Bitten in the butt
The quant jocks were entertaining and talkative, except they talked mostly about soccer
Nalin's wife was as usual not there.
"He needs to bring you" Nalin said raising a toast with his beer
R&B hung his bottle between his index and middle finger, lifting it up to sip
"I would love to" II nodded
"Seattle is always rainy, le aa isko, we can go to Canada for a camping trip?" Nalin urged
R&B nodded inscrutably, noticing II's reaction
"Have u been to Seattle?" he asked in her ear
"No, just Atlanta... I self funded it and took loans so not much sight seeing possible" she nodded
"So where were u when ur Dad got sick?" Nalin asked
"Hiking in Switzerland" R&B said quietly
Nalin couldnt have heard it, but nodded at what he thought was said
The bar was extremely noisy and crowded
Didnt seem like a Monday night
"He thinks I cant pick her up" one of the quant guys winked at II
II looked at who they were talking about
A svelte 20 something, with RED lips
II nodded smiling
"Good choice" she muttered
"Is that how you guys met" the other guy Prabin enquired
"No I was the solutions architect for a SW my Accounting company was trying to sell, and he pulverized it and we had a shoddy deployment"II said
"Ouch" Deepak made a face
"Didnt pulverize it" R&B interjected
"He found holes everyday... every meeting, he told his Dad we were over paid and under skilled" II spoke clearly looking at his face
The new guys rolled on their bar stool laughing
"And u married him" nalin smirked
"Umm... yeah..." II nodded hot and bothered "He showed up at my house after we had broken up and said "Lets get married" II said looking at R&B
The food arrived, they were still starting when the waiter left
"This is interesting" Deepak laughed "u squished her ego and proposed to her?" he asked
"Did NOT" he said
"I went dancing a Triveni Kala Sangam that morning, my mind was all squirly I must not have known what I was signing up for"
"Triveni? Is there a dance floor?" Deepak asked
GENIUS!!
"No... it was a semi classical Tamil thing for Pongal, u know Lohri" II explained
"She is a Tamilian" nalin explained
II tapped her absent nose ring
"Cool" Prabin smiled "do u have a sister?" he asked
"Yeah, but she will bring her kids" II said with a straight face
"I lOVE kids" Deepak claimed
"14 and 2.5" II smiled smugly
"OH BAAP REY... nahi" Prabin smiled ashamed
II laughed hysterically "my Athim wud kick ur butt" she said proudly
That for some reason ticked R&B off... he didnt care for Bala's chivalry skills
"How is ur lil girl?" Nalin asked
II rummaged her bag for her phone... R&B showed him pics of sucking on the popsicle
"Shes pretty" Nalin exclaimed
"fat and pretty" II said
"Ur Dad loved daughters does he adore her?" Nalin asked
R&B nodded smiling "U remember?"
"Arey, I recall him telling me once, ONE MORE STUNT and I am throwing him out of the house" "for u" Nalin laughed
"What did u do?" Deepak asked
"Just the usual" R&B said cautiously
II was curious...
Nalin went on to describe a few escapades... graffiti on school walls, sneaking out of the house at night, and u know
the "teen exploration" " he grunted, trying to speak in code language about R&B's colorful experiences
"U made him calm down and slow down and settle down"Nalin said patting and squeezing II's shoulder
"I dont think so" II said disagreeing
"Tej is divorced did u know?" Nalin asked
R&B nodded quietly
"Thats like the 4th guy we know" he said with a faraway look
"Arey, we need someone to be hook up with first, break up baad mein karenge" Deepak made light of the news
"A couple of my friends are single" II offered
They looked at pics on II's phone...
The food was greasy and good, II pigged out on burgers and french fries and cheered for the wrong team and drank too much wine
When they left it was after 1 AM
"Did u check on her?" she asked groggily
He nodded "she is fine.. asleep Sam said"
She was at Sam's for the night sleepover with Lasya
"sam wouldnt answer when I tried to call a couple times" she moaned leaning back on the seat
Suddenly waking up, wide awake...
"If Dad hadnt gotten sick wud u have come back?" she asked
He didnt answer
"You wouldnt have would you?" she asked
He was up before she chased him down
Jaggi, Pammi and Beeji were spending the night at Chachus'
She stood in the 2nd floor lounge staring at him shocked, she was drunk and disoriented
"NAHI aate na?" she accused
He was trying to find a book in the formal living room
"that is NOt what I meant" he said tersely waving a finger
"ok let me repeat what u said "we were hoping to begin recruting for the LA office, if I didnt have to cut my trip short" "thats exactly what you said"
He could have never imagined what he shared with Nalin in the din of the noisy bar would come back to bite him...in his keister
"It is the truth" he said quietly
"You were not going to return to India?" she asked shocked
He was quiet
"I dont want to talk about it right now"
"YOU ACTED LIKE I HAD BROKEN SOME BLOODY MARITAL CODE BY GOING OFF TO CHENNAI TO SING... ONE f**kING TIME, AND BEHIND MY BACK YOU WERE SETTING UP US OPERATIONS" she shouted
Ranjan wasnt asleep yet
He was startled to hear his DIL shout all of a sudden, he hadnt even heard them return, he was listening to shabad on his headset and working
"When you accuse your husband of being negligent while flying off to begin a new career, so umm.. yeah" he said cynically
"WILL YOU ALLOW ME TO TAKE OFF LIKE THAT WITHOUT TELLING YOU. HOW ABOUT I RELOCATE TO CHENNAI TO SING?"
"Do you want to do that?" he walked over to her menacingly
"Oh no... bilqul nahi... MUJHE KAHAN HAI IS BAAT KI AZAADI" "U rotten stinking jerk, you pile it on thick and steamy about being an uncaring wife, while you expan your loan shark business?"
"U wudnt know the venture capital industry even if it bit u in ur butt" he said furiously, insulted at being called a loan shark
"Asshole" she cursed "If I too charged an arm and a leg , and violated fair lending practices I could annihilate your company" she attacked him vengefully
Anupamaa
