CHAPTER
7
This jerked me up. The moment I
looked at my side, I saw two couples. Obviously, now Abhi would spend all his
time with Marsella. He couldn’t have been happier, and honestly I was happy for
them now that everything was sorted between me and her. The second couple was
my grandparents. Even when they held hands, it seemed magical. Love, lovely
love. I couldn’t help but smile and looked at my other side. And bam! There
were about ten people with guns. “Who are they?” I was scared. Yen replied,
“They’re Aryaman’s friends.” “Arya, look
who’s up!”Yen called.
Aryaman was handsome. He had a
French beard, dark skin and short hair. I could see him flexing his biceps.
They were almost triceps. I’m sure he had a six-pack ab. I couldn’t take my
eyes off him. I went to greet him. “Thanks, for saving everyone”, I told him,
He only nodded. “How did you know where we were, and that we were in danger?” I
asked. I was eager to know. His expression told me that he had repeated the
answer he was going to tell me, several times already.
“I saw men with huge machinery in
my head. And I heard something about electricity failure and locks. I knew the
place, I had seen it near my dad’s gang’s hiding place. So I went there with my
group. I reached there and unchained these people. When I told them how I came
here, they started asking me about my family history. When they heard
granddad’s, I mean Evan’s name, they told me the entire story. And there’s
something that makes me believe them. Everything that old man said about me was
true.” Dad’s gang? “Your dad is a gangster?” I couldn’t help asking. “Yes” he
said with a smirk, “And so am I”. He was a ‘bad guy’. “Why did you save us?
Gangsters don’t do that. They don’t save people.” What was I doing? I was kind
of blaming him for being a bad gangster. “That’s what you think, princess of
the royal family. Not all gangsters have the motive to kill people.” He left
with that line. Gangster or not, he was hot. I couldn’t help noticing that.
So basically I had a
cross-connection, I was trying to connect to Marsella, but the connection
reached Aryaman’s mind. I think the same must have happened with Grandma a few
weeks back. We had to hide in the jungle, to stay protected. From the updates
that I gathered, Arya and his so called ‘gang’ had killed Peter. But the other
two were still alive. We needed to hide from them. The night advanced. Aryaman
and his men bought food for all of us. Arya’s men were more like guards. They
maintained a distance and kept a watch. Now we were seven of us. Our increasing
numbers were advantageous. We sat around the fire which we lit. We felt
healthier. Suddenly grandma called me and Marsella to her side.
Grandma was quiet for some time.
What did she want to talk about? Finally she spoke. “Thanks for everything that
you two have done, really. When the connection reached you, I was actually
trying to contact Fiddle. But it was you. You didn’t know me then. You had no
idea if this was even real. You and Marsella, you’ll are very brave. Just like
your father.” “I only did what my heart told me to do.”Marsella replied. Arya
must have done the same. He didn’t know who we are. The night must have touched
his heart. He must have acted on instincts, like we had.
“Girls, in all this chaos we
haven’t had time to even know each other. Tell me something about yourselves.
Marsella, is Abhi your boyfriend? Just asking…”
“Uhm… I don’t know” she replied, “I
like him, he likes me, I just don’t know why he doesn’t come forward and say
it.” I couldn’t control myself and burst into laughter. “What’s so funny?”
Marsellaasked. She looked a little annoyed. Marsella didn’t know Abhi like I
did. She didn’t know how much he had tried to talk to her since the day he’d
met her. She didn’t know his dreams about her. She didn’t know how long he had
waited for her. And neither did she know how he couldn’t speak a word before
her. He was scared, scared to even let it start, scared of losing her before
even getting her. If she was waiting for him to make a start, she would wait
forever. “Marsella, he loves you. But he’s more of a shy kind of a guy when it
comes to girls. I think you should make the first move. Let’s play truth and
dare, I think that’ll help you.” Now Marsella was happy.
Before we could bring our plan into
action, grandma stopped me and said, “What about you Lune? Don’t you have a
boyfriend?” “No gandma, I’ve had a few in the past but just for the sake of
being committed, there’s nothing serious.” Grandma’s reply was totally
surprising. She said “Don’t you see it or are you denying it on purpose?” Huh?
What was this supposed to mean? Did she know I liked Arya already? She
couldn’t. I hadn’t confessed it to anyone.
She continued, “He told us not to
tell you but I think you need to know. I’ve seen the way he looks at you Lune.
At first, I thought he was arrogant and senseless, but he’s done a lot for you.
When you were unconscious, the food that you ate was actually of his part.
There wasn’t enough food, and he sacrificed it so that you can eat it once you
recover.” Arya did that for me? Was he a gangster for real? I didn’t think so.
Grandma continued further, “Even that day when we were kidnapped, when it was
your turn for the experiment, after you went inside, he tried to negotiate all
his money, everything that he had for you. But they were cruel enough to…”
“Wait a moment” I interrupted. “Who are you talking about? Arya hadn’t even met
us when we were in the basement.” Now grandma was confused. “How did Arya come
into picture? I’m talking about Yen.” And now I had nothing to say. I only
looked at him in an expression I didn’t know and saw him looking at me. My
heart felt so heavy with my emotions. I remembered grandma’s advice. Although
it was stupid, I tried dancing a little when no one was looking. But grandma
caught me. Shit! She said in a low voice, “I was a dancer in childhood. I love
dancing. That is the reason I chose it. When you’re upset or confused, do what
you like to do.”
We started playing truth and dare. Arya
kept refusing but we convinced him to play. There was nothing else to do. Abhi
was given a dare to climb a tree since he was scared of heights; Grandpa told
us about his love story; Grandma was asked about her life on Prisma. And now it
was Marsella’s turn. She chose dare as we planned. I said, “Marsella, if
there’s anything you want to say or do to anyone, now’s the time.” She stared
at Abhi for a long time. She was a very straight-forward person. She got up,
kissed Abhi on the cheeks and proposed to him on his knees. The crowd broke
into ‘Awwww’s and ‘Ohhhoo’s. Abhi turned red, this was expected! I was glad he
finally showed some guts and told her ‘I love you’. We were cheering for them
and I didn’t remember when the last time I laughed so much was. We continued
the game.
Next was Aryaman’s chance. We
already had a question for him. “What’s the reason behind this whole gangster
thing? What are you hiding?” He frowned, but I was glad he decided to answer.
“My dad is a politician and I hate his politics. And I like the Robin Hood policy.”
Now that explained everything. He was a gangster for the gangsters. He was good
at heart and helped the common people. That was sweet. The next was Yen’s turn.
Grandma gave him a dare to dance with the person he wants to. “Girls in the
world die to dance with me, but I have already chosen my partner.” Yen was
incomplete without his drama. “She’s the most beautiful girl present here.” I
was so confident that he would ask me. I couldn’t believe I was actually
blushing. I looked up to see him, but I was wrong. He turned to grandma, and
asked her to dance on his knees. Grandma was flattered.
For a minute I almost forgot that
we were actually hiding here to save our lives. Everyone except Arya was slow
dancing around the fire. It was like we were here for a picnic, enjoying the
campfire. I was about to go talk to Arya when suddenly Yen was by my side, holding
my hand. “So, grandma is the most beautiful lady here huh?” I asked him
separating my hand from his. “Jealous much?” he was his usual self. I gave him
a sharp look and when I started to leave, he held me tightly by my shoulders,
making it hard to move. He was strong, yet it didn’t hurt. “Fiona is the most
beautiful person over here. It’s true. But she’s a person, though a night
riser. You’re an angel for me. And an angel’s beauty cannot be compared to any
other living being.” At first I thought he was flirting as usual, but then I
saw his eyes. And I could literally and figuratively see myself in them. I
couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. Right now I understood what ‘getting lost in
someone’s eyes’ meant. Everything around us started to blur. I could see and
feel only him. His touch sent currents through my body. My heart started
racing. Yen had hugged me many times before, but today I wished he never left
me. I could spend my life in his arms just like that. We faced each other and
he came closer to me until he was out of focus and that’s when we heard
gunshots.
