Resurgence

13. Pawn Day

“Sometimes, a pawn is enough to change the whole game and those who ignore the importance of it, are liable to lose their Queen.” – Sandeep Dharma.

•••

“Um, what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

The much expected query came from behind as Tari leaped up to the trunk of the lorry to join the group of men―hauling the furniture and house accessories into the building. He loved manual labor a lot. It injected him with an ounce of liberty and vigor, that he found difficult and scarce to come across in other productive ventures. Fortunately, his job didn’t deny him of such privileges and he usurped every opportunity that arose to partake in such.

“I’m lifting stuff and taking it into the house,” He hissed, as his hands grappled a one-seater couch and lifted it into the air. He steadied his stance before whirling around and alighting from the vehicle. He headed for the entrance of the house, a cross Lani trailing behind him with a scowl and folded arms. He didn’t want to put too much meaning into the hug they shared two days ago, but he couldn’t help the warm, harmonizing feeling in his heart. It felt good to be back on good terms with her.

“Uh yeah, I sorta guessed the reason. I’m asking to find out why you think you’re fit for it?” She berated his action further, as he halted by the door’s archway, lowering himself so he could pass through as a result of his tall height and the load in hand. “There are more qualified, able men here that are being paid to do this, Tari. You do not have to join them. Your job is to supervise and ensure everything is in line.”

“I am supervising,” He’d have rolled his eyes, but she was following from behind so she wouldn’t see him anyway. They were currently in a room of great length and width, one of the biggest rooms in the house. Judging from the Teal Velvet painting that coated the walls―as Lani had instructed the other day―it confirmed his assumption. Plus, he was the architect and pretty much knew the location of the very room like the back of his hand. “And you’re wrong, there might be able bodied men who are more qualified for the task but they aren’t exactly many and it wouldn’t hurt to join in and give a helping hand.”

“Except that you’re not giving them a helping hand, but a helping body.” came her retort once again, and this time he set the upholstery on the floor like the rest of the men had done before spinning around to face her. She looked dashing as always. She was clad in a cotton printed Skidler shrugs. A white, chiffon blouse designed with starfish pattern hugged her upper body in a firm fit―alongside a  black, loose, stripped trousers and silver lining platform heels, dotted with glinting stones. He quickly swabbed the small beads of sweats forming by his temple in an attempt to hide his awe of her appearance. “See, you’ve carried just one chair and you’ve started sweating. Apparently this activity isn’t for you.”

Oh trust me, I’m not sweating because of the heavy lifting.

“It’s because the room is stuffy.” He growled, as he brushed past her―heading outside to continue with the furniture transporting activity. She wasn’t done scrutinizing his action as she picked up a quick space behind him once again, the sole of her shoes colliding with the floor to produce a loud, clanking sound. He didn’t know how difficult it was for her to walk swiftly with shoes of such height. “When you’re not here, I do a lot of manual work with the engineers and laborers on sight. Trust me, it isn’t new. Can you just let me be and do my job? I really don’t know what you’re scared about.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Her irritation was escalating by the minute, but he couldn’t care less as he hopped back into the trunk of the vehicle. “You do manual labor with the laborers on sight, yeah. While that isn’t new, this is new. I don’t think you’ve been engaged in carrying heavy stuff before, so it’s different from joining the laborers while they’re building the house. As to what I’m scared of―what I’m scared of is you having an accident. Even if you end up not hurting yourself, you could hurt the others? Have you thought about that?”