least? Did you not hear what people were talking?”

“Why don’t you get yourself good people to hang out with? Those were your friends who were bullying by the way”

“Khushi!”

“Arnav!”

The banter was quick, in a whim like everything that they had to say to each other has always been planned, statements being uttered one after another, in fast retorts and once the yelling of their names have been done, the two stood gazing into each other’s eyes quite furiously. For several moments. As if their eyes were communicating the rest of their angry words.

“What the hell is your problem Arnav. I fell, I got myself into a mess, people were bullying me and you still have the nerve to show your attitude to me!? Ofcourse you will! A few words of sympathy were never your cup of tea, are they?” she was the first one to break the trance.

“Sympathy!” he sneered. “Carrying four trays at a time representing a perfect waitress, the one with no practice only to put yourself into mess and you expect people to sympathize with you?”

“That was a dare! And I was doing good until I had to see your godamn face sneaking behind that pillar! Making out in public place? Eww! Gross!”

“That’s called having fun, which you probably aren’t aware of, obviously because you are rather busy in playing waitress in the canteen and daring to be one, tch tch!”

“How does that interest you Arnav! You should be happy instead, that I fell!”

“Yeah right! I find it extremely annoying to acknowledge that I know you! Madass! Of course it annoys me if you make a fool of yourself time and again!”

“Look who is speaking. Don’t you think I’m not aware of your late night racing? Do you even have a driving license yet Arnav? What if I enlighten mom about this? Badass?”

“You stay out of my life, will you?” He stepped closer, pointing his one finger right onto her nose.

“Well, maybe you should learn to do that too. Since you have just managed to intrude into my life, I’ll just follow you to your illegal racing tonight and get pictures to show mom”

“You may do as you wish!” he said, as he watched her being dragged away.

**

True to her words, Khushi sneaked out of her home late in the night taking her camera, as she chose the boot space of his car to hide herself as he would use the same car for the race that she had heard of. Moments after settling in, she heard voices, a few familiar and a few strange. She could tell there were at least four people in the car, a couple of them being girls. One of them, as she recalled, the famous annoying voice of cheer-leader Sheethal was all but talking about the greatness of Mr.Arnav Singh Raizada. Khushi uttered an eye-rolling snigger. Of course he would love to have her around him. She proves to be such a boost to his ego. She never understood why men chose such girls to hang out more. Sheethal Mukherji. She hated the girl with passion.

The car came to a sudden halt and Khushi waited for everyone to get out of the car. After what seemed like hours, she found herself gather the courage to come out only to be met by thick darkness. She looked around and identified the place as the parking space under a huge building. All she could see around was darkness and a sudden chill ran down her spine to alert her of what seemed like her sudden petrified stance. She held the edges of her t-shirt into her fist and looked around for the sign of some human or a light. Maybe she should get back into the boot space, she contemplated. But it had been suffocating enough in there. Maybe she should have asked Aman to sneak around with her. But he was too loyal of a friend to Arnav. She concluded.

Gathering the remains of her courage she stepped a little ahead and released a sigh of relief spotting not just a soft lighting, but also people at a little distant, loud shrieks echoing, kids of her class, ganging up and having fun amidst the head-lights of various other cars. It was then that she discovered that Arnav used another car for these racings. She had an investigation in agenda. She was suddenly determined.

**