I am observing his drenched suit with wide eyes, "what the hell is this...How dare you?" He yells, losing his temper.. I shut my eyes out of embarrassment, thinking why on earth have I come here? "Congratulations Tuli.. you have spoiled someone's birthday..." I mumble to myself annoyingly.
I swallow the lump in my throat and try to speak, "I am really sorry.." but he snarls eying me unblinkingly, "sorry.. my foot..."
Viansh clears his throat, "oh.. sorry.. sorry...sorry.. please forgive her, Nomaan. She hasn't done it deliberately. "
I look up with jolt thinking oh.. no.. this jerk is.. 'The Nomaan Arora', Viansh's boss, whom he was admiring like a crazy.. that makes my lips twitch sarcastically.
But I was not aware that set of big brown eyes are observing me, and those are not of Viansh but his boss's. He lashes out, "what so funny?"
I nod my head to say 'nothing'. Then I look around.. every one is gathered circling us, some girls and boys are mumbling something to each other, some are just looking at me with annoyance.
As I glance at Viansh, he is gesturing towards me to say sorry. So I clear my throat and slowly apologise, "pardon me, it was all my fault.."
But he is not ready to let me go that easily so he utters, "pardon you.. no dear.., you have to clean the mess up..! So someone hand her tissue please.."
Viansh interrupts, "Nomaan.. my men will do it..." but I doubt whether he has listened to Viansh or not, as I feel his piercing gaze on me..!!
Then he addresses me bluntly, "By the way who the hell are you?.. Viansh.. from where did you get this Alien?" And every one standing there burst out laughing...
I regard all of them coldly. Viansh is standing still dumbfounded. I narrow my eyes, twitch my lips and reply, "from the same place, where he has found you." And pin drop Silent... everyone just stopped aghast, sharply looking at me.
I am not gonna just stand there and listen to whatever he is blurting out, I am not his employee, and my aai told me, "when it comes to your self respect, always take your stand, irrespective of who is against you.."
And the next moment, That cranky moves one step towards me crushing the broken glass with his shoes.
He asks flatly, "what did you just say..??"
I can see his face is red from anger but I am not going to be afraid of him. I don't even know him, he doesn't have any rights to comment on me. So I shot my brows up and ask him back, "oh.. couldn't hear.. got some of wine in your ears too or what?.." everyone around us are like a statue.. are they breathing or not..?? I am doubtful now...
I can notice, his jaw clenches, his fists get tightened.. but before he can react,Viansh again interrupts, "please Nomaan.. she is new in the city, doesn't know much, please forgive her, I apologise on behalf of her..please. "
Again Viansh looks at me with pleading eyes, I roll my eyes addressing that Nomaan, "hey.. just chill. I have already apologised to you. You know that I didn't do it on purpose."
Then I move my face to Viansh, "actually I wanted to bid a goodbye as I am leaving and all these happened.. I am sorry " Viansh fakes a smile, "I know you didn't mean to.." "so..bye.." I interrupt him in a low voice and move my legs towards the door.
I am about to walk pass Nomaan that he clenches my wrist with his hand tightly.. uttering.. ,"as I have said, you have to clean the mess up."
I observe him from the corner of my eyes, free my wrist with a jerk, turn towards him to ask annoyingly, "what's wrong with you man? Is this your house? Is this your party?.. just mind your own business okay, cause just like you, I am a guest here. So forget about cleaning.. Mr."
If it has been for Viansh then I would have done the cleaning gladly but this Nomaan.. who is he to order me like that?
I know these kind of persons they always like to create a scene to get the attention as they are attention freaks, and to impress girls..
Huh.. my foot... I am not gonna do anything to satisfy his ego..
He again about to say something that a girl with long open hairs and metallic silver deep neck knee length dress, slowly approaches us... whispers something to Nomaan's ear... so that his lips twitch.
Then that girl speaks in a way that I can hear her. "Hey.. Nomaan... let the poor girl go.. she is from the village, obviously doesn't know how to behave, so don't stress out, let's just clean your suit jacket first... okay.. come with me.." She tries to drag him grabbing his hand, Viansh follows them glancing me with I can say remorse in his eyes.
That girl's words offended me badly so I speak loudly that everyone in the room can hear me, "if all of you here, represent city people then I am proud of myself that I am not one of you..." I notice that Nomaan turns his head and glances at me.. I angrily look away. Again loud music starts.
They all are bunch of selfish, spoiled, rich brats, except for Viansh. I grit my teeth in anger, clench my fists and get out of that filthy place filled with filthy people. As I am about to cross the entrance that Viansh cries out my name loudly so that I halt.
He stands infront of me saying, "hey.. sorry yaar." I look at him with anger and say to him, "whatever.. but next time.. don't invite me in any of your parties.. please.."
He raises his hands in surrender, "okay.. I'll keep in mind that but please come inside, atleast eat something. Then I'll drop you, I won't let you leave alone."
I smile, "do you want me to join those jerks, you call them your friends?" I roll my eyes. "Another thing is, I am not in a mood to get insulted again.. and don't worry I will be fine. You just take care of your friends.. okay.... bye.." I spoke angrily.
He again apologises, "sorry.. " with a sad face, I sigh deeply, close my eyes to calm myself down and reply with guilt, "no.. I.. am... sorry.. I know I have ruined your birthday..."
He twitches his lips to give a smile, "please don't say like that, it was an accident.." "okay.. then.. Adieu.. and yeah happy birthday again..." I greet him. we both smile at each other.
As I leave Viansh's house, I am literally disappointed thinking how easy do people judge anyone?.. All they have is specific criteria, if you fit in it then they will consider you one of them, but if you don't then they will marginalize you saying an outsider.
They can wear short dresses to show off their bodies, they have money so they behave as if they own the world. But they don't know me, I don't care if they accept me or not, I won't change myself for those cheapsters.
But I console myself that all of them are not bad yeah.. Viansh is quite a gentleman and caring but that Nomaan, oh god he is just a wicked person, I don't like him, not at all.
Huh.. they call it a party.. where only drink they serve is alcohol, girls are like the whole makeup shop.. our village party used to be much more fun than this.
Mostly in winters we used to do night parties in our farm, we used to dance around the fire, eat roasted green garbanzo beans, peanuts, and drink sugarcane juice but no one bothered about dresses and makeup, the only thing mattered, was fun.
We used to mimic the dog's howling then laughed our lungs out.. oh god those yellow lamps were much more attractive than these dj lights.
I am going to move to my village. I don't want to stay here. I miss my friends badly, omg.. Abhi.. I call him, "Hey... where are you?" He replies, "heading towards your place".."okay.. I am waiting." I hang up the call and try to walk fast.
as I get inside my house, my cellphone rings, it is Viansh, as I receive, I can still hear the party music in background.
He asks, "hey.. Tulika, have you reached safely?" To that I nod smiling, "yeah.. yaar, I am at my doorstep. So don't worry about me, you just enjoy, after all it's your party."
To that he gives a loud chuckle saying, "okay.. good night. Call you later then." And hangs up.
I quickly wash my face and change to my pajama, that Abhi appears in front of me smiling.
We both sit on a swing, he asks, "so how was the party?" "It was okay.."I roll my eyes, he chuckles to that.
He instantly states, "did you talk to your dad?" I nod my head, "no.. he neither received nor called me back.." Abhi nods, "hmmm" his face looked worried but he instantly plaster a smile saying, "you might have had tasty dinner but I am hungry yaar"
Speak of a hunger, my stomach grumbles indicating me that I need to eat something. I see that maids have gone to sleep. So I dash to kitchen to prepare soup and rice for both of us saying, "don't worry I didn't eat at party..." Abhi is surprised.
After having a light dinner, we sit to talk about everything I have missed, then he slowly indicates me, "I think your dad is going through some problems.."
I am shocked, I ask with wide eyes, "why are you saying this?" He answers thinking, "umm, I don't know much... but I eavesdropped my dad talking to your dad on phone yesterday. And today he is not answering to our calls..
"What should I do?" I ask tensed. He comforts me, "well he is a big man so it is normal for him so don't worry but just be aware, keep your eyes and ears open and don't trust too much...okay?" I nod, "hmmm"
He gets up saying, "okay I have to go now.. we have competition tomorrow.. you just take care." he greets me good night and leaves. I go to bed, thinking about my dad, don't remember when my eyes got closed.
Next day again I try to call my dad but don't get answer, now I am badly worried about him, so I call Abhi's dad, he consoles me, "your dad is out of Oman for a week, so don't worry he is alright..." obviously I am not relieved, but I don't know much about my dad so I try to divert my mind in painting.
I go to my art room, Obviously I want to draw something good but as I take a pencil in my hand, yesterday's incident flashes back into my mind, and my subconscious selects image of none other than that grumpy Nomaan.
My lips twitch as I recall his attitude, but when its comes to my drawing I just flow with whatever comes to my mind, and that's the reason I start drawing that man.
Well of course it is not as easy as I thought so I start feeling drowsy after completing his face but I must say I have drawn his face quite pleasant than it really is.
At evening Viansh surprised me with cake and Pizzas, I am looking at him amazed but he apologises, "hey.. I am really sorry for yesterday, but believe me I was taken aback by Nomaan's attitude towards you.. otherwise he is so cool with girls." he chuckles. I add, "cause he is dumbass.." but he disagrees, "no..seriously he is good with girls..." I twitch my lips in annoyance, not ready to believe his words.. so he quits explaining rolling his eyes.
We enjoy the snacks and dessert, then we talk about his party, about his friends, his office work and many things until he gets up yawning to leave.
A whole week has passed just to draw a man, I don't like. My online business is on top, I have to work hard to reach the demands and as I am happy now, I got many ideas to paint. Still only one thing is bothering me that there is no news of my dad... I hope he is good.
As it rained heavily all week, I couldn't meet Viansh. Yeah I sort of miss him now. when I think about friends, his face comes first in my mind. I am glad that I got to meet him, he is the only one I know in this big city.
It is Sunday morning, today I wake up at 5:00am, the atmosphere is pleasant outside so I decide to go for a jog, so I get up, brush my teeth and change to my jogging suit, wear my earbuds, turn on the music and step out of my home.
Road is almost empty, so I decide to go to the park, as I am about to enter inside the park, I notice a hooded man is scolding someone.. obviously there is no one around, but out of curiosity I approach them to check what is going on?
So I turn off my music and ask curiously, "hey what happened..?" And the man, who was scolding, turns his head to look at me, my eyes got widened cause that man is non other than Nomaan.
I almost shout aghast, "you?" He too is in a same state.. at the same time the another man, whom Nomaan was scolding, got the chance and bolted.
Nomaan notices this, and vents his rage on me saying, "hey.. can't you put your nose away from someone else's business?.. now look what have you done you silly....? he was a pickpocket, caught in action, you just let him run away. Now go and get him.."
I furrow my brows, asking, "what?" He twitches his lips out of annoyance saying, "you know what.. why is it happening that whenever something bad happens to me, you are always present there or I can say responsible for that... first my car, then my limited edition designer suit and now that thief..."
I reply rolling my eyes, "well I can say that too cause I have lost my scooter, injured myself badly and every time you just spoil my mood.. by the way if you open your eyes and try to see, the wallet is there on the ground so just chill okay.." I point towards the brown wallet lying on the ground.
To that he laughs sarcastically saying, "My eyes are quite open, only if you remove those earbuds and listen to me carefully I am talking about that thief not wallet.. and you know what.. you should thank me cause I know my friend has just replaced that scrape with new one.. you called it scooter.. huh..? If it would have been any other than me then they might have had called the police cause it was crystal clear that the fault was yours..." Then laughs again.
Well I know he is right but I don't like the way he spoke to me cause, he spoiled my total mood of jogging, what the hell he thinks he is? So I say with smirk, "well I said thanks to your friend, thank god he is a good man and, yeah.. for me that scrape was my scooter..do you have any problem with that..? now if you excuse me I have to go."
He rolls his eyes in annoyance and before I move, he turns around and leaves crossing the road, without even taking his wallet back.
As I see his wallet, I try to call him, but he is gone, so I lift his wallet thinking I'll give it to Viansh, so that he can return to him.
Then I enter inside the garden, thinking only about Nomaan, god has given him only good face but forgot to put manners.. I just hate him more now. I jog for an hour then come back to my home it's only 7 o'clock, I complete my routine.
It is around 10O'clock that Viansh presses the doorbell. Now I am kinda used to this types of surprises.
We chatter about many things then I remember that wallet, so I give it to him and explain the incident happened today morning, but he twitches his lips, thinking something then he utters, "are you sure? Cause Nomaan doesn't use this type of wallets.."
I shrug and reply, "yeah.. I have witnessed him scolding that thief for this wallet!!.."
Viansh doubt fully takes it and instantly opens it, and shows to me, my eyes got widened seeing someone else's photo. Well there is 2000rs inside.
Omg.. so is it possible that Nomaan was helping someone? he is not that bad after all, Only I've gotten wrong impression of him or we have met in the wrong place at the wrong time .. whatever... why on earth am I thinking about him these much deeply?
I say to Viansh, "okay.. I believe you, but still give it to him so that he can give it back to its owner." "Okay.." utters Viansh.
After around an hour, Viansh leaves and I got busy with my pending work. As I try to concentrate, the morning incident flashes back in my mind.
And I don't know why but subconsciously all I think about is Nomaan, obviously he is so rude but he has attraction in his aura. Which I can't deny. Oh god what am I thinking..? I should complete my work.. then I spend my whole day in my art room except for the lunch and tea break.
It is 6:30pm, finally I have accomplished my tasks, I am feeling so relieved.
Once again it starts raining slowly, I am admiring the beauty of it that my cellphone rings.. wow.. it's my dad.. finally..!!!
I quickly receive smiling and thinking about my dad... but as I utter, "hello dad.." an unknown voice from the other side addresses me, "hello. Miss... your father had a heart attack and admitted to the city hospital here.."
I get a lump in my throat... thinking, oh god why on earth only my days are bad? What have I done wrong..?
●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●
