“Why there? Isn’t it on the outskirts of Delhi?”, asked Tanya, shrugging at Ranveer who was busy massaging his beard. They sat on the first bench in the corner of the classroom close to the door. Sixth semester CSE”, announced the blue board on the open white door of the classroom.
“It's not safe at late night. Let's meet somewhere else, dude.”
No sooner did young Alok enter his classroom than he happened to hear Tanya’s utterance.
“I can’t tolerate this haute girl addressing me ‘dude’ anymore. Urgh! I will put an end to the same very soon”, owed Ranveer, staring at Tanya as the latter was busy going through her recent notes dated the previous day.
“What the fuck? What's running in his corrupted mind now?”, wondered junior Alok, as he shrank his glittering black eyes and rolled his eyeballs hither and thither. Scenes of the cunning guy giving creepy glances at Tanya flashed in Alok’s mind. “I must save her, whatever it takes. This side of her best friend…god! I don’t know how she will face it while I can’t digest it.”
He took a seat on the immediate bench behind theirs. “I must know where he is planning to take her today”, decided he. “Fuck! Ranveer shouldn’t even guess that I have caught his dirty second side.” He opened his notes, grabbed a black gel pen, and pretended to write something.
“Lewis corner is really great. You must taste at least once in a lifetime”, offered Ranveer, patting Tanya’s shoulders.
“Oh, sexy! He deserves a Bharat Ratna for his acting. He controls his touches too for a girl will easily identify a bad touch. He isn’t leaving a single clue behind. What a brilliant bad boy!”, reflected young Alok.
May it be a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a couple of years, or even throughout one's life, relishing the most beautiful feeling on Earth-the love, it still matters.
While most couples are almost near the silver jubilee of their wedding anniversary, Alok and Nisha are just about to begin their love life!
Love at any age is love. Why not a middle-aged love story?!
“I will pick you up as well as drop you off. Trust me. Let's go!”, invited Ranveer, smiling widely and nodding.
As Tanya leaned back in her seat and sighed, her friend emphasized, “Don’t you trust me?”
She shook her head while he folded his hands.
He turned away from her to peep outside the window.
“Fine, let's meet then”, admitted Tanya.
“Fuck! No! Why did you agree? You have put yourself in trouble, Tanya”, thought Alok, swallowing his shock. He frowned as Ranveer returned his big eyes accompanied by a wide grin at Tanya.
She shrugged.
“Why are you so happy as if you were going to meet your best friend after a decade?”
He massaged his face with his right hand.
“Control beta, control!”, thought he, chuckling in return. “My dreams are finally going to come true. Hahaha!”, he whispered to himself, as she faced back at the notes.
“Yuck! Look at how weird his expressions were. Why didn’t Tanya doubt? What a fake best friend he is! It's due to these kinds of people we encounter that we lose trust in friendship and thereby the human race itself. We trust someone and they betray us. It's so damn painful. It almost kills the heart when someone knows everything and pretends to be totally blank”, felt Alok.
His eyes went over Tanya sitting right in front of him. “You remind me of what my mother faced back in her college. Not exactly but there is an erratic simulation I feel. Mom trusted her bestie Payal, and shared everything about her love for Dr.Alok, but what did she do instead? She turned out to be Alok sir’s girlfriend back then. She instead let mom go and propose to him; in fact, encouraged her but there was an unexpected conspiracy behind the curtains. Mom lived in the pain of digesting the harsh reality for twenty-eight years until her true love finally noticed her.”
He smiled, recollecting Dr.Alok caring for Nisha in the hospital. “I won’t let another girl suffer as a victim of trusting the wrong person again. No, Tanya, this path is filled with pebbles.”
“Yaar, what are you doing there? Come back, Alok”, shouted Mihir. Alok turned back to wave at Mihir and Sooraj on the last bench. Sooraj vibrated his glasses.
He highlighted, “Yaar, you are a unique student. You top despite sitting here. Don’t lose your talent.”
Tanya and Ranveer turned back. They shared puzzled looks at each other, seeing Alok sitting behind them.
“When did you come here?”, asked Ranveer.
As Alok shook his head at Tanya, the latter frowned. She ordered, “Go away from my vicinity.”
“Yaar, every dumbo can top while being in the first bench. Why do you wanna belong to the common crowd? Be a gem”, pointed out Mihir, as Sooraj nodded along.
“How do I explain it to you?”, wondered Alok, at Tanya who stood up and gestured for him to leave the seat.
“Last benchers are all-rounders. It's majestic to be a backbench topper. Why do you want to change, yaar?”, asked Sooraj as Alok packed his bag. He gave a sorry look at Tanya who continued to raise her eyebrows. He left towards his seat.
“Let me follow them after college. You are so evil, Ranveer. You can’t betray anyone like this”, thought Alok, refraining from frowning back at Ranveer.
Mihir patted Alok, revealing their plan to surprise a friend at midnight.
“What!”, exclaimed Alok. “Is the party tonight?”, asked he.
Sooraj laughed.
Mihir chuckled, highlighting, “Of course, yaar. If we instead do it tomorrow, we won’t wish him a happy birthday anymore. We will have to wish him a belated happy birthday.” As his other friends at the back burst out a round of laughter at him, he faked a smile, with a burst of anxiety for Tanya in him.
“Fuck! Too many things today!”, he commented.
Mihir slammed his forehead, asking, “What happened to you, yaar?”
Sooraj added, “That's why you shouldn’t mingle with the front benchers.”
Sooraj and Mihir shared a hi-fi and burst into another round of laughter.
“So sad of Tanya. What shall I do now?”, he wondered.
The milky white crescent moon dominated the foggy dark sky over the faint snowfall. Tanya, in a full-sleeved dark blue gown, with silver-plated long eardrops, left her loose hair on both sides in the front. Ranveer, in black jeans, opened the door and smiled greedily for her to enter. She shrugged, chuckling along, as she walked in.
“Wow! I wanted to tell you something while riding in the car itself. You look beautiful. Gown? What's the matter?”, he enquired. She chuckled and nodded. The waiter pulled the chairs out at a two-seater table, the last row, in the barbecue. The two friends sat opposite each other.
“Nothing, dude. You guys can go in jeans everywhere. But, at such hifi restaurants, we girls prefer dressing up like this. That's all!”, she responded, as the guy wearing a shower cap placed long needles pricking through pieces of paneer, upon the cavity generating heat from the center. He wiped and placed two plates.
“The second dude of the day. I won’t tolerate it anymore. No more control, beta”, thought Ranveer, pressing his fist secretly below the table.
“Shall I serve?”, asked the young waiter after placing five more needles to heat up.
Ranveer nodded, faking a smile.
“I don’t want mushrooms”, informed Tanya. The waiter nodded and served the rest on her plate.
As they began hogging, she enquired, “Dude, why aren’t there many diners tonight?”
Ranveer massaged his beard and smiled at the waiter who in turn nodded and left.
“Obvio, darling! It's a remote restaurant”, thought he, smiling at the hour hand of his wristwatch striking nine. “Who will travel so far to eat except us?”, replied he. She shrugged.
As she wiped her mouth with the tissue paper, she asked, “What do you mean? See that's why I argued that we should dine somewhere within the city. Surprisingly, there isn’t any traffic here.”
“Ma’am, but the taste in Lewis is one in millions”, advertised the waiter with the shower cap, smiling and placing two bottles of pineapple juice. Tanya nodded, as the waiter completed, “Our restaurant is quite crowded on the weekends. Dinners are generally booked before eight itself.”
Ranveer frowned at him. “Do you have to spill out everything? Enough of your verbal marketing. We are in the era of online ads today”, he whispered to the waiter who then served him some sweet corn later.
“I mean who cares about the crowd? We have come here to enjoy our dinner. Let's relish then!”, diverted Ranveer.
The waiter walked away.
“Yes dude, absolutely!”, agreed Tanya, smiling and hogging a hot kabab.
“Urgh! How many dudes?”, cursed Ranveer, in his mind. He pointed at the big glass of juice.
“Why don’t we try it?”, offered he.
Tanya rolled her eyeballs hither and thither. She denied, “It's winter. I don’t prefer drinking cold juices at night. Hope you understand, dude.”
“Hey, please! Consider it as my treat. You must have it. Perhaps not all at least a quarter glass even if not half. Can you?”, requested he, smiling along.
She shook her head. “I catch a very bad cold..." He inverted his lips and shrank his eyes. He moved the fork slowly to grab a piece of raw broccoli on his plate. He focused on dissecting it rather than dining.
“Fine!”, she admitted. He threw a wide grin back at her. She was about to sip her glass and all of a sudden, she narrowed her smile. She bulged her eyes. She stood up from her seat. She pointed towards the entrance.
“Dude, leopard!”, she grumbled, as drops of sweat appeared on her forehead.
“Oh no! Where?”, freaked he, jumping upon his chair. He turned back. He moved his face hither and thither to examine the entire lobby. “Where did it jump away? It's so scary…”, trembled he, as she observed the goosebumps on both his hands.
“Hahaha! Chill, dude!”, mocked she. He turned back and shrugged at her.
“It was a holy prank. Let's continue our dinner”, she relieved him. As she burst out another round of laughter, he faked a smile and threw a wide grin at her. He sat back and sipped the juice as she sipped her glass. While they continued their dinner, moments later, his eyes shut. He fell like a thug on the floor.
“Ranveer!”, she screamed, getting up from her seat. The waiter returned. He swallowed his fear as Tanya frowned at him.
“Ma’am, I don’t know anything. Your friend bribed me to do it. Please don’t hand me over to the police”, cried he, falling at her feet.
She wiped her tears at the unconscious fraud. “Shame on you!”, yelled she, pointing at him.
“It's ok, bhaiya. When a friend can plan such dirty mind games with us these days, what’s your fault? You are after all an outsider. You were just his puppet”, she remarked, grabbing her little fancy light green handbag with a long spongy black handle. She left a five hundred rupee note on her table.
“Sorry!”, apologized the waiter, joining his hands at her. She sobbed as she headed towards the entrance. She swung the door open and hurried.
“Can you please let me in? My friend is in great trouble. I need to speak to her…”, pleaded junior Alok, at the security who shook his head, denying, “No, sir. I am sorry. I can’t violate rules by letting someone devoid of a pass. Our restaurant requires pre-booking of tables. Please leave.”
“What happened to Tanya? I hope she is safe. I hope she did what we discussed”, worried he, sitting on the couch outside.
“Mark my words. Don’t be an innocent girl like how my mom believed Payal blindly.”
He rubbed his palms against the body of his forest green hoodie. He couldn’t take his eyes off the heavily lit ‘Lewis Diner’. He stood up and left towards the fountains beside. He observed the thin and tiny pipes throwing water out.
“Alok!”, called out Tanya.
“Tanya!”, he recognized her voice. He turned to face the entrance far from where he stood. With her ear drops oscillating, her hair dancing to the rhythm of the cold breeze, and the bottom of her gown flying a bit up and down, she ran towards him, with tears flooding her eyes.
“Hey! Are you fine? Did he do anything to you?...”, he investigated.
She gave him a tight hug. She closed her eyes and wept her heart out to soak his hoodie. He brought his arms closer but hesitated to hug her. He massaged her head.
“What happened, Tanya? Speak a word. How will I know the reason behind your tears then?...”
“Thank you very much for saving my life”, she thanked him, releasing him from her arms. She nodded. “Your warning was right. He had arranged this meeting at night with evil intentions for me. I’m sorry I didn’t trust your words this morning. I in turn challenged you to come here to the hotel and see us having a normal friendly conversation together. I can’t believe that my best friend had always been behind to get physical with me. Yuck!”, she grieved.
He rested her cheeks in his arms. He consoled, “Good samaritans still exist. Don’t strain yourself with anything that happened..”
“And you are the only good samaritan that I have ever seen”, she interrupted, hugging him again. She continued, “Your plan of faking the entry of a leopard and exchanging the glasses of juice saved my life. My vote of thanks is trivial in front of your timely warning to me…”
“Hey, it's fine. Forget it like a bad dream. He can’t stop your confidence. Keep going”, said he, attempting to motivate her.
“I have always misunderstood you. But, look at who saved me today. I could have bet you once in grades. But, I bet, I can never beat you in your nature and in our actual lives”, she said. He looked into her dark black eyes as she wiped her tears.
“Come, I will drop you home”, offered he, extending his hand forward.
“It's fine. I will go on my own. Thanks again for your concern and gentlemanliness”, she complimented.
“Did you just call me a gentleman?”, he asked her, blushing a little. She blushed a bit and nodded. They chuckled as they began walking together.
“Aye, listen. I can’t leave you alone in such a situation. You are broken. Let me drop you home and then go to my house”, he reassured.
She shook her head again. He sat on his bike, wore the helmet, and gestured for her to get on. He slid the visor shield to show his eyes. “You can trust me”, he conveyed.
“Yes, I do”, she agreed, swallowing her tears and getting on the bike. She blushed, resting her right palm on his shoulder as they began riding.
Woah! Will young Alok's concern for his classmate bring in the beautiful rainbow of love in their lives?
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