Chapter 20: chapter 20

"You?", we both unisoned.I couldn't believe my eyes. Mr. Hoodie? Again? "Hey", he smiled and put on his glares immediately.Shouldn't he be irate for what I did? Shun it! That's not important. The main struggle is to face him again. I kept blinking my eyes, dubiously. He waved his hands before my face. "What are you doing here?", I shook my head. Crappy hell! What am I even asking? Ugh! *face palm* Technically, he should be the one to raise this query aimed at me, since I was the one to buttonhole this time.All thanks to my dumb-dum brains. "Don't you think I should be the one to ask you this?", he replied casually, resting his elbows on the windshield.True that! I hate to say this but it's spot-on that he was completely righteous at this moment.Hence, I just kept quiet and looked away in a try to avoid his sights."Fascinating colleen", he chuckled, straightening his spinal column. Whatever!"Well, if you don't mind, you can come along. However, our destinations are on the same route", he studied my address card."What? No. I don't wanna travel with a stranger", I jumped out of the taxi.My address card? The hell! It's the same address card I handed him assuming him to be this taxi's driver.Now snatching it back will not help either as he had already scanned it all. How can I be so dumb?Sheesh!Meanwhile, he strolled to me and leaned against the taxi door folding his hands."Stranger? Hmm! Do you know the taxi driver by any chance?", he queried. I shook my head in a NO! "Isn't he a stranger, then?", he cross-questioned.Haan?How can he be so right? Though he uplifted a sensible question but how could I lose-out in front of this annoyer?"Um! He is a taxi driver. Get it?", I tried to sound confident."No, I didn't", he gave back suppressing his smile.Argh! "Fine then! Instead of sharing this ride with a stranger, rather I would prefer to walk alone", I raged."You mean two strangers? I and this taxi's driver?", he was sarcastic. Calm down, Aashi! *huff*It's useless to argue with this riling person, so it's better to ignore.I took my phone and opened an app to book a cab. My god!I need my address card to select the proper location on the app.Unwillingly I need to initiate to get my card back from him.But, I was in no mood to waste my words on him. Therefore, I stretched my right palm towards him gesturing to give my card back.He thought for a while and responded with something which left me fuming.He extended his right palm mutating my solicit into a handshake instead of handing over my card.Hate him!I withdrew my hand with a sudden yank."I want my address card back, not a handshake", I roared. "Oh, sorry. My bad", he apologized sincerely and returned my card back."Always", I countered faking a smile. I grabbed it back and walked a bit away from him.He stood next to me maintaining a distance of a foot. "Be careful of such drunk drivers and take care, daddy's little girl", he shoved his hands in his trousers pockets. Drunk drivers?What does he mean?Never mind. As usual I ignored it, but that didn't affect his serenity in any way.He just threw a smile in response placing himself in his cab as his cab's driver had already arrived.How does he manage to be so calm and composed every time?Am I being too rude to him?No, I don't think so. I shouldn't even take it into account.Anyhow, he is just a stranger and I have nothing to do with him.In fact, he is the one to drive me furious.The cab arrived after 15 minutes of booking.I sat in the car after the cab driver placed my luggage in the cab's trunk and he accelerated the car. I sat pushing myself back onto the seat in a try to relax myself.My phone rang. It read Yash. I swiped the green icon.Yash- Duffer?Me- Yes, idiot. Yash- What's wrong with you?Me- What did I do? Yash- Why didn't you call me?Me- Check your stupid phone, idiot. It will show you missed calls. Yash- Oh, wait. Me- Checked? Yash- Yikes! I was sleeping. Me- Who is the duffer now?Yash- Oye! You are a duffer and will always be. I am okay with "Idiot".Me- You seem to be proud of your idiocy?Yash- Yaa yaa! Did you reach?Me- In the cab. Fully exhausted. Yash- Hey, you okay? And yes, uncle said you sounded stressed. What happened? Me- You spoke to dad? I mean he didn't sleep yet?Yash- Don't you know him? Me- I do. Yash- We both were so tensed on hearing what uncle said. Me- Both?Yash- Ayu and me. Me- You mean Ayu is online too?Ayu- Yes, dumbo. Me- Hey, you reached Mumbai?Ayu- Just now. Tell us what happened?Me- Nothing baba. Yash- Duffer! You know you can't hide anything, spill the beans right away. Ayu- Exactly. Me- Fine! I ran into an extremely annoying person and was stuck with him for the entire journey. After landing, I faced a creepy motorist and god knows how I escaped. Then, again I bumped into the same hoodie guy. Finally, now in the cab. Yash- Hold on! Take a breath at least. Ayu- Are you fine? The truth ! Me- Don't panic you two. I am good. Yash- You are not sounding so. I don't trust you. I need to have a video call. Me- What? I am in the cab now. Don't you both want to have sleep?Ayu/Yash- That's not important now. We need to make sure you are doing well. Me- Alright! Let me reach my flat. Yash- Sure?Me- You have my word. I will ping you both once I reach. Yash- We will be waiting. Ayu- See you then. Beep.. Beep..After an hour or so, I reached my flat. I rang the door bell. A girl in shorts and a tee with blonde hair opened the door and stared at me for a while."Aashika Rao from India?", she initiated with a cold face."Yes", I smiled."I am Princy", she replied."Hey, Princy! Nice to meet you", I greeted her warmly. But, she didn't acknowledge.What's wrong with her?I stepped into the flat. It was a duplex flat with a kitchen and a huge drawing room. It had four bedrooms, two on the first floor and another two on the second floor."That's your room and these are your keys", she directed me to the second floor's corner room and gave me the room's keys."That is the only vacant room and the other three are already occupied", she added.Before I could thank her, she left. I was puzzled by her cold behaviour.I paced towards the corner room where she was pointing.I opened the room with my luggage and placed myself on the bed.It was very clean and well organized. I placed my luggage in their particular loci and got freshen up.I called dad. Ring.. Ring..Dad- You reached honey?Me- 15 minutes ago. You didn't sleep?Dad- Now, I will! *laugh*Me- Dad! Dad- Have dinner and take rest. Good night!Me- Sure, Good night!Beep.. Beep..I was about to call Yash and Ayu, but I heard a loud thud on my door.*Bang*What's that?Again it came but a bit louder this time.*Bang*My heart beat raised. My throat dried up. After a while, I heard a voice or should I say a loud shout. "OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR"The voice seemed neither of a guy nor of a girl.Who would it be?I was scared to the core. I felt as if my heart would pop-out any time soon. God! Help me! *praying*"Open", the voice came again.I flinched. *********************************Aashi's first day in London doesn't seem to get any better?! What do you think? See you in the next chapter. Till then stay tuned and miss me.😉#KeepReading #KeepLoving❤️❤️