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Chapter 1
Summer it is! Dawn is not there yet. But it is not entirely dark, the night is donned with the orange light of the street lamps. It is serene, but still there is the movement of vehicles though their frequency is low. Still horns can be heard, stating that I am not alone. On the beach road, here I am waiting for her with a thousands of thoughts and arguments playing in my head. I wanted to take this chance. She intrigued me to no end. I want to solve her mystery, but at what price I don't know.
Yes, I am attracted to her and I don't want to do anything about it. Can I propose her a relationship, just because I want to know about her, when I don't believe in one? This is the question bothering me all night. Yet, I am here to do the same on our crazy date. She is still to come. Weird as it seems, when I asked her out , she had asked me to choose a public place and the time should be 3:15 AM on any weekday! It didn't surprise me, she works for a BPO and her shift ends at 3 in the morning. So here I am waiting for her, Still an hour is there for her to come.
I had met her on various occasions but, I didn't had any proper conversation to cherish with her. I met her on the opening day of a discotheque D&D- Drink and Dance'. I am the one who inaugurated it and she is there as a customer.
"... Please join your hands and welcome our guest Mr. Manik Malhotra, CEO of Malhotra groups, to inaugurate our D&D- Drink and Dance' ".
Came the announcement. It is my cue to join them. As I entered the venue spotlight is on me and the path to the ribbon is lit along the edges directing me. I can see the crowd, quite enthusiastic indeed, to enter the disc. As I cut the ribbon , they cheered and started to pounce giving guards a hard time to control.
Among them, there is a girl in white just at the entrance who had leaned along the wall with folded hands and observing the crowd with a smile. Her posture is cute, was my thought at that time. I can't see her clearly. But, with a smile I did enter the disc. The organisers followed me to show the place around and I moved with them.
This disc belongs to my cousin, Dhruv Vedant, who is also my best buddy and classmate in my MBA. Unlike me, he does not want to join their family business, Health Care Group of hospitals situated across in various cities of India . He is shy, not confused, he has a clear cut opinion on people he is dealing with. He is one among our group of friends and we are close. He has another set of secret friends(That is all we know). He don't say a word about them and absolutely nothing comes above them, not even us. We sometimes tease him of having a secret girlfriend, but he will never react.
After showing me around the place, the organisers had seated me in the cabin above the dance floor and dispersed of course not before offering me pleasantries. The cabin is made of one way see through glass on 2 adjacent sides and the rest of them are of mahogany wood. I had stood in front of the glass and observing the crowd on the dance floor making moves accordingly for the peppy number played. And suddenly, I saw a flash of white jumping in the crowd. It's her again.
For past fifteen minutes or so, she is repeating the same step. First she will bend down and then suddenly she jumps up and tilts her head in the air making her hair to sway in the air. First I thought she doesn't know how to dance. After some time, she is signalling thumbs up to someone among the seating area. I followed her line of vision and found another girl with camera. Then I got that this girl in white is posing for a picture.
After another good fifteen minutes they started to pack up. I just don't want to let it go, until they leave my sight completely. So I had quickly changed my attire from formal to jeans and T-shirt with hood (provided by the organisers, so that I can easily get to exit without creating hassle among the crowd.) Luckily, I didn't miss them and absolutely nothing had prepared me for the scene happening in front of me.
An average built guy caught hold the hand of the girl in white. That was the first time I saw her face close, though her side profile. She is cute, with medium fair skin tone, chubby cheeks and long hair messed up with constant jumping. Still it didn't decrease her appeal. More than this attraction, she has a divine aura around her that is forcing me to dwell further. I thought of intervening but what he said next stunned me-
" Guys presenting here Nandini Anand oops sorry Nandini Murty. She is my wife. So Nandini, what does it tell about you being present in the club in the ungodly hours?"
WHAAAT Wife!' is the only word playing in a loop in my mind. As I watched Nandini (the girl in white) face for the confirmation of the fact, she is just composed and calm as nothing is affecting her. But the photographer girl is burning with rage. She is about to move to the guy, suddenly Nandini held her hand with her free hand. Just like that, the photographer girl had stopped with a smirk on her face.
" was.. It's, was my wife Nandini Anand, now Nandini Murty, my dear ex husband Shekar Anand. That 'Virgin' wife, despite of an year of marriage had applied for divorce against Shekar Anand. Do you want me to disclose the reason too... coz you may not enjoy it. If don't leave my hand this instant, then maybe I will... you know." stated Nandini with a rudely polite tone.
Again my mind is clouded with same question WHAAAT!! Is shekar...?Interrupting my thoughts a guy in shekar group voiced out my own confusion.
" Shekar..! Are you gay??"
Shekar instantly left her hand with disbelief written on his face and turned to his friend who questioned him-
"Abey! Don't tell me you believed this bb.." a slap sound resonated across indicating that, it indeed landed on Shekar by a guard.
Dhruv accompanied by two guards reached to the place. One guard slapped Shekar and then the other one restricted his movements by arresting his hands. He turned to Nandini and said -
" Madam we will take care of him, hereafter"
Meanwhile I had observed something- Nandini glared at the photographer girl. She made a puppy face and pleaded pointing Dhruv. Dhruv moved his eyeballs as in signalling no. Though I ridiculed it as my imagination, but the tiny part of my brain wants to believe that they know each other.
Nandini sighed and turned to the photographer girl and said
"Navya, Chalo chalte hain!"
with that Nandini dragged Navya out of the lane to the Honda city and they had zoomed off within no time.
Even though they left, I am still occupied in her thoughts. Usually when a person helps us then the basic thing we do is to thank them. Neither Nandini nor Navya did that to Dhruv!! Do they know each other? If so then why didn't they exchanged a single word? If Shekar is not gay then why did he leave Nandini? Whatever, I had an eventful day. All in all, Nandini is cute and I am fascinated with her chubby cheeks. I just want to bite them like I bite an apple.
Even after few days, she was constantly in my mind. I felt like an adrenaline rush teenager, when the power is cut in the mid of watching world cup final cricket with India Vs Pakistan. I can't help but to use profanity. But I had enjoyed this phase. After sometime I had forgotten about her until that day when I met Dhruv again in a meeting...
So here it is! My fiction with the characters my favourite show, Kaisi yeh yaariyaan. Do wish me 😊.
