Poles Apart

Chapter Sixteen

"You should have put a bloody tracking chip in my head," I tell him and walk away, leaving everyone standing there. Before I start up the stairs, I turn around, "You know what you did was wrong. That is why you explained yourself."

I don't wait to hear him out or to register the look on his before I run up the stairs in three-inch high heels. By the time I reach my room, the adrenaline wears off, and mental exhaustion settles in. I sniffle and wipe the tears off my face. I ended up crying in front of everyone down there, didn't I?

it doesn't matter, though. I felt good; lighter. I had held back on a lot of things but it is okay. Telling my father off isn't something I ever thought I would do. I respect him too much for that.

~.~.~.~.~

"Arvi, I understand you're angry, but you can't just leave like that," my mother nags, sitting on the opposite edge of my bed.

I don't look up from my laptop. Angry doesn't begin to define what I am feeling. I am way beyond angry, and I'm hurt; deeply. "It's a business trip," I tell her tersely.

"And why so suddenly?" she demands, in her righteous position of my mother.

At this, I look up, making sure the irritation is evident on my face. "There are things I need to get done in London."

Rohan rushes into the room excitedly, "Arvi Akka, when are we leaving for the airport?" My mother looks away from me to glare at him. He passes her a sheepish grin, before turning his eyes away from her, hesitantly.

"Day after tomorrow. Early morning."

He walked away, with his phone in his ear, talking to someone.

When Rohan heard I was going to London on a business trip, he emotionally blackmailed me into taking him along. He then extended the invitation to Aryan, who was too much like me. Nothing would stop Aryan from the prospects of travel. I empathise with him.

"When are you coming back?" my mother demanded.

"I don't know."

"Will you come back at all, Arvi?" Her voice is low, hopeless.

I bite back animosity, as I say the following words: "Do I have a choice?"

I raise my eyes to look at her dark brown ones, a shade or two darker than my own. She looks hurt, slightly, but nods anyway.

"I am sorry about announcing your wedding like that. Your father is, too."

He is my father, "He can say it to me himself if he is."

Both of us know it won't happen. It has been two weeks since I saw him. It's not very hard. He stays in his room, and I stay in mine. It's sort of a given. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have been counting the days since I last saw him.

I hadn't been talking to Karthik, Kaushik, Pranav, or my father. I wouldn't be talking to my mother either, if not for the fact that she just won't leave me alone. Karthik tried to get me to talk to him.

I look at the time on my screen, he should be here anytime now. On cue, there's a knock on my door and after a minute Karthik walks in. He wouldn't knock, not usually. Now, he knows I won't give him an answer even if he knocks. He knocks just to give me a heads-up before he walks in. He shouldn't be doing that.

I talked to him in the office under circumstances concerning work, if extremely necessary. Otherwise, I either send him a text or an e-mail. He notices my mother is sitting here. He looks between the two of us, trying to figure out the atmosphere.