CONFERENCE ROOM
All three of them sat on their respective chairs. Mr. Ashutosh rotated the empty cup, making a creasy sound caused due to the friction between the cup and plate. Ms. Kamaya stared at Pathak impatiently. Pathak looked nervous. He kept rubbing his forehead using his handkerchief, often and on.
"2 minutes. Give him 2 minutes", Said Pathak, looking at his watch.
He lifted his head to look at their faces and continued, "He gets called away for emergencies, you know"
Ms. Kamaya threw a disgusted smile at Pathak, clearly showing how pissed off she was by this irresponsible behavior of Raman.
Raman was about to meet the investors, and they were supposed to finalize the deal. But certainly, as Raman had his plans done with Ishita, he ditched them and had gone with her, without informing Pathak. Surely irresponsible, but there was a certain sweetness in his action.
PUB
"My freckles frame eyes, the colour of mermaids tear. Her ears like waking up to the sound of children at play", the man on the stage spoke these words.
It was a sort of a pub, that looked like those old days jam which used to be there during the kings times. People sat there sucking the hookahs, businessmen relaxing their soul out, probably after cracking a deal or two. The dancers, dressed like the old Nawabi dancers, with their anarkalis on and the kavvali hats, roamed all around the pub, trying to gain the attentions of the young businessmen with heavy pockets.
It surely wasn't among those places where Raman had travelled earlier, or prefers to visit. His was a married family guy, until three years back when his wife met with an accident, leaving him alone and shattered. Though Raman had been drinking late nights, but those were surely in the five star pubs. But this one was completely out of the box. Though five stars rated yet it didn't comfort him the way other bars did.
He stuck his body to Ishita's, staring at every person passing by.
Ishita looked at him and said, "Just because I kissed your cheeks the other night, doesn't mean that you stick to my body. There's no way I'm taking you to my bedroom" and she winked.
Raman stared at the lady beside him, uttering those bold words.
Ishita continued, "what?"
Raman - Did you just..
Ishita cut him in between, "Can't a woman speak out the way men do?"
Raman - sure they can. But tell me one thing, what made you bring me to this place. We were fine in the restaurant right?
Ishita - Sure we were. But I knew that your sophisticated dinner would definitely turn out into a boring night, ONCE AGAIN. And there was no way I could afford that. So when my sister called up and said that she and her boyfriend were here, I insisted you as well.
Raman - Yeah! And this place turned out to be like this.
Ishita - C'mon, this is the old India. Jaam, Sharab, Nasha, hookah.. That's how it's meant to be. Let go of your scotch and wine Mr. Bhalla, and enjoy this.
Raman managed a smiled and replied, "sure"
While Ishita continued sipping her drink, Raman stared here and there.
Ishita - Drink.. taste it at least. Nothing compares to the Desi stuffs.
Raman - I will. But tell me where your sister is?
Ishita - good point. Wait let me call her.
Ishita had just taken her phone out and there Mihika was, calling out for her.
Mihika - Akka??
Mihika ran through the people, and hugged Ishita, while Raman stared at his photographer. Mihika withdrew herself and looked at Raman.
"I asked you to consult with my sister, definitely didn't ask you to hook up with her", Mihika said hitting Raman's arm.
Ishita - You guys met each other?
Mihika - Akka! I was about to say but I then couldn't. The other night when you can to me and said that you met this man who has been divorced since three years, I couldn't let the truth out of me as I thought that Raman would do it himself. And yes! I did his photoshoot.
Ishita - GREAT!
Mihika - What? Are you mad at me?
Raman - Can anyone on earth tell me what exactly is going on here?
Ishita - Ask your photographer.
Raman - What? I didn't know that she was your sister.
Mihika - Can we just enjoy the evening? Isn't it great that we all know each other?
Ishita - Okay! Fine. Where's Abhishek?
Mihika - Oh! He went to get us drinks.
ACP Abhishek was Mihika's boyfriend. Three years ago, when Mihika was suffering from a heart break, since the love of her life had left her without giving her a proper reason behind their break up, Abhishek had walked into her life playing the role of a savior, like the ones in the fairytales. Mihika had tried to attempt a suicide, when Abhishek had managed to rescue her from jumping down the building she had climbed on. Since then, he stood beside her, caressing her and helping her in gaining her trust back in love. Later, the previous year, he had proposed her, eventually becoming her boyfriend.
Mihika introduced Abhishek to Raman and they shaked hands.
They were all seated together, gossiping about their lives. Mihika took over the hookah pipe and handed it to Raman, saying, "do you wanna try it?"
Raman looked at Ishita and she seemed to approve it.
Raman sucked it, and in a second he was there, coughing his lungs out. Ishita had immediately started to pat him, uttering the words out of her mouth in tension, "Are you alright? Oh God! You rich kids... C'mon you alright?"
Raman was already drowning in Ishita's concern. But before he could say anything, Pathak's appearance stopped him.
Raman - Shit!
He turned to Ishita and said hurriedly, "Excuse me for a second, will you?"
Ishita looked confused. She said, "Who's that man?"
Pathak walked away to the bar counter, with Raman following him behind.
Raman - hey! ... Hey!
Pathak stood there and turned to him. He looked disgusted. With a frown up on his face, he asked Raman, "I beg you, please make sense of this"
Raman - I'm just enjoying a little local flavor
Pathak - Since when do you enjoy anything?
Raman - How did you even find me?
Pathak - I'm Neil goddamn Pathak. You asked the direction from your concierge.
Raman looked down. Pathak continued, "What is going on here? We're on the verge of the deal of the century here and you're off playing Prince of Persia?"
The beautiful lady bartender came to them and asked in her sweet and appealing voice, "drinks, Gentlemen?"
Pathak shut her off by saying, "No! get out of here"
The lady stared at him.
Raman - hey! Pathak.
Pathak looked back at the lady and said, "No, thank you and sorry for being rude."
Raman - will you calm down?
Pathak - no! I will not calm down. The CEO is coming in two days. Do you have any idea, the blood, sweat and tears; it had taken me to put this thing together? You know that no one really knew your name six months ago.
Raman - I know. And I appreciate that.
Pathak - No, you don't
Raman - Yes I do
Pathak - No, You don't.
Raman - Pathak??
Pathak - friend to friend. Do you not what this?
Raman looked at him for a couple of seconds.
Pathak - You can tell me.
Raman - Look, I'm ready.
Pathak - So, for the next two days, you're gonna be where I tell you to be when I tell you to be there?
Fan Fictions
12