I was watching some mushy English Romcom after changing into my sleeping pajamas and torn tshirt, when my phone chirped announcing WhatsApp notification.
Avi: My sister wants you and Brute to join us for lunch tomorrow.
Me: Are you sure? I don't want to barge into your family time.
Avi: You won't be barging, besides Ruby and Pearl have been eating my head to make you meet them.
Me: I thought your sister stayed in Kolkata.
Avi: She came down to meet dad.
Me: How is your father doing?
Avi: He is doing fine. The cancer was detected early, so with the treatment he is going to be alright.
I felt a wave of relief. I knew prostrate cancer was easily curable, but had no idea what stage his father was in.
Me: That is great news.
Avi: Yes indeed. So you will be coming tomorrow, right?
Me: I don't know. I need to sleep over it.
Avi: We can leave Brute at my place and tour the city.
Was he trying to tempt me.
Me: ok
Avi: I will pick you up at 11 tomorrow.
Me: Sure
Avi: And Naxi, I don't want you to get any ideas ok. I am inviting you just as a friend.
Ouch! He surely knew how to dampen the excitement.
Me: Friends with benefits?😜
I tried to sound as if that last message of his hadn't affected me. He probably still under the illusion that all I cared about was the bet.
Avi: 🙄 just friend.
**************************
Christmas always meant waking up and finding a box of candies or a storybook hidden in plain sight by my father, who pretended Santa Claus had kept it there. We obviously knew Santa Claus didn't exist, yet I and Leo played along.
If you keep out their obsession of making their children doctors, my parents were pretty cool. Traditional Christmas Lunch at our social club followed the Christmas mornings.
Bengalis do have a habit of celebrating all the festivals elaborately. From Ganesh Chaturthi to Eid, from Christmas to Guru Nanak Jayanti, from Diwali to Chhat puja, every festival was grandly celebrated in Kolkata. Durga Puja however was the best one, which I unfortunately missed this year.
The thought of home, made me sad. I was missing my parents. I could have gone home and celebrated Christmas with them. My mouth watered thinking about the plum cakes, which were our Christmas breakfast at home.
Instead, here I sat alone in a hotel room, away from home, away from family, away from friends. All because of a guy who was committed to some one else, who didn't feel a thing for me, who would never be even mildly interested in me.
To distract myself I decided browse through the social networking sites and opened my Instagram after a long time.
After joining the College of Espionage I never really felt like scrolling the social networking sites anymore. Real life seemed more interesting in college, than the fake posts people put up in social networking sites. My father was right, people who don't have a life outside, lived in their social networking sites all day.
Before College, I had only two friend in school, who too were nerds like me. I wondered what my high school friends were upto. After checking their profiles and knowing how happening their Christmas was, I searched for M4's profiles.
YOU ARE READING
The Rules Of Pursuit
Roman d'amourHe uncrossed his legs and leaned forward in his chair. "Tell them partner, who was it?" "It was Natasha." I said unevenly. "Lie." He hissed. "It was me." "You really thought that I was the kind of guy who would leave one girlfriend and jump to anot...
