Destiny's Gamble

One Step At A Time

"We'll play it together. Just get inside. We're late as it is." His eyes flit towards the bags of boxes in my hands.

"We wouldn't be if you weren't wasting time making that crap." He jerks his chin towards the food. Shrugging his grip off my arm, I climb into the bus. I leave the boxes on the floor downstairs and head upstairs, to the second deck of the bus. There's nothing better than sitting in an open double-decker bus, with the wind blowing in your face, as you soak in the sights around you.

"You'll be charcoal black by the time we reach the fair." Manik says, standing behind my seat. 

"Thank you for the advice, but I'll risk it," I say, resting my elbow on the railing. I watch as the driver steps into the bus, the doors shutting behind him. "You better sit down before you go tumbling." 

Manik scoffs, his presence still hovering behind me. 

"Do you really think a man with a build like mine could go - " Manik is cut short as the bus driver pulls onto the main road, causing him to trip backwards and land on his behind. I clear my throat to keep myself from bursting into a fit of giggles. 

"You were saying?" I say, smiling. Frowning, Manik grabs hold of the steel railing and stands up. He dusts his palms at the sides of his jeans, glaring at me. "What?" I shrug innocently. "I swear I didn't use my magic wand to cause your fall." I raise my palms up innocently, as if to surrender.

The bus jerks once more and this causes Manik to plop himself on the seat beside me in a mere second. 

"I'm not sitting beside you because I want to," he says. "I just don't have a choice. The children are occupying the other seats." The whole back row of seats is empty, but I don't point this out to Manik, because I know he's well aware of it. Also, I don't mind him sitting beside me.

"By the way," I begin, "Talks about punctuality don't suit you." 

"At least I was on time today," Manik grumbles. "Unlike someone I know." I roll my eyes, as I turn my head to watch our surroundings.

"So what should I call you? Manik or Aarav?" I ask, as I feel Manik's leg brush against mine. My breath catches in my throat. By now I should be used to being in close proximity to Manik, but I don't think this feeling will ever leave. Not even when years have gone by. 

Years...Will Manik and I make it for so long? I gently shake my head, dispelling the thought from my mind. Why think such far off thoughts when I might just get met with disappointment somewhere down the road? 

"Shut up," he hisses through gritted teeth. "No one here knows my real name and I'd like to keep it that way. 

"Sure, Aarav," I reply. "Can I ask you something?" 

"If I say no, will you shut your pie hole?" Manik shoots a question at me in response.

"Why don't you want the people at the shelter homes to know who you really are?" I ask, forced to raise this question to him, since I've thought it through a number of times and come up with absolutely nothing. Silence follows. Okay, I guess I'm receiving no answers. 

"This is the only place in Mumbai," Manik says after a while. "Or in the entire world, where people don't take a liking towards me for my name - Nyonika's name - or the money she's given me access to. They don't digest my crude behavior for the sake of keeping a connection with me because I might come in handy to them in the future, and nor do they shower me with fake love, and presents. To these children and adults I'm simply Aarav. A guy who visits them frequently, even though I'm not related to them by blood. Heck, their own offspring and family members don't come." 

Manik scoffs, shaking his head with disgust. I watch as his knuckles tighten around the railing. These people mean a lot to him and I don't even think they can fathom what a connection he has formed with them. Ma said that Manik has never loved, or if he does then he can't show it. Well, I say that he loves her, the children in this bus and the elderly back at the shelter. And he shows it by visiting them frequently, spending time in their company, and by baring a part of himself to them that he's never shown to the outside world. 

No one other than these people and I have heard him sing. But even I had to stand in line, while they were amongst the lucky few who got blessed by his melodious voice without any effort whatsoever. The Devil knows how to love. He just doesn't know it yet.

"How did you come to know about this place?" I ask, knowing that I'm pushing my luck by asking such questions, but what's the point in accepting defeat before even trying. "And how did you grow so attached to it?"

I watch as Manik's lips purse up, his jaw clenching. All hopes of denting his armor jump right over the window's railing and onto the road, underneath the tires of this vehicle.

"It's none of your business," he snaps, bringing our question and answer session to an end.