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Hands & Ears
She managed to live day after day that way. He was asleep all of Sunday and when he woke at 4 PM her door was open and she was missing. When he was ready to go out for the evening he saw her get off an auto
Without giving him a second look, her hair looked great he noticed, she wore a white tiered cotton skirt with
floral embroidered pattern at the bottom, and navy sleeveless blouse
She didnt pause or flinch when she saw his car leave the apartment gates
She was locked up in her room when he returned at midnight
On Monday when he came home at lunch time he found her chatting with the guy on their floor with a cat
He was once introduced to that obese cat, it had some ridiculous name he thought, 90s pop music singer, Michael Bolton or Elton John?
He was showing her something on the phone in the walkway leading to the building
Must be cat videos he thought.
Atleast he had original ones Ashvin assumed
The guy, Prasad waved at Ashvin
He nodded in ack, she didnt even look up!!!
So immersed in the video.
He sensed she was friendly and approachable, just not in his case...
He should have been thrilled but it hassled him
He almost didnt return to work on Monday afternoon, when he did Chirag wanted to know if he was going to be around the weekend
Friends were planning a Mysore getaway and wanted to know if Trisha would go
"I am not sure havent seen her" Ashvin tried to make it sound flippant
"I believe you. You guys have your own rooms" Chirag ridiculed him
Ashvin wanted to retract his comment and say "Oh I saw her at lunch and she said she was busy"
He went home at 7:30 and deliberately walked down to her room her door was open but she wasnt in the room
He browsed the web spoke to friends, showered, gave the cook another evening off, and prepared to go eat out with friends. His phone was on fire this evening
He spent most of the time on it
Wandering in and out
He saw her get off an auto carrying bags
Chirag wandered over and she greeted him showing her Food World bag
He bend down and peeked
They laughed.
He asked her something with concern about her left wrist, "Is this hand hurt?"
she shrugged it off and showed him her right hand wrist bone
Chirag nodded and commented at how the scab looked
He reached and grabbed her bags as she tackled her flying dupatta,
she handed it to him gladly telling him some amusing grocery story. She was comfortable and relaxed and friendly with Chirag
He wanted to tell her what Chirag's motives were.
Goddamn it
How many times did she change in a day he wondered
She was now wearing a particularly gorgeous all over red simple
cotton salwar kameez with a grey silver cotton dupatta
They disappeared below into the building
She knocked as expected just as he wondered who was letting her in every time
The cook?
The guard down below?
He was going to wait for her to ask for a key he thought
Atleast she will talk then
He heard cheerful chatter by the elevator
Prasad, Chirag and her voice
"You left a trail of coconut water" Ashvin heard
There was a ring on the door
"I dont know if he is home" she panicked
Ashvin paused by the door
He didnt open
"You dont have a key?"
"Nooo" she shook her head vigorously
"Thats crazy, what if he is out of town?" Chirag was being possessive
"Oh?" she nodded agreeing
She rang the door bell again
Coconut water pooled by her feet from her leaky Food World bag
He opened the door
"Hey" Chirag and Ashvin shook hands
"Do you need help?" Chirag hollered as Trisha just walked past Ashvin towards the kitchen
"I can manage" she said
And was gone
She brought back a cleaning cloth and kneeled down and wiped the doorway clean, the elevator guy had informed the bldg maint and they were scrubbing her path
"what was it?" Ashvin asked hoping she would answer
"She asked them not to split the coconut open the kid on the street did.. she sprinkled the holy juice all the way home" Chirag answered
"I gave you coffee powder so you owe me coffee" Chirag said to her as walked back into the house
She paused to grin at him
"I can make coffee" she nodded innocently
"Mujhe coconut water nahi pasand hai yaar dont gimme that. Just warning" Chirag laughed
She could feel Ashvin ogling
"I will make now" she said and went in
when Ashvin came to the kitchen to grab water she started talking cheerfully thinking it was Chirag
"Only one computer no, so paying bill took long time at Food World. Indira Nagar Food World is like..." she turned
she found her husband leaning on the fridge uncapping his sparkling water bottle, the way he was looking at her this evening was making her uneasy and bashful she thought.
He on the other hand believed she thought of him as a picture hanging on the wall or the swaying curtains, inanimate and inorganic
She had put her dupatta away on her bed before turning to the kitchen.
"Umm..." she withdrew self consciously
"I have ears Trisha" he said flicking his ear lobe
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