Bombay Romance ♡ COMPLETED

[ 11 ] Tension ■

Gauri grabs her glass and finishes the cocktail in one go. The drink trickles down the side of her lips and trails along her neck. Amarnath looks away, flushing. Can you just NOT look at her, his brain shouts at him. 

Gauri runs a hand through her hair, clutching her head lightly. Shit, shit, shit. Of course, he is. I should have realized it way back, she thinks. He is Micheal's IPS batchmate. She opens her eyes after what seems like an era and fiddles with her glass.

'There are good officers' Amarnath says after a long silence.

'So you do agree that most of them are not' Gauri says immediately. 'It's all just good in the movies, Sir. There aren't such people in real life' 

Amarnath tightens his jaw. Bloody cross-examination. These lawyers.... always waiting to show everyone they know how to argue.

'Kyun ki lawyers and human rights activists don't let us be' he mutters more to himself than to Gauri.

She tilts her head. 'That's a direct allegation. What are you, Dirty Harry? To fire at criminals? No offence, but punishment is not your call. What else is the court for?'

Amarnath knows why. To make sure criminals spend some twenty-thirty years enjoying all the luxuries of life until the case gets solved. That's exactly what the court is for.

'And we're just protecting people's fundamental rights' she adds.

'Bakvaas.' he mutters.

'Excuse me?' Gauri raises her brows.

There's a pause.

'Sorry,' He realizes what he just said. 'Dekhiye, protection humara duty hain. People first come to the police when they have a problem.'

'Uske baad sabko court aana padta hain. Police ke saath. The universe is not centred around you guys, Sir' she replies. Damn, why am I saying "Sir" repeatedly?

Amarnath is torn between realising how sweet her Hindi sounds and how humiliating her statement is.

'Haven't you ever let someone go just coz some powerful minister ordered you to do so?' she asks confidently.

Amarnath does recall a few instances when he had to do so. He still hates himself for that.

Crossing his arms, he says, 'At least it is for higher authority pressure. Aap log toh sirf paise ke liye karte hai'

Blood starts to pound in Gauri's cheeks. 'I think you're crossing your limits now'

Limits mainu pata hai ji, he thinks internally. We don't have the habit of poking our noses into other's business.

Gauri closes her eyes, taking long, deep breaths. All this while, he would utter one monosyllable for every dozen things I spoke. Now, when I start stating some facts, their arrogance comes out gushing. The higher their designation, the greater their conceit. They are all the same.

No further conversation follows. Amarnath's batchmates, after chatting with the girl gang, walk past them. They deliberately slow down as they come nearer.

'What was the gaana they were playing that time?' one of them asks loudly.

'Aree woh Bachhan aur Rekha ki.'

'Haan... got it... ' Another guy quite dramatically puts a hand to his heart. 'Dekha ek khwab to ye silsile hue ...'

Everyone joins in gleefully. The lines go rather tuneless, but it's filled with suppressed cackles of laughter. 'Duur tak nigah mein hain gul khile hue ...'

Gauri looks at them and back at Amarnath. 'Are they teasing us?'

Amarnath flushes and turns to throw a steely death glare at the gang. They slink away, humming the next line.

'No' He says shortly. This girl understands everything. And these jobless people want to do my bezati in front of her!

If he doesn't like to talk, why is he still sitting here? she thinks, irritated. Is he waiting for me to leave? Maybe I should. He was already here when I came. What am I doing here anyway?

Gauri is about to get off the stool when Roger arrives in a merry mood.

'Hey Gau-' he begins, only to realise she is not alone. 'Oh, I'm sorry. Please carry on' 

'Come here!' She grabs the sleeve of his brown coat and yanks him back. 'You told Gagan I was single?!, You told him I was single!! What the hell!' She slaps him on the shoulder.

Roger holds out his arm in defence. 'Listen!'

'What?! What?'

'She said yes'

'Really?' Gauri hops off the barstool.

'Yea! Not for today's movie, but for Wednesday's date!'

'Yess!!' She throws her arms around Roger's shoulders, hugging him. He hugs her back and twirls her around.

Amarnath's stomach oddly churns at this. He looks at his glass to check if there's any drink left. It's empty. He clutches it tighter.

'Listen, everyone's planning to drop in at my place for the night. You wanna join?' Roger asks her.

'Not if you're gonna play some melodramatic Hindi movie' Gauri rolls her eyes.

'Of course not! We'll play some Indiana Jones stuff. Coming?'

'Yup! Hey, also we could see that new film of To-' she walks away with him, forgetting all about Amarnath.

Amarnath spots her again a few minutes later with many other girls, wearing a striped pink polo shirt and white cuffed shorts.

Murali gets back beside Amarnath and puts an arm around his shoulder, patting. 'If you want to do some time-pass, then it's okay. But don't get serious about that chick. Because she'll never be serious about you'

'She is the girl I saw at the station' Amarnath says.

Murali's jaw drops. 'What? Why didn't you tell me before?! I would've never flirted with her if you'd tol- ... '

Amarnath zones out as he continues to look at her walk past them, past the long nave, past the main door, and out of his sight.

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Hello guys!

And that's the last chapter of the wedding scene. Amarnath and Gauri had their first conversation. There's soooo much more to go!

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