Chapter 5

Karan 

I had gotten more than 20 calls from mom. She was asking me to come back soon as everyone had their dinner but Divya is waiting for me. I didn't show any interest. In fact, I don't care if she's eating or not. I haven't told her to starve. Moreover, why can't Indian women have their dinner without their husbands? Is it because they actually care for their husbands or just to abide by a rule?

Well, whatever it is I'm not gonna get trapped by her. If she's thinking by doing all this she can change my decision then it's completely her misconception and I can't help it.

I look at the clock. It's near 10 pm. I guess now I can move to home. I'm feeling very exhausted and I badly need to sleep. But before that, I should have my dinner somewhere. I'm not gonna eat with her alone. It will freak me out. 

I leave the office and reach the nearby vendor. I hardly eat outside but whenever it becomes necessary to eat outside I prefer roadside vendors over restaurants. 

   "Uncle, a bowl of fried rice", I tell the vendor, he is 60 years, still works overnight and all the day long. He passes me a warm smile and takes out a bowl to serve me as I sit on the bench. My phone rings for the 21st time. But it's now from an unknown number. 

I answer it as I don't know who it is.

   "Hello, who's this?", I snap.

   "Where are you?", a familiar girly voice hit my ears. Heck! It's Divya. Why the hell is she calling me?

   "That's none of your business", I shrug. 

   "That's obviously my business, Karan", I hear her barking from the other side.

   "Now, don't turn on your so-called 'I'm you wife' drama", I take the bowl of rice from vendor uncle and fill my mouth with a spoonful of rice.

   "That's not a drama. That's the truth and you can't run away from it. It's almost 10. Where are you? Do you know everyone is tensed for you", she speaks as if she knows my family better than me.

   "You don't need to worry about my family", I say, gobbling the rice.

   "Are you eating?", she asks surprisingly.

   "Yeah. I was hungry", I tell her casually.

   "But I'm waiting for you with dinner. Why do you need to eat outside?", she blurts out.

   "I didn't ask you to do that"

   "Karan, now it's being nasty. You can't treat me like this", she speaks at the peak of her voice. 

   "I don't wanna treat you like that. I'm doing what I wanna do. It should be your concern if you wanna keep yourself happy or not. Have your dinner and get back to sleep", I tell her and cut the call immediately. I was controlling my tongue from being dirty to her. However, I'm not liking the way she is treating me this way, in a nice way of course. It seems fake. 

I spend the next hour at the vendor since I'm not feeling like to go home. Nonetheless, I can't spend the whole night here as mom and dad will ask me a pile of questions and I have no answer to them.

I take my bag and walk towards the parking lot and get on my bike. Today, this bike is also reminding me of Divya. Her thoughts never crossed my mind since we broke up. I had almost forgotten about her till I discovered her at the wedding. This is the importance of her in my life. Least! 

Flashback

I was waiting near her apartment with my bike. I was excited to start communicating with her. I knew it was going be quite tough as Divya could be easy to alleviate but not for the stuff like a relationship. She hardly spoke to guys and never talked to me unnecessarily in the first year of college. 

   "Hey", Divya snapped from behind with a wide smile and I immediately turned to her. She was dressed like every day, wearing a long yellow coloured Kurti with matching yellow palazzo and a printed scarf, keeping her spectacles on but instead of her regular braids she had made a ponytail of her hairs. 

   "Karan", she called me when I was busy examining her from head to toe.

   "Yeah", I chain of thoughts broke and I smiled at her. "Good morning"

   "Good morning", she beamed.

   "You look beautiful", I complimented her honestly. She was kinda beautiful and I felt her underrated beauty when I looked at her carefully, at least she was more beautiful than all my ex-girlfriends, not hotter I could say. 

   "Thanks", she got a little surprised and thanked me after hesitating for a few seconds.

   "Shall we go?", I asked her.

   "Sure", she came near my bike and carefully hoped on. 

   "You can hold me", I said, putting on my helmet.

   "No, I'm fine"

   "Did you ever take a ride on the bike?", I asked her before starting the bike. 

   "No", she mutters.

   "Then you should hold me", I turn my head a little to see her. She was staggering to hold me. 

   "Divya, come on. Hold me. We'll be late for the class", as soon as I urged her to do so she holds my arms from behind. I looked at her through the mirror and smiled.

   "Comfortable?"

   "Yes", she lowered her voice.

I started the bike and rode towards the college. She was tightening her grip while holding me every next second. 

   "Afraid?", I asked her.

   "N...no", she stammered but her voice was enough to prove how much she was afraid.

   "Don't worry. You won't fall", I laughed, looking at her through the mirror. 

   "Hmm", she just mumbled.

   "You can talk to me to distract your mind", I suggested her.

   "What should I talk about?", she muttered.

   "Anything", I chuckled. I was loving to answer her innocent questions. 

   "You won't be late today for classes", she finally spoke after a short silence. She might be thinking about what to say.

   "Oh yes. I woke up early today. I'm always late, no?"

   "Yes", she grinned, widening her lips.

   "All credit goes to you", I tell her.

   "How?"

   "I had to pick you up. I know you're always on time. I didn't want you to get late because of me", I told her. I was a lazy soul who used to get late every day. Somehow, I managed to wake up early today with the help of three alarm clocks. Mom was shocked after discovering me at the breakfast table at 7. She asked me if I was feeling sick which made me woke up early. 

   "That's really nice of you. But you should do it for yourself too. You won't be picking me up every day", she said.

   "Why can't I?", I exclaimed.

   "You. Why would you give me a ride to college every day?"

   "Because your apartment isn't much far away from mine", I lied. I wanted to come close to her, that's the only reason. 

   "Oh! But thanks. You don't need to come every day. I mean it doesn't look good. I don't think people around my apartment will like it", she muttered.

   "You care about people?", I asked in disgust.

   "Yes. I do care about people", she said in a firm voice. "Because I stay with my bua. She has done a lot for me since my parents passed away. I don't want her to have any problems because of me"

   "Fair enough. You love your bua the most?", I asked her to know more.

   "Yes", her voice lightened up. "She is the person I love most"

   "Does she know you're going with me?"

   "Hmm. I tell her everything, even if I sneeze", she beams, talking about her bua.

   "That's pretty cool. I hope she has no problem with it. I mean as you're going with me", I blab.

   "Not at all. She is sweet and understanding", she smiled. 

We talked more than any day, tearing up the layer of reluctance. She was easy to communicate with and also she was a good listener which made me more curious to talk. We reached college and parked my bike as she climbs down. 

   "Thank you", she chuckled at me.

   "It was my pleasure", I too smiled at her. However, it caught people's eyes. As we walked into the college, every student was looking at us, especially at Divya. Since Divya wasn't the girl who talked to guys more frequently, they weren't digesting that Divya was on my bike, with me. 

   "Why are they looking at us like this?", I asked her. 

   "I don't know. Are you coming with me to the classroom?", she asked me.

While walking towards the building my eyes went to the canteen area where Parthiv and Ramit were waiting for me. They asked me to come there, waving at me. I was in a dilemma what I should do. 

   "Yes. I'm coming with you", I smiled at her and walked towards the classroom with her, waiting for the moment when both of my friends will kick my ass off for ignoring them like this.