The trail and error of life

Chapter:4. Chicken Dance

I groaned as my phone rang for the third time and I decided to pick it up. My eyes burned as I tried to open them, probably from all the crying last night. I turned my head around and my left cheek too stung from the tight slap he bestowed me with. I can't believe I'm letting him treat me like this. If it wasn't for my mothers happiness I would have already left. Moreover I feel it's too soon to make any rash decisions. 'The fruit of patience is sweet' I reminded myself what my father always said to me. Once I snapped out of my thoughts, I quickly answered the calI before it could end. "Are you seriously mad at me for leaving you alone?" Dhrithi's voice asked franticly. "What? No silly! Why would you say that?" I asked her, confused. "I'm so so very sorry, it's just that I was.. um.. out of habit.. I mean uh I'm so sorry I should have at least left a text. I'm-" "Calm down, I didn't even remember that. And I promise I'm not one bit bothered by that. In fact there is no 'that' get it? It's not even a problem" I cut her off, assuring her. "But I still feel very bad. I want to make it up to you. And mind you that's not an obligation but I want to hang out with you, you know out of office?" She explained. "Oh! That's sweet of you.Sure, we can do that someday" I confirmed. "Not someday! Today! Let's hangout today" She exclaimed. "Oh no no... Dhrithi, I'm not really in a mood right now" I declined. "Oh! Pretty please?" She whined. "Oh, no. I honestly need some alone time. Not really in a mood" I confessed. "What happened? Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, concern evident in her voice. "Its nothing, I'll be fine. But thank you so much for the offer, it really means a lot. I promise we'll hangout soon" I promised before hanging up. Ugh! It would definitely be great fun hanging out with her but I'm far far away from fun. I don't want to talk to any one after the humiliation I had faced yesterday. I'm pretty sure word must have passed around and Dhrithi would also know about yesterday's incident. My thoughts were interrupted when a wet towel fell over my head. I removed it from my face to find Kaif looking at me with a disgusted face. "Ugh! Honestly I'm so sick of seeing your face for the past month. How much can I pay you to get lost!" He exclaimed as her gathered his clothes and left for the closet. I've never seen a person as sadistic as Kaif. A little part of me feels bad that he had to marry me instead of Zainab but again his parents don't seem that bad that he could not have fought for the love of his life. And it most definitely don't give him the right to treat me like shit. Oh! How I wish he could marry her, freeing both of us from this torture. If it weren't for his parents presence I would not have come anywhere near his presence. I could have lived happily and only put on happy marriage whenever family was around. 'Allah! Please give me the patience to deal with him if this is what is destined in my life or please give me the strength to let Ammi know the truth' I offered a silent prayer when my phone buzzed indicating a message. 'Are you really very super very sure? If not, pretty please think about it?' Read the message from Dhrithi and I chuckled at her childishness. And sure enough I thought about it, maybe I can give Kaif some rest from seeing my face. 'Fine milady, send me the address' I sent her back the text not before adding face-slam and eye-roll emojis.

"Amyra!!" Dhrithi squealed like a six year old as she ran over to me and hugged me tight, I hugged her back, holding on to her for a few more seconds. I quickly masked my sadness with a smile as we pulled apart. "Where in the world are we? This place looks fancy!" I exclaimed as I took in the beautiful sight in front of me, white wooden fences, protecting the lawn from the lake flowing in front of us. I turned around to find a massive white building that seems like a bungalow or something. " Um.. well that's a surprise, we have a couple of people joining us but don't worry, you know a few of them" She informed. "Dhrithi... yaar!" I whined. "Don't worry! I promise you it'll be fun. I'm there with your right? Now let's go, they should be inside. I was waiting for you so haven't met them yet" She said as she dragged me to the back side of the bungalow. Being mesmerised would be an understatement. I was shocked seeing the large badminton court beside the fancy swimming pool which had a couple of people in it. Well, being from a middle class family, I wasn't exposed to such amenities. But what shocked me even more is when my eyes landed on Mr Ayaan in a tank top and shorts, playing Badminton with Mr Avinash who was in a similar attire. I would have never guessed this was the surprise. As soon as we reached outside the court, I saw Dhrithi running towards Mr Avinash and crashing onto him into a hug. Woah! Okay! Im beyond confused now, what the hell is happening? It's common for people to hug but that kiss on the cheek she just gave him did not seem platonic. Once they had their moment, she looked at me and as if on cue, Mr Ayaan, whose back was facing me also turned along with Mr Avinash. They acknowledged me with a smile while I still stood there confused. " Amyra come over!" She shouted out for me and I awkwardly walked over to where they were standing. "Amyra, this is Avinash....my fiancee. Surprise!" She exclaimed and I was bewildered and ashamed remembering the comment I had passed about Mr Avinash to Dhrithi. I looked up to face her and she gave me a wink with an excited smile and I gave her an embarrassed smile. "And Avi, this is Amyra she joined Synergy a week back and she is awesome!" She said as she snacked her arm around Mr Avinash's and leaned onto his side, her excitement still not wearing off. "Hi Amyra, and you can call me Avi" Avinash introduced himself as he shook hands with me. "And this is of course the infamous Ayaan Haider Baksh. You guys have already met" She said indicating to the man standing right beside me. He gave me a small smile when suddenly yesterdays events flashed in front of my eyes and I quickly averted my gaze. God! This is embarrassing. I shouldn't have come but seeing Dhrithi so happy and excited brought a sense of delight to me. "Amyra, you in for a game? Rest of them are still in the pool so if you join Rithu.. I mean Dhrithi, we can have a match" Avinash offered and Dhrithi's excitement grew even more, if that was even possible. I smile wholeheartedly as I didn't miss how she blushed when Avinash addressed her as 'Rithu". Aw! They are so cute together!. "I guess.. yeah" I agreed because Badminton was my favourite sport growing up and I used to play it every morning until everything changed over a month back. I sighed at the thought of Kaif and my marriage but then decided to keep aside all that and enjoy my time in the court. 'Great job with the outfit Amyra! Joggers and loose Tee! I'm going to rock today!' I murmured to myself. "Girls versus Boys!" Dhrithi Shouted and we all shook our heads amused by her child like antics.

We decided to directly jump into the match without a trail because apparently they think we are not gonna play good anyways. The first serve was by Mr Ayaan who stood opposite to Dhrithi while I faced Avinash. Making sure my hijab is in place, I focused my attention to Mr Ayaan's hand while I placed mine parallel to the net. He made a really good serve and I quickly stepped forth placing the cork towards the net. I'm guessing none of them were expecting that because they missed it, earning us a point. Dhrithi squealed in victory, mocking her fiancee with a chicken dance. I couldn't help but laugh at her and I laughed at her so much that I almost tripped over my own foot. Soon followed an awesome match that kept me on the tip of my toes. Mr Ayaan was as good as me and it gave me tight completion whereas Avinash was really good but I could easily beat him. Dhrithi was a whole another case. Apparently she's really good at basketball and sucked at Badminton but she came up with a strategy to win and that was to flirt with Avinash, distracting him. And to my surprise, that actually worked a few times, earning Avi smacks from Mr Ayaan and that was hella funny. With few flicks, hairpins and two half court shots, we won, making Dhrithi do her chicken dance few more times.We stopped the game as all of us had lost a lot of energy trying to earn twenty points. "Do you guys mind if I grab her for a few minute?" Avinash asked and excused them once we let them know we are good. "You can freshen up in the guest room" Mr Ayaan informed and I followed him inside the massive house. "Wow! Do you seriously live here?" I wondered. Out loud! Stupid me. "Nope this is the family lake house. We come here every now and then when no one is visiting. I live in Shanthi Nagar" He said. "Oh! I know that place, I live two stops from there" I announced, excited to recognise a place but then I soon composed myself seeing the look on his face that read 'Okay? So?' He showed me to the massive guest room letting me know I can wait in the front room down the hallway.

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