Without having heard of Joseph or anyone for a week, Ruby also didn't give serious consideration to the impractical idea of seeing herself take a leap from rags to riches; a seemingly next to the impossible idea. It was something that would appeal primarily to crazy people who would go to any height of nonsense to loot money. Ruby, was not one of them.
Anyway, there were a guaranteed number of moments in days and nights where she recollected her bickering spree with him, resulting in a frown and sometimes a cute pout on her face. The reason for the remembrance could also be her uninvolved state with any man till now. He was the first guy who approached her and had a good talk with her ─ no matter how senseless and obscure the subject was.
Generally, if any boy winked or showed any kind of mating interest in her, it only lasted momentarily. Not progressive and satisfying at all. As soon as the party ended, they went away in different directions. That's it. She wasn't used to talking to men. But, this particular person took the talk to seven minutes. On the surface, he appeared so much satisfied with himself that he would forgo the thought of being in a relationship with any woman.
He didn't care about the world. He had some other mystical motives.
Was she missing him? A man at whose place she had a mere stayover? A man who shouted at her as a volcano burst?
She stumbled over a rock and Emily immediately held her arm, helping her to stabilize.
"You okay?"
"Ah, thanks," Ruby replied inattentively.
"Ruby, is everything okay?" Her lost state illustrated to Emily that something was wrong with her.
"No, I'll not be okay if you keep on asking me the same thing."
The unswallowable lump moved up and down as Ruby's throat muscles constricted. Emily knew something was not right with Ruby and her mood swings throughout the day also gave a major hint about it.
Emily began talking about other stuff.
"I bought rayon fabric instead of artificial silk. The fall of this gown will come out nicely," she announced, as they were walking down the silent streets. The sky lost its blue and the orange hue of the streetlight was at its peak.
Ruby cast her mind back to Joseph's cruel words ─ calling her a brat, "I'm a girl, Emily . . . deprived of the parental love and the necessities of a normal life. I can't speak softly to people cause I've never gone through such an environment. People label me as an ill-bred and rude brat, how should I explain to them?"
"It's perfectly alright to be one. By the way, who said all this to you?"
"Joseph." Ruby glimpsed at her, smiling painfully. "I don't know what expectations he had from me?"
By not touching the freshly cut wound, Emily proceeded, "Anyway, what are you going to wear to this hootenanny?" Emily laughed as she pronounced the word. Releasing her fingers and curling them in, she tugged at the handle of her plastic bag with a strong grip.
Different tall structures blackened by age and flanked them from both sides as the lane grew narrower toward the end. Inside the garbage box that was overly dumped near the corner, cats and dogs played the game of hide and seek.
"Have not thought about it. But this is something new, I mean we have never called the audience up on the stage to sing along with us. This is going to be different." Ruby shrugged her shoulders before her eyes swept across the road and landed on the woman standing against the car, who didn't look less than any busty mannequin.
Ruby strained her eyes due to a lack of clarity in the dense nighttime. And as she saw her, Ruby started taking measured steps toward the mysterious lady. Her mouth fell and jacked up within a minute to its original place.
Sarah?
"Sarah, what are you doing here? And how did you get my address?" Ruby asked her quickly, nervously eyeing the surrounding. "Nobody saw you coming here right?"
"Ruby, that should not matter. Can we talk please?" Sarah spoke, her words were dark. Turning her body, Ruby shooed away Emily in the building to give a last-minute touch of humanity to their shared room.
"Okay. But, what's the matter all about?" Ruby asked, reaching out to keep her hand on the car's hood.
"Inside. Please," Sarah insisted and Ruby finally asked Sarah to follow her lead.
***
"No, don't seat on that chair. It's broken," Ruby warned loudly, passing a frightened Sarah a three-legged stool instead. Sarah took it and flopped on it uncomfortably, resting her half butt only because the other part had permeated grease and her skirt was of pure white.
She stared at their shared room like aliens, gulping hard. There were piles of useless items in that small room. The walls wore dampness and streaks of moss. The statement: it needed repairs here and there would only be a half-truth. It needed a complete makeover-- an investment of a huge amount of money and courage.
Ruby sat on the bed near her, smoothening the wave of the sheet. As if this act would add a star more to her room's rating.
"So, this is where you live." Sarah failed to recover fully from the visual reality.
Ruby nodded with shrouded confidence, at heart she felt her room to be the biggest disappointment. At the same time, water started to drip on Sarah's head from the roof. Sarah looked upward with a ghostly expression. Ruby stood up and asked her to shift her chair away from the spot.
"This is happening again. I'm sorry ─ Emily where is the bedpan? Anyway, can we be quick before the electricity goes off?" Ruby sighed, turning her face to receive a response from Sarah who was still pondering. "Emily, get her water or something. You made a potato patty with sesame seed this morning . . ."
"Ruby, that's not perfectly made. I'm going to the nearby market to bring some delicious snacks," Emily barked softly and also addressed Sarah by giving her a glass of water, "Please don't go anywhere."
A prolonged and general silence followed.
"I came here to apologize on behalf of Joseph's bad behavior. It's easy to say things in the heat of the moment. But, he's not even a bit of what looked like his trait. The situation just turned that way wherein he was not in a position to get a hold of his tongue," Sarah spoke with her whole heart, defending her friend. Of course, Anshuman and Sarah both were Joseph's neighbors and must have been good friends for a long time.
"I don't know. But I'm not trained to handle such wild animals," A pause to take a breath and after that, "He not only yelled at me but gripped my shoulders and dug his nails into my arms. How fucking crazy can you get?"
"Pretty injurious to health, I get that," Sarah joked to ease some of the tension of the testy-looking Ruby. She nodded resignedly. Joseph did come out like an atrocious animal.
"And the capper was when he called me a mannerless brat? How can he be so arrogant and merciless?" Ruby gave her a good retort, involuntarily, getting up from the bed. "I don't want to talk about that man. Not today, tomorrow, or ever."
"Fine, Ruby. Let's talk about your job. How is it going?" Sarah changed the topic swiftly and brought her signature smile back to her face.
Emily returned and joined them, offering the plate of fried crispy chicken legs with some cold beer. Together Emily and Ruby made Sarah a protege as they unraveled the lip-tight knacks on how to lessen the sound of a leaking roof during sleeping time and how just by using beetroot you could blush your cheeks. Amidst the gritty conversations, Ruby's eyes settled on Emily's phone that was vibrating near her and she didn't adhere to the manner of excusing them. She simply trekked outside their room into the deep dark lobby, the walls of which stood with old urine.
"Hello?"
"Please send Sarah downstairs. I'm waiting." A bold, gruff statement came from the other end of the phone grudgingly.
"Oh, so it's you. Okay. Just hold your ground! I'm coming there," Ruby ordered and hang up as she made her way out of the shabby building.
She took long strides and halted near him.
"Look, who's here? Mr Holden ─ the man of his words," Ruby mocked, clapping her hands dramatically. "Are you sure Sarah is in here? Or you just came here to check up on me?"
"Your acting skills aren't that bad. When you knew you could make the most, you ran away from there." He looked sideways and stuffed his hands in his pants pockets.
"─Excuse me? I didn't run away. It was you who violently pushed me out." She crossed her arms. "Tell me exactly why are you here?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, I came to pick her up. Do you think I'll risk my life standing in this place without wearing a face mask? This surrounding is so unhygienic. In fact, in perfect resemblance with the unhygienic people residing in here," he stated bitterly, poking his tongue in his cheek as if it was his hobby to disregard everything, every damn thing on earth.
Ruby rotated her head sideways, inspecting the dark corners of the locality. For one, she didn't want anybody to catch her outside. And for another, she didn't want Madame Tào to capture her having a word with a stranger ─ especially a man. Or else her death will approach her very soon.
Ruby snorted, pointing at him. "You bette─" But that undefeated lioness attitude with which she moved forward to clear all her doubts pulled her back into a three-legged dog's camouflage, once she heard someone taking her name with a twinge of despise striking in each word. Who it could be?
Madame Tào.
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Word count- 1690
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