It Happened In Florida

2.Karan

"Believe me, I know what it's like to feel all alone...the worst kind of loneliness in the world is the isolation that comes from being misunderstood, It can make people lose their grasp on reality."
~Dan Brown, Inferno

If Parvez sees Karan right now peeling what almost feels like five kilos of potatoes he would surely cackle. Not in front of him but definitely when he was not looking. His sisters didn't care about him being the heartthrob of ITV. It was just "Sunny, ye aaloo cheel ke de" Maybe that's what was needed right now. Someone to ground him.

Lockdown was a period of many self-realisations for him. Immediately after the breakup, Karan dived into work. He was shooting for a movie with Randeep Hooda in Karnal. Promoting It happened in Calcutta and at the same time shooting for Dil hi to Hai season 3. That was his life for 9 months straight. Four days of shoot in Punjab then late night flight to Mumbai, shoot in the morning then promotions in the evening. He barely had time to sleep let alone to pay heed to the news about him that was doing the rounds.

But the lockdown forced him to retrospect. He realised that his non-expressive and non-confrontational attitude was the reason he had no friends today. Of course, you know everyone in the industry, everyone knows you but he couldn't name five people at the moment who he would say were his true friends at the moment. He didn't blame them entirely. It was his fault too. He realized this was a pattern in his life. He was successful, popular, wanted and his thought process "ki kya hai yaar party hi to karni hoti hai" was not for the best.

That was the time he started valuing his family more. Prioritising them in his life. The cars, the bike and the luxury apartment in Bandra he was looking at were still important, those were the rewards of his hard work but what will he do with all of that if he had nobody to share it with?

He'll be 40 in a few years. And as much as he appreciated the alone time to reflect in lockdown, now the eerieness of the empty apartment was starting to affect him. He wanted someone to return home to after a tiring day of work. He longed for a companion. The thought of marriage, and being a family-oriented person didn't scare him anymore. He wanted to have kids. Well, more specifically a little girl. He wanted to spoil her silly, buy her sports cars, teach her how to shoot a gun and be her best friend.

But then he also didn't want to compromise and settle for a mediocre relationship just for the sake of it.

His way of loving was intense. He wanted a girl he was obsessed with, a girl he couldn't be away from, to whom he's the most important person. Someone he enjoys fighting with, kyuki nazar bhi to utarni hoti hai na. Someone as weird as him. Someone who pulls him back. And since he's already listing out qualities to the Universe, A Gemini would be preferred.

The yin to his yang. ☯️

" So an Indian friend of ours is getting married in a resort 20 miles from here," Gaurav Jiju said bringing him out of his trance.

"Oh, so when will you all be leaving?"

"You are coming with us"

"Oh no no no. No." He dried his hands with a paper towel finally done with the chores.

"But what's the issue? There will be Indian food, good drinks and you know the couple is famous too. A cricketer and a film star. Maybe you'll have some friends in attendance too. You've been holed up in your room since you came"

He was about to make his argument, when he heard his father entering the kitchen "Oye bhootni ke, kaha na chalna hai to chalna hai. Hor ye phatte phhute kapde na paayi uthe gareeban vakkan"