What the Hell?
Siddharth arrived with Jason only minutes later when my call ended with Jaya. I looked at him, plainly dressed and said," Looks like someone knew."
"She's my girlfriend. Of course I'll know." Siddharth said.
"Know what?" Kriti asked.
"Jaya, his girlfriend and the person I was supposed to meet here, left for Kolkata due to a family emergency with her cousin," I replied.
"So, you're alone now." She asked, tentatively.
"Yeah. I mean, I was supposed to meet her and her cousin. But now it looks like I have to go back." I said with a sigh.
"Why don't you stay and party with us. One more person in a large party won't make much difference." Kriti said with a shrug.
Others chimed in with 'Yeah, we are just going to party' or 'Don't worry, we are all part of the same university anyway.'
So, in the end, I joined their party as Siddharth's plus one as I was close to only him of all people in the group. We entered the dimly lit open terrace bar, which had a large projector, projecting the latest badminton match between Singapore and Malaysia. They had a live band playing some of my favourite classics in the background. It was truly a social media-friendly place, which had an ambience that I preferred for a date. Jaya sure knew my taste.
We started ordering drinks and waited for other student council members to join the gathering. I ordered a martini, Siddharth chose a classic whisky on rocks, whereas Kriti ordered a mint-flavoured lime mocktail, as she was driving her motorbike back.
I started looking forward to the food when the last person I wanted to be here arrived with his girlfriend. Manaav and his new girlfriend, I conveniently forgot that he, too, was part of the student council.
"Looks like everyone has arrived, albeit late." One of them teased the couple who locked their hands, entwining them exactly like snakes.
"Surprise." Manaav laughed and continued," I wasn't planning to, but Student Head said to come without fail, so here we are." They sat opposite Siddharth and me. I wanted to chew the cold glass of my third martini when the starters arrived. Siddharth, as attentive as ever, passed some of the mint chutney and kebabs to me that everyone ordered.
"Thanks Ranga. Have some too. Don't just drink, otherwise you'll have a bad hangover." I said with a smile.
"If we didn't know how loyal Siddharth is towards Jaya, we would think that you guys were dating." Manaav said, sipping on his whisky.
I smirked and said, "Even if Jaya wasn't in the picture, he would have been attentive to me." And I placed my head over Siddharth's shoulder. Siddharth patted my head affectionately and fed me a drumstick.
"Why? Are you guys cousins or what?" Manaav's girlfriend said.
"Yeah." We said it in unison. "Maternal."
"What!?" The whole table erupted into chaos. "Maternal cousins. Seriously?"
"Seriously. Our mothers are cousins, and so are we." Siddharth said it like a matter of fact.
"Does Jaya know?" Someone said.
"Yeah, she does. That's why she doesn't care about our open affections. Wait, I thought I had mentioned our relationship to everyone on the first day of orientation. " Siddharth said.
"We thought you guys were just joking. Look at the two of you. You both look so different. You even have different surnames." Manaav said with a cold sweat.
"Of course, we look different. She resembles her paternal grandmother, and I look exactly like my father. Genetics, man." Siddharth said airily.
"Well, well, well," Kriti said, "looks like some people believed the rumours more than the stated."
"What rumours?" Siddharth asked protectively.
"Well, rumours are floating around that you, Jaya and Jasmine are in a threesome relationship. Jaya doesn't want to continue the arrangement you made, and that's the reason why you and Jaya are going on and off all the time. And, in this whole setup, Jasmine is the vixen who loves breaking into your relationship because she is madly in love with you." Manaav said overwroughtly.
"WHAT THE HELL?" We screamed at him. "Are you out of your mind? Do you even know what you're talking about? God, bless my soul." I said, hysterically. "We are cousins.