Shehnaaz stared at her phone; she wondered what Deepak was doing at her apartment. At this very moment,
she heard a chime from Parth’s phone, which he had left on the table. It was a text message.
Shehnaaz automatically glanced at the phone, and saw the contents of the message without meaning to.
It was from Shefali Arora.
[Shefu]: “It’s that time of the month for me again. I feel so uncomfortable… I miss the ginger tea you used to make for me, all those years ago…”
Shehnaaz’s mind reeled upon seeing this. Her mouth twitched as she nudged Parth’s phone away from her.
Before long, Parth appeared with a big dinner tray. He set it down before Shehnaaz, and moved the two plates of food that had been on the tray onto the table.
Shehnaaz silently picked up her pair of disposable chopsticks, and began to
eat.
Parth sat beside her. He watched Shehnaaz’s profile as he ate, a smile on his face.
Shehnaaz was embarrassed by this. She tapped Parth’s bowl with her chopsticks as she said, “Your lunch is
over here. What are you looking at?”
Parth’s eyes sparkled behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
He laughed, and said, “I’m looking at you, of course…”
“What nonsense. I’m not food, so why are you looking at me during lunch?” said Shehnaaz, before taking a sip of iced milk.
“You’re a real feast for the eyes.” Parth reached out and held Shehnaaz’s hand with his free hand.
Shehnaaz hastily pulled away. “Don’t be so cheesy, I’m still eating here.”
As they spoke, Parth’s phone rang again.
He reached for his phone, but the first thing he saw was the text message from Shefali that he had missed.
The phone continued to ring relentlessly, but Parth did not take the call. He was staring at Shefali’s message, his thoughts far away. He couldn’t help it; he was awash in old
memories. His eyes lingered on the words “ginger tea”.
Shehnaaz found it strange that Parth wasn’t answering his phone. She asked, “What’s wrong? Who’s calling? If you don’t want to pick up, just cancel the call. It’s kind of noisy.”
“Oh. It’s the student council.” Parth had returned to his senses. He unlocked his phone and took the call.
He gave a few non-committal replies to whoever was on the other end, before hanging up to check Weibo on his phone.
Shehnaaz was done eating; she saw that Parth had left most of his food untouched. She asked, “What’s wrong? Not hungry? Did something come up with the student council?”
“Yeah, I have some student council stuff to deal with, but I’ll give you a ride back, first.” Parth stood up, too lazy to eat now. He dumped the rest of his food.
When the two got up to leave, a woman wearing one of the newest dresses from Chanel’s latest summer line-up entered the cafeteria.
It was Arti Sinha’s older sister, Kasmira Sinha.
She looked at Shehnaaz as she walked past her. Shehnaaz was radiant and full of smiles; the tall, slim, elegant, and dignified man beside her had his arm around her shoulder.
She recognised the man: it was Parth Patel, her sister’s class representative, and also the only son of the Patel family, one of the wealthiest families in C City. The Feng family had once tried to curry favor with them.
The two of them walked past her, absorbed in their own little world.
They did not recognise her.
Kasmira turned, and watched Parth hold open the door to a Buick for Shehnaaz.
“Kasmira, what are you looking at?” Kasmira’s roommate followed her gaze, and saw Shehnaaz and Parth. “Oh, that’s the golden couple from Class One, the undergrad seniors from our department. They’re like the Golden Boy and Jade Maiden; it’s a match made in heaven.”
“They’re dating?” Kasmira finally looked away, and ascended to the second floor of the cafeteria with her
roommate.
“They’ve been dating for some time now. More than a month, I think? You know how it is. The senior year is
when couples break up, but it’s also when new couples pop up like
mushrooms after a rain.”
Kasmira and her roommate were both third-year post-grad students in the C University law department. They
were also graduating this year. Kasmira did not like to hear her roommate gush over
Parth and Shehnaaz. “Golden Boy and Jade Maiden?” She gave an odd smile, and continued, “…Jaded Slut, you mean?”
“Sorry?” Kasmira’s roommate had been concentrating on the menu, and had not heard Kasmira properly.
“Nothing. Just saying how wonderful they look together,” said Kasmira with a smile. “Let’s go sit over there.”
Her roommate wasn’t done talking about them, however.
After securing a seat, she said, with great interest, “…By the way, I heard that Professor Kartik Sen, the famous professor from B University, accepted Shehnaaz as his graduate student. It’s such a pity about your sister. If she hadn’t gotten into trouble, that spot would have been hers!”
“What?!” Kasmira’s head jerked up; her almond eyes were narrowed, her face clouded. “Didn’t Shehnaaz miss the interview?”
Kartik was famous for his zero-tolerance policy towards people who weren’t punctual. So how was this possible?
“She missed it, yes, but I heard that was only because she was seriously ill. She had a medical certificate proving she was sick and all, so Professor Sen gave her a second interview.”
“Are you sure about this?” Kasmira’s voice had gotten very low, and
sounded almost sinister.
Her roommate looked at her,
astonished. “Of course I’m sure! You haven’t been to the administrative building lately, have you? The grad school admissions list is posted there,
that’s as accurate as it comes.”
Kasmira’s appetite had vanished. She prodded at the rice in her bowl a few times, before standing up to say, “I have to go, I have something to do.”
Having said that, she walked out of the cafeteria without a second glance.
Kasmira’s roommate grumbled behind her back, annoyed by her behavior. “Tch! What a nutjob! Who does she think she is? Her wealthy heiress days are over…”
…
It was the weekend again.
Shehnaaz hadn’t planned on returning to the Andheri Precinct apartment – not originally.
Sandeep had told her that she was fully recovered, and therefore her weekly check-ups were no longer necessary.
As for Sidharth, he had apparently left C City.
She did not see the point in returning to that empty apartment.
But since receiving the call from Deepak on Thursday asking about her pajamas, she had become somewhat
restless. She kept wondering how he had found her pajamas…
And anyway, Parth had been busy with the student council since their lunch together on Thursday. He was too busy to spend time with her, so it was actually a good time for her to go back to the apartment.
…
Shehnaaz hurried back to her apartment – and immediately noticed all the changes.
She rushed into Sidharth’s room, to discover that all of his personal belongings were gone. It was as though his room had been burgled. The bathroom was sparkling clean. It could have passed for a display unit in a showroom, even; it looked brand new,
devoid of all personal items. It was the same for the study room, gym and gun room upstairs: everything that belonged to Sidharth was gone.
Her own belongings were intact, except for the pajamas under her pillow. But then again, that was also Sidharth’s…
If the apartment had indeed been burgled, the thief must have been extremely particular.
Deep inside, she knew she was only kidding herself: this couldn’t have been the work of a burglar. She thought of
Deepak’s phone call, and everything was now clear as day to her.
Shehnaaz leaned against the door to the gun room, and slowly slid to the floor. She buried her head between her knees.
The door had been soundproofed; it was covered with a thick layer of black leather on the outside, secured by dozens of black brass tacks. It was a very imposing door.
As she leaned against this dark, massive door, all alone, Shehnaaz looked smaller and more fragile than usual.
She sat there, hugging her knees, the entire night. Her mind was a complete blank, and her heart felt like it had been hollowed out.
This time, she was convinced that Sidharth no longer wanted anything to do with her.
Whatever. She would be turning 18 in the second half of the year, anyway. Sidharth’s responsibility as her guardian would be over then.
She knew this day would come, sooner or later.
But surely he could have spoken to her about this?
Instead, he had stealthily removed all his belongings when she wasn’t around. How rude.
Uncle Sid wasn’t like that, was he?
What happened?
When dawn came, Shehnaaz slowly raised her head, her lips compressed into a straight line. She watched the
apartment slowly grow brighter and clearer before her eyes.
It was a new day.
Her legs were stiff and numb. She rubbed them with her hands, and was about to stand up when she heard her
phone ring.
*
*
*
I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.