Lavender [2]: New Thread link posted on p. 1 - Page 45

i just read your ff...32 parts ...and i loved it,...i loved your way of writing ...the story...you created the perfect mood...if you aare having a pm list pls add me to it...love to get a pm...

Chapter 33: Interrupted...

She barely saw Arnav that day or next or the next or for the remainder of the week, except in meetings here and there. While it was true that he was busy, she also got the distinct impression that he was trying to not cross paths with her, which was only a welcome relief to her. She needed some time to sort through whatever she and Rajeev had embarked upon. He didn't seem any different to her since their conversation even though they saw each other every day. If anything, he seemed more relaxed around her and she found it easy to follow his cue. He was somewhat of a conundrum, really. He never quite acted or reacted like one would expect. There were other surprises too... like while she had never doubted how intelligent he was, she had not known that he had some philosophical inclinations as well. That side of him came out at the most random times, almost matter-of-factly rather than as if he is trying to engage you in an existential discussion just for the sake of it. She was not used to someone who talked like that; in fact, she was not used to having conversations with someone who was so well-read. For all that he had seemed a snob to her before, when it came to actual things that he could very well be snobby about, like his wide knowledge-base, he wasn't.

On Friday evening, when they got out of work, he asked her to a coffee at a local caf – she figured it was his way of easing into the dating thing without making it too stressful or contrived. Their conversation started off easily enough, although inevitably it strayed to work; it was their common ground after all. At some point, she finally put a stop to it, saying that she was sick of talking about work. He sat back in his chair after that and asked, "So, where exactly are you from?"

Even though she had been the one to divert the conversation from the professional to the personal, his willingness to switch gears so quickly caught her off-guard. He saw that he had thrown her off and raised an eye-brow.

She shook her head before she answered, "Lucknow. How about you?"

"Delhi for the past three generations, Varanasi for the five or so before that."

She almost laughed at the ease with which he said it, as if it was commonplace to know eight generations of ancestors. They truly were from different worlds.

"Varanasi? I have been once or twice with my sister when I was young." She remembered thinking that the place appeared stuck in time, as if she had stumbled into the past.

"We, my cousins and I, I mean, used to go when we were young. There's still a lot of extended family there from my mother's side. So you grew up in Lucknow?" he asked, shifting it back to her once again.

She nodded, leaning back in her chair. Lucknow seemed so far away now even though she only had to close her eyes for the sights and smells and tastes to come back at the blink of an eye.

She must have done just that because he said, "You miss it." It was a statement rather than a question and she opened her eyes and nodded with a smile.

"I do. It's that sort of nostalgia that you get for not just a place, but a period of life, you know? When everything was much easier to figure out... no choices were more complicated than ladoo or jalebi..."

He laughed at that as he said, "ladoo for sure" but then his gaze turned away into the distance as if he understood only too well.

For a few moments they were both lost in their own memories before she broke the silence and asked, "How was Harvard?"

The smile that had lingered on his face slowly disappeared as she watched and when he looked at her next, his expression was composed and blank. "It was good."

Given the change she saw in him, she shouldn't have pressed, but she did.

"Good? I have never heard anyone describe Harvard as just 'good.'"

She saw him fiddle with his keys and then noticed when he forced himself to stop. He looked away before he answered. "It was alright, Khushi. It's an education like any other. Some professors are incredible while others are completely not carved out for an exercise in pedagogy and merely drowning in their own brilliance. You meet a lot of different kinds of people. Some are worth knowing, some are not... just like everywhere else in life."

"You don't miss it." She stated when he said nothing else.

He turned to her finally and offered a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "No, not really."

"Well then, it's good to be back home, isn't it?" she asked and this time, his earlier smile reemerged.

She smiled in return; she found that she liked it when he smiled. It was quite disarming on an otherwise intimidating face.

She knew another intimidating face that was even more of a threat when it broke into a smile. She gave herself a mental shake to get rid of that particular face. She was doing so well. She would have to kick herself if she ruined it by imagining something corny like how dangerous to her peace of mind her boss' smile was.

She looked back up at Rajeev to see that his gaze was now somewhere behind her, his smile once again gone.

She turned back to look out through the large glass window of the cafe to see... nothing at first... but then a rather large man moved aside and she saw a girl on a bicycle. She had on overall shorts and a ribbed white tank underneath. There were oversized sunglasses on her face and her tufts of curls were gleaming golden brown in the sun. The only other thing to be considered an accessory of any sort were the ties of her gladiator sandals that crisscrossed up her ankle and calf all the way up to her knee.

"No social commentary on her outfit this time. In fact, that whole getup is rather tame for her. And yet, she stands out with no issue." She remarked in surprise.

"She would stand out even if her pint sized body was wrapped up in rags. It that mouth of hers that would always give her that distinction." He answered, and she could tell he had done so without thinking. She didn't want to call attention to it and make him flustered, so she kept her gaze on the girl.

They saw her stop suddenly while the other vehicles started moving ahead and as they watched, she walked up one of those floating street vendors that sold knick-knacks that no one ever really had any use for. He was smacking the hell out of a five or six year old who had his own little collection of knick-knacks to be sold, they could see. The boy didn't appear to be reacting at all as the blows kept on coming.

Khushi watched in something of a combination of shock and awe and a little fear as the girl stopped the man by the pulling the child out of his way. They couldn't hear the exchange, but could see that the man obviously wasn't afraid of raising his voice or creating a ruckus.

She heard the chair pull back and turned around to see Rajeev get up, his eyes trained on the scene unraveling outside.

"She is a walking terror, I swear to God. Why her parents would ever send her to a place like India is a f**king mystery when they must know that she has no f**king common sense! I'll be right back, Khushi." And with that he was gone.

"Well, damned if I am going to miss this show." She muttered to herself as she too got up from the table and followed him out.

By the time she crossed the street, there was a throng of people around Vaibhavi and the boy and the man and by the time she joined the group, she saw Rajeev step in, just as she heard the girl say to the man, "You may be his father, but you have no right to abuse him like this. He's a small child, for god's sake." Surprisingly, her tone was still somewhat calm; Khushi had thought for some reason that Vaibhavi would have started yelling by now.

Just as Khushi made herself to the front of the little group, she heard Rajeev speak. "I apologize for my sister here. She is somewhat... excessively passionate about children and speaks out like this whenever and wherever she goes, regardless of whether it's any of her business."

Khushi noticed that Rajeev did not look at Vaibhavi at all while he spoke to the man while the girl looked like she wanted to say something, but for some reason she held herself back.

The man, in rapid-fire local slang, told Rajeev that what he does with his son is his own business and none of hers or anyone else's.

"I understand and I agree. But, don't abuse him in public where it becomes others' business. Someone like her is bound to step in then and create a scene like this and then the police become involved and it's a seriously messy business for you."

Maybe it was the fact that it was a man in a suit talking or maybe it was the mention of police, but either way, the man backed off. He muttered something under his breath about rich people trying to bully him and tried to grab the boy from behind Vaibhavi. She was reluctant in letting go, but the boy pushed her hand aside – gently though – and gave Vaibhavi a look that Khushi couldn't entirely decipher before he left with the man.

The small crowd dispersed now that there was nothing interesting to watch. Khushi stood in her place as she heard Vaibhavi turn to Rajeev. The girl reverted to English and her American accent was quite strong now as she spoke to him with the agitation of anger and frustration. Khushi hadn't realized that he had picked up the accent as well until she heard him speak back to Vaibhavi in the same. The rate of their speech was so fast that she could only make out bits and pieces here and there. But she filled in the gaps and imagined it went something like this.

"I could have handled that on my own."

"Bullshit. You don't know jack about this country or how it runs. And you have made the situation a whole lot worse for that kid because now he is going to get home with an angry and embarrassed lunatic for a father and who do you think is going to take the brunt of that?"

"So what? Just stand by and watch and don't do a damn thing while the man is beating the shit out of him in front of all these people? Then what the f**k is the point of being an adult or having some power to stop such shit from happening?"

"You can't fix this country because you do one heroic deed when you visit India for a month. It doesn't work that way!"

"It's better than f**king living here your entire life and walking around in suits and saying high-priced dialogues, but not lifting one f**king finger to help out a person – a child rather – in need because you can't tackle the whole f**king system!"

"People help out in productive ways. Not by creating ruckus on the streets!"

"Oh, so now I am the one who created a ruckus? Are you f**king kidding me?"

Khushi found herself looking back and forth between the two, but suddenly she saw Vaibhavi's gaze swing to hers as she seemed to realize her presence.

She saw Vaibhavi take one last look at Rajeev and this time she said, "Allow me to fight my own battles. I don't need anyone stepping in to rescue me."

Just as the girl turned around to walk away, Khushi heard Rajeev speak. "Ah, I am less worried about you and more about those who need rescuing from you."

This made the girl turn back around to face Rajeev.

"Touche. I will keep that in mind from now on." She said before she turned back around to hop on her bicycle and ride off without a backward glance.

-------