10 Tinge

Samarth

I rushed straight to the office in no time. Reaching there, I strolled to my father’s cabin where he was sitting with his associates. As he saw me, he discontinued the meeting and I entered.

“Aaiye Barkhurdhar” He taunted me. “This is not an office anymore; this is a club now. Right?”

“Morning Dad” I replied, taking my seat. “You know…. traffic, jams, heat …sun.”

“You miss to say, sleep ...pillow and bedroom. Didn’t you?” He sarcastically again taunted me.

“Common Dad, I am not late …I m just…”

“Don’t worry, when our daughter-in-law comes, you will learn how to be punctual.”

“You are infuriating me again,” I said getting up from my seat.

“Do tell me the work, or else I leave. I am already pissed off with these things.” I unleashed the pressure. The amount of anger that had grown these days, was something I couldn’t handle further. After mom, if I have to come anywhere, that would be Dad. He holds a better capability of understanding. When he sensed the rising fury in my face, he stopped me from leaving the cabin. He made me sit next to the couch and asked someone to bring a glass of water for the deceased.

Who was the deceased? It was me. If only my dad could ask for a hot latte to bring.

“Tell me where’s the problem?” He asked.

“Everywhere what I see is a problem.” I unshackled. “I don’t like the girl, not even a single thing of her excites me. And you both forcing me to get married to her. Why?”

“But she likes you.” He countered.

“Doesn’t matter if she likes me. When I don’t like her, it must be crystal clear to you both.”

“I want to know why you don’t like her.” I wanted to say many things but I summarised them in one sentence. “She cannot match my aura.”

“How can you say such things when you have just seen her, but never spoke? Have you?”

“A little, the first day,” I answered suppressing the truth.

“A one-day visit cannot tell you an entire story. To know about anyone, you need to spend time with them. You know? All the daisies which your mother thought could be pair for you, I refused them at an instant. But your mom kept on insisting to me that they were better. I was the first to say no.”

“So why cannot you say no this time?”

“Because this time I believe she can be a miracle for you.”

I nodded in refusal.

“Really? Miracle? …you are daydreaming dad.” I said, scoffing my shoulders. “Have I done a mistake that you are treating me like this?”

“Not at all my, I just do not want to see you spoiling your future recklessly. For months we have observed you….

“Like how?” I was flummoxed, when did parents start observing their grown kids ?

“Skip that part of how…. I want you to once listen to us.”

“I will surpass the part of listening to you.” I frankly told and rose up from my seat. And then he set out an authoritarian tone, stopping me from leaving the cabin at once.

“Amayra is a good girl. She is one in a million.” He told a little aggressively.

“Let me skip her and choose from a million.” I said with a smile. He looked furious at me. I began again.

" Do you know Dad? I saw her and she looks undemanding to me. Just ordinary, lacking a taste of love and adventure. How can she manage with me? I perhaps believe she is never been to foreign lands also. Imagine me and her walking together and all might look at her with despise. ….” I said non-stop, adding extra I continued. “I cannot be forcibly married to a girl I don’t like at all. Instead, I desire a woman of beauty and wealth, who attract a number of gallant lovers around her like a swarm of flies, and out of those, she will choose me…. only me, the valiant Prince from No mercy Land.” I exaggerated I knew.

As soon as I ended my iconic speech, a file came flying, hitting my abdomen.

“Dad…” I winced in slight pain.

“Samarth….” He called out my name and there I knew I had ruined his patience level. His features formed into an overbearing and self-willed attitude. He fumed and fretted in his worst temper, completely ignorant of what he spoke in his tantrums.

He fired his words at me like a Volcanic eruption.

“No matter what you speak, you will have to marry the girl I choose, even if she looks like an Egyptian Mummy or the Maleficent, don’t care about the world, she shall be as ugly as a toad or visually displeasing. You will still have to marry even if she carries swelling all over her body or a lump on her each cheek. She can be crooked or as tall as Giraffe or she does a spirit walk. You will still have to marry despite her hands being deformed, twisted, curved, or a corkscrew.”

Dad rocked his son shocked.

“You will marry her. Father to command, son to obey. Remember always.”

I felt like someone gave me blatant electric shock waves. My dad was not much of a dad but he transformed into a chief justice of the Supreme Court and passed a jurisdiction against me where I stood clueless and passive.

He was so angry that I couldn’t counter back. I just took the file and exited his cabin. Whatever he lectured, I listened from one ear and passed it from one.

Just follow the natural phenomena of ‘Ek Kaan se suno, dusre Kaan se nikalo’ (Listen from one ear and pass out from the other)

By the evening I was almost on the verge of finishing work when my mom messaged me.

Inbox: Pack a gift for Amayra

This is the last straw left. Now I would pack a gift for a girl I don’t like. “What purpose does it bring?” I didn’t know what that Daisy like and so I messaged Sheena, one of my close friends. I messaged her to bring me a gift and she replied she will come to the house directly.

Sheena is a known person in my house. She had been to my house many times. We are good college students. She was the hottest in our batch but a friendship pact between us stopped me to tell her I like her. Now we are even, don’t like each other but love each other like great good frenemies. Due to work she stays away but whenever I need her, she picks up my call. Since I didn’t tell her in detail, she decided to come home to know the current report of my life.

I nodded ok.

After wrapping up my things, and submitting the file to the manager, I left for home. I reached around 5:50 pm and my mom informed me they were very near to the house.

Jumping on the stairs like a skilled kangaroo, brainless I, entered the washroom without equipment.

Usually, a man would take a bath gown, towel, or washcloth. But I took just my naked sweaty body inside there, only realizing later, that I just cannot come out naked. While I almost finished my bathing, I felt someone’s presence in my room. I presumed she as mom and just called out. Usually, mom would respond but I couldn’t hear anything such.

A few seconds later, I heard a slow puppy kind voice. Assuming it was Sheena, I called out her name twice but she didn’t reply.

Sheena is a sly female fox; I knew she was playing game. Maintaining a silent pace might be a part of her surprise jump onto me. I understand her better than anyone can. She was acting to be soundproof so that I could come out naked and then she would see the sexy wet adventure of my body.

Tell me a girl who doesn’t want to see her boy best friend naked? One chance and she will make fun throughout her life.

Cunning girl!

I deliberately stretched my hand out, believing she would pass the towel and so did she.

“Nice girl,” I commented.

Wrapping it around my waist, I turned the knob of the door when I saw Daisy collapsing badly on the floor. Her back hit hard with the ground.

“What the fuck you were doing here? Sneaking me?” I growled.

“As if you are Royal Prince to sneak at?” She said wincing in pain. “Is there any conscience left in you to aid others?”

She was not Sheena, it was the daisy, Amayra. She passed me the towel and perhaps during that time, her dupatta got jammed in between the door of the washroom, which is why she fell down as I opened it. I helped her get up but she cried, making it difficult for me to pick her up.

“If you are not Sheena but Amayra, why can’t you just tell?”

“My choice, I don’t like to answer you.” She reacted in attitude even after falling.

Oh God, save the queen later first save these girls, despite whatever happens to them, mistakes they will never accept.

I held her by hand and tried to slowly pick her up but she flinched.

“Where did it hurt?” I asked gently

“In my back.” She replied like a little girl.

“Put your hand on me and lean,” I said holding her by the waist and leisurely picking her up. Her spine column got badly affected and it was a little difficult for her to stand upright. I still held her by the waist tightly, while she kept one hand on my shoulder and another on my arm.

See!

The great shining armor was protecting the damsel in distress.

“Can you walk?” I asked still holding her.

“No…” She resisted as if I was forcing her to walk.

“Who told you to come to my door?” I scolded.

“If only you have done the honor of coming down by yourself, then I shouldn’t have been here, suffering.” She scolded me back yet wincing in pain.

“Calm down, I will take you to bed,” I said gently, worrying for her but she shrieked as if I was taking advantage of the situation.

“You are thinking of romancing when I am such in pain?”

“Mad or what? I am trying to help you.” I looked at her in confusion.

“Help me? By taking me to the bed?” She snapped.

“Where shall I take you to the couch?” I reciprocated the same way she answered me. Before she could use her mouth to insult me further, I shut her mouth by clenching her tightly on her waist and pulling her closer to me. She flinched; I knew.

In defense, she kept her right hand on my bare chest when I pulled her. I felt a tinge of pleasure. A tingling sensation passed through my body when her palm met the soft core of my chest. She wrapped her other hand on my neck and her face close to me.

We men do feel something when a woman touches us or comes to us. I was having the same feeling right then. I was hating her a few minutes back but liked her touch, “so am I enjoying it?” I questioned myself.

“I will pick you up, so stay calm.” I stuttered and she just nodded.

“A gentle touch of women can make the strong heart of a man to melt.” Whoever said this is correct.

I melted and seek for more.

When she brushed her hand away from my bare chest to shoulder, I sensed the current going away. It was for a few seconds and I liked.

No denial!

Gently placing her on the bed, I kept a soft pillow on her back.

“Rest here, I will get an ointment or warm compressor.”

“Ok!” She replied.

“You could tell me thanks, at least.” I mocked.

“Thank you so much.” She said but not satisfactorily.

Smirking at her, I put the warm compressor on her back. I thought she might resist but she didn’t.

“Do you want me to put ointment also?” I teased her again.

“I can do it by myself.” she snatched it from my hand and passed me a glare.

“So will you keep sitting here or go somewhere?” She asked.

“Why would I go somewhere? this is my room.”

“I need to put the ointment in.”

“You can put, I am not looking,” I said.

“I need privacy.”

“Privacy? I am your soon-to-be husband. Let go of this privacy thing. Shall we?” I teased again and she hit me with a pillow. I don’t know why the hell, I was doing it, but I was enjoying it.

Boys can never say no to enjoyment.

“Ok …. calm down, I am going to put on some clothes and you put on the ointment, and then we will go down.”

With this, I left her and entered the washroom. Standing opposite the mirror and I stared at myself. Did I just say “soon -to be husband”?

“No…... no…… I cannot … I cannot marry her. She is just a new daisy and she will go like other daisies too.” I confronted myself.

“I cannot have a humdrum life with her.”