Part-Time Devdaas... by Rugved Mondkar Read Free Book Online

tell if it was the music or the whiskey that was intoxicating, but I didn’t care as long as it kept Hrida’s thoughts away from me. One more sip directly from the bottle and my body began to move, the substandard downmarket moves breaking out of me. Within minutes I was dancing alone in the middle of the dance floor. A cheering crowd circled me. Raghu and Shashank joined in; I looked for Devika and pulled her in too. Kartik followed us. The world around me began to spin. I gazed at the people around. As the music got wilder, I emptied the bottle, took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Hrida was smiling at me saying she loved me and that she’d kill me if I ever went away from her.
    “I love you too...” I slurred.
    I felt my hands holding a female body by the waist. Her hands cupped my hands and her body began to sway with mine.
    “Just be close to me, always...” I said, my eyes still closed.
    “I will,” the girl said as she turned around facing me. I opened my eyes. My hands still feeling her body slid further down her waist. Her face was an inch away from mine. I blinked my eyes twice in the hope to register her face, but I could only see her blurred image. I suddenly felt lip-glossed lips kissing me; strangely even in the loud music I could hear her breathing heavily. It took a few minutes before I reciprocated. She let me loose for a second, looked at me and then caught my hand to pull me away from the dance floor. The music began to fade. I was out of the party. And the kissing and gnawing of our lips began again.
    “Poncho, what the hell?” Raghu’s voice whispered in my ears. The girl was now biting my neck.
    “ Chutia , are you fucking out of your mind,” he asked in a hissing voice. “What if Hrida finds out?”
    “Nothing will happen, she’s already left.” I giggled. Shashank joined us.
    “What do you mean she left?” Shashank said.
    “She is gone. Out… of my… life.” I whipped my hand in the air like a sword.
    “He is zonked; I’ll take him upstairs.” Shashank began to pull me by my hand.
    “I broke up with Hrida,” I said pulling back my hand.
    “You what?” Raghu yapped. “Why?”
    “What happened?” Shashank asked in a relatively less agitated tone.
    I silently walked away.
    “Hello boss? I asked why?” Raghu asked.
    “She fell out of love with me.”

I dialled Raghu’s number and left a missed call, a standard procedure of intimating each other. Why waste two rupees fifty paisa on a call? Five minutes later, he came down with the cake. It was twenty minutes to midnight. I started my bike and hit the highway rather than taking the alleys and pulled the throttle realising we were not going to make it to Shashank’s place before twelve. I quietly enjoyed the cool December night air brushing my face. I caught Raghu’s eye staring at me in the rear view mirror and raised my eyebrows to ask what happened.
    “What does he do?” Raghu asked.
    “Who?” I tried to sound as oblivious as possible.
    “You know...” he ate the rest of his sentence.
    “You know who?” I said adjusting the mirror for the conversation.
    “The boyfriend,” Raghu asked sounding more uncomfortable than I would have been.
    “I don’t know, and actually I don’t care.” I raised the speed.
    “You should at least know whom you are competing with,” he held me by the shoulder as I braked for a municipal corporation funded crater.
    “There is no competition, Raghu. She has a boyfriend that means she is not available , so there is no competition.” I said as I made a sharp turn to enter Shashank’s complex.
    “But this is ridiculous man, shouldn’t she have told you earlier?” Raghu said getting off the bike as I parked it.
    “Look, it was my mistake.” I was surprised at my defensive tone. “But it’s over now. Honestly I’ve forgotten about her,” I lied. “Anyway, it’s Sachdev’s birthday, so let’s not botch it up with my chuttadgiri. Seriously, I’m fine.” Raghu