Fluttering Dreams

CHAPTER 8: A PLACE TO GO...

(1 month after that incident, 8 pm)

Mahi was in his house as usual, practising. For the first time, she is feeling Rehan's absence. It's a bit awkward with just the two of them. Though she could handle the awkwardness with her continuous talking, at least he could have saved her from getting scolded with his grave mistakes. Ishan was staring at her for stuttering again on a simple line(Whay scold at me? It's your stare that you should blame...it makes me nervous...Mahi thought) when he got a call.

"Hello"

"Hey! I got a proposal...you remember that girl you brought with you that day?"

"I obviously do, because I was the one who had brought her!"- he answered coldly.

"Oh...yeah...right...so I would like to have her for my next TV serial-'Diba Nishi'...she has that type of look you know? That..."

"What?"-he asked coldly again. He was not liking where the conversation is going.

"That innocent-villain type look. So I would like to audition her on this Friday at 10 am in my studio."-he said that in a hurry and cut up.

"Was it that Director?"

"Yeah!...Will you-"

"Obviously I will!"

"But villain? You know...some people can't differentiate a character from reality...they will say hurtful words to you..."

"But won't you agree with that the villains' acting in TV serials is far better than the leads'? I even find their character more engaging. At least they don't pretend you know..."

"That's true..."

"So..."

"Hmm?"

"How about an ice cream for celebration?"- She showed her side bag.

He smiled. They went to a nearby store to get a chocolate cone for her. Ishaan said that he doesn't eat ice cream at night. As Mahi turned to the counter to pay, she saw Ishan already paying for the ice cream.

"I was about to pay!"

"How can I let you, a little girl pay?"-he laughed and went out of the store.

Mahi reflected on his words standing there for some time...little girl...he is 37 and she is 18, a new adult...yeah! She is a little girl in front of him...was she considering herself to be someone of his age...a reliable adult? Well, if she was, he would have shared his problem, wouldn't he? Or maybe he doesn't take her as trustable?...

From a distance, she heard-"Won't you come?"

"Coming Grandpa!"-she said as an act of revenge.

As they were walking through an alley to their home, she heard footsteps from behind. She turned around and stopped dead. Ishaan, seeing her stop, looked back too. His eyes flickered for a moment with rage though none of them noticed.

It was Mahi's father.

"Explain"-her father said in a tough voice.

She stuttered...explain? but from where should she start?

But before she could say anything, Ishaan started-"Good Evening Mr...Sanjay Roychowdhury!"

"Who-?"

But he stopped dead too...unable to believe his eyes...

"You look good as ever."-Ishaan said in a fake complimentation.

"Mahi go home! I will deal with you later!"- he said in a stern voice.

She turned around and walked as fast as she could...she took as turn but stopped...how does Ishaan know her father? 

"What are you doing here?"-Sanjay said in a fearful voice

"Chilling!"

"With my daughter?"

"I was chilling alone when I suddenly met her."

"Here?"

"Wasn't it you who had put the mask of a tax evader on my face? No one can expect me to stay in this semi-urban area, can they? So, here I am!"

Mahi stood shocked...her dad? But how? Why?...how come? No...she doesn't believe...

"It's defamation without evidence!"

"Wasn't it defamation too when you had fabricated my Financial Statement to hide-"-his voice trembled.

"I just did as told!"-Sanjay replied firmly and shamelessly and walked past him.

Mahi realising that her father was coming near, ran as fast she could though she could feel that her father had seen her.

(At her home)

She ran fast to her room, sat on her study table and opened her class 12 business studies book, trying to read.

She heard her father coming home, being welcomed by her mother and then heard his footsteps, they felt louder than they usually do. He went to his room and called her-"Come here!"

She had decided to stand firmly to his questions but she couldn't.

"Why were you with him?"

"I had acting lessons with him."-she said because she knew that whatever she says, truth or lie, her father will make something out of it to scold her.

"Acting! Acting! acting! You wanna be a clown?"

Yeah! That's what he thinks of an actor.  A clown trying to make the viewers cry, laugh, get angry...though he sees movies and series too...

"If a clown in your eyes then be it!"

"How dare you talk back to me?"

"But aren't you acting too father...aren't of being the clown you hate so much?"

"You! You dare! Get out of the house!"

"I will!"

"Then get going!!!"-he shouted.

She turned when he said-"But I hope that you won't go to his house..."

She ran out of the house in an instant, even ignoring her mother's call-"Ma, please come back!"

She won't lie that she had fluttered a bit at her call. Ma...a sweet call...her mother's mother had died the year she was born...she says that she sees her mother in her...

But she won't turn back...she knows that she is breaking her mother's heart into pieces but she is adamant...

You grow up fast if you have working parents...she had first thought that her father is too strict...then she had thought that he just doesn't know how to express himself...maybe he is just too busy to care for her feelings...but now all she feels is abience every time she sees him...god knows how did their relationship turn to this?

But no matter how much she disliked him, she had never imagined him to be capable of doing something like this...Maybe Ishaan has misunderstood her father...why is she still defending him? But the reality is-  She is now standing in a dark alley in a white t-shirt and a black pyjama with the side-bag...She felt as if she is standing on a big iceberg in the middle of an ocean...though she can see an upcoming ship...but she won't call it for help... Where will she go now?