Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Swayam's back felt like hell. The pain was so persistent that Swayam wondered why he hadn't registered it before now. When he opened his eyes, he knew why.

Turned out, they had fallen asleep at some point last night.

Good news was that they hadn't fallen off the tree.

Bad news was that Swayam may have created another volatile situation.

The bark of the tree dug deeper into his back, making him wince in pain.

Try as he might, Swayam couldn't come up with a rational reason as to why he didn't wake Sharon up right then and there and prevent his back from further torture.

The details were still hazy, but somehow Swayam had ended up sitting on the branch with his legs hanging on either side of it and his back against the trunk of the tree where he was being skinned alive. It didn't help that Sharon's entire body was pressed up way too snugly against his. He could quite literally hear her rhythmic heartbeat along with a low, humming sound which he realized with a start was coming from Sharon. Swayam allowed himself a small laugh before sobering up again.

He tried to assess the situation. He noticed that Sharon was perched in an alarmingly precarious position. Instinctively, he drew her closer, his one hand wrapped around her waist and the other holding her legs. A slight wind ruffled the edges of the blanket clutched in Sharon's hand. Swayam adjusted the blanket so that it covered her more appropriately for he felt her shiver ever so slightly. He could feel her fingers digging in his chest and he realized that it didn't bother him at all. He could smell the raspberry shampoo in her hair as the wind swirled around a few lone tendrils.

Swayam couldn't decide if he was in heaven or in hell. His entire body was on fire, though he didn't know whether it was from pain or pleasure. He probably should have woken her up but he just couldn't. Almost as if he was trying to hold on to this moment.

The realization hit him like a punch in the gut. He was pondering on that when Sharon turned her head just a smidge. But that was all it took for things to unravel. Swayam felt her lips on his neck and reacted violently. He backed away, forgetting for an instant that there was no place for him to back away. A searing pain ran across his back. For a second, his hold loosened on Sharon and he felt her slipping. In a panic, he grabbed her again more securely this time. But the jerk managed to finally wake Sharon up.

"What on Earth?" Muttered Sharon, rubbing her eyes. "Am I sleeping in a tree?"

"Good morning, sunshine" said Swayam, putting a false cheer in his voice. "You mind climbing down?"

Only when both of his feet were on the ground, did Swayam allow himself to feel the damage. He brushed the back of his T-shirt and debris of bark fell down on the grass.

"Holy shit Swayam! Your back is bleeding!" Exclaimed Sharon.

"No kidding!" Exclaimed Swayam, sarcastically.

Sharon made a face at that and hustled him towards the house saying, "Let's get you cleaned up."

Inside, Sharon led him towards her room. The house was extremely silent and Swayam realized that it was still before dawn and that Mr. Raiprakash would probably be asleep.

Sharon's room was neater than he expected, probably due to the fact that she only spent her weekends here while spending the rest of her days at her own apartment. Sharon claimed that the reason she spent her weekends here was because her father liked having her around. But Swayam knew that it was because she couldn't stand the idea of not being there to help him if something were to happen to him. Sharon had already lost one parent and no matter how estranged her relations were with her father, Sharon was terrified by the thought of losing him too.

Sharon rummaged in one of the cupboards for a first-aid kit, humming incessantly all the while.

"What is it that you keep humming?" Asked Swayam curiously. "You were humming the same thing in your sleep too."

"I absolutely do not hum in my sleep." Declared Sharon, with conviction. She found the kit and gestured him to sit on her bed. "And if you had the time to listen to me hum in my sleep, couldn't you have woken me up sooner?"

Swayam felt silent, unable to give a better explanation than 'he just didn't want to'. Sharon meanwhile began to work on his injuries. She sat on the bed behind him. When she began to pull his T-shirt up, he took the hint and helped her pull it off. Her fingers grazed his torso, barely touching him. Yet he felt a burning sensation sweep through him. It was becoming painfully frustrating now.

"Damn!" Said Sharon, letting out a low whistle. And for one mad moment, Swayam thought she was complimenting his body. But then she continued with, "This is some nasty piece of work."

"Just clean it and disinfect it. I have a shift in a few hours. I'll get it checked out then." Said Swayam.

First, Sharon picked out some residual pieces of bark that had gotten in through the cuts. Then she cleaned the cuts and applied a coat of antiseptic all the while muttering 'nasty, nasty' under her breath. Meanwhile, Swayam sat patiently, trying hard not to think.

"Swayam you've got some bruises too. Seriously, why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Asked Sharon, applying bandages.

"'Cause you're not a morning person, Sharon." Said Swayam, which he reasoned was true.

"I am too!" Replied Sharon, indignantly.

"Hah!" Scoffed Swayam, "Every morning that I've woken up to you, tells me otherwise. You've fallen on me, thrown me out of my own bed. And once, you actually stepped on my face."

"Ok, I get your point." Said Sharon, dismissively. "It's done."

Swayam muttered a thanks and bent down to pick up his T-shirt. Pain shot through his back and he reeled back.

"You dumb chewing gum!" Scolded Sharon, "Who asked you to do that?"

She picked up the T-shirt for him but instead of giving it to him she threw it in the wastepaper basket and took out a shirt from the cupboard.

"That thing is spoiled beyond repair. Wear this instead." Said Sharon, already helping him with the left arm.

"This is my shirt!" Said Swayam.

"Yeah, you left it here last month." Said Sharon, helping him with the other arm.

"Thanks for returning it." Said Swayam, with sincere sarcasm.

"What!" Said Sharon, shrugging. "It makes for some artful closet showpiece."

Swayam shook his head in exasperation, albeit he couldn't help smiling a little. He felt light inside, as though he had had a can of root beer on an empty stomach. And all that had been left behind was a bubbling frothiness.

He looked at Sharon then and some of his frothiness vaporized, for she still looked a little moody.

"I'm going to meet Rey," said Swayam, "Maybe you should come with, help take your mind off, you know, the tree."

"Sure." Said Sharon, still resolutely moody, "I can sulk there."

Sharon sauntered off then, vaguely promising to be ready to go in 15 minutes, more or less.

Swayam decided to wait on the front porch till then. But as soon as he got there, he saw that it was already occupied.

Mr. Raiprakash looked nothing like his daughter. His features were stern and his mouth was set in an eternal frown. His charcoal black eyes appeared hard and alert as though he was constantly wary of somebody emerging from a bush and attacking him with a spear. He was by no means athletic but neither did he appear to be overweight. His hair had turned mostly grey though if you looked hard enough you could still see a few residual strands of black poking out.

Right now, he was lounging on the deck chair in his boxers and a shirt that read I love to cuddle'. Swayam had to choke back his laughter at that. He figured Sharon had probably gifted him that ironically. But as far as he knew Mr. Raiprakash didn't possess a sense of humour. So either it was laundry day and he didn't have anything else to wear or he really did like to cuddle. The latter possibility terrified him more. He had his reading glasses perched precariously on his nose as he appeared to be reading the morning newspaper.

For a brief second, Swayam thought he could sneak out without being noticed. Swayam had never been on good terms with Mr. Raiprakash, probably owing to the fact that Swayam's father was a politician and Mr. Raiprakash, to put it subtly, outright despised the government. All the times Swayam had met with the man, he had been subjected to a ceaseless string of snide comments and preachy complaints as though Swayam was to be personally blamed for all the ill-advised decisions the government made.

Mr. Raiprakash looked up then, dismissing all thoughts of escape.

"Ah. It's you." Said Mr. Raiprakash, with a distinct tone of disappointment.

Right then Swayam wished he was Rey. The only person Mr. Raiprakash liked in the entire world was Rey. And he didn't like him out of obligation, since Mr. Raiprakash had been friends with the Singhanias. He genuinely liked the guy. He even embraced the fact that Rey was a chain smoker. Mr. Raiprakash was of the opinion that it was mandatory for any grown men to indulge in smoking. He'd often invited Rey for a night of cigar smoking and scotch drinking. Over time, Rey had become the son he never had. And for a while, Swayam had thought that it would evoke some sort of ill feeling in Sharon. But Sharon liked Rey way too much for that and at the end of the day, Swayam thought that Sharon was just glad that her father had some company to anchor him to this world.

Swayam didn't know how to respond to that, so he kept shut. But apparently his mere presence bothered Mr. Raiprakash for he said-

"Why, may I ask, are you standing here in such an aimless manner? Do you want something?"

"I'm waiting for Sharon, sir." Said Swayam, for it was always helpful to be polite to Mr. Raiprakash if you wanted something from him. And Swayam had just thought of the thing he needed from Mr. Raiprakash.

"Oh, she is probably in a tree throwing yet another one of her tantrums." Replied Mr. Raiprakash, nonchalantly.

Swayam expected nothing less. Yet it still pricked him to see that anyone could treat Sharon so dismissively. There was nothing dismissive about that girl.

"I'd like to make an offer." Said Swayam, pretty much reaching the end of his patience. "I'd like to buy the piece of land on which the tree stands."

What happened next, Swayam could never have predicted. Mr. Raiprakash guffawed.

"Ha! Good one!" he said, after he was done laughing. He sobered up quickly when he saw Swayam's grim expression.

"You're serious?" continued Mr. Raiprakash. Swayam nodded, just as grimly.

Swayam expected him to fly into an insulted rage or maybe laugh at him again. Instead, Mr. Raiprakash looked thoughtful, as though he was actually considering it.

"If I were to help you, it might help you with your poor standing with my daughter." Said Mr. Raiprakash.

"My...what?" asked Swayam, completely at loss.

"Fine. Fine." Said Mr. Raiprakash, ignoring him.

"So you'll sell it to me?" asked Swayam.

"God, no! But I'm willing to consider not cutting that infernal tree." Said Mr. Raiprakash.

Unbelievable as it seemed, that was as close to a victory as Swayam was likely to get. So he took it without comment.

"Believe it or not, Swayam, I'm actually rooting for you. I may not like you, but I do admire you." Said Mr. Raiprakash.

He then muttered something that sounded a lot like 'for everything you've done for Sharon' before returning to his newspaper. But Swayam decided not to ask. He had just received a favour and a compliment from Mr. Raiprakash. He might as well quit while he was ahead.

*******

Even the thrill of driving on an arguably empty road, couldn't lift Sharon from a dejected state of mind. Dimly, she noticed that Swayam was steadily gazing at her from the passenger's seat.

Irritated, she turned sharply and barked a rather ferocious What!' in his general direction.

"Oh nothing!" said Swayam, for some reason looking rather smarmy. "It's just that I don't get why you're so depressed."

Sharon cast him a look that clearly said that she thought he had lost his marbles.

"Did my father hit you on the head with a baseball bat?" she asked.

"No. But we did have a little chat. Wherein he agreed not to cut down your beloved tree." Said Swayam, his smug look reaching its peak.

Her initial feeling of elation was soon replaced by a darker state of mind.

"So he listened to you when you asked him not to cut the tree?" Sharon asked with a straight face.

"Yeah?" said Swayam, sensing the lack of enthusiasm.

"Right." Said Sharon, in a rather controlled tone.

"Well call me crazy, but I expected a lot more jumping and squealing." Said Swayam.

"Why would he listen to you and not to me?" asked Sharon, introspectively.

"Uh, does it matter?" asked Swayam, "Point is, your damn tree just got saved."

"And you of all people!" said Sharon, completely ignoring him.

Too late, Sharon saw Swayam's upbeat mood come to an abrupt end.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Swayam and Sharon saw his jaw line go rigid.

"It's just that, you're not exactly my father's favourite person on this planet so the fact that he'd listen to you and not to me is just so darn..." said Sharon, getting angrier by the minute.

"You're unbelievable, Sharon!" interrupted Swayam, irritated now. "A simple 'Gee thanks Swayam, you're the best!' would have sufficed."

"So I should be grateful that my father listens to you and not to me?" said Sharon, ferociously ignoring his mild attempt to lighten the mood.

"Will you stop harping on about that?" said Swayam. "You know, if I was Rey we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sharon asked.

"Your father favours Rey all over the place and yet I have never heard you complain to him. So why the double standards?" asked Swayam, now thoroughly incensed.

"That's different!" insisted Sharon.

"Oh really! How?"

"My father doesn't favour Rey over me!" Sharon all but shouted.

"Do you realize how unreasonable you sound right now?" said Swayam.

But Sharon was too annoyed to talk any further. Resolutely, she stared at the empty road ahead.

*******

Sawyer_Tom2013-12-30 11:33:37