Pushing the quilt off her body, Khusi sat up, squinting her eyes to adjust her vision. She couldn't remember when she fell asleep. Fatigue from her 15 hours long journey and the cleaning definitely took a grip of her last night, as she looked down the bed. A box of pizza and coke was sprawled on the carpet floor.
Rubbing her face, she quickly threw her hair up in a messy ponytail, and did her morning business. It was Sunday, so she had the whole day to herself before the classes start from the next day. Deciding not to sulk inside the home and wallow herself in self-pity, she grabbed a baggy light cardigan and matched it with a pair of skinny jeans. It was pleasantly sunny outside, but the temperature was below 15°C, though it was mid May. Needless to say, winter still was Khusi's favorite time of the year.
It took her 30 minutes to locate the local market of the town, which was closest to her residence. She was craving for some homemade chicken curry and rice, and was definitely not up for having lunch at a restaurant. The refrigerator was empty, obviously, due to the lack of human existence in the house for more than a decade.
Making a list in her phone, she grabbed the necessary items, making sure to keep her budget low. She was in front of the vegetable store waiting for the shopkeeper to give her items she asked for, when a commotion broke down a few yard away from her, in front of a convenience store.
She quickly ran outside to see two terrifyingly tall men, dressed in black shirts beating up a poor middle aged man. Her eyes widened as one of them punched the man straight on his face and he fell down on the ground with a thud, blood dripping down his nose.
"Be careful bastard. Do you even know how much this car costs!? How dare you lean on it!?" One of the black shirt men kicked the old man's side and he curled up in a fetal position, whimpering in pain.
As if on autopilot mode, she was just about to stride up to them, a protest on the tip of her tongue, when a hand clutched her wrist. She swiftly turned her head back, glaring down at the stranger when her eyes stopped on a short hijabi.
"Don't intrude in matters you have no business in," she warned eyeing the felons.
"Are you serious? Can't you see they are beating him up." Khusi was flabbergasted at the girl's words. A crowd had formed in the market, everyone's gaze fixed at the scene, but no one dared to step up.
"Trust me when I say this, but it's better if they don't know you. You don't look like you're from here and you don't want to be on the bad side of that man ever, if you want to live in this town."
"Who?" Khusi demanded, curious at the girl's trepidations for her. They were practically strangers.
"Him." Khusi turned back to look at the direction the girl was pointing at. A man dressed in a black three piece suit walked out of the convenience store, his face intimidatingly cold, a small boy behind him, clutching a plastic bag. The men in the black shirts quickly took the plastic bag from the little boy's hands and opened the back door for the two of them.
The SUV drove away, leaving behind a group of murmuring crowd. Khusi snatched her hand away from the girl's grip and glared down at her.
"Why the hell did you stop me and who the hell was that!?"
The girl smiled wryly at Khusi. "I knew you weren't from here. Or else you wouldn't be asking that question. Stay here for 2 weeks, you will get to know him soon enough. Just don't get noticed by him." Saying that, the girl ambled away, leaving back a perplexed Khusi staring at the retreating crowd.
*******
"Good Morning teacher ... " the whole class drawled the greeting musically as Khusi strode inside the colorful classroom, decorated with drawings of the student all around the wall.
It had been 9 days since Khusi started taking classes in the new school and from the very first day she stepped inside the premises, no one had misbehaved with her. Though she was still upset about the demotion she got, but being back in between the small kids who were the reincarnation of angels was truly soothing her dampened mind and restless soul.
"Submit your homework and then we'll start the quiz," Khusii instructed, her tone slightly serious. She was afraid of being soft on her students this time. But none of them were like the ones in her last school from Shimla.
The quiz started as soon as all the copies were submitted and Khusi smiled inwardly when she saw the enthusiasm among the kids to answer her questions.
When the class ended, a small smile grazed Khusi's lips as she strode out of the class with the class echoing "Thank you teacher ..."
Khusi was slightly diverted as she was checking on some papers while walking, when she collided with someone. Gasping, she stumbled back, an apology on its way out of her throat when Khusi's gaze halted on a cold hard face.
"Sir, I'm extremely sorry," Khusi apologized to the Principal of the school, who stared at Khusi with a piercing scrutiny.
"Khusi Mukherjee, right ? The new replacement teacher?" Mr. Agartala mocked, as Khusi fisted her dress. Since the very first day Khusi met the Principal of the school, she had found him intimidating. With a cold face, hard voice and a foot taller than her, in her late 40s, Mr. Agartala was a strict person, and strangely mysterious.
"Yes sir."
"Watch your steps in this town. You never know what befalls on you." With that, he sauntered away with long strides.
Heaving a relieved sigh, Khusi strolled into the staff room, cold sweat gliding down her temple.
"Khusi! Hey! Where have you been?" A squeaky voice echoed behind her as Khusi pinched the bridge of her nose. Her new colleague Minakshi tapped her shoulder as Khusi turned to look at her with a blank face.
"Hey Mina." Khusi didn't want to call her by the nickname, but Minakshi didn't give much of a choice.
"Where were you!? See, I bought egg sandwiches from the canteen. Let's eat them before they get cold. C'mon!" Grasping her hand Minakshi pulled Khusi to her desk as Khusi heaved another tired sigh.
After the kind of colleagues she faced in Shimla, Khusi wasn't exactly eager to make friends in the new town. She was paranoid of trusting new people too soon only to them finding out about her being a divorcee and ignoring her.
"Here." Mina served Khusi the sandwiches as she munched on her own, gulping soft drinks alongside that. Khusi took her sandwich, smiling inwardly at Minakshi.
"Oh my god! This is so yummy. Like heaven freaking delicious. How do Raju kaka prepare this I wonder? Oh my God Khusi! Let's kidnap Raju kaka and imprison him in our house. Then we'll get to eat these sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Yes! That's an excellent idea," Minakshi sputtered, bobbing her head up and down, staring at Khusi with wide open eyes.
"Or, we can just ask him for the recipe," Khusi calmly advised, sipping on water.
Minakshi's beam disappeared as she furrowed her eyebrows and squinted her eyes, tapping her chin. "Hmm, that could be done too."
Before Khusi could say something else, Minakshi's gaze travelled behind Khusi, her eyes widening as she screamed and shot up from the chair, pointing at someone behind Khusi, her mouth wide open.
"OMG! Look who's back! I missed you bitch! Look! I made a new friend when you were away from me! Her name is Khusi!"
Khusi didn't know how to deal with so much energy that was radiating off Minakshi. She was like a little ball of sunshine, always smiling and always cheerful.
"Minakshi! Tone down your voice, will you? Some of us are actually trying to get some work done here," one of the elder teachers chided Minakshi as she pursed her lips and shook her head, making a squinting face at the elder teacher.
"No Mr. Mehrotra. What did you ever get with being grumpy all the time? Learn to smile sometime. Anyway who cares! My bitch is back, now I don't need to tolerate oldies like you alone here."
This time Khusi couldn't help but chuckle at Minakshi' word.
"You are impossible Mina," Khusi giggled.
"Oh my god! She smiles." Minakshi wiggled her eyebrows, passing Khusi a smirk.
"Okay now, Khusi. Let me introduce you to my bestie and my soul sister Ziniya." Khusi turned to greet the almighty Ziniya, about whom she had already heard at least a dozen compliments in the last 7 days form Minakshi.
"So you're the infamous Zini ... "
"You?"
~ • • • • • ~
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