Ria was tapping her nails on the table looking around.
Where was he?
It has been 6pm already. Urmila and he were supposed to meet her here at the café almost half an hour earlier.
She had been on tenterhooks for the past 3 days.
Had she done the right thing going to him? And that Urmila? Was anything really going to come out of going to her?
She shook her head. She had to keep hope. This was her last avenue.
Her phone pinged. There was a message from Shiv.
'Come outside.'
She couldn't understand why he wanted her outside, when he was the one who had arranged this meeting here in the first place!
She quickly paid her bill and stepped out.
Ria looked around. She couldn't see him anywhere.
Where the hell was he?
Before she could pull her phone and call him, a bike stopped in front of her.
Her eyes snapped up to look at the rider.
The person was wearing a helmet, but she didn't need to work hard to figure out who it was.
"Where is Urmila?" she asked firmly.
Shiv removed his helmet. "Get on the bike. We are getting late."
Ria looked at the bike and back at him. Her jaw clenched. "I am not going anywhere with you on that thing!"
"Thing! This is my baby! My Ducati!"
"I don't care if it is your baby. I am not getting on it with you!"
"Do you want to hear what Frodo has found out or not?"
Ria clenched his fist and glared at him.
"Fine!" Shiv put his helmet back on. "If you don't want to hear it, we can let it be. Bye!"
Ria closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. "Give me a wretched helmet!"
Shiv handed her one that he had with him on the fuel tank, tied around the handles.
Ria was sure he was smirking inside his helmet, even if she couldn't see him.
She got on the bike gently. She had barely found her bearing when he started it and sped up.
Ria gripped his shoulders tightly to stop herself from being thrown off.
"Stupid Idiot!" Ria muttered.
She knew he would not be able to hear her; part of her wished he could. He deserved all the curse words that were coming out of her right now!
Shiv was driving as though he was in some life-and-death race. He was swirling around turns without bothering to slow down.
Ria was too scared to even see where they were going.
"You are doing this on purpose, right?" she screamed, though he couldn't hear her. She had been clinging tightly to him by now. "You are an ass! Egotistical ass! You cannot win against me in normal course of the business that is why you are going this! Taking revenge!"
Shiv sped up more, as if wanting to scare her.
"You are a monster! Suicidal monster!"
Ria wondered if she could beat him up without risking her life.
No! She couldn't take the chance! It would be exactly what he wanted! Seeing her with a broken arm or a broken leg.
"If something happens to me, my Bhai and Papa will cut you into small pieces–very small pieces–and feed you to pigeons!"
She heard a chuckle.
Was he laughing? Had he heard her? No! it couldn't be!
She sat quietly for a second. There was only one way to find out. "You cannot hear me, can you?" she asked tentatively.
There was no response.
She sighed audibly.
Then she heard it again. If she had any doubts, she could feel his body shake with the movement. And she was sure it had nothing to do with riding the bike.
She gasped.
"You can hear me?!" She hit him–hard.
"You do realize I am riding the bike, right? One wrong move and we both could end up in hospital," came his mirth filled voice through her helmet.
Headphone and speaker enabled helmets! Great!
She dug her nails into his torso. If she had the option, her hands would have been around his neck right now–strangling him.
"Oww! What do you have? Claws or something?" he asked
"Something," Ria muttered.
"Keep them to yourself then! I know how to cut off claws," he warned. "Don't mess around while I am riding. For your own sake."
Ria fumed but kept quiet. Just wait till I get off this bike!
It was another fifteen minutes before they reached their destination. Urmila's house.
Ria got off the bike as soon as they stopped. She took off the helmet and shoved it into him.
"What the hell was that?"
Shiv calmly took of his helmet. "It is called a bike ride," he said grinning at her.
"You did that on purpose! You could have told me to just come directly to this address!"
"And miss out seeing you turn into a scared kitten?"
Ria walked toward him and stomped his feet with her four inch heels.
"Owww! Bloody hell!" Shiv jumped off hopping on his foot.
Ria gave him a smile.
"Have you lost your mind?"
"Want some more? Louboutins. They are amazing, aren't they?" Ria asked with a big smile, brushing her hands together at a job well done..
Shiv glared at her
"Should we get on to what we came here for?" Ria asked.
Not waiting for his response she walked into the building. He followed behind muttering about 'mental women'.
This time the door was opened by a man. Ria didn't recognize him.
Shiv walked past her and gave a quick manly hug to the man before entering the house.
When they got it, she realized that the man wasn't the only one there. She could make out at least two other women her age and two other men.
"They are here!" one of the men called out. She assumed he had called out to Urmila because she couldn't see her anywhere.
The two women walked up to her.
"I guess you don't remember us. I am Nisha and this is Pooja," one of them introduced.
Ria's eyes widened. She now recognized who they were. They were Shiv's friends from school.
She knew both the girls. They had always been nice to her; and she to them.
She gave them a warm smile. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you. It is nice to see you after all these years."
Pooja smiled at her. "Come on in. Let us introduce you to the others. I am sure you know some already."
She was quickly introduced to Rohan, Arvind and Sameer (Sam).
She hugged Rohan warmly. They had been friendly at school. She had always had a soft spot for him–in a strictly brotherly platonic way–back in school. But then they had lost touch. It was really nice to meet him.
"If the Bharat milap is done, can we get on?" Shiv drawled.
Ria threw a scalding look at Shiv before turning to look at all of them.
"What are all of you doing here? I mean..." Ria wasn't sure how best to put it so that it was not offending.
They could always have a get-together–if that was what was happening right now–but not when she and Shiv were there to talk about their brothers.
Ria turned around to look at Shiv questioningly.
"If there is something happening concerning Shiv, we need to be there as well," Arvind answered. "And this concerns Shiv."
Ria's eyes widened.
They were there to discuss her brother and Arun Kapoor!
She wasn't happy about this development. Some things were personal–very personal–and this was one of them.
"It doesn't concern him. It concerns our brothers," Ria said primly glaring at Shiv.
Shiv shrugged his shoulders.
"If it is about Arun Bhaiyaa. It concerns Shiv. And if it concerns Shiv it concerns us," Arvind said.
"Why? Are you his girlfriend?" Ria asked annoyed.
Sam, Nisha and Rohan burst out laughing. Pooja looked like she could join them. Shiv had an amused look on his face. Arvind on the other hand was livid.
"You--," he said getting out of his seat
"--have seen right through him in the first meeting," Urmila said walking in from behind her.
"Frodo!" Arvind screamed in frustration.
"Sit down, Arvind," Pooja said softly, holding his hand.
"Sit down! Sit down! Did you hear what she said?" Arvind said
"We are here for something more important. Let it go for now," Pooja told him gently
Arvind fumed but complied after a few minutes of deliberation.
"This is supposed to be a private discussion about our brothers. I will not have it made into a public spectacle," Ria said firmly looking Shiv in the eye.
"They aren't public. They are my best friends, and they care about Big B too. They aren't going anywhere if this is where they want to be," Shiv told her tersely.
"I am not okay with my brother being discussed in front of everyone," Ria said plainly.
"Then you need to decide if you want to hear what Urmila has found out or leave and try to figure this out all by yourself," Shiv said not willing to budge.
Ria looked at him.
Everyone in the room was silent. The silent battle brewing between Ria and Shiv could not be missed by anyone. The tension could be cut with a knife.
Ria clenched her jaw. After what felt like ages, she declared, "If your friends are here, my friends are going to be here too!"
Shiv shrugged. "Your choice."
Ria looked at him for a second, narrowing her eyes, before pulling out her phone and making a few calls.
The next 45 minutes were tense. No one spoke anything.
Ria sat on one sofa chair; Shiv on the one opposite her–holding each other's glance.
Doorbell broke the silence.
Rohan and Sam leapt out of their seats to get to the door; anything to get away from the tension.
Ten minutes later the entire room was full–if it wasn't already full thanks to Shiv's friends. Three more souls joined in–Rahul, Ananya and Vicky.
"Can we get started now?" Urmila asked rolling her eyes.
Thanks for reading. The story is taking a new turn now, hope you will find it interesting. Do share your thoughts and comments to let me know if you are liking this or if this is turning out bad...and do vote.