Poetic Sensibility

15- The Minx Project

"That couldn't have felt good," Samay said as soon as they had stepped out. Somehow, Samay knew that he didn't need to clarify that he was referring to Sarah's attitude towards something that was so important to Kabir. He was going to subject her to some serious grief when she called him tonight. What on earth was she thinking?!

"It didn't," Kabir replied flatly.

        Samay refrained from cursing out loud. Kabir was clearly upset. And Samay knew Sarah. She was his best friend. Her intentions were noble and her choice of words absolutely outrageous. She was otherwise a butt-kicking, outspoken little minx but some things made her feel raw. Kabir himself was one of those things. Whenever it was an attack on Kabir, she got super defensive and you'd be lucky if she didn't bite your head off. And Kabir had no idea about that. Maybe it was high time for Samay to drop in a hint. He knew it was none of his business but if it gave her and Kabir a chance to find one of those once-in-a-lifetime things, he was damn well going to try.

"She would do it if you insisted," Samay finally said. If Kabir would ask her to wear a tutu and read an excerpt from Dante's Inferno, she would do it.

"Why would she?" Kabir asked. How was he so dense?

"Look, what you ask of her.. It's something that leaves an impression. It'll affect her deeply and she knows it and she's afraid. That's why she won't do it. You need to find a way to convey to her that she can fall back on you if such a thing ever happened," Samay explained. Kabir may believe that Sarah can tell him anything but well, she didn't know that.

Kabir stopped in his tracks, "but she knows she can always fall back on me."

Samay literally wanted to pull his hair out of exasperation. "Yes, well... You. Need. To. Be. More. Verbal," he bit out.

"I have a feeling she will shy away if I do that," Kabir replied.

        Sarah shy away? Did Kabir even know her? Or was she just generally coy around him? Well, okay, she was pretty coy. One couldn't possibly miss that tenderness in her eyes when she was talking to Kabir or even looking at him. It pleased Samay and sickened him in equal measures. Samay's thoughts automatically went to Romi and the way she shied away from reading her poetry. Was she looking for some assurance just like Sarah was? Was she equally affected? It had been over two months and that she hadn't read a single one of her compositions seemed to burn a hole inside him. He wondered if Kabir thought the same. He wondered if anyone thought the same. Didn't they want to know?

"Why do you think Romi won't read any of her poems?" Samay asked Kabir.

Kabir thought about it for a moment and then replied, "perhaps it's what Rishi said. She's rubbish at it."

"Or she thinks she is rubbish at it," Samay mused. He refused to believe that someone who could draw such ideas out of other people from Keats' poetry would be rubbish at poetry herself.

"I doubt it," Kabir said. "She's always so confident and collected. There's hardly any animation about her. She seems like she knows what she is saying or doing at all times. Never an outspoken word or a line toed. And also, you've always asked her when will she bring something. You've never questioned why she won't bring anything in. Maybe that's what you need to ask."

"And isn't there something you need to ask Sarah too?" Samay teased. He knew he was being juvenile. It was just one of those days.

"It won't be well received," Kabir replied seriously.

Oh for the love of-!

"Fine. Don't ask outright. Gauge. At least come closer to the whole idea when you talk to her," Samay replied, trying to calm himself down. Honestly, these two were starting to get on his nerves. Why was he doing this again, he asked himself.

"Maybe I will. I heard you asked her to join your company," Kabir said.

"My brother's company," Samay corrected.

"Where you're a partner," Kabir argued.

        Samay gritted his teeth. "Junior partner." And he had begged his brother to not make him a partner. Their father would think he had been made one due to the familial relations and not because Samay had actually deserved it. But his brother had denied that request, calling it absurd. He believed Samay had earned it and that was that.

"Partner nonetheless. But it's a good thing you asked her. At least she'll put that degree to some use. Honestly though, investment banking to me sounds like the most boring thing on the planet," Kabir replied.

        Yes, to Kabir it must. For someone who worked around environmental laws and volunteered with Not-for-Profit organizations, investment banking would be an awful idea. However, Kabir didn't know anything about Sarah's profile. Oh! That gave Samay an idea.

"She's not going to be doing that. She's part of a research team I'm heading that's going to branch off into something different," Samay replied. The idea had come from Sarah. He had worked with her for a few weeks before pitching it to the concerned institutions and then finally, his own brother.

"Oh. What's that?" Kabir asked.

Nu-uh. He must hear it from Sarah. She was passionate about this and she'd explain it better. Samay saw a shot and he took it, "Ask her about it. You'll be surprised. And probably a little bit interested too."

"You're being very vague now," Kabir stated.

"Force of habit."

        Kabir grinned and Samay was glad his spirits had lifted. He couldn't wait for Kabir to find out when he finally learned about the project Sarah was working on with him.