I VIKRAM I

"I'm telling you, Ali's Dum has the best biriyani around town", Remya says from the backseat as we drive along the beach.

After a few more hours of shopping and wandering around aimlessly, the girls were so hungry they couldn't walk, their words not mine. So we decided to get something to eat. And here we are in the car driving around since they can't make their mind up about where you'll get the best biriyani.

"Oh please! Their biriyani is far too overrated and overpriced", Meera tells her from the passenger seat looking sideways at Remya who has her head stuck between our seats.

"No, they're not. Vikram, take us to Ali's Dum", she orders at me.

I look between Meera and Remya taking in their don't-deny-me-and-do-what-I-say look, before coming to a conclusion.
"How about we get some pizza. I saw a Domino's on the way here. You can't go wrong with pizza", I say.

"But Pizza hut is better than Domino's and- ", Meera starts but I interrupt her before she could start another debate. I mean , any other time, I would love to hear her reasons for believing Pizza Hut is better than Domino's. But I'm fucking hungry right now. And from the look on Remya's face, she doesn't share Meera's opinion about Pizza Hut and I can't have another which-is-better talk.

"I don't care. I'm hungry and if I don't eat in the next hour, I won't be responsible for my actions. It's just fucking Pizza, for god's sake", I tell her.

She looks at me hesitantly before saying, "fine, but only because it's pizza and I can't say no to pizza and not because I'm agreeing with you or anything", she says and Remya rolls her eyes at her.

"Right. So it's settled. Domino's it is", I say as I look for the domino's that I saw on the way over in google maps.

Yes, I'm seeking help from google even though I have two girls who grew up here with me.

'Why', you ask? Because apparently it's been too long since they've been here and some of the roads and buildings have changed. And they didn't bother to tell me this until we were lost and they couldn't decide which was east or west. And from that point I've followed google maps.

"In two hundred metres, turn left to beach road. Your destination will be on the left", I hear the Google maps monotone say after a few minutes of driving along the beach.

Meera hums along with the song playing in the radio and Remya bobs her head to the beat as I reach beach road.

"Turn left to the beach road." "You have reached your destination."

"Finally!", Remya says as she hops off the car. But before Meera could get out, I lock the doors. When she looks at me questioningly with an eyebrow raised, I ask her, "Are you fine with this? I mean if you want to go someplace else, it's okay."

Okay... Where the hell did that come from. I mean I'm not really a gentleman or a nice guy for that matter, so it caught me a little off guard when I realised that I meant what I said. I'm definitely going crazy.

She doesn't say anything for a moment, and just stares at me as if I had two heads.

"Are you bipolar?", She asks after a few moments.

"What?, I can be a good guy if I want to", I tell her with fake hurt.

"Pizza is more than fine",she says with a soft smile.

Wow. That's the first time she's smiled at me like that. And it's safe to say that I'm a goner for that smile.

She's about to say something when Remya Knocks on the window of Meera's door. I unlock my door immediately and get out. And before Meera opens her door, I lock the car and I make sure to press on the child lock. And when I see Meera trying to yank the door open a few times before turning to glare at me, I laugh.

She starts yelling and since I can't hear anything that she's saying, it's even more funny. God, she looks so mad right now that I imagine steam coming off her head. It just makes me laugh more.

But I unlock the car soon enough. Because, something tells me if Meera sits inside any longer, she'll not hesitate to knee me in my sacred balls and I'd like to keep my jewels safe and intact.

"I swear to you, Vikram, if you pull some shit like that again, I'll castrate you and you'll have to sing soprano for the rest of your life", she says looking pissed off.

Hangry Meera is scary as hell. Noted.

And I was right, she would have gone for my balls if I kept her inside any longer.

"Haven't you heard Meera, violence is not the answer", I tell her even as I put Remya between her and me. I'm not stupid.

"You're paying", she states before walking in to Domino's.

We find a table near the window and I take the seat across them as they slide into the seats next to each other. "So, what would you ladies like", I ask.

"A regular pepperoni pizza for me. And a coke", Remya says and I nod.

"And you", I ask Meera.

"Cheese and tomato", she says, "and a sprite".

"Alright, I'll be right back", I say as I go to place the order.

"Can I get a regular pepperoni , a cheese and tomato and a barbecue chicken and onion pizza, please."

"Cheese burst or normal crust", the guy taking the order asks.

"Cheese burst. And add two regular cokes and a sprite too", I say as I take out my purse to pay.

I come back to our table after paying. Remya and Meera stop talking the minute I return and I know they were talking about me. Instead of asking them what they were talking about, I decide to get to know them a little.

"So, Remya what do you do?", I ask her as I fold my hands against my chest and lean back in a comfortable position.

"I'm completing my final year BCA at IIT, Madras", she says, "you?"

"I'm a project manager at Infosys. The four of us, Karthi, Varun, Rudra and me, we work in the same company"I tell her.

"What about you, Meera?", I ask her .

"I'm completing my BA in English literature and History at DU." So, she likes to read. Hmm.

"So, how did you and Karthik meet?", she asks as she rests her head on her hands, looking at me with those brown eyes of hers. She has crazy cat eyes. I stare at her a little longer before I realise she asked me something and I snap out of my gaze.

"What? Oh yeah, Karthi and I were best friends since highschool. We went to the same college and got into Infosys through campus selection. We met Rudra and Varun, on our first week at work. We've all been friends ever since", I tell her thinking about our college days and first year at work. We were all just kids back then. I mean not much has changed, except we're more hygienic and don't go to parties or clubs every week.

It's only just Karthi who has changed and I'm not saying it as if it's a bad thing. He was always committed to Shraddha since they started dating in college, but he still used to come to clubs and parties with us. He just got bored of it a little earlier than we did. After we started working, we were tired and just wanted to have a few drinks with some close friends and the routine kind of stuck. We met at Karthi's flat, which he and I shared at that time before Shraddha moved in, every two days, played some COD or MC and had a few drinks and that was that.

But even after Shraddha moved in and I moved out, we still went on a guy's trip every few months. Usually we take one of our jeep to go hiking in nandi hills or makalidurga. Varun and I always ends up drunk at the end of the trip and Rudra never wavers from his brooding self. That's just his sweet disposition. Karthi ends up driving us back home and even though he complaints a lot about always driving our sorry asses home, we know he loves it. Otherwise, he wouldn't offer to drive back every damn time.

"So, you knew Shraddha in college", Meera says breaking me out of my reverie.

"Yeah, she was our junior. You should've seen Karthi when he first met Shraddha. She was with a small group of girls when we first saw her. He was hooked. He asked her out a week later and she said she didn't have time for idiots. But I guess she lied, because a month later they were dating. She used to hang out with us sometimes and I'll be the third wheel. But it was fun", I say. Shraddha and I had mutual interest in giving Karthi hell. So we always got along, even though it took her some time to get warmed up to me.

Meera nods, looking thoughtful.

"So, Remya is your cousin?", I ask her even though I already know.

"My dad, Tej uncle- that's Remya's dad and Suraj uncle- Raj and Vinash's dad are brothers. So, we're first cousins", she explains.

"Yeah, about that, is his name really Vinash?", I ask her because, who in their right mind names their kid Vinash (which means destruction). Maybe they gave the twins, names with opposite meanings or something: Raj and Vinash.

"Oh! No", Remya and Meera laughs, "it's Avinash, actually. When we were eleven, we watched some old movie in which, this villain character's name was Vinash. He thought it was badass and insisted everyone call him Vinash from then on. He used to yell and cry if someone called him Avi or Avinash. Our parents, fed up with his tantrums, started calling him Vinash. And it stuck. When he was in high school, he wanted us to stop calling him Vinash but we didn't stop."

"Wow, poor guy", I say. I remember asking my parents to call me 'complan boy' after watching the commercials a few times, thank God, they didn't.

"You guys stay at the beach house often?", I ask Remya.

"We used to spend holidays at the summer house during our childhood. Christmas, pooja holidays, onam, diwali, summer vacation. But it's been a few years since we all came together like this. Our Grandma, Janaki had this rule that if all of us wasn't there, then we wouldn't stay at the summer house. And it's not that fun without everyone. We used to make campfires in the beach like we did yesterday night, dad and Jai uncle would fight over the grill. Grandma and our moms would make us snacks and sweets and we kids just used to run around playing hide and seek all day", she says and her and Meera share a smile, surely thinking about the fun they had.

It sounds so great. I never had any cousins to play with. My mom and dad had an intercaste marriage. Their families didn't support them, mom's family went as far as forbidding her from ever contacting any of them. My parents moved to Mysore when my dad got transfer. Dad was a health inspector and my mom worked in a bank. When they moved to Mysore, mom applied for a transfer and two months later she joined the mysore branch of SBI bank.

They had me a year later, and even though they tried to contact their parents, it was to no avail. Mom's family didn't budge. But dad's parents came around a year later. After all, he was their only son. I don't remember much of them as they died when I was seven, leaving all their properties to dad. I think they felt guilty for staying away too long.

I had a few neighborhood kids to play with but my holidays were mostly spent at home. They took me to dad's place , to Nainital, once. We stayed at his childhood home, that his parents' left in his name. They took me to the Jim Corbett National park. It was fun.

Just then, my name was called out to collect our food. We devoured our pizzas. Meera even shared a slice of her pizza with me and Remya and we did the same with ours. I could tell Meera liked my pizza more that she did hers. So I exchanged another slice with her and she happily accepted ignoring the knowing look on Remya's face.

"Where to, next?", I ask them as i wike my hands with the tissue. Meera finishes her sprite and says, "home."

"Thank God", I say, not trying to hide the relief in my voice. They laugh as they stand up and follow me to the parking lot.

I would say, it wasn't so bad spending the day with them.

And as Meera takes the passenger seat without Remya having to jump into the back seat first, I'd say, it was good even.

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Hope you guys liked this chapter. And please don't forget to like and share. 😁

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Love,

Gayathry.

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