Hello beautiful people. Here is an OS for all of you to enjoy. I hope you all like it as much I did.😃
PS: This turned out to be longer than I anticipated so I have broken it in two parts.😉
The case of Rainbows and Jealousy.
Kunj Sarna prided himself on the fact that he wasn't one of the jealous type of people. He hadn't been jealous of the latest toys kids in his school got before him, nor was he jealous of the people that scored higher than him on a test. He wasn't jealous about the guys in his college who bought in their impeccable cars to catch attention nor was he jealous of the guys and their model like girlfriends. He wasn't jealous of the guy who aced the job interview nor was he jealous of the people who managed to earn a higher salary than him while having the same qualification as him. So yes, Kunj was proud of himself.
But unknown to him, things were about to change and soon.
He had a feeling that it was going to be a bad day when he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. His neck had a knot from sleeping at the wrong angle and his muscles for some unknown reasons were sore. He contemplated lying in bed for another hour or so but a look at the clock and he remembered that they were supposed to meet Leela for Lunch. It was already nine in the morning anyway, so he thought, he might as well get up and do something productive.
A hot, steamy shower later Kunj decided that maybe it wasn't shaping up to be a bad day. Not a minute had passed since this thought of his and he decided that he had spoken too soon because now his whole wardrobe lay haplessly by his feet. First we wouldn't find the pair of jeans he had planned on wearing that day, next he found his shirt in the laundry and he only managed to locate one of the pair of socks. He had to run down to the kitchen with only one sock on and had to literally drag Twinkle back to their room and see if she could find the other one. Turns out it was right under his rather long nose the whole time.
"Pata nahi Maa ne humme aise achanak kyu bulaya hai lunch par." Twinkle says, applying her mascara.
"Maa hai, humare saath waqt bitana chahti hai, isliye." He replies from across the room as he ties his laces up. He stands up and pulls the hem of his pants down before turning about to face her.
"Haan, shayad. Main yuhi kuch zyada overanalyze kar rahi hoon."
"Usme kuch nayi baat toh hai nahi." He mocks her and asks her hurry down.
They walk up to the Taneja Mansion. She fixes her dupatta before opening up the door. Leela is nowhere to be seen and they both call out to her at the same time.
"Main yaha hoon putar, dining room mein. Yaha aao."
They barely take a step into the dining room before a BOO!' scares Twinkle into a jump.
They both turn to face the culprit ...
And this was when Kunj's day takes a turn from bad to worse.
Twinkle lets out a mighty scream. He hadn't thought that a girl of such small frame would have lungs of this huge a capacity to let out the scream she did. And before he can completely register it, he sees are jumping into the open arms of the culprit, a man-a handsome man at that.
He doesn't know why but he feels his body temperature rising a bit when he sees that man, spinning Twinkle in his arms like that.
"Dhanush!" She says once he lets her down and Kunj assumes that's the guy's name. "Dhanush! I can't believe it."
Her back is towards him but he doesn't have to see her face to know that its lit up in a megawatt smile. She pinches Dhanush's' cheek. "Tu yaha kaise?! Mujhe bataya kyu nahi? I missed you so much yaar" she gushes it all out in one breath and her voice is proof of her enthusiasm and joy.
Leela comes around and stands next to him, while Twinkle and Dhanush stand by the doorway unaware of the other people in the room. "Yeh, Dhanush hai. Twinkle ke bachpan ka sabse acha dost." She explains, smiling at the pair of overgrown children. "Who, tum young janta kya kehte ho? Chadi Buddies?"
Kunj fakes an obligatory laugh.
"Oh, main toh bhool h gayi," she grabs his hand and finally turns to address the others. "Dhanush, meet my pati dev, Kunj. Kunj, Dhanush mera best friend." And again a pinch on his cheeks.
Dhanush, as Kunj finally gets a clear view of him, the epitome of handsome hunk. His cheek bones and jawline were drool worthy and if Kunj was a girl, he would most definitely fall for him. He has a shadow stubble that would put his to shame and he is sure under the loose white Tee of his, he must be rocking a solid six pack, undoubtedly with oblique's that would drive any one crazy. Kunj estimates Dhanush spending about 4 hours at the gym 5 times a week. There is no other way to get a body like his. Dhanush extends his hand towards Kunj as all these thoughts ran through Kunj's mind. He absent-mindedly shakes the offered hand and smiles.
"Chalo, chalo, khana thanda ho raha hai." Leela ushers them towards the table. "Maine Dhanush ke pasand ka khana banaya hai."
"Aunty you are the best. Aapke hatho ka khana ek taraf aur sare five-star food ek taraf."
Twinkle sits next to Dhanush and that miffs Kunj more than he would have liked. She was his wife, wasn't she supposed to sit next to him? Want he supposed to be her first priority?
"So Dhanush, tum Amritsar mein kaise?" Kunj asks because he has half a mind of destroying the purpose that bought him here.
"Mm," Dhanush lifts his finger, asking him for a minute. Swallows the morsel of saag before replying. "Bas yuhi, business acha chal raha hai, steady hai, toh maine socha vacation toh banta hai. Aur iss jhalli ko bahut miss kar raha tha." He says and elbows Twinkle lightly as he called her Jhalli'
"Jhalla, Kahi ka."
Lunch passes restlessly for Kunj. His gaze often lingering on the duo in front of him, who continuously giggled childishly at one thing or another. It was either about their school days, their sleepovers, or just the general shenanigans they were always up to. Twinkle's eyes lit up in ways he had never seen with him nor with Yuvi. After lunch they settled in the living room, nursing tall glasses of lassi while Leela excused herself stating she had calls to make and work to catch-up on.
They all sat across from each other. Twinkle on one couch, Kunj on the one next to her and Dhanush directly opposite her. "Kya tu wahi sooch raha hai, jo main sooch rahi hoon."
"Naiki or pooch pooch."
"Aur tum dono kya sooch rahe ho?" Kunj asked perplexed, trying to budge in on their inside jokes and thoughts. Dhanush and Twinkle both look down at their tall glasses and back up at him at the same, eyebrows raised and eyes alight with mischief.
"Lassi race!" They scream and they scream loudly.
"Race karogey?" Twinkle asks him. "First one to finish is the winner." Seemed simple enough so he agreed.
"Okay, One, two, three, go!" Twinkle calls and off they go.
It wasn't easy, alright. The thick drink was hard to push down his throat all in one go. Kunj pulls down the glass, away from his face, trying to swallow the sip in his mouth and turns towards to Twinkle to see how far she has to go.
And surprise, surprise. She yet had the glass between her lips, thin streams of the white liquid tricking down the corners of her lips and down her face as her throat bobs up and down while swallowing. Dhanush was no different.
Before Kunj can even bring the tumbler up to drink again, Twinkle and Dhanush are already slamming their glasses down on the table. "Main, first." Twinkle screams first, a micro second Dhanush screams the same.
"Ha! Maine pehle bola, toh main first." Twinkle says and jumps up and down in celebration.
"Haan, haan, bhukad, tu first."
The turn towards him now. Trying to see how Kunj measured up to them. "yeh kya Kunj, tumne toh sirf adha khatam kiya hai." Dhanush says. "Chalo koi nahi, phir kabhi dost." And gives him a brotherly pat on the back. Kunj has never felt this disappointed on losing a game ever.
It takes a lot of convincing on Kunj's part to finally return home. Finally, a little bribery worked and by nightfall they are walking back to the Sarna Mansion. There is a light skip in Twinkle's step that wasn't there prior to this day.
Twinkle had been way too excited in the evening and sleep eluded her until she exhausted herself by reading a book, occasionally stopping and laughing by herself. Kunj finds it hard to sleep but eventually his eyes get heavy and slumber envelopes him lovingly.
A hand slapped against his mouth, drags him out of the land of unconsciousness and he has to admit he was a second away from a heart-attack. Muddled brain and racing heart, Kunj takes a minute to breathe before recognizing the man before him. The reason of his near heart failure-Dhanush.
One hand yet against Kunj's mouth, Dhanush puts asks him to be quiet. He then pulls up a bag that was by his feet and dangles it inches away from Kunj's face. Kunj however was in no moods for game. It was about to throw a tantrum, but the nuisance was way ahead, pulling out one of those bottle horns. Before Kunj can let out a word in protest, Dhanush is already by Twinkle's head and in a second's notice pushes the horn a safe distance away from Twinkle's ear.
The sudden blaring noise had the poor girl tumbling out of bed and tripping over the sheet that were tangled by her feet. She groans out loudly and Kunj smirks because Dhanush is in for it now. Twinkle would give him one heck of a lecture and probably, he hopes beyond hope, slaps him too.
Neither happen, much to his dismay. Instead she groans one more time, whines his name in a long syllable, grabs the biggest pillow on their bed and hurls it towards the nuisance. The fact that Twinkle immediately knew that it was Dhanush and not him was something Kunj will spend his whole day wondering about.
"Tu andar kaise aaya?" she questions once she had gathered enough of her mental bearings.
"Old way is the gold way, Jhalli" he says flicking her nose. He makes a show of dangling his black bag inches away from her face too, but unlike him, Twinkle actually smiled-no smirked back as if immediately recognizing what the bag meant.
"Abhi? Iss waqt?" she asks.
"Haan, abhi nahi phir kabhi. Bhool gayi kya?"
"Main abhi tyaar ho aayi. Do minute." Kunj feels dejected that he wasn't invited but then- "Kunj, chalo. Change karo. Kuch black pahen na." she instructs and moves towards their wardrobe.
If it was any other time, he would be totalled opposed to this idea. Going out mid of the night was never the wisest of idea but it looked like Twinkle and Dhanush had done this a couple of time and he would be damned if he lets Twinkle go out with Dhanush alone, especially past midnight. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop Twinkle from going even if he wanted it to, so the next best option would be to go along with her. And this was why Kunj was pulling on a black Tee and black jeans in the middle of the night.
He comes out of the bathroom, to find Twinkle dressed similarly in her black jeans and jacket. Dhanush sheds his white sweater to be in a complete black attire just like them.
"Rassi toh laya hai na?" Twinkle asks as Kunj grabs his phone from the bedside table.
"Rassi, kis liye?" Kunj asks. There are dangerous scenarios running through his mind and half of them end in one of being admitted in the emergency room with a fractured bone by sun rise. So he has to make sure to look after these children embodied in an adult frame.
"Rassi issliye." Dhanush answers him and shows that he had already tied one end of the rope against the balcony's railing while he drops the length of it down over the other side.
Kunj has to, absolutely has to pinch the bridge of his nose now. "Tum dono pagal ho gaye ho. Hum normal logo ke jaise, yeh device called darwaza se jayegey."
"Par usme thrill kaha hai." They both whine at the same time, and standing juxtapose, he sees how both of them pout at the same time and cross their arms over their chest. He wonders if this all was rehearsed. Children! He was dealing with a pair of over grown children.
"Chalo" he relents. They high five each other at that. He makes Dhanush go down first. The theory being that if the rope wasn't strong or secure enough, he would be the one to fall down and hopefully break a bone or two, saving Kunj the trouble of murdering him. The second theory being that when Twinkle goes down next, she can be covered both from the bottom and top. If she falls, god forbid that, Dhanush would be there to catch her and if the rope gives, he could hold it until she was safely deposited on the ground.
Thankfully and unthankfully they all make it down in one piece, safe and sound. Dhanush pulls out his car keys and soon they are off riding into the quiet, black night.
Kunj sits in the passenger seat as Dhanush drives while Twinkle get the back seat. The reason being put forward that this arrangement was best for their plan. They drive for well over half an hour before they reach the commercial side of town. Tall buildings on either side of the road. They park the car a few building later and move out. Twinkle looks left, Dhanush looks out right. "Koi mujhe bhi batay ke hum kya dhoondh rahe hai."
"Oh sorry." Twinkle says and moves closer towards him. "So te huay chawkidaaro ko."
"Kyu? Kya siyappa plan kiya tum dono ne?" There is a micro flood of fear coursing through his veins, mixed with thumping adrenaline now.
There is no time for an explanation, because Dhanush is already pointing towards a man dressed in a black uniform, snoozing on a plastic chair with his legs on the table in front of him. The bag Dhanush had on his back is now dropped on the floor, opened and rummaged roughly. Out emerges the blow horn, a can of whip cream, a black permanent marker and finally spray paints. Kunj can smell danger. "Ladies first" he says giving her the first pick. Twinkle picks up the cans of spray paint. She motions for Kunj to choose next and Kunj decides to go for the safer option of the marker.
But before the plan is executed, Dhanush pulls out 3 black triangular pieces of cloth and the hint was obvious. They were to hide their identity.
So the plan went so, Twinkle was to paint a picture on the walls of the buildings compound while Kunj and Dhanush worked on the watchman. Kunj was required to draw or write on the poor sleeping fellow's face while Dhanush tied the man's laces together so that on taking two steps the watchman would trip and fall. He would then blow the horn a safe distance away from the man's ear to wake him up "Aur phir?" Kunj asks.
"Phir buddy, we run."
Kunj finds himself smiling despite the lingering voice in the back of his head telling him that this was slightly illegal. That micro fear that was coursing his veins a while ago was a tidal wave of adrenaline.
Kunj was done drawing hearts and cats all through the scruffy face, he gives Dhanush a thumbs up signalling that his part was complete. Dhanush signalled back, pointing towards the knotted laces. He then raises three fingers of his muscular hands up to give Kunj a count down. 3,2 and 1. The horn tears the silence of the night. The watchman, stumbles comically out of the chair, and on to the floor. He catches the sight of the two men before him, his face turning into an angry shade of red.
"Bhaaag!" Dhanush screams before the watch man can get up on his feet. "Bhaaag buddy Bhaag!" and off they are running. Kunj had never felt more alive.
"Jhalli! Bhaag!" he screams a warning before hand for Twinkle and they can see her petite frame scrambling up and away from the wall and down the street.
"Ai! Ruko, tum badmash logo. Ruko!" the watchman blares and then a thump on the ground. They don't have to turn around to see that the watchman has in fact as planned tripped over but they turn anyway.
They then reach the wall Twinkle was painting and take a minute to admire her skills. There was a big rainbow painted with its exact colours and stars in black surrounding it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the rainbow was a pictorial representation of Dhanush, the stars were Twinkle but what surprised him the most was the musical notes sprayed in blue all besides the stars. Again, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the musical symbols were for his name. Down the whole picture were the words DKT was here'
"Oyye! Bhaggo. Chalo!" Twinkle screams a few meters ahead of them, seeing the watchman almost free of his restraints.
And off they run again. The air was cool as Kunj breathed it in and it was like every nerve, every fibre of his being was alive. He wasn't just alive, he felt alive. He felt the ground beneath his feet as they ran, the blood rushing to his limbs. He was alive.
They break down in a fit of laughter in the car and are barely in any condition to drive, well at least he wasn't. Looking forward to Dhanush and Twinkle, who were obviously laughing though they were more in control of themselves, he estimated that this wasn't the first time they had done this.
"Kaisa lag raha hai?" Twinkle asks him, turning around in her seat to face him. Hr eyes eager to know and her lips turned up in a smile. She was happy to be sharing this part of her life with him.
"Zinda! Zinda lag raha hai." He admits and his breathing hasn't slowed down entirely yet.
"Well, buddy, raat abhi baki hai mere dost."
Twinkle laughs and Kunj doesn't want this night to be over yet.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Well guys I planned this as an OS but it is turning out to be way to long for one chapter. So I am doing the needful and breaking it down into two parts. Part 2 will be posted soon.😉
Hope you all enjoyed this. Please comment and let me know. Thank you.😊
