Project Parvati

Part II: Eighteen

I stuck my hand out of the window, clicking my lips together in frustration. Such is the sadistic nature of life that it always finds a way to taunt you for the decisions you make. I was beginning to regret mine too. They all tried so hard to change my mind and the doofus that I was, I shooed away every single one of them.

I probably should have listened to them. Vodafone has some serious network issues in the outskirts. Had I switched to Airtel, like the girl with the surprisingly-neat bob-cut had asked me to, through the one-sided-window, I would have been in luck today. Parvati looked at me with a mischievous sparkle in her optic sensors, or in layman terms, 'eyes'.

"You are frustrated." She said.

Scrunching my nose, I turned towards her.

"You think?" I rolled my eyes at her.

She narrowed her eyes at me and folded her arms. I shrugged and turned back towards the window. My wrist had a red mark on it, courtesy of the iron rods that blocked the window.

"Excuse me," I heard a deep masculine voice. "My phone is dead. Can I have yours?"

I turned to look at the man, who stood in the aisle, much against the wishes of the fellow passengers. Dressed in a simple grey tee and black jeans, he looked expectantly at Parvati, almost certain that she would surrender her non-existent phone to him.

"I'm sorry, I do not have a smartphone." She replied.

"How can you not have a smartphone? You look like a modern girl- the kind that would stay out late and drink." He sneered.

"Well, you look like a modern man- the kind that would be polite and respectful towards women." She shrugged.

The man clenched his jaw.

"What-"

"I'm so sorry to interrupt but my friend here just lost her phone at the bus depot and she is still in shock. And denial." I interrupted him.

"I don't even need a ph-"

I hit my leg against hers, to get her to shut up. However, I regretted my action almost immediately. I got so carried away by the argument that I forgot that her leg was made of metal. Solid metal. At that instant, I wished I had stuffed her with cotton or straw or anything soft, for that matter. It would've saved me a lot of pain, and a possible visit to the hospital.

And now, my leg was screaming in pain. Quite possibly even cursing me. I bit my lip as hard as I could and took a deep breath to stop myself from crying out loud. I really needed to get out of the bus.

"She g-gets sarcastic... hmph... whenever she is in denial," I said in a low voice and pursed my lips. "Now if you'll excuse me."

I excused myself out of the bus and limped my way to the coconut seller a few metres away from the bus depot. The bus would leave in ten minutes. That meant I only had about six hundred seconds to regain my composure. Five hundred and ninety actually, after omitting the time it took me to realise this.