Dil Beparwah | ✔

fifty seven

||CHAPTER 57||
《¤》

┊A R V I K A┊

Wind chimes rang in the balcony, the pleasant kind of alarm I was now getting used to. My phone was yet to ring itself, but of late, that was more of a Varun-problem than mine.

Per my daily routine now, I pulled the curtains apart and stretched a bit. Having brushed my teeth, I gathered my things and was pulling my socks up when a tired, grumpy voice pumped, "Oye Cinderella, kidhar?"

The clock hadn't struck twelve yet, but today I had to reach home before noon. "Are you seriously asking me that now?"

He yawned and rolled over to my side. Patting the warmer half, he motioned at me to join him. "There's still time."

"Ghar jaake mujhe ready hona hai."

"Idhar ho jaana?"

"I'm not showing up to Samyak's brunch in gym clothes!" Not in front of his fashion-designer of a wife, anyway. One cardiac arrest at a time was the plan.

His frown deepened. "Yaar aadhi almari toh bhar chuki ho yaha, kuchh aur pehen lena na."

Albeit an exaggeration, he made a valid point. "Fine, but... Mumma ko kya bolungi?" The early morning gymming excuse was overused by now, and judging my current state, frankly unbelievable.

"How old are you?"

How was he so unbothered? I didn't mean to be insensitive, but I couldn't help but point out, "You might be experienced in the department but this is the first time I'm introducing anyone to my family. And while I don't care about their verdict, it still freaks me out, and so I need today to go well."

Perhaps sleep ridden brains weren't the best receptors of rants. He rubbed his eyes and the side of his eyebrows. That was indication enough of an encroaching migraine. He did need his sleep.

Sighing, I crawled back into bed. That pleased him enough to open his eyes and pull me closer. "This may surprise you, but guess what? I've never really experienced this meet-the-parents culture before."

My fingers took over his forehead for him. "Not even Latika's?"

"Our families were close friends. Uncle-Auntie ko bachpan se hi jaanta thha."

"Nice. When did you guys start dating?"

"Summer vacation, eleventh standard."

"That's... pretty long." A thought that had floated my mind often, finally formulated into words, "Why did you guys part?"

May be I wore the rose-colored glasses she had supposedly talked about in her book, or may be I simply hadn't known him long enough. But, in spite of taking those two factors into consideration, I couldn't find any concrete reason as to why any woman in his company would ever want to leave him. Then what circumstance could possibly burst their bubble?

Varun cracked his eyelids open. My question hadn't caught him by surprise, but it had certainly stunned him for a moment. I retracted my hand slowly, returning his look.

"Khyati Auntie journalist thi," he began. "Investigative journalist. Quite renowned, actually. She... had a firm too. College mein wahi se internship bhi kari thi maine."

"Did you and Latika–"

"–go to the same college? Yep. Except, she didn't finish her degree."

"Why?"

"A death threat got too real. Khyati Auntie was murdered because of an operation she was carrying out despite multiple warnings. We knew, only because we wanted to be a part of it and learn how she maneuvered high profile cases. But she didn't let me or Latika in on it, because we weren't very experienced in criminal reporting then. Naïve second year kids. It's now that we realize that she was trying to protect us. It happened so suddenly that sometimes, I can't process it either. Latika and I had spent the whole day together because it was our fourth anniversary. Dropped her home, found her mother in their study. Shot dead. No traces. All evidences that she had gathered wiped out."