The random party and the feeling of joy. It gave her a sense of belonging.
Arushi had once come to Mumbai a long time ago. Her parents had forced her to stay with her grandparents for her summer vacations. To her then, Mumbai was a loud, hot and boring city.
So when her mother asked her to go to her dadi's, after dadu's death, she wanted to refuse. She was being very selfish.
Dadi had lost Dadu. That should have been enough reason for her to leave that instant.
But it wasn't.
And she was not ready to leave Delhi, not just yet.
When she had told all this to her mother, the plane ticket was booked and she was told to quietly pack her bags. Her father was not going to listen to her requests whatsoever and her mother was, like always, helpless.
Arushi did what had been told. She came to Mumbai, a city she disliked. She stayed with her Dadi. She helped her with chores, errands and what not.
But nothing exciting had happened till now. This party, this guy, these people, it was something about them she genuinely liked. There was no bitterness in their words.
A voice, very rudely, brought her back to the real world. It was probably Ritvik. Arushi made a mental note to thank him later for bringing her here.
Arushi looked at him and he looked concerned. She had drunk four bottles of what she thought was beer. It was somehow not messing with her brain. She could see clearly, hear clearly and think clearly.
Ritvik was speaking, Arushi remembered. "...so would you wanna go home?" he still looked like he saw a child weeping in the middle of a street.
"Home you say?" Arushi asked, with whatever she had collected from his words. "I most definitely would. But is Vivek ok?" Vivek's voice had died down but she couldn't ignore his random cries for help.
"Yes he will be. He's got his minions to help him. Ab tum chalo" Ritvik seemed eager to get back to his house. It piqued her interest.
"Why do you want to go back to your sad little house? Isn't this a more fun place to be?" This was a rhetorical question. She wanted to know about this guy.
"Ok, listen Arushi" he said her name confident that this was her first time in Mumbai (or atleast to a party). "My ex is here. You know." he tilted his head in the direction of a very pretty girl. She was dancing in the crowd.
On the desi mix Vivek was playing on Arushi's phone.
Maybe it was the beer in her that made her do it. Maybe it was not. She made a horrible decision.
YOU ARE READING
Jhumkewali
RomanceOnce he had heard to a song, his sister had made him listen to it (by force), and there was a lyric he loved. And though he wouldn't admit it, it was stuck in his mind. For years now. . There were two things constant in Ritwik's broken, messed up l...
