Daastan [#MissionDesi]

Chapter 28

Two days later, we had agreed to join Dipti and Anil for a concert. Ofcourse on Dipti's insistence.

We went in Anil's car to pick up Sujatha from Daffodils. Dipti sat behind, down with one vodka bottle, biting her nails, tapping them on the window. Rain drops danced in tiny puddles ahead.

Sujatha came out of the building holding an umbrella, tapped on the driver's side window, motioning him to come out. She mumbled something and Anil sat in the passenger's seat.

She got behind the wheeled, wrestling with the gears. "Why do they have these stupid things here?" she said more to herself.

"Umm..Sujatha," I said.

"What? She glared at me.

I sat back in my seat, "Nothing."

Dipti said nonchalantly, checking her nails, "Oh he meant, you can't drive." "Honey."

With that she put her feet on the accelerator, all of us jerking ahead in our seats.

"Woo hooooo! You go girl," Dipti shouted.

I looked behind and Anil's face looked a mask of pure terror.

He looked at me and mouthed 'She failed her driving lessons.'

The car swerved to the left and right, like a drunkard on the road. My knuckles were white, grabbing on to the seat.

Sujatha glared at me again, "Why did you hide it from me?"

"Look Sujatha, we can talk like mature people. Now stop the car and we'll talk," I said, speaking slowly as if talking to a child.

"What do you mean mature?" she said, her hands off the wheel, quoting the word 'mature'

"No No! Sujatha!" Anil yelled from the backseat. He looked about to faint. Poor guy.

You sponsored Daffodils, didn't you? You and Muthassi lied to me!" she said gritting her teeth.

I sat back, looking ahead, fearing for our dear lives. Sujatha eased her hold on the accelerator.

"Anil, I love you!" Dipti said, her eyes moist, "Anil look at me."

"We're going to die, Dipti. I don't want to die now. I want to love you and get down on my knees and propose to you."

"You mean to say you want to marry me?" Dipti said, sniffing, her eyes wide as saucers.

Anil nodded.

"Yes!" Dipti said.

"What?" We all turned to look at her and Sujatha stepped back again on the accelerator aiming directly for the ditch to the side of the road.

"No Sujatha!" We chorused.

The car had a deep dent in the front. Anil stood there, Dipti right by his side, "Well, I said yes, I'll marry you. That's something, eh?" She smiled.

Anil looked at her. "Come here." And he grabbed her, holding her by the waist and kissed her.

I looked at Sujatha. She looked away.

I knew I had a lot of explaining to do. I looked up at the night sky. It was drizzling slightly, water falling on my face. I moved my hands over my face. I was tired of all the things that had happened till now. I've had enough.

I grabbed her arm. "Sujatha look, I'm not denying anything. Yes I invested in Daffodils. So what? It was our dream. It was our baby. You had all these plans in your mind." I said, "What's wrong with being a part of something we had promised each other we would do together?"

"Well, I didn't know that then, did I? I didn't know about our plans! You could have atleast told me," she said, her fingers quoting 'our'.

"Yeah as if you would have agreed to that arrangement." I sighed, "Sujatha.."

Dipti sat on the dented bonnet, looking up at the sky and singing to the stars. Anil I guess needed time to recover, his head must have been reeling from all that adrenaline rush.

I knew Sujatha was in no mood to listen to me and I was too tired to deal with one more disappointment. Just when things were looking up...

We stayed at Sujatha's place.

Next day, we woke up to the gloomy morning outside, dark clouds in the sky.  Sujatha and I sat nursing our hearts, Anil trying to see the positive side of the situation while Dipti sat nursing her hangover.

Muthassi came in the living room with tea cups. "No thanks," I took one look at Sujatha and left.