Poles Apart

Chapter Twenty-Eight

If one asked me, I'd tell them that he was born for the responsibility and he shouldered the responsibility and everything else that came with it for longer than anyone else has.

The condition, for Karthik to be elected, was that he gained every shareholder's approval; only then he would receive our parents'.

Suresh Babai was against the idea. He thought they should be on the front line, be the first ones to vote for Karthik, show their approval and heartfelt consent. Our father didn't agree. Our mother wasn't keen on the idea either, but she gave in to her husband.

By the time I reached home at 12:30 that night, I was tired shitless. I opened the main door in a daze only to be snapped out a second later.

"Surprise!" I heard the shrieking of unfamiliar voices.

I cover my face at the sudden sound, jumping back in a manner to protect myself.

"Fuck," I hear someone say. My eyes snap to the direction of the voice to see Rohan's friend Yash.

"What the heck, guys?" I hear Rohan's startled voice, hurrying out of the kitchen. He takes one look at me before covering his mouth, possibly to stifle the smile that was obviously creeping onto his stupid little face.

I'm covered in fucking glitter! Not before long, Rohan is laughing his bloody arse off, hunched over, clutching his stomach. A few of his friends worry about the lost surprise, a few of them worry about how angry I look, and a few others are trying not to laugh.

I sigh, remembering the surprise party Rohan said he was going to throw his friend. I push my hair out of my face only to find a heap of glitter on my head.

"Is this supposed to make a person look like a freaking Christmas tree in July?" I ask them incredulously, trying to dust the glitter off of myself. What will I do for the meeting tomorrow?

"That is the idea," Yash acknowledges from next to me. "This was the surprise part of it since Akash already had a rough idea about the party."

What will I do to get this glitter off myself, now? Shave my head off?

"You surprised someone alright," I hear someone's smug voice. I turn to look at Akash, the one that was supposed to be surprised.

Akash grins at me, holding the straw to the contents of the tumbler in his hands between his teeth. "Hi, Arvi Akka," he says cheerfully.

Just for that reason, I hug him, smearing the glitter on me onto him. I dust the heap of glitter sitting on top of my head onto his. "Happy birthday, Akash, I hope you have a bright, glittery, sparkle-filled future!"

Grinning at a now not-so-smug Akash, I walk past him, to the stairs. I stop beside Rohan for a brief moment. "I have an important meeting tomorrow, and if the glitter doesn't wash off, I'll shave off your head," I warn him, ruffling my hair to get it off.

Rohan's eyes widen. "But that's glitter!" he protests.

"I know!" I retort. "It's in my goddamned hair and fully covering me. Who comes up with dumbarse ideas as such for their friend's birthday? And if you were going to have a party, couldn't you have it in the other hall?" And see when people came in and pour glitter all over the right person?

"Ammamma and Thathayya are in the room next to the hall inside. They'd wake up from all of this noise," Rohan explains.

I sigh, feeling the on-coming of a headache. Too tired to beat Rohan up, I let it go. "I'm going to sleep," I tell Rohan and walk up the stairs, halting when I hear the kids yell, "Party!"

I turn around to find Rohan still at the end of the staircase. "Do you have booze?" I demand, narrowing my eyes at him. "All of you are not legal drinkers! The legal drinking age is twenty-one!"