AN: Hello Forumwasis! I am Niki with some fiction for all of you.
This is basically a one-shot from Adi's POV during Gurleen's marriage track, with a bit of creative license. Hope you all like my first work in this forum.
Thanks.
- Niki
My other works on GiTya:
OS: In Pieces (Angst)
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5305801
OS: Lifeline (Genre - Drama)
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5305860
OS - Dislike
Aditya Raj Singh did not like her.
Not that he liked people in general, but in her case; he specifically disliked her.
Ms. Ginni Grewal!
And it was not a whim either. He had many concrete reasons for it.
Firstly, she had long hair. As in, very long hair. And he was the victim of her excessively long tresses. They would find their own way to whip him on the face, splatter water droplets on him, or at least blind his eyes with perfect smacks on them.
Secondly, she cooked oily food. And also suffered under the delusion that she was a good cook. Hmph! He had tasted her paneer which stank of mustard oil in comparison to his healthy recipe which he had made with just a small pint of olive oil. Her food was not bad but was not that good either; at least not the way the people in the Dhaba praised her.
Thirdly he hated that vehicle of hers. It was infuriating. Sitting on it was a traumatic and unforgettable experience for him. Also, she was not a good driver either. That damn cart rattled wherever it went. He could still feel the nasty vibrations up his spine. No wonder he had a hard time working out the next day. He would never get up on it again. Never ever!
Fourthly, he wanted the Dhaba and she was the biggest roadblock that stopped his goal from becoming reality. He had offered her a price beyond the quality of the asset and yet that stupid woman refused to sell it to him. He had offered, cajoled, threatened, and even tried to appeal to her common sense. Apparently, she was as bull-headed as they came; refusing to listen to sense or reason.
And lastly, he hated her lectures and her stupid beliefs. How stupid can someone be? She was running her own Dhaba; she was supposed to be smart and responsible. But no, madam had to make sure to give a whole page of lecture, free with each of her dishes and sometimes without even anyone asking for it. At least he didn’t. And he was pretty sure he did not run around with a poster on his face that said – Come advise me on how to get along with my own family.
So, he did not like her. He had his reasons.
But that did not explain what he was doing right now.
It was Gurleen’s marriage.
His sister was getting married. He, the brother was supposed to be running around like a headless chicken, as they show in daily soaps, making arrangements for the function. Instead, he was being a grouch and was hiding in the shadows and peeping from behind a yellow curtain. God knows whose idea or outlandish taste it was, but the décor was all yellow and it was giving him a headache. He hated bright colours and bright people annoyed him even more. Maybe that's why he did not like her. She was too bright.
Today too, she was running around helping in the catering that they were given the contract of and in parallel ran around offering food to the guests. He had already begun to hear the praises of the guests regarding the food. It was not doing anything to help his already sour mood.
He scowled.
And blinked as she smiled at his step-brother, offering him a snack.
Another scowl formed on his face in an instant.
He huffed and began to stare again.
How rude of her! She could smile and behave politely to everyone else except him.
It was true that he had demanded her Dhaba and had made things tough for her. He did try to get her contract cancelled too but that did not mean she had to be so indifferent to him. That was another thing disliked about her.
She did not care; at all. This never happened to him before. If there was one thing that he could easily deduce, it was women and their reactions towards him. It was all the same; the dazed and gleeful looks, the coquettish approach, a dalliance, and the next day his cool treatment of them. They would rail at him high and low but relationship was not what he did. They would swear at him and leave. But they returned, again.
With her, however, things were different. She neither wanted to come close nor did she hate him. She just wanted him to leave. This was confusing. He had no idea how to deal with that.
Women did not want him to LEAVE!
She did not even care to argue with him properly. Every time he went to her energized to have a good bout of organic exchange full of taunts and vitriol; she would start her regular Family bhakti cassette. She was like a broken recorder on a loop and it would puncture all his zeal to have some good banter. It was all so irritating and so maddening. He could never understand her oblivious nature towards the reality of her so-called perfect family. They were all idiots of the highest order.
Her youngest siblings were ungrateful brats, her brother Goldie was a self-obsessed idiot with intellect the size of a teaspoon or less than that and her mother was a victim-playing melodrama-loving woman. They all rode on her shoulders and that fool of a woman didn’t even realize that she was shouldering the burden of the entire family unnecessarily and getting exploited in the name of love.
How foolish can someone be?
For the sake of memories and promises to a dead man, she was sacrificing her present. She was here, working against her will even after he had made sure to trouble her by sabotaging quite a number of things. Everything was against her and yet, she still went on. And the irony was that she had an idea, that her darling twin had already signed off the ownership papers of the Dhaba to him.
Foolish woman!
His eyes followed her as she went to the backyard. Unbidden his feet took him after her. She kept the plate on the table and for a second took some respite. Her shoulders drooped and her bright smile faded. She closed her eyes and tilted her face upwards. Slowly, her hands curled around her body as if holding herself together; tightly, to stop herself from shattering. She stood in that manner and he kept looking at her, his eyes taking in her subdued form.
He always looked at her.
His eyes could never keep away.
“Ginni, get the second serving,” her mother hollered from the corridor.
She broke out of her posture with a jerk and blinked fast. Tiredness spread through her and it made him angry. Why couldn’t that woman call for her a bit later? Can they not function without her at all?
She plated the snacks on the tray and swallowed heavily. With a sigh, she put on her bright smile and walked off.
But her eyes did not smile.
Something curled up in him and grew slowly.
He definitely did not like her.
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