Episode 14

I have been hearing a bell ringing for quite some time now. I wish it would just stop. I roll over, pick up a pillow and cover my head with it. But, I can still hear it. I get pissed. So, that is how I wake up. I go to the door and open it.

I stand rubbing my eyes and see Naren there. He looks at his watch.

‘You are going to be so late’, he says. What? No way, I had set my alarm for seven. I look at the clock in the living room, my eyes are not yet focusing as they should. I look at Naren, he already checked his watch and since he has a watch one can fairly assume that he can tell time. ‘It is way past 8.30. Can I come in?’, he asks. Oh ya, I opened the door and was just standing there.

‘Sorry sorry. Come in. Give me a minute.’, I run to my room , brush, wash my face and finger comb my hair in record three minutes.

I come out and find Naren in the kitchen, he has the milk boiling. Ohhhh.. That is sweet.

‘What’s up?’, I ask lamely.

‘Well, we haven’t spoken after that night at the disc.’

‘Isn’t it too early in the morning for bringing that up?’

He smiles. ‘It isn’t. You are too late.’

Right. I already missed my office shuttle.

‘You think you can drop me to office today?’

‘Sure. If you get ready as fast as you brush, sure.’

I nod. The milk having boiled, I move. ‘Coffee?’, I ask him.

He nods. So I make two cups of coffee. We go to the living room.

I sip my coffee. Ahh… good one.

‘That’s a good coffee Pri’, he says in a surprised tone. I glare at him.

He laughs. ‘What’s up?’, I ask him again. He takes a deep breath.

‘Anitha is living here? How is she?’

‘She is good. She has been here for almost a week.’ I hope he doesn’t ask me for anything that puts me in a spot between them.

‘You should come by the house.’, he says.

‘Yeah, I should. I have been so busy lately. It is not an excuse, I really have been busy.’, I stifle a yawn.

‘Naaa… Anitha cooks, so you don’t see the need…’, I don’t even let him finish the sentence. I grab one of the discarded pillows and throw it at him. He catches it effortlessly.

‘I came, remember. I don’t like being yelled at you know’. He had yelled. For leaving in the middle of the night by myself or without informing anyone. Okay, that was a mistake. But, did he have to yell? I try explaining, but nope. He wouldn’t listen. Hence, Aditya said he needs at least a week. Whaddya know, it is more than a week now.

‘Sorry Pri. What you did was wrong. No doubt. But, it was supposed to be your treat and I basically ruined that. Sorry for yelling though.’

‘Never mind Naren. How are you? You look like shit.’

‘So you know about the whole being in break thing?’

‘Yup I know’

‘I asked Anitha yesterday, for us to stop being on a break…’

Ohhh.. Was that the phone call?

‘She says she wants more time. I bungled this Pri. Big time.’

Ohhh.. ‘I am not sure what Naren, something you did has hurt her. You need to give her some time.’, I think back to her talking about making decisions.

He just nods. ‘I get it. I came here to ask you to come for dinner today. Aditya felt I needed to come and ask you.’

‘If you guys are okay for a late dinner, I will join.’. I tell him about the work.

He has a look of surprise, ‘You are finally doing some work to actually earn all these years of salary that you did not deserve’ . Ha ha. Funny. I give him my scary death stare. He doesn’t even flinch.

‘Okay, Pri. I am getting late. I haven’t had breakfast too. If you are going to be ready in twenty, I can drop you and we can even have breakfast on the way to work. What say?’

I get to not change three public transport buses and eat something other than corn flakes for breakfast. Brilliant.

‘Deal. See you in twenty. Close the door when you leave please.’. I rush to start my day.

I get ready and come out of my block. Naren is running a few minutes late. I pick my phone and see few text messages. Yesterday’s altercation with Karthik comes crashing to my mind. Oh my god, how could I forget. There are a couple of useless messages advertising some sale.

The last text is from him.

Ahh.. The confusing female populace. Instead of me trying to figure it out, tell me, rather, instruct.

It takes a minute for me to recollect our argument yesterday. Yeah, we were arguing about taking things slow. He had continued our conversation and he took time probably because he was driving. I laugh. I realize I am alone, so I laugh in my head, right, like he would listen. I text back.

So you say you are in research, I am yet to be convinced.

I don’t expect a reply back. But I get it almost immediately.

Unfortunately, not the kind of research I should have been doing.

I keep thinking of a witty come back. I keep thinking.

I guess he reached a threshold, he calls me. I answer.

‘Hey’, I say.

‘Hi, how are you today’, he asks.

‘Okay I guess.’, he holds a pause as if expecting me to add to it.

He laughs. ‘You are not easy are you? You are not going to tell me why only okay?’

‘If I answer this, I will be deemed easy. So I prefer to leave you wondering…’

‘So you are not easy…’

‘If I answer this, I will be deemed not easy. So I prefer to leave you wondering…’. Female populace eh?

He laughs, again. ‘So what’s up?’

‘I am on my way to work, just waiting for Naren. He is my dropper today. I woke up late so missed the bus’

‘Dropper?’, he asks, I can visualize him shaking his head. ‘You are abusing the English language’.

‘I prefer to think of it as enriching, enhancing, coining new words..’

‘So Naren drops you to work whenever you miss your bus?’

‘Not really. Naren turned up at my place way earlier than I was ready to wake up and woke me up and so I am making him drop me to work.’

‘Is this the same friend who helped you when you moved? Did you move there to that apartment because he lived in the same one?’

‘Naaa…After I decided I am moving, I got to know he lived there too. But it turned out good. He is just too sweet..The tall-trio are all sweet. They are the…’, I pause looking for a word to describe them. I think they are the shit but I say, ‘They are great’.

‘Sweet? Tall trio?’

‘Ya. Naren, Vivek, Aditya. All tall. All sweet.’

‘Hmmm’, he just makes a sound. But the sound has more depth than it should.

‘What happened?’, I ask this and Naren reaches. ‘Hi Naren.’, I wave at him. ‘Oh sorry’, I realize am on phone. ‘Hey Karthik. Got to go. Will call you?’. I hang up after he says good bye. I can’t stop smiling.

‘We are a bit late to beat the rush hour traffic’, Naren explains. We leave immediately.

********

I get busy at work. We are on a tight schedule and my entire day is planned out with no time to spare. I am to finish the domain model for today and tomorrow. So I take a print of my first attempt which was rejected by the client and take the client’s views on it as well. I also start collecting information on the library domain. The sessions and courses have helped. I am able to identify the problem in the original one. Now I have to just solve the problem.

I keep at it. I eat at my desk. I have coffee at my desk. I don’t even take breaks. The aim is to have a high level outline by today so I can refine it tomorrow. There will be a review day after, and I have time only until day after to rework on it. So I have to get it right the first time.

I decide to send the outline to Venkat, Shan’s guest lecturer, so that I am not way off track. I call him and ask and he says he will take a look. But he says, if I send it to him in the evening, he can respond only by tomorrow afternoon. I convince him to look it over earlier and I promise to send it to him by four in the evening. He agrees. But I have set for myself an even more difficult target.

I couldn’t do it by four. I send him my work around four thirty and he responds back not to worry, he will still respond by early tomorrow morning. I sigh in relief. I finally take a break.

As I pick my phone, I expect to see a text from Karthik. But none.

I go back to work trying very hard to not look at my phone obsessively. Life sucks. There is just no win-win.

I spend some more time on my work and having done all I can do, I decide to leave. I carry a couple of notes to go over on my way back home. God, I had not done so much studying since my 12^th standard board exams. I get into the office shuttle and hook my ear phones and play songs and start with my notes. I am reading up on principles of modeling and design, something which I should have done a long time ago.

I am so into the reading that another employee who gets down at the same stop as me has to come and revive me back. ‘Excuse me.. Are you going somewhere else today? I know you need to get down at the next stop’.

Huh? My mind just blanks for a second. Then I see his familiar face and smile.

‘Nope I am going home, just got lost in the reading. Thanks. Sorry.’ Thanks and Sorry? What the what? He smiles. He has a nice smile. We get down from the bus.

He is on the handsome side of the male species. I give him a smile back, the smile I reserve for good looking guys; tilt my head a little to my left and say, ‘I am Priya.’ Yep, he is handsome.

‘I am Anand.’, he says and offers his hand. ‘You were lost in there Priya. I even snapped my fingers in front of you’.

Nope, he didn’t . ‘Nope, you didn’t’.

‘I could have, you wouldn’t have known.’ I sigh. He might be right.

‘I have a lot of work. I am reading up on things to do it…’

‘Ahh.. pretty and interested in work. That is a refreshing combination..’, he says, his eyes smiling and something else in them. Whoa. He is flirting with me. My smile widens. We are inside the apartment complex’s premises; apparently he lives here as well. This is not a surprise, most of the apartments here are filled with people who work in our tech park.

‘That is such a sexist thing to say’, I tell him. Before he can respond, I see Anitha. I wave at her. I see Karthik coming behind her. I wave even more enthusiastically at him even though I wonder about his presence here. He doesn’t react, he even looks like he decided to keep his face tight and immobile. Okay.

I introduce them all. When I say Anand’s name, Karthik’s face tightens up even more. Anand leaves us after a bye for Karthik and Anitha and a wink for me. Ha ha, overkill.

‘Vivek asked me to be nice and come to their place for dinner. Apparently, Aditya has some news. Karthik has been asked to join too, after I told them he was your boyfriend’, Anitha says. He was my what? Boyfriend? Naaaa. I give Anitha an are-you-nuts look.

‘Karthik, doesn’t want to join right? He doesn’t know them right? Karthik?’, I say and look expectantly at him. I don’t see him agreeing.

‘I am joining. I decided I want to meet the tall trio.’, his voice still doesn’t sound normal.

‘Tall trio?’, Anitha laughs. ‘Ya, tall trio is right. Tall and good looking too..’, she says and winks. If it wasn’t for Karthik’s robotic immobile face, I would have winked back.

‘What are you doing here?’, I ask Karthik. He just shrugs. Anitha decides to intervene on his behalf.

‘We are on the way to their place, we thought you were going to be late?’.

‘Ya. I left early. I will just drop of my stuff at home and join. I will meet you guys there.’

‘I will come with you’, I wish this could have come from Anitha, but it was Karthik. Since I don’t seem to be having an option, I nod at Anitha and walk ahead.

Okay. Karthik is not the kind of guy who listened to people. I did not want to argue with him again. I sigh. Karthik can smile to make you melt and also can have a closed off face from which you cannot deduce anything.

‘Who is Anand?’, he asks, without preamble.

‘Ohh.. just a colleague, comes in my bus’.

‘Just a colleague?’, he asks. We are walking side by side and he is looking at me. I nod.

 ‘Why is just a colleague winking at you?’.

What? Oh yeah.

‘I dunno Karthik. Just like that I guess. I just spoke to him. I was just…’

‘Flirting with him?’, he completed the sentence.

‘What? I wasn’t flirting with him…’

He raises his left eye brow at me, in an oh-really kind of way. Did I flirt with him? Naaaa…

‘I wasn’t flirting Karthik. I was just talking to him.. He…’

I stop talking because I hear him taking in a sharp breath. He stops walking, having no other option, I stop too. My laptop seems heavy all of a sudden, so I pull the bag off my shoulder and set it down.

‘Are you saying you did not realize you flirted with him?’, he asks.

What? Nooo.

‘No Karthik. Not at all. I don’t understand what you are talking about.’

‘Priya’, he says. ‘I don’t think I like you flirting, intentionally or unintentionally. I don’t like the sound of tall trio. I don’t like the idea of Naren waking you up in the morning.’

My mind - What? Is he serious? Is he for real? What the hell? I don’t flirt. Come on, me?

My mouth – ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

Karthik just looks at me, his face still immobile and closed off.

I see red as I play his statement again in my head. This time it sounds like he is telling me, not asking me, but telling me. I just can’t believe he is this.. this arrogant. Something flashes in my mind and I remember the day at the coffee shop. How did I forget that he is bossy? Wait, how did things go so smooth until now? Right, because I found his activities agreeable so far. Stupid hormones. I just walk ahead, fast. Damn, this laptop is a nuisance when you want to walk fast.

Karthik just follows me. I reach my block, go into the elevator and push the buttons frantically hoping he misses it, but he gets in. I am mad. I have been out with this guy once. He is already telling me what to do. I reach the apartment, get my keys and start unlocking. Damn keys won’t fit right. I drop them in an attempt to open the door. I pick them up and try again, they still don’t fit. Karthik pushes me aside, gets the key from my hand, it fits right in and the door opens.

I walk in past him and rush to my room. He walks right behind me, but stops hesitantly outside my bed room. Thank god, he knew the line there so I close the door. I freshen up, trying to cool myself off. I change from my office wear and just pick a dark blue jeans and a black fitted tee shirt and pull it on. I loosely knot my hair and not willing to do anything else, in my current state, to make me look better, I open the door and walk out. I need water. I go to find water and find Karthik on my couch.

After all this time, I am still not sure what to tell him. I am still pissed. I stand in front of him and just drink water.

‘Priya?’, he reminds me that I can talk maybe?

‘Yes?’

‘You have nothing to say?’

‘You are a bossy jerk.’

‘Priya!’, now he makes my name sound like a scolding.

‘You are. You cannot tell me what I can or cannot do, who I can or cannot talk to, how I can or cannot talk’

He looks at me as if he does not comprehend. I try to calm myself down.

‘You cannot tell me what to do Karthik. That is not how things work’.

‘I only told you that I did not like certain things.’

‘But you expect me to do something about it right?’

He gives me a duh look. I stare at him.

I engage in the stare contest that is the mother of all stare contests. After what seems like hours, Karthik finally lets out a sigh.

‘Priya’, he says. At least now, my name sounds normal, not conveying anything else. ‘You told me Naren came and woke you up’.

‘Yep, he kept ringing my door bell until I woke up.’

‘Anand winked at you.’, Anand’s name is uttered with complete displeasure.

‘Ya, Anand is an idiot’, I don’t know Anand, but he saw Karthik’s stone faced bossiness, so he is an idiot to have still winked. Or just some guy thing, where he had to wink for stupid guyyish reasons on seeing Karthik’s overgrown ape-ness. Ugh.

‘You flirted with him. I was right there, you were beaming at him with that huge smile’

‘I did not flirt, I was smiling normally..’ , I want to explain, but he doesn’t let me.

‘You call them tall trio’. What? I can’t call them tall trio?

‘Only in my head. But, they are tall. Not as tall as you, but tall. I like tall men.’ I say and realize what I just said and bite my tongue. Well that is the truth; he has to deal with it.

He shakes his head. ‘Let’s go’, he says.

What? Just like that? Is he kidding ? I am being dismissed?

‘Excuse me?’, my tone is as outraged as I feel.

Karthik just looks at me with his left eyebrow cocked in question. I mean, that looks pretty impressive, lots of attitude on that one raised eyebrow, wow. But still… Be strong Priya. Do not fall for his male vices.

‘Aren’t you going to apologize?’

‘Why?’

I am one step away from pulling my hair. ‘Karthik, you can’t boss me around, you have to understand’.  

I stare at him, my arms crossed on my chest.

He sighs again. ‘Priya, if you want me to apologize, you are not getting it. If you want me to be understanding of the fact that you flirt with tall men, I am not going to.’

Whoa. He makes it sound as if I see a tall guy and go out of control. What the…

I try to calm myself again. How did I end up being the patient one here?

‘I just met Anand.. I mean, I don’t get..’, he shakes his head. Of course, his bossiness doesn’t want to hear me talk about Anand, the complete stranger.

I try not to see red. But I try patiently, mentally patting myself on the back.

‘Karthik, all three of them are good friends’. I don’t like defending myself. Relationships suck and we are not even in a relationship.

He nods now. ‘I am meeting them now, I will know for myself’.  How very infuriating, since when is he my guardian?

I lose my patience, ‘Seriously, who do you think you are? You are just the guy I went out with once. Come to think about it, I was forced that time too. You are an arrogant, bossy, domineering, pushy, presumptuous ass’, I inform him.

My breath is quickening and my face is all heated, I must look a sight. I am using redundant words over and over again, hey, I am pissed, I am allowed to.

He looks at me for a few seconds, walks towards me, leans down, raises and holds my face in between his hands. Just like that my thoughts shift. My anger dims and is being replaced with something else that I don’t recognize.

‘Shh Priya. Calm down, we have to go.’

What? He had to hold my face to say those words? What????? Also, he isn’t pissed anymore? This man is not consistent. I pull myself out of his hands.

‘I see that we are going to disagree about a lot of things’, he says.

I realize that this is his apology and his offer of understanding.

We are going to be the bomb when we are on the same page; we are going to bomb, when not so much on the same page. I walk out.

I hear him close the door. I start walking to Naren’s knowing he will follow. But he walks to me and pulls my hand into his; apparently he is good with me. I sigh again. We are not going to be easy.

Well, as long as we know it. We walk in silence and peace to Naren’s.

The door to their house is open. I pull out of Karthik’s hand and walk in.

‘Hi Pri’, I hear it from all of them. Aditya comes up and hugs me lightly.  I try not to look at Karthik. I look out for Anitha and Naren. Naren is sitting in the dining area chair and Anitha is in the living room. Talk about being on a break.

‘Guys, so you have heard about Karthik. This is he’, I say, by way of introduction. I introduce each of them to Karthik.

‘We are surprised to hear of Karthik again’, says Naren in a teasing tone.

‘Ohh, I kept hearing a lot..’, says Anitha.

Yikes.

‘Oh really?’, this is Karthik.

‘Yup. She is obsessed; she wouldn’t stop talking about you.’

‘You are one unlucky bastard’, says Aditya. There was some sort of small box on the coffee table, I just pick it up and throw it at him. He dodges it, catches and throws it back at me. I don’t dodge in time and I close my eyes in preparation. When it doesn’t come, I open my eyes and see that Karthik has caught the small box.

Ohhh.  Okay, Karthik can be handy after all. His caveman attitude can be helpful I guess.

‘Pri. Shame on you!’, says Aditya.

‘Awwwww’, this from Anitha. ‘Look at them. So cute. ’, she says, as if we are cute puppies or kittens.

‘Shut up Anitha’, I say, blushing for some insane reason. I turn to look at Karthik and he is looking at me, something in his eyes. I feel warm, but I remind myself, we are going to be difficult. Karthik is going to be difficult. Karthik is bossy. My blush only intensifies more. Damn.

‘Priya, can you come here a sec?’, Vivek calls me from the kitchen entrance. Yayy, Vivek is cooking today.

I go into the kitchen following him. ‘You aren’t cooking?’, I don’t see evidence of cooking, only coffee is being made.

‘Nope. We will order pizza in sometime. No time to cook’.

‘Okay. Pizza is good too.’

‘Help me with the coffee?’, he says and points at the milk. I nod and start assembling cups.

‘So Pri, you have a boyfriend all of a sudden? I did not see that coming…’

‘He is not a boyfriend. And, I did not see it coming too’, why does everyone think he is my boyfriend?

‘Pri, get over yourself and observe. He is a boyfriend because he is behaving like one.’

Huh? How’s that?

‘What?’

‘He seems protective. I am pretty sure he doesn’t like Aditya’, Vivek smiles as if that is funny. I don’t see Vivek smile much. Wait a minute, I don’t listen to Vivek talking this much.

‘I like Aditya. Since Aditya is my friend, that shouldn’t be a problem.’

I see Vivek shaking his head. ‘You like him. It is written all over you. This is going to be interesting’, he says. Vivek, the observer.

The coffee is done. I put the cups on two plates; of course the guys did not have trays. I carry one and Vivek carries one.

‘Coffee is served’, I announce entering the living room and I place it on the coffee table. I wish Karthik would pick up coffee from my plate as I made them. Silly me!

Karthik does. Anitha picks mine too. ‘Her coffee is always good’, she announces, to no one in particular. Naren comes and picks mine too.

I give him a reassuring smile and I could not help myself, so I pat him on this shoulder, he looks sad. Instead of going back to the dining table, he settles on the floor.

I pick up Vivek’s coffee and settle beside Naren. Karthik keeps looking at me.

They all seemed to be discussing each other’s job and all that. The discussion continues.

Naren turns to me. ‘You guys seem tense. Is everything alright?’

I nod and give him a smile. ‘How are you doing?’, I ask him.

‘Anitha hasn’t spoken to me after saying hi’, he sighs. We both turn to look at her and catch her looking at Naren. She hurriedly turns back to Aditya who is talking about some economic news.

‘She will come around’, I tell him and pat him on his shoulder again. 'It will all work out'.

‘It should’, he says. ‘It has to’, he pats my hand which is still on his shoulder.

Aditya asks about pizzas. We all know what we all like, whenever it was dinner at my place, we ended up ordering pizza. So, I am not even asked what topping I want. Only Karthik is asked.

I look at him. He looks robot-faced again. This day isn’t going good is it?

I get up and go sit next to Karthik. I don’t like his robot-face. I cannot ask in front of everyone what his problem is, so I just pull his left hand and start playing with it. I hope that helps. Karthik gives me a surprised look.

‘Did you make this coffee?’, he asks. I feel as if no one else is in the room. He is looking right into my eyes. I nod. He nods back. Of course, did I expect him to comment on it? I turn my head away. The guys and Anitha are arguing about some company’s IPO.

‘It is good’, he says, a smile in his face. I turn back to look at him, his face is less robotic. I smile. Right there, in the middle of everyone else’s conversation, he says the most unexpected thing.

‘You are not wrong’, he says. ‘You do have good friends’.

Ohhhh… Right. This guy should be taught how to apologize.

Before I can say anything, the guys start making fun of our little mini conversation on the side. I blush again. Damn.

Link to previous episodes : Episode 1  Episode 2  Episode 3  Episode 4  Episode 5  Episode 6  Episode 7  Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13