Tissue For This Issue

Chapter 4

"So guys, please welcome the newest member of the Ram Kapoor Carpool Gang, Priya Sood!" Ram announced once he and Priya sat in the car.

"Huh? When did this happen?" Alekha replied, astonished.

"You know na, Alu, I used to carpool with Yuvraj every day. Obviously that's out of the question now, and Papa didn't want me to travel on my own. Thankfully, Ram asked if I wanted to carpool with you all, and I said yes," Priya said with a soft smile.

Ram spoke up, "In that case, Priya, would it be okay for me to meet your parents? Just so I can introduce myself to them and give them some assurance that you'll be in safe hands."

"Yes, of course! I'll text Papa right now and let him know."

"Okay, but now that you're a member of our gang, you need to give us some gossip. You've known Alu since childhood, right? Was she annoying back then too, or is this a new development?" Shardul asked with a mischievous smile.

Upon hearing this, Alekha smacked Shardul lightly on the head with her purse, earning a whine from the man.

Priya chuckled. "Yes, we both know each other since we were very young, babies even. Uncle is a good friend of Papa's, and they worked together in the same company before Uncle started his own business. We lived close by and went to the same schools, so we spent a lot of time with each other and at each other's houses. In our later school and college years, it seemed like she was spending more time at my house than hers. Although, I'm not entirely sure if this was because she liked spending time with me, or if it was to spend more time with her girlfriend Ritika."

"Yaar, why is everyone teasing me today? And for your kind information, it was so I could copy your homework, Miss Smarty Pants Sood," Alekha said before sticking her tongue out at Priya.

"Wait, hold on. So, Ritika is the third friend in your little group?" Shardul asked.

"She's my sister!" Priya chuckled. "Like most younger siblings, she always wanted to tag along with me and Alu and do the same things we did. But then the years flew by, we all turned teenagers, and I sensed that there were some potential feelings between the two. On Ritika's 18th birthday, she boldly asked Alekha out on a date. Alekha couldn't resist, and now they've been together for almost a decade. But now that I've cleared my history with Alu, how did you both meet and become friends with her?"

"So, me and Shardul have a similar history; our parents were friends since before we were born, and naturally we became friends the moment we met each other. Circumstances led us to realize that our town didn't have many opportunities for us, nor did we have much support from those around us, so we came to Mumbai alongside Maa. We didn't have much money back then, but we had enough to get by while we looked for jobs. Uncle had a position in his company open for an intern, and, by sheer luck, I managed to beat out the other hundreds of candidates and land the position."

"Hold on!" Alekha interrupted Ram. "What do you mean 'by sheer luck'? Dad could not stop gushing about the blue-green-eyed boy who blew him away with his passion for entrepreneurship and drive to learn as much as he could about anything and everything. You were definitely qualified for the position, maybe even more than the other candidates."

"Alright, Alu, thanks for boosting my ego a little more than needed," Ram chuckled. "Anyways, I got the internship position, while Shardul found a job as a teacher in a nearby school. Alu was working as a Human Resources intern at Uncle's company; you know how stubborn she is, not wanting to get special treatment and privileges just because it was her dad's company. She saw this scrawny dude, aka me, who kept his head down and ate his lunch alone, and she sought out to become friends with him. Because of our friendship and Alu's insistence on sneaking me into conferences so she wouldn't have to go alone, Uncle took a liking to me. One day I finally got the courage to pitch India Eatz to him, and I'm extremely grateful that he had enough faith in me to invest in this dumb little business idea of mine."