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

stared at me knowing I was lying.
    “Hurry up, just two minutes left.” Raghu said and poked the candles in the cake. I lit them with my lighter while Raghu rang the door bell.
    “Happy birthday, Slutty... Happy birthday oh dear Slutty...” we began to sing as Shashank opened the door. We made him cut the cake at the door itself. Raghu plastered most of the cake on his face and I followed.
    “Put some more,” Neha whooped.
    “Hey, you are here too? Swift move, Slutty.” Raghu elbowed Sachdev and hugged Neha.
    I froze when I saw Hrida sitting on the couch. It had been twenty-two days since I had seen her. She was wearing the same purple t-shirt and black jeans that she had worn the last time I had seen her. The only additions were her hair that she had pulled back with a hair band and her eyes carved with kajal.
    Shashank cut the cake that Neha had gotten for him. She gifted him a shirt and ordered him to wear it. He obediently went to his room and came back wearing it. I occasionally peeked at Hrida from the corner of my eyes trying to avoid direct eye contact. 
    “Arjun, Rageshwari misses you very much.” Neha said noticing me stealing glances at Hrida.
    “Who?” I asked confused.
    “ Y our sweetheart ya… the girl you were eyeballing in the theatre that day?”
    “The Third Girl ” I said to myself. Everyone began to laugh at me. I looked at Hrida sheepishly. She smiled at me forcing my heart to jump in the ribcage. Her glowing face, her eyes trying to figure out my thoughts, that mischievous smile, pink kiss ready lips, and then, I have a boyfriend! Her voice screamed her message in my head. It was getting unbearable to be around her. I was sure I would do something nasty. I messaged Raghu asking him to wrap up. Raghu looked at me; realising my discomfort, he stood up stretching his back.
    “Let’s go honey, I won’t let these monsters bully you anymore,” he told me as everyone laughed.
    “Wait I’ll drop you.” Shashank said. “Let Hrida go with Arjun… they stay close by.” Shashank’s arrangement had stunned me a little so I didn’t see it clearly, but I think he winked at Raghu while Neha and Hrida exchanged a look.
    I started the bike and Hrida climbed on it as if it were a horse, first standing on the foot rest with her left leg and then throwing her right leg across practically wobbling the whole bike. She clenched the shaft behind her with both hands. I could see her face in the left mirror. In the right mirror, I saw Neha clutching Shashank’s arm and jumping up with a smile as we left. There was something cooking.
    I exited the complex compound and took the highway. It was twelve-thirty and the temperature had dipped significantly. A smile popped up as the cool air swept Hrida’s face. For the next seven minute or so, there was fluttering sound of wind and my eyes shuttling between concentrating on the road and looking at Hrida’s smiling face in the mirror. If it was one of the Priyankas or Poojas, I would have made my move, but with Hrida, it felt horribly wrong to keep looking at her knowing that she had a boyfriend. Just one more time I convinced my high-principled self. As I shifted my eyes from the road into the mirror, I gawked right into the big dark brown eyes. She smiled at me and I looked away.
    “You know I owe you a humongous apology, right?” she said. I peeked at her again, defying my mind’s ethical authority.
    “For?” I decided to show my resentment by using bare minimum words to reply.
    “Ruining your birthday?”
    “You didn’t,” I said with a straight face.
    “Hmm.” I knew she was looking at me, but now the lovelorn moron inside me insisted on acting pricey, so I concentrated on the road. A few more minutes of silence passed before she spoke again.
    “I have to tell you something... about the message I sent you that day.”
    “There’s more?” I said sarcastically. I hated the fact that she had a boyfriend and no matter how many explanations