Ruhi screwed her face and shot him a quick glance.
"I should have known," Ruhi stated softly.
"What?" Vicky questioned.
"You are a proper Bengali right, a communist in your political ideologies. You don't seem to appreciate the efforts of our prime minister."
Vicky quirked his eyebrow.
"It has got nothing to do with my proclivity to communism. This is just an utter waste of time and energy," Vicky said as he ruffled his hair with his fingers and then rested them over his temple. The whole pandemonium around grated on his nerves and the headache he had anticipated earlier had now become a throbbing reality.
Vicky's lips were set in a grim line and a slight frown rested on his forehead. His palms gripped the railing tight and the criss-cross veins on the back of his hand stood out proudly. Ruhi had a sudden urge to roll those green -tinged blood vessels under her fingers.
"You, on the other hand, seem to be having a lot of fun."Vicky observed.
"Why don't you sit down for a while , er ..I make you a cup of tea?" Ruhi suggested trying to hold back a smile.
"Thanks." Vicky sat down on the bean bag.
Ruhi was standing near the railing after having enjoying her cup of tea. Intermittently she was waving and smiling at someone. Suddenly, she resorted to some sign language which Vicky couldn't comprehend.
Who was she waving at?Vicky knew for a fact that she didn't have any friends or even acquaintances nearby. He kept his empty cup on the wooden stool in a corner and stood up.
On the terrace of the adjacent building, which was at a much lower level ,he saw a boy. His shoulder length unruly hair, faded T shirt and pajamas didn't impress Vicky at all. Moreover, the boy even had a brow piercing that lent him a freakish look.
"Stop it," Vicky gave Ruhi a soft warning.
When Ruhi didn't pay him any heed, he continued his lecture."You live here alone Ruhi, you don't know how these guys are. Bloody
"Vicky please stop talking to me like I am a teenager".
"He could be a drug addict for all you know. What if he started stalking you?"
"Jesus, don't exaggerate things. He is a harmless guy." She whispered as if that boy would be able to hear her.
"And how exactly have you come to that conclusion?"
"I just know."
Vicky drew his arms up in air in exasperation. Such naivety was detrimental for her, he thought. He remembered the day when his sister, Maya ,had come crying to him, ask him to beat a couple of guys to pulp because they had eve-teased her. Vicky had not launched any physical attack on them, much to Maya's disappointment, but he did lodge a complaint in the local police station.
"You only seem to have a problem with evil men like me , ain't it? You were so uncomfortable to let me stay here but you seem to have absolutely no qualms about chatting to some random guy who looks like a hooligan in the making." He snarled.
Her eyes flicked to him and caught his twisted expression.
"Fun fact, I know what is right and what is wrong," she replied coldly that got Vicky furious with her and himself.
'The hooligan in the making' meanwhile noticed the 'lovers' squabble' from where he was and quietly slipped away.
***
Vicky and Ruhi seemed to be winding each other up constantly.
There were many instances when he Ruhi would genuinely get under Vicky's skin. But, more often than not, he was deliberate in his attempts to annoy her.He derived some strange pleasure from seeing her all worked up. Half the time he was gawping at the tip of her and the two high points on her cheeks which burned red when she was angry.
By the time they had dinner , they still weren't speaking to each other.
Ruhi didn't get any sleep. She replayed what Vicky had said to her. Feeling nervous and edgy for something she couldn't put her finger on, she decided to talk to Tara.It had been two days since she spoke to her.Tara had a delightful personality that could cheer anyone up.
"Lovers' tiff?" Tara asked Ruhi though she was not surprised at all. She believed that Vicky and Ruhi were not over and had sparks flying between them the moment they were within each other's radius of sensory perception.
"We did not exactly fight," Ruhi said and after a pause added , "let's talk about you for now."
"Do you miss your ex-husband?" Ruhi asked Tara. Ruhi had never asked questions regarding what had gone wrong in Tara's marriage lest she should upset her.
Tara sighed and narrated the harsh realities of the failed sob-story of her marriage. Her ex-husband had been abusive and narcissistic she had been only happy to be out of it. Ruhi listened to some of Tara's incredulous yet traumatic experiences with shocking disbelief. There was no way anyone could stay in such a disastrous marriage.
"I'm happy now Ruhi."
"I'm sorry for dragging you down the memory lane."
"Hey ,that's okay.A word of advise from me. You better rethink your decision about Vicky. Do you really think you would find a teetotaller in this day and age?" Tara felt Ruhi was being too naive.
"It's very difficult to find a partner with the mind-blowing chemistry and understanding that you two share. Why throw that away? You are too young and not thinking right." Tara counselled her. Ruhi,however was not convinced.
After speaking for some more time, Ruhi hung up and crept to her bed feeling more muddled than ever. Tara had just now managed to confuse her even more.
Nobody would understand her perspective, she thought, with a strange sense of apathy. Only she knew how terribly she had been affected by her dad's drinking problem. The struggles that followed left an indelible mark in her life and invariably all her decisions somehow were based on that experience. In a flash, all her old buried emotions surged up, the trauma, the pain and the overwhelming sense of helplessness that had surrounded her then. It was as if she had been cruelly dragged back to that time and forced to relive it.
May be she was just paranoid and Vicky was telling the truth. May be Vicky would never touch alcohol again but her mind protested. And if she stayed with Vicky, she knew there would always be this feeling of impending doom, as if she was anticipating Vicky to plunge into alcoholism.
No matter how much she tried, she could not get rid of this fear that Vicky might also end up like her dad. Then slowly, the truth dawned on her. It was not about Vicky at all, it had never been about him. It was her deepest fears and bitterness that was in her way. Would she be able to put her fears aside and give this relationship a chance? She was not sure. There was no way she would lead him on a wild goose chase. No way she would break his heart.
Hadn't she already done it, she reflected and sighed woefully.
Vicky was working on his laptop with headphones on. He was gently swaying his head and tapping his feet to some music. Ruhi gave him occasional furtive glances. He seemed to be absorbed in whatever he was doing.
Was she being silly in thinking Vicky was not right for her? They actually got on pretty well with each other. Their constant arguments were fun, but she daren't admit that to him. Damn. She didn't want to admit that to herself. She had to put a full stop to these thoughts that were unforgivingly tormenting her. So, she pulled the comforter over her head as if it had magical powers to block the tangible sex-appeal of her hotshot ex boyfriend from searing her senses. His presence there was more than enough to make her woozy.
Ruhi was almost half asleep when she heard a low, rumbling noise. She quietly peeped out of her blanket and her eyes instantly immediately rested on Vicky's form.The room was dark except for the flashing light from the laptop which danced on Vicky's face. She brought her eyes to focus on his side profile. The head phones were still glued to his ears and the corner of his lips curled up, revealing his perfect teeth a dentist would be proud of.
What a revelation.
Her supposedly no-nonsense thirty-one year old ex was watching Tom and Jerry and exploding in a silent laughter. Still remaining ducked under the cover, she tried to stifle a giggle by biting her lips a bit too hard that she winced.
Vicky, however, was oblivious Ruhi's ardent scrutiny and his eyes remained glued to the screen.
The show did not end there. After having fun with Tom and Jerry, Vicky switched to 'The Prisoners of the Sun', an old Tintin episode on youtube.
Good god, he looked so cute she swore that this scene would be permanently etched into her brain's hard disc.
She slipped into a pleasant sleep with a smile on her face.
***