03: nuisance

The day after Nila's interaction with him, he'd stood next to her with his obnoxiously beautiful face and his angled jaws, deftly carrying his gym bag in one hand and his backpack on his shoulders. She was foolish enough to expect an apology from him for being rude but nothing came. Of course.

Now that she had made an enemy out of him, Nila could identify him from any corner of the bus. And that's how she discovered that they shared the same bus in the afternoons as well, confirming her suspicions of him being a college student. Since he didn't get down at her stop, there was no chance that they belonged to the same college. So far, she had gathered only these crumbs about him but for some reason, there was a stubborn itch inside her to know more. She wanted to excavate his deepest darkest secrets hiding between his well-put appearance. This strange curiosity was unusual for Nila. She decided not to encourage it.

Nila was exhausted today. Sanjay hadn't come to college. Lilly slept in most of the classes and Maya was sneaking her Kindle between her notebook. The absence of Sanjay and his entertaining nonsense plus a series of continuous lectures made Nila want to jump off the building. She couldn't wait to go home to her bed. The only highlight of her day was that Maya had bought her a new plant to keep in her new flat. Maya's mother had already potted it in a beautiful hand-painted flowerpot. It wasn't exactly her style but it was the thought and the plant that mattered.

She was in the bus with the plant in one hand and the other tightly gripping the railing. Nila bit her teeth as someone pushed her from behind, sending her crashing against the hard plastic ridges of the seat. She tightened her hold on the plant, shielding it with her body. If the plant got crushed, she would never forgive herself.

The bus conductor moved through the crowd, demanding money for tickets. Nila looked around cluelessly, wondering how she was going to take the change out of her bag with a plant in her hand. She considered giving it to the people seated but the man before her was asleep. How he was sleeping through all the ruckus in the bus was beyond her. Nila knew she was fucked when she heard the bus conductor blast someone for giving a hundred rupee note to purchase an eleven rupee ticket.

She bit her lip and tried shifting the plant to her hip but the old lady next to her gave her no space. Nila blew out a breath of frustration.

"I can get you a ticket," a voice said. She whipped her neck to the side to lock eyes with a warm brown pair of eyes. It was the douchebag, or as she fondly liked to call him – DB. His voice was low and deep, similar to thunder teasing the sky before it put on its main show. She couldn't help but feel the tremor travel down her spine. Nila wondered how she hadn't noticed him at all.

"Um, no thanks," she squeaked and then cleared her throat to repeat, "No, thank you."

His expression didn't change. It was as if he had expected this answer from her. God, was she so predictable? Or was her pride betraying her and waving its bright flag at him?

"At least let me hold the plant then." His yellow collared t-shirt and blue jeans ironically made him look like walking sunshine. Nila refused to be fooled by the act.

"No, it's okay," she said, giving him a clipped smile.

"Okay, then. Suit yourself," he replied but his tone had a sarcastic undertone to it. As if he knew something Nila didn't. She followed his gaze and saw the conductor tear off a ticket to the old lady next to her and turn to her. When he realised she had no ticket nor change ready in her hand, his nose flared.

"Ticket!" he barked. "Where is your ticket? Are you deaf? I've been shouting for so long asking everyone to get the tickets and what have you been doing? Do you think I have time to go behind everyone and beg them to get a ticket? Or did you think you could travel for free today?"

Nila flinched.

"What are you looking at?"

She turned to DB and wordlessly pressed her potted plant in his free hand, ignoring the smug grin on his face. Nila dug into her bag and flung a twenty-rupee bill at the conductor. He muttered something under his breath, probably cursing her again before returning the change along with her ticket.

"I offered to help," DB whispered in her ears and she clenched her jaws as she pocketed the change. He was fucking infuriating. She was so close to crying from embarrassment but here was this despicable man, rubbing it on her face.

She faced him. "You can shut—"

Nila's eyes widened as she saw it happen in slow motion. The driver slammed the brakes and the old lady standing between DB and her staggered, knocking him and making him crash into the railing. She didn't care about the way he quickly managed to hold onto the handle bars on top for balance because Nila was more focused on her plant in his other hand. The tender main stem of the plant snapped into two, the top half falling down and disappearing under someone's harsh shoes, served in a silver platter to get stomped mercilessly.

DB didn't notice it. Only when his gaze fell onto her watering eyes did he realise he was holding a corpse. "Fuck," he cursed lowly and if Nila wasn't mourning the death of the plant, she would've focused on how hot the word sounded in his voice. "I'm so sorry."

She shook her head silently, choking on the tears and taking the plant —no, the pot — from him. She was angry. Angry at the conductor, angry at the people crowing the bus, angry at the driver for slamming the brakes and angry at the old lady for not holding on. She was angry at him for letting her plant die.

She looked at the pot with half a stem. It had been a gift. And people rarely gifted her plants even though she loved nothing more than them in this world.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated.

"Don't dare say a word," she said, every word coming out like venom.

This time it was him who flinched. Nila would have immediately felt guilty but she didn't give a flying fuck about his feelings. Especially since he had been the one to hurt hers first when they first interacted. He deserved it.

DB didn't try to talk to her again. Either he felt guilty or he had decided to stop caring about what happened. High chances it was the latter.

Until her stop came, she bit her teeth and refused to look at anyone but empty space. Nila was having the worst day. She needed to talk to Sanjay. No, she needed to bawl her eyes out to him. It was the first thing she was going to do when she stepped into her room.

When she got down from the bus, she could feel him looking at her, waiting for her to glance back. But she refused to give him that satisfaction. DB was a new nuisance in her life, as if she didn't have enough to keep her busy and worrying. She wished she hadn't met him at all or took the same bus as him. Because as much as she loathed him, she couldn't stop the flashes of his wounded expression when she snapped at him, stirring a strange feeling in her chest.

"It's Rava Dosa today!" Priya announced as Nila removed her footwear and stacked it in the stand. She lowered her bag and trudged into her room where Anamika was asleep. Priya followed her. "Why aren't you happy? It's your favourite. I got the batter from the shop. We have leftover sambar and Anamika promised she'd make coconut chutney once she wakes up from her nap. It'll be a perfect dinner today."

"Yeah, I guess," she said, dropping her bag on the floor along with the pot and lying on the bed next to her friend. She closed her eyes, her fingers kneading her forehead.

"Did something happen?" Priya asked, taking a seat next to her. Nila loved Priya, she swore, but she hated that she wouldn't leave people alone when they wanted to be. She was incapable of taking a hint, especially when someone wanted space. "Talk to me. Was class tiring? Was it a teacher? Tell me. Talking helps, you know."

Nila couldn't guarantee that Priya would end up becoming a chemistry professor but she knew one-hundred-percent that she would become a helicopter parent. Nila felt bad for her kids. "I am fine, Pri. I just need some space and rest. It was a long day."

"Are you sure? I feel like something happened. You can always talk—"

"Yeah, I know."

Anamika opened her eyes, shifting around. "Priya, fuck off and leave the girl alone. Can't you tell she needs space?"

Priya glanced at Nila for confirmation but Nila quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. She didn't need drama in the house as well. She couldn't be like Anamika and not give a damn about what others thought of her or say something like that to anybody's face. Nila liked to be in everyone's good books.

"Well, I'll start heating up the sambar then. Anamika, now that you are awake, you are needed in the kitchen." The clipped tone that Priya was using wasn't a good sign. But Anamika and Priya were known for their inconsistent friendship. One day they'd be acting like rivals and another day they'd be snort-laughing together over an Instagram meme. She could never understand it.

Once Priya was out of the room, Nila opened her eyes. Anamika jumped out of bed, mumbling something under her breath. She saw the sad little pot sitting on the floor. "Now I know why you're grumpy. Who killed this baby?" she asked.

"It was a team effort."

Anamika pushed her lips upwards. "Seems like it was on a hit list for many. Must've either been too much of a goodie or a baddie," she said, seriously. "Rest in peace, green one."

Nila chuckled. That was the thing about Anamika. Somehow she knew how to say the right thing (at least when she was on her good side). They differed drastically in their personalities but somehow they adjusted well with each other. Maybe it was because their interests were so in contrast that there was never a clash of opinion or because they had no problem respecting and understanding each other's wants and needs. They weren't close like she was with her friends at college but Anamika was there whenever Nila needed her.

"How was your presentation?" Nila asked, diverting the topic.

"Accidentally said shit once. The professor might take away a mark or two for that blunder but otherwise it was great."

"That's good. You've been stressing over it for weeks. Now you can relax."

"Yeah, I mean, I just woke up from a six-hour nap on a week day. The party has already begun," she grinned, bundling her short hair into a ponytail that looked like a black pear. "Don't worry about the plant. We'll get a new one. I cleared out some space by the balcony for them already. We'll go plant shopping this Saturday, alright?"

"Yeah, okay." It should make Nila feel better but she couldn't erase DB's face from her mind. Now that her anger had simmered down, she realised how silly she had been. It was unfair of her to blame him for what happened. He had done nothing but offered to help. He had barely held on to protect himself from falling so there was no way he could've prioritized the plant. Even though she didn't like him, she would never want to see him hurt. She'd rather choose his safety over the plant's.

Since she wasn't a big fan of him and he had been right there, it had been convenient for her to take her frustration out on him. He had been a safe object, a poor stranger. Suddenly, Nila burned with self-hatred. She had to fix the situation. It didn't matter that he never apologized for his rudeness that day. Nila wasn't raised to selfishly keep an apology to herself when it was rightfully owed to someone else.

Nila decided that the next morning she was going to find him and apologise for being mean. She was going to se things right.

And for the first time she thought it wasn't so bad that they took the same bus every day.

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