{ S I X T E E N }
" Here, take these and make sure that you dispose them properly otherwise.."
" Haan baba , we know , otherwise any stray animal or the kachrawala might get hurt ."
Darshan said taking the box from Heer.
" Safaiwala or .."
" Garbage collector. " Darshan mimicked Heer.
" You have said this almost 50 times. "
" Still you guys didn't get it." Heer said .
" Kya karein , aadat se majboor." Inaya rolled her eyes.
Darshan peeped inside the box.
" Wah Heer , at fresher's party you refused to drink but seeing this I guess kaafi hangover hua hoga ni ? " He exclaimed seeing the empty bottles.
"Kaash aisa hota !" Inaya chuckled.
"Better get rid of this mess , Aaru's Bua might be here at anytime. " Heer said rolling her eyes.
Darshan and Armaan turned around and started walking .
Armaan the bisleri bottle in his hand and instead of gulping down the water he stored it in his mouth.
Darshan raised an eyebrow at this.
"You know how irritating it looks with your mouth blown up" He said.
To which Armaan gulped the water and mumbled a sorry.
"Anyways how's your first year going? " Darshan started conversation .
" Fine. I recently topped the mock test which we had and.." Armaan replied chirply .
" Sheh!! Not the academics stupid. I'm talking about you and Inaya. " Darshan said titling his head to one side.
Now it was Armaan's turn to raise his eyebrow.
"What? Everybody knows about this in the college." Darshan said.
" Except her." Armaan sighed.
"So when are you going to confess her?" Darshan said tip-toing on the tiles they were walking.
" What no! Don't you think it's too early. Beside I've a whole 3 years in front of me."
" But she has only one and a half year left. " Darshan said.
" Achha toh in that case you and Heer also have..."
Armaan was cut off by a voice.
" Excuse me."
Both the boys turned towards the source of voice.
There stood a lady probably in her mid fifties.
A short , plump lady wearing a silk saree with perfectly ironed plates. It looked as if she was a person who preferred to be well dressed even if at home.
"Ji " Darshan came forward to help her.
" Can you please tell me this address? " She asked , showing the paper in her hand.
She was indeed beautiful , the aging wrinkles on her face added to her beauty. Because of the henna , her hair were slightly orange in colour.
"Arre, it's our hostel. I mean the girls hostel." Darshan exclaimed.
"Ochha !! Tum bhi udhor hi podhta hoi ." The lady exclaimed.
She had an unnoticeable bengali accent . It reminded Armaan of the music teacher at his school who was a Bengali herself. While teaching any bengali song she would say - it's just like you have a roshogulla in your mouth. At this the whole class would blow their mouths .
" It's ohk we will take you there." Armaan said .
"Ayee, but you both look busy." She said looking at the box in Darshan's hand.
"Oh this is nothing, we were just on our way to dump these boxes of bottles." Darshan said dumping the box near the tree .
"Bottles?" The lady asked raising her eyebrow.
"Actually our friend's aunt is visiting her . So we were just helping her get rid of the mess." Darshan went on explaining .
Suddenly from nowhere Inaya came running.
" Uh ... Aunty... Aap yahan ho .. and I was looking for you there.." she said breathing heavily.
"Oho , these roads." She said.
" Chaliye... Aarushi must be waiting." She said.
The next moment she noticed Armaan and Darshan's face turning white.
- - ✉ - -
The water sat cooly in the glass before Heer, condensation beading the outside. She ran her finger around it as if slicing the top off. She puts a strand of hair behind her ear as she took the tray heading towards Bua ji.
The lady was busy inspecting the whole room.
Aarushi let out a slow controlled breath and attempted to loosen her body movements. While Inaya sat knee deep in silence, making sure she was a good distance away from the lady who now was seating comfortably on the bed.
"Aunty , aap weekend pr aa jate , Aarushi ke saath or waqt bitaane ko mil jaata" Heer said offering her water. At this she could see Aarushi almost murdering her through her glares.
" Haan , taaki tum woh bottles hata paate . Or should I say ' the mess'. " the lady replied, gulping the water.
On the contrary , it was hard for the three to gulp down what they just heard.
" woh bottles humari nhi thhi ? "Inaya replied instanlty . As soon as the words left her mouth, she bit her tongue.
The old lady, had a smirk on her face.
" Bua , actually ..." Aarushi , stood up .
" Chup , ekdom chup. Heer beta , you tell me were those bottles yours?" the lady turned towards Heer whose situation looked exactly like aasmaan se gire aour khajoor par atke. Everybody knew how bad lier she was.
Heer gulped as she brainstormed her head for a solution.
" Actually those bottles were for a project ." Heer replied sitting down on the bed as the mattress sinked in. Silence sinking in the surrounding.
" Project? what project? " it seemed as is if Bua ji was still not convinced.
" Uh, actually we are doing a research of how beer bottles can be used in generating electricity." Aarushi said.
"REALLY ? " The other three cried in unison. It was surely way too much to believe. The old lady looked at Heer , who just nodded.
Finally there was a convincing smile on Bua ji's face.
- - ✉ - -
"Woah ! I can't believe that our Heer , the sanskari , adarshvadi , satyavati Heer lied."
As soon as the words left Armaan's mouth he got a smack in return from Heer.
" It wouldn't have happened if you two had not opened your mouth. Also god knows best , agar ek jhoot se kisi 'bechari ' ki jaan bachti hai toh woh jhoot nhi hota."
She said sipping the college canteen's most popular mango shake - MMS ( St.Maria's mango shake ) . Alright it's just a mango shake , but it has something maybe some secret ingredient that the Roshan uncle adds that you just can't resist to have it once more.
"Chill yaar, I'm just happy that she left weakly. Warna mujhe toh lga thha ki voh Vardhaan se bhi mere baare mein enquiry krke jayengi." Aarushi said , her eyes focused on the phone screen.
She clicked the picture of MMS and uploaded it as her story.
"Btw, one thing I didn't get , you are punjabi but your bua is a typical bengali. How ?" Darshan asked tilting his head to one side.
" Arre Bua adopted hai . "Aarushi replied.
Other's just blinked at this.
"Mazaak thha yaar" Aarushi said in an obvious tone .
"My mom was a punjabi and dad was bengali. Unke jaane ke baad Bua is my legal guardian. " She said .
"Accha toh that's why you are Aarushi Sharma . Feminist haan " Darshan commented, completely ignoring the action Heer and Inaya were doing.
Inaya was mumbling a no while Heer was just trying to swing her head side ways, cautious enough to not get noticed by Aarushi.
For a moment there was complete silence on the last table where all the five were sitting.
Toofan se pehle ki shanti.
Aarushi banged the table before roaring at Darshan.
" Why do you guys always think that when a girl talks about anything related to women then it's an act of feminism. Hello , let me clear this out taking about women or feminine things is not what you call as feminism. Or haan agar maine apna surname Sharma rkha toh ? You have your father's surname did I ever object about that - that oh Maleist haan ! So stop being a hypocrite And for your kind information, my complete name is Aarushi Roy Sharma. It's better if you think before speaking. " She said it all in one breath.
She threw herself on the chair , folding her arms.
Poor Darshan's face was something you couldn't miss seeing . After the live experience of Aarushi's chandalika roop , he made sure to never underestimate a girl.
- - ✉ - -
Hey guys!!
Finally I'm back. I realised that I haven't wrote much about the #shijun so the next week's chapter will definitely include them as well.
Also how are your online exams going ?
Honestly - bas chal rahe hai ...
Also once again thankyou so much for reading . We have reached 1k reads!! And have crossed 3k reads of Destiny together and forever. Yay !! All credit goes to you guys.
Spread happiness!!