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Chapter 20: Fallback
Focus! Focus! Focus! he chanted.
"We will meet after lunch and give it another try. May be re-work the lyrics a bit. The slogan is a no go - I need new ones," he addressed his creative team and they dispersed with hung heads, sighing that the man was no less than their unimpressionable father-in-law.
When they were alone again, Subha walked out of the corner. "Is everything alright, Arnav?"
"Yes, why?" He balanced the pen on his fingers without looking at her.
"We have gone through this a hundred times," Subha said mirroring her team's vexation; the resentment was fair given that she'd had no family time for the last one and half weeks. "Its beyond perfecting. The clients will not just go bonkers, they will worship us for what we have written down so far."
"I think we can do better," he spoke so calmly that by the presumptuous nature of most women, it could only be meted out with a tempest for a response.
"Hey!" She scream, slapping the file on the desk, "You damn well know this is not about us. You disappear for days in a row, then you come back and make us work like slaves on a harness. And don't you make me say it in so many words, who could be doing better here. "
"Do you want me to prove it to you, Subha?" he yelled, "do you want me to rewrite everything your team has put together in well under 2 hours?" His heart pounded speaking that lie.
She gasped faltering for a comeback. His eyes softened realizing the dispassion he'd let brew between them.
His focus was gone, let alone his instincts. Dear god! His mojo had abandoned him the day, he went against every voice in his head to keep her in his life and taken her into his arms to push her away.
"I didn't mean to, Subha," his gaze didn't meet her. "Take the rest of the day off and make it a long weekend, if it will help."
When she left him alone, his pulse raced again. Weekend - they would be all gone to Badrachalam by the next morning.
And why should his heart skitter then, at the mention of the weekend? A countdown towards nothing... Perhaps, not all his instincts were gone.
Shit! he needed a beer. Or may be more.
***
"Don't you think this has gone long enough?" I asked Dhri, while I eyed Arnav sit by the far end of the bar and sip his beer. The man had become a pathetic recluse, keeping our company only for appearances.
"You know what is missing in that picture?" Dhri turned to catch a glimpse of Arnav too. "A cardboard placard claiming that the end is near and a tin can at his feet. He reminds me of this homeless person who stood by the highway near school."
"We need to fix this," I shook my head with disbelief that my services were once again being required.
"I want no part of it." Dhri said placing the beer bottle on the table with more force than necessary. "Whatever went down between them that night, is for them to resolve."
Well, we didn't need a certificate of proof to discern that something had put them at odds the other night.
"Do you really like your sister curled up in her day bed all day long? When was the last time she went out for a client visit?"
For one, she hadn't picked up my calls ever since my last visit, which was well over a week ago. Secondly, we were leaving town tomorrow. If it wasn't tonight, then it might be never and thirdly, I needed Arnav to come along on our trip to Badrachalam at all costs.
Dhri was too drunk already to let out a straight laugh. "These two remind me of a quote from a book I never finished - you know the one Kushi carries with her, like its panacea to her every problem?"
Love in the time of Cholera. Of course, I knew - it was the first book I had bought her the year after we'd met.
"The quote goes something like symptoms of love being the same as that of cholera," Dhri garbled.
"Dhri puttar, let's leave the quote business to them and do what we do best," I suggested patting him on the shoulder.
"Which is what?" His muddled mind allowed for a moment of curiosity.
"Which is minding others business just as well," I smiled, knowing the sheer joy of what the act entailed.
In hopes of drawing her out of her hide-out, I dialed her number and left her a voice message for the hundredth f**king time. "Do you want to come grab dinner with me and Dhri? We are at the poison, but we can meet you wherever you want."
When she wouldn't return my call after a good half hour had passed, I surveyed my vicinity. Arnav was still there, nursing himself with hard liquor, which he never did and sat chatting up a fellow bar man; besides, I sighted a few others who could be handed a part to play in our little game called fate. "Ok, Dhri. You want to make yourself useful and help your sister?"
"And how exactly do you propose I can do that," Dhri asked, his eyes narrowed. Nearly drunk, he was ready; insensate to anything that would come his way.
I flexed my fingers and reminded myself that everything will have to be carried out within split seconds.
"Like this..." I said snatching Dhri's drink and turned around to toss its contents at the thug sitting next to us.
Note: I'm giving up. Really! Except for a few regular readers, not many of you care to comment or participate. My buddy list is full of people who no longer read Labyrinth. So, its clean-up time and that's my first notice to everyone.
Bigg Boss 19
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