Chapter 12: chapter 12

Chapter TwelveThe vegetarian high tea that followed the prayer meeting was a tangled mess of bad vibes and complicated undercurrents. Yash picked at his cheese sandwich and did his best not to look at Maya and her friends who sat close by. Aayushi sat to his left carrying on an animated conversation with his mother. She looked very pretty in a mint green saree but it was Maya in her plain, black cotton kurta who had him stuck in a toxic time warp.“Yash!” His mother’s snapped command had him reluctantly tuning back into the conversation happening beside him. “Aayushi and you are going out for dinner when we get back to Mumbai.” Aayushi flushed an ugly shade of red. Yash looked at her and saw his reluctance reflected back at him. Time to put an end to this farce. “No, we won’t,” he said. Relief flashed across Aayushi’s face. “We’re not going to be anything other than friends, Ma. The sooner everyone accepts that, the better for all of us.”His mother glared at him. “You didn’t have a problem saying yes to a random girl when your Pa asked you to. But if I ask…”Aayushi cleared her throat delicately and stood. “If you’ll excuse me…” Her voice trailed off when they continued to look at her expectantly. “I have to go do something.”Yash started to laugh and a second later, she joined in. His mother wasn’t the least bit amused by their shared laughter. But he noticed Maya glance over and the tight lines of her face gave him some sick pleasure. Yash sighed. When had he become this person? Someone who went around telling people he hated them, took pleasure in someone’s else’s discomfort, kissed women he had no business touching with a bargepole…Aayushi had already wandered off to join her brother where he sat with one arm around his fiancée Shikha. Yash looked around wondering whom he could join so he could escape his mother’s now high-pitched whining. Not surprisingly there was only one person he wanted to be around, and she was the only one he shouldn’t be around. He stood up and walked away from his mother while she was still in mid complaint. He’d almost made it to the lemonade table when someone called his name. He turned to see Maya’s friend Kanak gesturing him over. He walked over to the chic, sophisticated girl with dramatic blue and purple streaks in her long wavy hair. “Yes?” he asked, warily. From what he’d seen of Maya’s pack they stuck together and were rabidly protective of each other. “We met once before,” she said, baring her teeth in what he supposed was a smile. “I crashed a video call you had with Maya.”Yash vaguely recalled chatting with a friend of Maya’s all those years ago. He certainly didn’t remember her looking like this though…the chilling intensity with which this woman watched him told him to watch his back. He was pretty sure she’d bury a knife in it the minute she had a chance. “I’m Kanak,” she said, rescuing him from struggling to remember her name.“The hair is new,” he said. “As is the outfit.” She was the only one wearing black leather pants and a sleeveless cream tank top that showed off the intricate tattoos on her arms and shoulders. “People change.” She shrugged.“Nice to meet you again Kanak,” he said, politely. He saw Maya furtively glance at them from where she was talking to Ved and Karam. The men were complete contrasts to each other. One in a crisply pressed cotton kurta pajama, the other in frayed jeans and an even more ancient faded out blue t-shirt. “She doesn’t need you and your mother giving her anymore grief, you know,” Kanak said, conversationally.Yash threw her a sharp glance. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. My mother and I have done nothing to her.” He thought about that statement and then amended it. “Nothing that she doesn’t deserve, at any rate.”Kanak raised both her eyebrows, an ordinary shade of black thankfully. “And you’re the judge of what she deserves and what she doesn’t?” That gave him pause. A swift pang of shame at his out-of-character behaviour had him conceding, “You’re right. Not my place.” She threw a speculative glance at him before looping a hand through his arm and dragging him towards the other three. “Come, join us.”“Do I have a choice?” he asked, dryly, as she towed him along. She just laughed and came to an abrupt halt in front of the others. “Yash is joining us,” she announced. “Joining us in what exactly?” Ved asked, his gaze going from Yash to Kanak to Maya, warily. Maya stared at Yash, eyes wide, face struggling to stay impassive. He held her gaze as the devil on his shoulder prodded him into answering, “Well, I heard there was this orgy happening and was wondering if I could be a part of it.” It was one of those disastrous moments when everyone fell silent at the same time. Yash’s voice rang out across the open lawns, clear as a bell. As one, the congregation turned to stare at him.He froze, his eyes going from his mother’s horrified ones to Aakash’s startled ones. People were starting to whisper and giggle amongst themselves. And then, just when he thought he would die of embarrassment, someone slung an arm over his shoulder. He looked to his right to see Karam grinning at him. “Welcome. There’s always space for one more. I’ll be the top to your bottom any day, my friend.” And the idiots who called themselves his friends started laughing, except for Maya who stared at him with a small smile. One that told him she knew how he felt in that moment and yet invited him to laugh at himself. “Don’t be a fool, Karam,” she said, softly but clearly enough for people to hear. “He’s too hot for you to handle.” His embarrassment receded as he saw the way she was watching him, a gentle knowing look that reminded him of a time he didn’t want to remember.“And you can?” Kanak teased. “Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one who can,” Maya said, her smile growing as Yash continued to stare at her.“Yash.” Aakash had come to stand beside him, Shikha by his side. “Let’s go. You don’t need to let these people make you feel bad about yourself.” Karam popped a cigarette in his mouth and smiled at Aakash, holding his gaze as he lit it. And Yash knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t let his friend continue to believe the worst about these guys. Especially when they were willing to act up so he could look better. “Aakash, it’s just a joke,” he began. “Of course it is,” his friend said. “Everything is a joke to these people. They, themselves, are nothing but a joke.” This time the entire gathering froze. No one smiled. No one dared breathe.A flick of a lighter and Karam lit his cigarette, his eyes on Aakash’s furious ones. Ved stepped forward to intervene but it was Kanak who got there first. “Easy Your Highness,” she murmured. “The people are watching. You don’t want to let your adoring public see the real you, do you?” He shot her a frigid look. “Step back,” Aakash gritted out. “Your games won’t work on me.” “Aakash,” his fiancée Shikha put a hand on his arm. “Let it go.”“Let it go? Let it go??” Aakash was shouting now. Yash stepped forward, a hand on his friend’s heaving chest to stop him from throwing the punch he could see coming. “Not here. Not now.” “Then when, Yash?” he asked, his eyes glittering with grief and rage. “When? We’re here to remember my brother, to honour him and they couldn’t manage even two days of that. They claim to have loved him as much as we did. And look at them.” Everyone in the gathering looked. All four of them held their heads high and stared back, unflinching. Aayushi came forward, tears in her eyes. “Bhai, please…”“No, Gudiya. I stayed silent for you but no more. They killed my brother. I couldn’t do anything about that. But I won’t stand by and let them mock and humiliate my friend too.” “They didn’t!” Yash spoke softly but emphatically. “They didn’t. Vikram’s death was an accident. You know that! And for what happened just now…” “An accident that they caused,” Aakash spat the words out. “Drunk, drugged out of their minds and probably stumbling out of another orgy just like the one they’re planning for tonight. That’s why my brother died. Because of them and their influence.” Raw grief soaked his words making Yash’s heart ache for him. God, what a disaster this whole evening was. Yash looked at Shikha who nodded to him. “Let’s go, Aakash. Please? For my sake?” she pleaded. He allowed her to lead him away, tired, broken and sad beyond his ability to bear. A moment later, the rest of the gathering wandered off, no doubt to discuss the juicy scene and its gossip until they’d relished every second of it.Yash stayed where he was with Maya and her friends. They stood in silence, even their defiant insolence silenced. “I told you we shouldn’t have come,” Maya whispered. “This was a mistake. This was all a huge mistake.”“Vikram would have wanted you here,” Aayushi said, through bloodless lips. “You should never have invited us,” Ved snarled at her. “When the fuck are you going to realise that everything isn’t always the sunshine and rainbows you’re fond of spouting?”“Careful,” Yash warned, moving to stand next to Aayushi.The voice of calm and reason when it spoke was an unexpected one. “We all fucked up.” Karam took a deep drag of his cigarette and blew a smoke ring. “Let’s just leave it at that and go pack our bags now.”Â