Manik's POV
"Do you smell that?" Angel asks, as I turn around with the water bottle glued to my lips to hide the smile that doesn't want to leave. She crinkles up her nose, sniffing. "Something's smelling charcoal black." She takes a step closer to me, sniffing the air near my chest. "Did you catch fire before coming? Or maybe you were burning up when I was talking to Sushant?"
"Nonsense," I say dismissively.
"Ah," Angel nods her head in realization. "Of course it's the heat that's making you burn up." Ignoring the child I'm forced to deal with, I sit back down on the bench. I watch Angel as she smiles as if she's in on a secret I'm not aware of and lowers herself onto the bench as well. But instead of sticking to me like glue - the way she was seated with Sushant - she chooses to plant her ass on the other end of the bench. There's so much distance between us that I could very well park a Hilux and still have space for a mini cooper. I don't have cooties and neither do I stink of sweat, so what's her problem?
I glare at the space between us as if the distance between our bodies is all the bench's fault. I don't see bird shit on it either.
"Frown any harder and I fear your face will freeze with that expression." Angel comments, smiling mischievously at me. I keep my lips sealed, my hand landing on the packet of candy floss beside me. I'm not going to give this to her. She doesn't deserve it. I watch children running around the open ground with balloons in their hands. A lady is yelling at her child, for no fault of his I'm sure. Lord, I can't take this anymore!
"How can you just start talking to strangers?" I ask, turning my body to face Angel's. "He could've been a murderer for all you know. I wasn't even here to protect you."
"I thought you're going to throw a party if someone murders or kidnaps me," Angel says, still smiling. Why is she always wearing that expression? I'm seriously quite irritated at her right now. "I mean, you'd be a bachelor again." I continue to stare at her with a blank expression. I'm not finding this amusing one bit. "And anyways, Manik, remember the time when we went to get milk and a random girl approached you? Yeah, I don't think you considered her being a murderer because you took her number, remember? In fact, I can bet a million bucks that at least ten random girls give you their phone numbers everyday and you accept without thinking them to be murderers for even a second."
My argument just collapsed on itself.
"You know what? That girl's shrill yell that kept scissoring its way through my eardrums, I'm sure that was him too. I know men like this," I say. "They're all macho on the outside, but real whimps internally."
Angel bursts out into a fit of giggles, slapping her thigh as she leans forwards, her shoulders shaking with mirth. The corners of my lips tug upwards as I watch her.
"Manik," Angel says, as she manages to control her giggling. "That girl - the one whose yell was hurting your ears - was actually yours." She buckles over with laughter once more, covering her mouth with her right hand as she continues to flash her smile as if she's in a Colgate advertisement.
"Fucking nonsense," I say, shaking my head. "I don't believe you. That most certainly couldn't have been me." Angel nods her head, calming herself down.
"I'm quite sure that was you, Manik. Especially considering you were right beside me and no one else was yelling through the entire experience." No, that couldn't have been me. I shake my head again. Could it? Hell no! I was a whuss in there, sure, but not such a big one. I do have a thread of self respect left...or maybe not?
"Whatever happened in the haunted house stays in there," I say sternly. "You will not tell a soul about how I behaved or what happened while we were in there."
"Of course not, especially considering that you're my husband and so our dignities are now interlinked." Angel's face suddenly transforms into a thoughtful one. "Wait a second..." She taps her index finger against her chin, furrowing her brows. "I've heard you scream before. Um...back at home! When the lights went out and we had that bump in."
Lord, why is she bringing that up now? I am in no mood whatsoever to discuss my tale of embarrassing events with her. Especially considering how she's the one to witness all.
"Wait, when you said not to tell anyone, did you by any chance mean you screaming?" Angel asks, leaning towards me, as her eyes seek out an answer from mine.
"How stupid can you be that you didn't figure that out until now? What else did you think I was asking you to keep concealed?" I ask, not meeting her gaze. I have absolutely zero dignity left in front of this woman.
Angel breaks out into another fit of body shaking laughter, causing me to roll my eyes. I stand up, crossing my arms across my chest.
"And I thought you were asking me to hide a secret as big as the country's nuclear codes." She says, pausing and then continuing with her loud laughter.
"You can sit here and showoff your pearl teeth, while I go and find a place that doesn't have you." I say, my actions not matching up with my words. I wish to move, but my feet are refusing to budge. Truth be told, they don't want to walk away from this laughing doll.
"Hey, is this for me?" Angel asks. I glance over my shoulder to find her picking up the packet of candy floss.
"That," I mumble. "No, it's for Piyali," I say, louder this time. "She loves this shit."
"Don't lie," Angel says, tearing open the packet. "I saw the two of you interacting at the cart. Had it been for her, you would've given it then. It's for me, isn't it?"
"Whatever. You don't deserve it as it is," I grumble, seating myself back down on the bench. But this time I'm closer to Angel. "Talking to random men, taking me to horrifying haunted houses, and now laughing at my absolutely human responses." I roll my eyes.
"Oh please, I wasn't laughing at you yelling. No, I was just rejoicing the fact that the Devil has feelings," she says, tearing a piece of floss and tossing it into her mouth. "Thanks, by the way. For this," she nods her chin towards the packet. Angel tears another piece of the cotton candy and holds it up in front of my mouth.
I watch her hand and the food unsurely. Is she...Is she offering it to me? Angel inches her hand closer to my lips. What if I open my mouth and she takes the piece away? I'll just end up embarrassing myself again.
"I assure you it's not poisoned," she says. "You're the one who bought it, right? So just eat it quickly because my hand is tiring." Hesitantly I open my mouth. Angel tosses the piece onto my tongue. Hurriedly I clamp my mouth shut, as if she will yank the piece back out. "Now that wasn't so hard." She smiles at me, tearing another piece of the cotton candy like a monster.
Little does she know that I'm not used to being things offered to me, and so this was a highly strange moment for me. It was hard indeed.
"So what ride are we going for next?" Angel asks, glancing around.
"Oh no, no, no." I say, shaking my head. "I'm not trusting you with anything in this fair anymore." Nevertheless, I follow Angel's gaze to see what exactly does she have in mind. As my eyes are scanning the length of the fair they land on Keith. He's standing all alone in the line for the Ferris wheel, a candy cane tucked into the crook of his elbow. Where are his friends?
"Just a second," I murmur, getting off the bench and heading towards him.
"Are you ditching me?" Angel calls out from behind me. Ignoring her, I try to catch Keith's attention by waving, but his eyes don't fall in my direction.
"Hi," I say, when I'm close enough that he'll hear me. Keith looks up at me, his eyes lighting up. "What're you doing all alone?" I ask. "Where's Himanshu? And all the other troublemakers you're always running around with?"
"Himanshu's sick," Keith replies, clearly upset that his friend's not here with him. "And the others don't include me in their gang if he's not here. I'm not so cool because of my eye condition."
My left fist clenches in anger at my side. At times I just can't help but think that children are worse off than adults. Or maybe it's us adults who have made them so. No one should feel inferior because of any special need of theirs, and nor should anyone have the right to make them undergo such an emotion.
"So I'm all alone today," Keith continues. "But I'm fine. I don't need friends to have fun. The rides and sweets are more than enough." He grins up at me positively. I pass my hand over his hair, smiling. How do I tell him that I've been in his shoes in my childhood? Just by saying we're okay and putting on a happy face doesn't mean we truly are.
"No friends? What're you talking about?" Angel says, her hand wrapping around my tightened fist. "Do we look like aliens to you?" Keith laughs, shaking his head. She pries my fist open with her fingers, and then slides her fingers through mine.
"Aarav does, but you're pretty." He says, making me poke him in the stomach lightly.
"Hey!" I exclaim. "Now I know where your loyalties lie. Don't ever ask me to bring you a new game," I tease, feigning hurt.
"Young lad, it's your turn." The staff member in charge of the ride says, as she opens the gate for Keith to pass through. He waves at Angel and I, and makes his way towards the ride. Once he's seated, Keith glances over at the empty seat on his left.
"Ride for one?" The staff member asks him. He nods, lips pursed.
"Actually it's for two," I say, making my way towards the empty seat beside him. Once I've helped Keith with his belt and buckled myself in, I wrap my arm around his shoulders.
"Isn't it strange that both our friends abandoned us today?" I ask, as the ride starts. Keith waves excitedly at Angel. She grins, shaking her hand back at him with equal levels of enthusiasm.
"But you have her," Keith says, nodding his head towards Angel. "And I think she makes for one great friend." I look down at the woman we're discussing. She's now showing us a thumbs-up, the lively smile still adorning her beautiful lips.
"Yes, you're right," I murmur. "She does."