Never always well begun - Part 7

Pallika was still fiddling with her food and smiling to herself. And her mother was still observing her. Both of them came back to the real world when the door bell rang. Pallika's father stood up ignoring the bell, he went inside with his copy of The Hindu. Her mother had to call the maid to attend the door. As soon as the maid opened the door, Pallika heard someone calling her name in a familiar sweet and squeaky voice. It was Prutha. She had come to Kolhapur in the morning and was going to stay with her parents for a few days. Pallika had a big wide smile seeing Prutha. She was very happy and rushed towards Prutha and pulled her towards the bedroom before she got engaged in a conversation with her mother.
They were seated in the bedroom for a long time giggling and gossiping. That was when Prutha asked Pallika,
"Palli, do you any guy named Gaurav?"
"Huh?" Pallika was shocked listening to Gaurav's name from Prutha. She never mentioned anything about him to anyone. She pretended dumb and replied as if she did not know what Prutha was saying.
"You don't know anybody by this name?"
"Nope I guess"
"Great, I will ask Siddhartha to talk to this Gaurav fella. Some cheapster I guess. Since the day we had been to the disc he has been calling me like a maniac asking for you."
Pallika was again in her trance, she remembered telling Gaurav,
"Do you believe in fairytale love stories?"
"Nope, waste of time"
"Come on, seriously? Everybody has a fairytale in their life. You just need to search for it"
"Really? What fairytale does our story have?"
"Cindrella"
"You have a vivid imagination" he said this to Pallika laughing a little. Paying no heed to his joke, Pallika continued her explanation,
"We met in a party and we saw eachother. There was something that attracted us. And we know nothing about eachother except for our names. I will probably never meet you again. But that is our end. We are the tragic part of the Cindrella story"
Gaurav caught hold of Pallika's hand and danced in the dim lights of the disc. Though the music was David Guetta, they managed to catch the beats of Enrique and danced holding eachother. Gaurav whispered in Pallika's ears,
"Unless I search all lands to find my princess"
Pallika was not able to digest the fact that Gaurav had actually taken her fairytale story idea so seriously. They had something that night but he had clearly forgotten the line that distinguishes reality and imagination. This was not a fairyworld and she definitely was not Cindrella.
On the other hand Gaurav was having his seventh shot of espresso. He was soon going to go bonkers with the increasing caffeine. His phone rang and he gave a big sigh of relief listening to the phone ring. He picked up and after listening to the voice on the other side he said,
"Son of a Bitch, Jeet its you looser, I thought it was somebody else"
"Are you insane? Are you still into the club girl? You are a freak."
"Shut up. Tell me why you have called me. I am expecting an important call."
"Dude, this is something you might love. You said your girl's name was Pallika. You could not acces her on FB because probably her profile was deactivated. I just ran a search on google, found a chick from Kolhapur with the name Pallika."
"What?"
"Yes boss. I owe a you a treat. I found a girl named Pallika who is on blogspot  She had a story published that was similar to your. I bet you she is your girl. "
"Yeah right, and now you would say that a movie about us is about to release with Deepika and Ranvir playing the leads."
"I knew you will not believe me. So much for being a good friend. Anyway, sending you a link on watsapp, check it dude."
Gaurav swore he will not even have espresso ever, alchohol being definitely out of consideration. He thought he was hallucinating and imagining all the crap Jeet just mentioned. And Pallika could write a blog was a little unbelievable for him. She never did seem like the "Writer" type. Actually he did not even know what writers looked like but he was sure Pallika was not that kind. Nevertheless, he opened the link Jeet had sent.
When he was just about to read the end of the blog, his phone rang and the window shit down. He picked up the call.
"Gaurav?"
That voice was what he was wanting to listen since long. This was her, finally.
"You finally get time to talk? Wasn't it easier for you to jist call me back once? Your friend never told you I called so much. It wasn't all that necessary to write a whole blog on me."
"Gaurav, I am home now. So never knew you were on hunt for me. What are you upto?"
"Nothing much really. Just had to go through the whole web trying to look for you."
Pallika laughed a little and was about to reply when Prutha cut her in between,
"Pallika, your Ajay is downstairs."
Pallika lost all words. Gaurav felt something was wrong. He spoke to Pallika.
"Your Ajay? This is getting more interesting."
"Save this number. Never call or text on this until I tell u."
"Not again"
"Bye"
Gaurav was satisfied that he finally could talk to his mystery girl. But the conversation made her more mysterious.
Pallika cut the call and looked at Prutha. She was wearing a look which maybe meant "What the hell!". Pallika knew she was going wrong, but since the night in the disc all she wanted to do wrong and make mistakes. It made her happy.
She went downstairs with Prutha to meet her fianceê. Ajay was waiting in the sitting room. He was wearing a formal white shirt and black trousers. His hair was neatly combed with a centre partition.
Prutha whispered to Pallika, "He looks like a perfect waiter"
Pallika laughed, her giggling noise made Ajay look towards them. He came closer and hugged Pallika.
"So my lady love is looking gorgeous this morning." He pinched Pallika on her shoulders and looking towards Prutha said , "You know I hate you being with people having low morals and ethics. You continue to disappoint me."
Pallika was quiet but Prutha retorted back, "That is why I tell her she should leave you."
"She will never do that. Anyways I was here to meet my love. I will see you again after work."
"Work?" Prutha asked with a surprise in her tone.
"I am joining my father as a manager in his company."
"Rest in peace to the company"
Ajay ignored Prutha's remarks and again hugged Pallika and left. After he left Prutha was ready to leave as well. While on the door she looked at Pallika,
"Think again"

- By Anvi Mehta