Part 2
"Where the heck are you ASR? Everyone's waiting for you at the construction site. The contractor is going crazy, says he's already missed two other appointments because you are late!" she fumed.
He was calm, "I told you I'm stuck in a landslide… I can't help it"
"How long do you think it will take?"
"It just stopped raining and they've just started clearing out the road …it will be a while" He looked around to see people moving around aimlessly, waiting for the road to clear. There was nothing else to do but wait.
"Is there anything I can do?" She didn't know what else to say.
He sighed, "Yes, get me a chopper here, will you?" he said in such a serious tone, that he had her foxed.
"Are you crazy!? There are only army choppers to hire here, and I don't think you getting stranded on the road accounts for a life threatening emergency. And …" she started pacing around, "I didn't sign up for this ASR. I am designing your building, not running your personal errands"
He waited patiently for her to finish before he responded, "Wait, wait, wait…Lavanaya, calm down. I was just kidding. There is nothing you can do. Do one thing - find someplace nice and go take everyone out to breakfast, will you? It's on me"
"Your arrogant jerk! If your sister wasn't my best friend, I wouldn't be doing this" She cut the line off. He smiled, it was fun to rile her up, but it wasn't the same, not yet anyway. Lavanya never crossed that thin line while she rarely stayed behind. Damn you, forget about her, a voice in his head warned him. He put the single piece of pearl he had in his other palm back in his pocket.
Around that time, his attention was drawn to a group of people sitting on rocks by the edge of the road, sipping tea out of tiny paper cups. "Waste of time…" he said to himself, when he realized one of them was having his palm read out. Oddly enough, that wasn't what had caught his attention; it was the sight of three little kids, shushing each other as they knelt on the ground besides the older folks, obviously they were up to something! He went a little closer and was shocked to see that those kids were busy tying up shoe laces with each other. "What the f***"
The little girl in pigtails looked up startled. "Oh crap, I shouldn't have said that loud" Arnav reprimanded himself. The next instant, she had her mouth covered with her tiny palms, and her eyes – the most beautiful shade of brown he had seen told him exactly how she'd felt on getting caught. Had he done something!? Obviously, he had intruded in their little moment, and unintentionally foiled their plans. His expletive outburst and her reaction to that had set off a chain reaction or sorts – soon the elders had caught on. And the three little kids were sent off with their respective parents – banished to three separate areas, away from each other. Time out it was. None of them looked happy about it though; he could actually feel tiny little daggers prick him.
A little while later, one of two boys, the smaller of the two and the smallest of the group, walked over to him, slowly but intentionally. Arnav pretended to ignore the little kid as he approached him, the next thing he knew, tiny palms were tugging at his pants.
"What?" he asked, a little annoyed, he always felt a little intimidated by kids – and so wasn't sure how to deal with this one either.
The kid stared at him like he was some alien incarnate, "What?" Arnav asked for the second time, clearly uncomfortable by that unwanted presence, "Which one is your car uncle?"
"Why?" he was a little suspicious.
He shrugged his shoulders looking positively bored. "That black one" Arnav pointed to the car, eager to see where all of this was headed.
"O ooo…" The kid stared at it in sheer awe, "What's wrong, you don't like my car?" Arnav knelt down, and asked him.
"It's sooo….sooo" he had clearly run out of words, "Big?" Arnav asked smugly only to be thwarted straight away, "Eww…dirty!!" But before Arnav could respond, a lady came looking for him and after apologizing for any inconvenience that he may have caused, whisked him away in her arms. Arnav watched them disappear into the crowd of people who had gathered to see the road being cleared. "Weirdo" he muttered to himself.
"How long will it take?" he asked the first man to emerge out of the crowd, "Another hour", was the prompt response.
By now, Arnav's patience was running thin, he wasn't exactly averse to this whole waiting game but he had never been a people's person and there were just too many of them there. All sorts of people- weird, old, strangers, and loony kids wait not kids he corrected himself, just little beings with a mind of their own, as he preferred to call them. Tired of all the waiting, Arnav walked back to his car, and sat down with his head lowered on the wheel. He didn't realize when he drifted off to sleep. It was the first dream of sunshine he had had in the longest of time.
In it, he was walking on a sidewalk, lush green grass on either side, there were beautiful flowers blooming, the sky was a brisk blue with a hint of clouds scattered around. There was a nice breeze flowing across him, and then, like a ray of sunlight, he saw her - emerge out of nowhere, she was smiling at someone, the same laughter he had heard before permeated through the space towards him –and he halted. Khushi…his voice yearned for her, and almost magically as if she had heard him, she looked up and their eyes met. There was a flicker of recognition in her eyes, and in that instant; all happiness was wiped off her face. She stood like a fragile porcelain doll starring at him while his steps refused to move. He didn't want to break that perfect picture…even though her smile had vanished, he could recognize, that look in her eyes – and read the desire that was etched in those eyes, the desire that spoke more than words ever would. The desire to be loved…
An incessant knocking on his window jerked him out of this beautiful reverie, "Yes?" he asked, a little annoyed at having been robbed off his bliss. He rolled down the glass, "What?"
"All clear buddy"
"Oh…" Arnav looked ahead, "about time…too"
Then he was off.
Somewhere on the same road, three little kids passed around a single piece of pearl as if it was the Kohinoor diamond.
Edited by olive.green - 13 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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