You must have seen those sappy movies where the hero would blindfold the heroine in order to surprise her. The poor heroine would remain blind while the cocky hero took her to an unknown place. He would then unfold her eye mask to surprise her with a fairytale home. It was rather strange how he hid such a huge secret from her but that was beyond the point. My point was that this particular filmy scene was being played in reality, right in my city, right in my district. Who were the hero and the heroine, you would ask? Your guess was probably right.
"If you don't pull down your fucking hand from my eyes right now- I swear I'm gonna castrate you."
"Why do your thoughts always follow my dick? Even I don't love my buddy as muc-"
I kicked his calves, successfully shutting him up in time.
"Fine, fine." He gave up, finally removing his hand from my eyes. I blinked my eyes a few times to get used to the sunlight. When the coast was clear, I took a double take of the scene before me.
It was a white, two storey bungalow alright but instead of standing in front of the main door, we were standing in front of a small house, attached to the side.
A garage.
"The surprise is yet to be witnessed, malady. Just you wait," Rithik answered the curiosity, reflecting on my face. He crouched down the ground to unlock the shutters before standing up. The door began rolling upwards, slowly revealing what's inside. When the shutters rolled up completely, I was flabbergasted.
Let's just say what I saw wasn't a garage, but a garage turned into a bedroom.
The first thing that instantly caught my eye was the thunder grey- blue motorbike with 'Yamaha' printed on it. The room became clearer when Rithik switched on the lights. My gaze switched to a double bed at a corner besides a rectangular window. A cooler lay to its side There was an open shelf, a few meters away from the bed that held a small television and a radio. I raised my head to the white walls, to the car posters at one corner. Most posters were of posh, luxurious cars. Infact many things here- from a bulging bike to a boxing champion poster, from a pair of socks at the end of the bed to the faint smell of sweat, screamed a man's room throughout.
"This is awesome, man!" I commented, taking a good three- sixty degree view of the so called garage. I walked over to another open shelf that had an electronic gas on, alongwith a few more kitchen appliances. "Is it yours?"
"Yes, this small kitchen is mine."
"No, silly." I tched. "I meant this garage. Obviously this bungalow is not yours. Then..."
"Remember the bartender friend I talked about earlier? The one who moved overseas. It's his. As for his family, they also moved out with him for the time being."
My brows shot up as I remembered. "So you rented this garage?"
"Men don't bring money between friendship. It's a free space for me," He told proudly then lowered his head to my level, smirking. "And a love nest for us."
I nudged his shoulder at his answer, smirking back, "It's been a fucking month now. Why didn't you tell me about this kopcha (hideout) before? It's much better than calling you over to my rented apartment, checking whether Khushboo is there to eat my brain or not."
Rithik took his time, eating a chocolate biscuit kept in the jar and offered another one to me. "It's like Harry Potter's platform nine, three by four. Only few supervised people know about this, including my parents."
"So you invite those supervised people and have dinner with them?" I asked, circling around a dining table in the middle of the room with four chairs.
Rithik's lips twitched a bit but not in a funny way. "We only came here to fuck, Natasha. That's all it should matter."
I raised an inquisitive brow at his crude choice of words. Supporting my hands on either side of the table, I jumped backwards to sit on it and parted my legs. "I hope this table won't mind me."
My words were equally met by his smirk. He stood between my legs, then running his hands from my thighs to my face, whispered, "Consider this room yours."
~
From then onwards, I would pay regular visits to his secret haven which would turn into a love nest afterwards. A week passed just like that. It was a normal Saturday afternoon. I was waiting for him in his garage, alone. He had temporarily ditched me to buy something that started with S. I swear this man bathes on samosa. I was just walking around, dissecting his room when I heard sounds outside the rolling door. Assuming he had the key, I didn't bother opening the door for him. When I stepped forward to meet him, I was instead met with the sight of not one, not three, but four unknown guys. Sporting some flashy jackets and a murderous face, they literally looked like gang members of a small mafia organization. Their ongoing conversation stopped as soon as they laid eyes on me.
I froze.
They froze.
And I wished the whole world would freeze like that but unfortunately, a stout man amongst them, willed to speak, "And you are?"
'A woman,' I was tempted to say. Before I was further scrutinized under their suspicious stares, I was saved by a familiar figure, approaching behind them.
Rithik's alarmed face clearly screamed 'oh, shit' as the situation made sense to him. His mouth opened and closed like a fish until he raised a finger towards me, "Guys, uh, meet..."
And right and then, Natasha Patil did something, that no woman in the entire galaxy would do in this situation.
"Bhaiya!" I called, running towards him like an oblivious fool. "You took your sweet time, bhaiya. Now where are my samoses?"
I didn't blame Rithik for the lack of life on his face. How could I, when I myself felt like vomiting at my choice of word. As for him, he literally looked like someone had snatched the soul out of his body. But the very next moment, he joined his hands in a prayer like stance and raised his head above, "Oh God, why didn't you murder my ears before I heard this trash?" And continued to spew dramatic words to the Gods above.
I let out a heavy sigh, "Just pretend this never happened."
"How could I?!" He shook my shoulders dramatically, appearing to be hurt. "You just declared us incest! Ah, I'm going to have nightmares for weeks."
"Rithik, bhai," One of his gang- like friends, interrupted, diverting our attention to him. He straight out, pointed a suspicious finger at me. "Was this the reason why this place became out of bounds for us?"
Another one of his friends, stepped forward and placed a hand on Rithik's shoulder. This one surprisingly looked decent and calm, unlike the rest of them. "The cat is out of the bag, my friend. You owe us all an explanation."
Rithik looked like he would rather be pulled into a black hole, than face this awkward situation. I shared the same sentiments this time. Maybe I should play the unconscious card to get their minds off it. Just as I was stirring dramatic solutions in my head, he draped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his side. "Guys, meet Natasha Patil. She studies in the same college as me but in a different course. You must have probably guessed as to why I wasn't allowing you lot to loiter around here. Anyway, just ignore whatever this idiotic woman said before. She just wanted to cover up the fact that she's my girlfriend. So yeah, we are dating. End of story."
All other thoughts ceased to exist as soon as 'girlfriend' and 'dating'- two very destructive words, reached my ears. If I were a cartoon character, then smoke would have blown out of my ears by now. I shot daggers at him while the ignorant bastard laughed at the mocking statements thrown by his friends. Fuck it! I had enough.
"Oh, shoot, Natasha. Where are you going? Wait!" Rithik called after me as I dashed off the door. He grabbed my elbow when I was about to exit the premises of the bungalow that was attached to the garage. He brought me to a corner, away from the peering ears. "Let me-"
"I didn't sign up for this shit!" I pointed to the garage. "Why couldn't you just say that we are fuck buddies?! That would have been enough!"
"Shh, I can't."
"Because of your reputation?"
"Oh, please. That hardly matters," He retorted. "Sorry but I can't just go up and say you're my fuck buddy, booty call or fucking whatever. I know you hardly care about what you are called but I do. It sounds hella cheap to me. Also, there's that."
"That?" I looked at him incredulously.
He crossed his arms and shifted his upper body, away from my direction. "It- its just that if I tell them the truth then chances are, they might look you in the way I do. They are my precious buds but I can't control their hormones, now can I? Who knows, they might secretly pursue you and I absolutely don't like to share what's mine."
"Oh," I uttered, absent-mindedly. I don't like to share what's mine. I couldn't believe he said that. Obviously he meant he didn't share the idea of a threesome, you dumbfuck. No, wait? "I'm not your possession."
His broad chest huffed as he sighed and dropped his hands. "I never said you were. It's just what I said at the beginning of this arrangement- I want us to be exclusive till the time we are together. That's all."
I wonder how he will react if I said I hooked up with Kunal behind his back, once. "So, what now? Do I have to act lovey- dovey in front of them?"
"Not at all, babe. Just act like a hot- headed bitch you always were." he chuckled, thus earning a playful smack on his chest.
Ah, the things I have to do to keep him.
Rithik didn't waste time, introducing his gangster like friends after we returned to his room. He defined them as freeloaders who only visited him to waste their breath in the confinement of his room. I didn't even bother remembering their names. I only recalled the fat man's name, Snorlax-- a nickname kept by his beloved friends, taken after a fat cat Pokemon.
Everything was going smooth until someone amongst those jokers, mentioned a word that notched up my body temperature for a very wrong reason.
"Excuse me?!" I blinked twice.
"Aye, you were asking for a shortcut to this Palika road, na?" Snorlax answered in a Malayalam accent. "Ai suggested you that."
"No, not that, uh... You called me by something before."
Snorlax brows knitted for a second until they rose in recognition. "Bhabhi. I was calling you, Bhabhi."
A nerve cell must have cracked in my head at that word. I turned to Rithik, shooting him a very lovely, tight lipped smile.
"Of course we'll call you 'Bhabhi'. We are well mannered friends of his and we respect his choices," The decent guy added, placing a hand on his chest.
"Rithik?" I eyed him and then at his friends, with the kind of smile that could give them diabetes.
Rithik's face, however fell in a matter of seconds. He turned to Snorlax, making a crying face. "Bhai, marwayega kya? (You going to get me killed, brother)" His friend obviously confused tried to reason with him. "Yaar samjha kar (Try to understand, pal)." He added, stealing a quick glance at me and then turned to his friends with his palms joined in mercy.
His friends seemed to have understood after Rithik communicated with them through some weird brother codes. Thankfully they were intelligent enough to leave after half an hour to grant us some privacy. They patted Rithik on his back whispering something I didn't bother to know. Then they turned to me with a creepy smile on their faces.
"Goodbye, Bhabhi!"
"RITHIK!" I yelled, secretly planning their murder in my head. He looked at me like he was looking at ghost, then ran to kick his friends out of his garage. Like literally kick them on their butts. It almost made me laugh. Almost.
~
It took me a while to accept this small addition of being a 'fake girlfriend' in front of his friends. It wasn't like I encountered them very often. Except that, things were pretty much the same.
Or atleast I like to think.
His friends were a serious pain in the ass. They pretty much figured that the word 'bhabhi' ticked me off so they made sure to annoy the hell out of my neurons. 'Bhabhi this, bhabhi that,' was how they addressed me like it was a separate language. I even resorted to hit them sometimes. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to chop their heads off as per their dear bhai's (aka Rithik) request, so I made sure to tick off his neurons after they left. Coming back to Rithik's friends, it was rather funny how they behaved with him. Sure, they spewed curses at each other and laughed their farts off, but I could see how much respect they had for the guy. His presence mattered. His opinion mattered. Once they were planning a surprise birthday bash of one of their friends or to be precise, planning the food that was to be bought. Everyone had their say in it, but it was Rithik who finalized the menu and the cake, after taking everyone's input into account. No one raised a question against him. It was like he was their unsaid leader. When I questioned Rithik about it, he simply laughed it off. 'Probably because I let them loiter in my room,' he said. I already knew that. He had even allowed one of his friends and his girlfriend to stay the night a few times but still. It just seemed strange to regard him so highly because of this. If that were the case, then Khushboo would practically be God to me. Men were indeed strange creatures.
I decided to give him a surprise visit one day. We usually made a point to visit on Fridays and Saturdays if not on any other day. We cancelled our meet this Saturday because he had to watch an IPL (Cricket) match while I had to stay with my family. Fortunately the upcoming Monday will be national holiday due to which, I managed to postpone my home visit to Sunday instead (the lesser time, the better). Thereafter, I left for his place.
Faint sounds of the television could be heard from the door to Rithik's garage when I reached there. The match had already started. The host was giving a recap of the previous 'over'. Instead of knocking the door, I tip- toed my way to peep through the window. I had to made sure whether he was alone or with someone from his family, for my own safety.
Let's just say what I saw was what I should have expected.
Snorlax was the first person to spot since he occupied the largest space on the floor in front of the Television. Rithik and Atul were seated on either side of him while the rest were seated around them, facing the TV. Besides Rithik's usual group was one more man in black suit. He was watching the match, sitting a bit further away from the rest. He seemed rather out of place amongst these immature adults. Strange.
I drew my face away from the window and sighed. Fucking hell, what was I suppose to do now? I couldn't just go in there and shout 'surprise, motherfuckers,' like some psychotic lover. But I didn't want to return so soon. Just as I was contemplating over my decision, I heard loud collective cheers coming from the room. Was the match over? I peeked through the window again.
Rithik's friends were congratulating him for winning some bet while patting him on the back. Strange. Then Rithik and the man in black suit shifted to sit besides the table. More strange. He scribbled down something in a piece of paper and handed it over to the black suit man.
"Let's see- your odd points and my wager price makes it one lakh and five thousand rupees. I'm good at this kind of Math so you don't have to worry about a miscalculation, Bookmaker." Rithik said, flashing a toothy grin to the unknown man.
One freaking lakh?! I felt my own brow raise at the amount. Interesting.
The man in black suit checked the paper that Rithik gave and tucked it into his side pocket. Rithik extended his hand, wriggling his eyebrows at him. The unknown man then fished out two thick white envelopes and handed it over with a laugh. "Remind me never to bet with you again."
"Don't say that, TJ. Winning and losing is a part of game too. Bottom line is, we need each other." He stood up and patted on the unknown man's back once. "Just give me a minute."
Rithik stepped aside from that man and opened the envelope. It contained a bundle of five hundred rupee notes. I guess it was the amount that he mentioned before.
I didn't know what was more hilarious. The whole private deal that I got to watch for free or the twinkle in Rithik's eyes as he counted the notes. I always thought samosa was his first love but after watching the whole act, I was thinking otherwise. Or maybe both money and samosa held the same importance.
I probably didn't realize how long I had been eavesdropping until the decent guy glanced at the window and screamed like a girl. Guess what he said next.
"Bhabhi?!"
Oops!
Suddenly, I became the center of the world as everyone's attention turned to me. Their eyes turned from small to wide while their mouths that were curled up a moment before, formed an O in a matter of milliseconds. I almost laughed but then I remembered the curse word thrown at me.
I placed a hand on my hip, "There is no Bhabhi here but in case you have a hard time remembering names, then let me jag your poor memory. I'm Natasha."
"I thought you promised no more visitors, Arora. This is confidential!" The man in black suit said, sounding a bit furious now.
"We are busted."
"You should have locked the gate, dumbass!"
"We should run while we still have time."
"That's why I tell my friends to not get involved with girls. They-"
"Quiet!" A bigger voice sliced through the remaining nagging ones, thus silencing everyone. It took me a second to realize it was Rithik. Of course it'd be him. He let out a huff before facing the man in suit. "It's alright, TJ. I know her. I'll make sure she understands. It's okay. Everyone, jus- just do whatever the fuck you were doing. I'll be... I'll be right back."
Then he turned to me.
I had to admit, I felt strangely intimidated when he took slow steps forward with his jaw clenched and his eyes sharp on me. He probably didn't realize but he just took sexy to a new level with the way he silenced the little audience in his room and took charge of the situation. I could be getting wet right there and then, and he wouldn't know.
He was still regarding me with a furious look after we met in front of the door. I held his gaze with my own, until he broke into a sigh, allowing me to smile a little.
"Well, hello there, big fella!" I greeted enthusiastically.
"Why, Nat, why?" He asked, smiling and frowning all the same.
"What do you mean by why?" I questioned back. "Since I had nothing to do in my apartment, I thought I'd kill some time in yours. I was hoping to surprise you today but seems like you did a good job of doing that yourself."
He pressed his lips before speaking, "Please tell me you reached here just now."
I pinched the middle of my neck with my two fingers, "I swear I just reached here, a minute ago. I never witnessed that man in black handling you a fancy envelope. Neither did I witness you counting your money like a dog staring at a bone. And I absolutely didn't witness any kind of shady business that went on for the past hour... That's what you want me to say, right?"
"Oh, God." Rithik ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. Placing a firm hand on my shoulder, he regarded me with a look that meant business, "Listen to me carefully. You must not tell anyone about anything you just witnessed today. Not a single living soul. Do we understand each other?"
"Fine, I won't, now can I come in? I'm sweating nuts from this humid climate." I fanned myself. When Rithik regarded me suspiciously, I frowned. "What, now?"
"That's it?"
"Fuck you. What else?" I grunted in annoyance. After letting myself think for a few seconds, I pushed Rithik aside and walked inside like a motherfucking queen, getting everyone's attention. "Listen everyone, your precious bhai wants me to take an oath of not disclosing your secret to anyone. So yeah, I'll accept that oath or whatever. Thanks for listening. You freeloaders can carry on." I turned to Rithik, "Enough, now?"
Some of his friends bursted out laughing, saying that his girlfriend was hilarious. Pretending not to overhear that shit, I walked to Rithik who was still standing on the doorstep with his hand on his forehead. Damn! I did whatever I could to assure him. What else does the fucker want me to do?
"Besides match betting, I also take part in other kinds of gambling using cards and stuff. Infact, we have this whole gambling community who challenge each other and wager their money. I do it because I enjoy risking it and I get fancy money out of it. I'm good at it, actually."
"I see. Good for you."
His eyes were almost popping out as if I said something unbelievable. When I questioned on his weird behavior he replied hysterically, "You're a girl. You're supposed to react! I recall how shocked my ex was when she got to know. One of my friend's girlfriend dumped him because of this. Heck, even Yash warns me about it."
"Yash, who?"
"The 'decent one' in your dictionary." He informed, "Come on, doesn't my secret shock you in the least?"
I rolled my eyes, "Am I your girlfriend? No, right. Thank God, I thought your friends brainwashed you for a second there." When he still didn't seem convinced, I asked him again. "Are you a drug dealer?"
"No."
"A serial killer?"
"Absolutely not!"
"Then what's there to be wary of? Do whatever the F you want, man. It doesn't concern me. You are a full fledged adult. You know what you're doing. Besides, our country men lack money which is why many people resort to such methods. Yours is probably the simplest of all. You just have to make sure you don't wager unnecessarily, na. I don't see the problem in that. It's cool."
Rithik, who regarded me with a haunted look before, was now looking at me like I was an angel descended from heaven. "You're so cool!" Suddenly he took both of my hands in his, "Become my girlfriend."
Now it was my turn to pop my eyes out. I drew my hands away. "What?!"
He expressed how cool it would be to have me as his girlfriend but then brushed it off as a joke when I tried to eye murder him. Finally he allowed me to enter inside his room. The gang stopped their activity to look at me. It was only for a second though before they carried on with their own shit. Rithik then completed the rest of the formalities with PJ, the man in suit. Soon PJ left alongwith few of his friends.
I asked a curious question. "By the way, what would happen if I spread the word? Of course I mean it hypothetically."
Rithik's adam's apple moved as he swallowed in response. "I'll most probably land in jail. Along with the bookmaker who went away. Gambling is not legal here, remember. Some forms are but some aren't." He whispered to me like a small child.
My brows furrowed in puzzlement. Gambling? But it just was just a harmless exchange of money for bet or whatever. I hate to admit but I had the knowledge of a nursery kid when it came to things like that. Then again, the image of Rithik being handcuffed didn't sound so bad. Hmm...
"That face..." His eyes squinted as he looked at me. He leaned towards my face for me to hear. "Sorry to break your lewd bubble but we can't fuck today. My friends aren't leaving anytime soon."
"I know that already. Shut up!" I blurted out and shut my dirty mind for the time being. I decided to ask him further about his side business, "By the way, is your side business similar to the Imran Hashmi movie that came out years ago? He was also involved in cricket gambling of sorts but ended up getting killed in the end."
"That was match fixing, dumbass. This is match betting and it's far less riskier than that."
"I see."
I stayed at his second home for a while before I decided that staying idle in my apartment was a far better option than hearing that cursed word. Still, the day turned out to be rather interesting. I got to learn something unknown in return. His life sure was exciting. As I headed back the apartment, I realized. Perhaps, it was the first time that I met Rithik indoors and went without fulfilling my carnal needs with him. Well, that was a first.
I was almost at the end of the street when I saw a middle aged man passing my direction. He was probably in his fifties. What caught my attention was his broad physique and posture that seemed too legit for someone like him. Didn't people look fat with less hair on their heads at their age? My father was tall enough but was bald and had a belly similar to a pregnant woman of five months. While this man on the other hand, had hair growing just fine with a light mustache. He actually looked smart with those sharp eyes and rugged jawline. I bet he looked totally ravishing in his younger days. Not that he didn't look fine now, but I wasn't into old men. How terribly unfortunate.
I averted my eyes for a second before looking back at him again. There was surely something about this old man. Something that I should know. Hold up... Those sharp features and dark brown eyes. Where I had seen him before? Somewhere in a photograph I think.
Just then an image of Rithik flashed in my head. I matched it with the face of this man and stopped dead in my tracks. Holy fucking shit! It all made sense now. I'd seen him in one of the digital photos that Rithik showed me once. He was none other than Rithik's biological father.
And I just fantasized about him a second ago.
Fast, I need a psychiatrist.
I lowered my head and resumed walking, hoping to pass him by as soon as possible. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. It wasn't like he'll recognize my face or anything. He better not. My heart beat quickened as the distance shortened between us. Pass him by, pass him by, pass him by...
I let out a huge breath after I walked away from him. Thank heavens! I was secured.
"Excuse me?"
Or not!
He repeated the sentence again but I pretended to have a bad pair of ears and a good pair of running legs.
"Your golden chain has fallen down, beta (child)."
Chain? I brought my hand towards my neck and indeed I could feel a loss of a golden chain around it. Strange. Something like this rarely happened to me. I always took care of my precious things. Then why, now, in front of this man? Sorry Rithik, I tried my best.
I could feel my own cheeks burning as I turned around. Gosh, his resemblance to his son was uncanny. He was like the older, mature version of Rithik. The only thing that made the difference were the slight wrinkles on his face and the specs of grey hair. I looked down to where the chain must have fallen near him. There was none.
"I presume this is yours." Mr Arora spoke, clearing my doubt as he held my chain in his hand. It had a small star shaped pendant at its middle.
"Yes, um, thank you..." I paused, taking the chain. "Uncle."
"No problem, child. Good thing, I happened to be passing by, otherwise you would have lost it. Was it precious to you?"
"Ye- yeah. My parents gifted this to me on my ninth birthday."
His eyes widened with interest, "And you have been wearing it ever since?"
"No- no," I denied, hesitantly. "I wear it rarely. Only when I feel like."
"Still, you kept it safe for so many years. Unlike my irresponsible brat who lost my Rolex watch, last year." He complained quietly while I pressed my lips inwardly. He glanced at my pendent again. Lines formed at the corner of his mouth as he smiled. "You must truly value your parents then. They must be proud of you."
Memories came rushing back. That bright yellow afternoon besides the bedroom window, when my parents hugged me and gifted me a golden chain because they couldn't wait till my birthday party. It was a blissful day of a blissful time in my life.
You are a star, dear. Our precious little star, and this star chain on your neck will remind you of that.
“Perhaps,” I replied, despite the lump in my throat. I closed my fist that contained the chain. Why was I even having a conversation with someone's father? I should go. “Thanks again.”
“Yeah, take good care of your belongings. Okay child, see you sometime.” Thus he continued to walk his way, humming a classical song. I too, turned around to walk off when his words hit me like an electric bolt.
'See you sometime.'
I paled.
.
“Don't worry. He says that to almost everyone he meets, stranger or not. It's a habit he has developed from his job," Rithik answered when I asked him on phone.
I called Rithik as soon as I reached my apartment to kill my fear before it engulfed me. He was surprised when I told him but was more surprised that he mentioned about his Rolex watch. Rithik was definitely not scared or suspicious like me. However, if I had stayed in Rithik's place for more, I would have most likely faced Mr Arora in a very awkward situation.
Rithik on the other hand, didn't seem fazed at all. “My father never stays at my garage for more than fifteen minutes. I would have hidden you under the bed and he wouldn't have suspected a thing,” was his jackass solution. In the end, I had no choice but to believe him since obviously he knew his father well.
But even as Rithik reassured me, I made sure to never drop a surprise visit on him next time.
Or maybe I would, with extra caution.
⚫⚪⚫⚪⚫
A u t h o r s N o t e
Was this a chapter of surprises? Comment which surprise you liked the best. Did you like Natasha's meeting with his friends and his father?
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Until next time. 😎