HEARTFULLY ENTANGLED - CHAPTER 2 - AN UNINVITED LIGHT
2 - AN UNINVITED LIGHT
The influence of whiskey waned in me after about 4 hours of dog-like sleep after having the whiskey. As I fluttered my eyelids open I found myself in a dark room. I had no idea when the evening had slipped into the night. My head and body felt heavy, still in the haze somewhere between the wakefulness, exhaustion and intoxication. My body demanded a slumber again. But my rumbling stomach restricted me from continuing my sleep.
Hunger. That damned persisting thing! It has no patience. It wouldn’t care whether you are heartbroken or exhausted or haunted or worried or frustrated or whatever. Hunger always wins against all the battles.
I needed food, and another round of alcohol, if I wanted to sleep again without any physical or mental disturbance.
I sighed and got off the bed. I had a half bottle of alcohol, but I didn’t have anything to cook as I was a new tenant there where I didn’t even arranged anything. So, I thought of buying a noodle pocket to prepare a quick dinner. As I switched on the lights and rummaged through my luggage, a sudden blare of a vehicle horn pierced my ears from the gate. I shifted my eyes towards the partly opened window of my bedroom, towards the source of the noise. A part of the garden and the gate was clearly visible from my bedroom’s window.
As the car glided into the parking area amidst the garden, and a handsome middle aged man stepped out of the car, Mrs.Payal rushed out of their home with a bright smile on her face as if she was waiting for him all day and hugged him gently. It was evident he was her husband. He reciprocated the hug with a smile. She released the hug and touched her cheek with her forefinger, looking at him with a pout like a child. It was her silent request for a kiss, and the pout was because of making her wait all day, it seemed. Her husband laughed, pulling both of her cheeks, and touched his forehead with her forehead affectionately while whispering something to her. She blushed, hitting his shoulder. I didn’t know what he whispered, but my shameless mind had already spun hundreds of possible wild dialogues for the night and I turned my face away, shaking my head, cursing myself for imagining their personal dialogues, leaving them to carry on.
I turned my concentration to my own rumbling stomach, pulling out a t-shirt. I slipped it onto my body, and then I washed my face. Please don’t wonder about my chaotic order of activities. The world might say wash your face first and then wear your shirt. But I always did the things randomly. Sometimes, I would comb my hair and then wash my face. Sometimes, I would even wear my socks before my pants. It’s just about my instinct and what is reachable for my hands at first. Funny, chaotic me! But please don’t let your mind wild to imagine I would wear my inners over my pants. I was not that weirdly funny. But just chaotically funny!
As I walked to the door, running my fingers through my disheveled hair, the doorbell rang before I could reach the knob, followed by little Diya’s honey-like sweet voice, “Mr. Music.”
I froze, my fingers still tangled in my hair, my jaw clenched.
Mr. Music.
What was going on in her mind? Just a few hours ago, she irritated me with her word ’family’. I had no desire to converse with her again casually or personally, only to hear some unwanted words from her. But she was there again. With a nickname this time as if we knew each other for eras.
I liked her humanity and innocence, but I didn’t like it when she crossed borders without knowing whether I was comfortable to call me with nicknames.
I tilted my head back, closing my eyes, dragging a hand down my face in frustration and replied, “Wait a minute.” I walked back to my backpack, pulling out my perfume as my alcoholic smell still lingered in my body. I didn’t care about others, but standing in front of her with alcoholic smell felt wrong. She was too young and she felt too innocent for such things.
I sprayed my perfume lavishly on myself, letting its sharp citrus fragrance engulf me, hoping it would mask the alcoholic smell and placed it back in my luggage. With a final deep breath, I ran a hand through my hair, straightened my shirt, and twisted the door open.
She was standing near the steps of the entrance, her eyes gleaming with innocence under the dim porch light. She had her hands clasped behind her back and smiled at me. “You took forever to open the door, Mr. Music. Were you sleeping?”
Mr. Music again!
I turned my face away, exhaling sharply, and then faced her. “What’s the matter?”
She narrowed her eyes, forcing a smile. “You don’t want to talk with me, it seems. You shut the door without any response before, too.”
Intelligent! But I couldn’t say yes directly to her.
I stepped towards my sandals, looking down. “Not like that, Diya. I was just tired. And, now I am going to a grocery shop. It’s already late. They might shut the shop if I make it late.” I slipped my foot into my sandals. “You go to your home. Good night.”
“No.” She announced. “Tell me whether you had dinner?”
I took a deep breath. “No, Diya. That’s why I am going to a shop to buy noodles.”
She shrugged, a pride spreading on her face as if she invented something new. “Hmm. I knew you wouldn’t have had your dinner. That’s why I came here to call you. No need to go to the grocery shop. Come and have dinner with us.” A generous smile played on her lips.
“No, thanks,” I denied, stepping away. “You go home.”
“Mr. Music is so adamant, it seems,” she said with a frown, grabbing my hand, stopping me from moving away. “But he should know Diya is much more adamant than him. If this Diya decides something, she won’t step back till she is done with what she wanted.” She pulled me to her home. “You should eat in our home. This is your house owner’s order.”
Oh god! Why was she behaving like a child?
“Diya, leave me.” I yelled, my legs moving with her. "Are you mad or what? Don’t you know you should not force a person for something?"
She frowned, turning her face to me, placing her forefinger on her lips. “Shhh....”
Was she ordering me to keep quiet?
How dare!
Should I get shocked or furious?
But I was dumbstruck for a moment, my legs kept moving.
She added, “I am not mad. But I am a psychology student. I may have just completed my first year of UG. But I have read hundreds of psychology books from my early teenage years. I can understand at least a little about your mind with your facial expressions. I can say you are in the severe stage of depression. When you said you were an orphan, your eyes were not normal, too. I saw a yearn for family in your eyes. I am not mad to force someone, but a future psychiatrist who wants to give you medicine. I cannot leave you to continue your depression even after my knowledge in psychology tells me you need help. It will be a betrayal for my ambitions in psychiatry then. So, I am going to give my family as a first medicine to you. Come with me. But I will not say whatever I feel about you to my family.”
What?
Was she for real?
Was it all true? How could she diagnose something just by seeing eyes? Especially, at a young age while studying itself? Moreover, I was not yearning for a family. I was hating the word family itself.
She was wrong about my thoughts.
But I couldn’t say any of my personal feelings to her and moved with her.
She added, “People yearn for something, only because of two reasons. One, love. Two, hate. I don’t know what’s the reason for your yearning for a family. But whatever it is, our family and I will heal you.” She smiled gently.
I gulped, turning my face away.
I feared whether she would understand my thoughts by looking at my face.
I took a deep breath to control myself and then turned to her, pretending to be normal. “I understand we yearn for something which we love. How...could we yearn for something which we hate?”
“Simple.” She shrugged. “The words 'I hate you' is just a synonym of 'I need love from you'. But you are not giving it’. It’s a deeper yearning than the yearn we feel out of love.”
Oh god! What was she saying? It took the stupid me a moment to understand. But still I was not ready to believe her words. I was not ready to argue with her, either. She seemed to be younger in age only, but a genius compared to the stupid me.
It’s really good to have healthy discussions with genius people. But it’s a foolishness to argue with them only to get defeated. I was neither ready to argue nor to get defeated.
I fell silent, surrendering to her.
“So, tell me. What’s the reason for your yearn? Love or hate?” She asked.
“Love.” I lied, looking down.
Her voice turned softer. “Hmm. Everyone love their family. Isn’t it? I understand you miss them. But don’t worry. My family will be your family, too, hereafter. You can find your mom and dad in my mom and dad. Let’s see for some weeks whether you are able to mingle with our family and find happiness. Otherwise, let me take you to my HOD. He is a genius. He will definitely heal your depression. Don’t hide anything from me. I am your friend. Not only because I want you to come out of your worries, but also because I feel connected with you.”
Connection?
Fuck your connection. That’s what I thought.
But controlling my words, “Hmm,” I hummed, deciding to vacate the house as soon as the three months advance payment ends.
I thought I was in the wrong place. I was not ready for anything she said. I felt I was caught alone in a haunted place. Better to move away as soon as possible, I thought.
She left my hands as we reached the middle of the garden by now and added, “We have a habit of having our dinner here, under the stars and moon. Wait for a minute. Dinner will arrive now.”
I nodded.
“They came,” Diya exclaimed.
I turned my eyes to her home.
Diya’s mom, dad and brother stepped out of their home’s portico, holding the dinner plates and casseroles in their hands.
“Are you Arun who is our new tenant?” Her dad asked me while approaching us.
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“Welcome to our house,” he declared, settling onto the lush green grass.
Little Diya pouted, “Papa (dad), he is my friend. Don’t welcome him to our house. Welcome him to our home. He is not our tenant. He is our family.”
Her dad laughed and added with a friendly smile at me, “Okay Arun. If our daughter says something, there is no opposition for it. You are our family now. Feel free with us. Okay?”
I nodded unwillingly.
Diya exclaimed, “Mr. Music, let me introduce our family to you. This is my Darling Papa, Krishna. He is a Doctor. Chairman and CEO of our own Live Well Hospital,” She introduced, kneeling down near her dad, wrapping her arms around his neck.
I nodded my head.
She added, “If you have any health issues, you can visit our hospital for free. Most of the treatment in our hospital is free.”
Her dad giggled, “Kuttima, are you promoting our hospital?”
“A little…” She grinned, joining her forefinger and thumb finger, squinting her eyes.
Her gestures were cute. No, cuter. No, the cutest. But I couldn’t even smile as my thoughts still lingered about vacating the house.
Her dad laughed, nodding his head.
She chuckled, moving to her mom, wrapping her arms around her neck. “This is my sweet mom, Payal. She is a teacher actually. But now she is a homemaker,” she introduced, and kissed her mom’s cheek.
I nodded.
Then, she moved to her brother, and ruffled his hair playfully. “This is my naughty brother, Vijay. He is going to 11th std this year. He has an ambition of achieving high in the field of astronomy.”
He frowned, adjusting his ruffled hair with his fingers as if his hairstyle was more important for him. “Don’t believe her, Anna. I am not naughty. She is the only naughty girl in our home. She beats me everyday without even a reason. She is a dark chocolate lover. She steals chocolates from the fridge everyday like a child and puts accusations on me who doesn’t even like chocolates. And, do you know? This naughty girl likes to eat raw powder of horlicks a lot. If we buy a horlicks bottle, she will finish it within a week and will put accusations on me who doesn’t even eat a pinch of raw horlicks. I swear her future husband will kick her nicely for her atrocities,” He complained to me.
Though I felt it funny, I couldn’t laugh. I just nodded flatly.
She frowned at Vijay. “What??! If he kicks me, will my foot take rest? If he kicks me once, I will kick him a hundred times and bury him alive,”
“Yes, kuttima. That’s the spirit,” her dad laughed, fisting his fingers, stretching it to her for a fist bump. She reciprocated his fist bump and then lifted her imaginary collar proudly.
Vijay joined his palms playfully, looking up at the vast sky. “Please, God. Save my future mama (bro-in-law) from my sister. He should never meet my sister and get caught in her web. He should live freely without meeting her, without getting her kicks. Also, without hearing her not-so-good lectures. My mom and dad na? In the name of creating the future CEO of our hospital, they turned my akka as a lecture godown. My future mama will run away because of her lectures, even if he finds her. Better he doesn’t find her.”
Diya frowned. Her mom hit his shoulder, shaking her head. “Shut up, you moron.”
He bit his lips, controlling his laughter.
Diya shrugged him off, standing up and added to me, “Finally, I am Diya, I am doing B.Sc.,Psychology. I am on my summer holidays now. I am going to second year after the holidays. I am the future CEO of our hospital.”
I nodded.
“Okay, sit down. Let’s have our dinner,” her dad intervened.
Diya settled down between her mom and dad. I was just standing, feeling odd one out there.
Her mom intervened, “What happened? Do you feel awkward sitting on the grass? If yes, at least sit on the swing.”
I wanted to say I could even sit in the drainage water. I had experience with every dirty thing in the world. Grass was not a dirty thing. If something was dirty there, it was me only. Diya looked up with an affectionate smile, extending her hand up to me, and pulled my hand. “No. He will sit down with us.”
Her affectionate smile felt as if a child’s smile. Her affectionate gestures felt like a motherly gestures. I really didn’t know why she was caring for me and why she felt connected with me. But I couldn’t take in any of her care or empathy. I couldn’t even take any of her words serious.
I sat down between her dad and Vijay unwillingly while thinking, “This should be the last day I am spending time with this family.”
They served me vegetable pulao and butter chicken. It tasted awesome. Being uncomfortable with them, I filled my stomach as soon as possible and got up with the plate.
“Chapatis are also there. Eat some chapatis, too,” her mom suggested.
“No, it’s enough. Let me go. And thanks,” I replied, and walked to wash the plate in the nearby tap.
“Arun, keep the plate here itself. Let me wash.” Diya stopped me.
“No, Thanks.” I responded flatly, and washed the plate.
I came back to them, giving them the plate again and thanked them again.
“No problem, Mr. Music. We don’t need your thanks.” Little Diya smiled.
I forced a smile. “I feel sleepy. I am going home. Good night,” I said flatly and walked to my home.
“Mr. Music…” Little Diya called me. I turned back.
“Let’s have dinner together here tomorrow, too. And bring your guitar tomorrow. I want you to play a song,” She announced.
I sighed and lied, “I... I don’t have a guitar.”
“I saw a guitar in your bag. Don’t lie. Tomorrow you are coming and playing a song. That’s it. This is the order of the owner of this house,” her ordering tone echoed.
Vijay joined her, “Yes. We want you to play a song. We want you to play a song.” They protested. Her mom and dad laughed at them and on me.
“Okay,” I said for namesake, turning to walk. I planned to come back home late thereafter. And, I was waiting for three months to end soon so that I would be able to leave the house without any payment problems on both sides.
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