Chapter 5

"This is Commander Subhadra. I need backup on Line 5."

"On it Chief." As soon as she saw her father, Venkat Krishnan, jogging away, she shot a Nerf at him, hitting him square on his buttock.

When he yelped and rubbed the sore spot, she burst out laughing.

"What was that for, you brat?"

"It was for being too slow, old man."

"Old? You call this old?" He started flexing his non-existent muscles.

Her Mom, Sangeetha came in the middle.

"They say I only have one child. They're wrong. I have two children, except one is a man child."

Her mom poked her finger in Venkat's chest.

"Amma, leave Nanna alone."

"Devuda." Her Mom called for God.

Right then, Subhadra's phone rang. It was Vikram.

"Hello?"

"Sweetheart, I'm outside your house."

Subhadra contemplated on what to say. The buildings had eyes...in the form of nosy neighbors. She didn't want her father to have a bad name in the neighborhood.

But, she could tell them it was a colleague from work.

"Nanna, my colleague is downstairs. I'll go see what he wants." She informed her father.

"Bring him up."

She laughed. "He's not going to come here. I'll just go check it out."

"No touching!" He hollered as she went out the door.

She didn't know how he knew that. She saw Vikram on his motorcycle waiting for her.

"What brings Master Vikram here?"

"Nothing much. Just wanted to see you."

"That's odd." She said with a saccharine smile.

"What's over there?" He asked her and pointed to a dark corner.

"Nothing, but they say that corner is reserved for ghosts. Apparently, 'eerie' things happen there, but honestly I just think it's a tale spun by the elders to warn off wayward teenagers from carrying out their shenanigans there."

"Well, then let's check it out." He dismounted his bike and led her there with her hand in his.

Immediately his lips fell on hers and she gasped.

"Vikram!"

"What?" He laughed. This time, she tentatively touched her lips to his and he didn't let go of her till she nudged him a little.

"My father told you to come upstairs." She laughed when she saw his indecisive face.

"It's okay. I told him you wouldn't. He also warned me of touching you."

"Oh did he now?" He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a hug.

"Well, I guess you didn't heed his warning then." He said with an evil grin.

Subhadra saw a light flicker on from the corner of her eye. It was from her parents' room.

"Alright. Time for you to go Romeo. Dad's going to start spying and I'll get in trouble." She started pushing him in the direction of his motorcycle

Just when they reached his motorcycle, his phone, which he had forgotten flared to life with a notification.

Subhadra immediately caught sight of it and told him to unlock the phone.

"You were serious about getting a dating app? Here I was thinking you were just joking." She exclaimed.

He unlocked the phone and opened the app for her. So confident. She immediately opened the texts and glared at him.

"What the hell is this?" Her anger started to rise.

"What?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Why the fuck are you flirting with these girls?"

"I'm not flirting with them."

She put the phone to the side and placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh really? That's not called flirting for you? 'Hello beautiful'? Imagine this Vikram. Imagine if I had a dating app in my phone. How would that make you feel?"

He angrily shoved his phone into his pocket and mounted the motorcycle.

"Oh no. I've angered his highness for something he did."

"Tell me what I am to you Vikram? Am I your girlfriend? Am I your side chick? Am I your time pass?"

"Shut up Subhadra."

She laughed mockingly.

"I should have known. Me instead of Nehra, and now someone else instead of me."

"Subhadra, quit it. You're much more to me and you know it."

"Well, you have a fantastic way of showing it to me Vikram Satkar. Have a good night." She turned around and stomped away, not even waiting for him to leave.

She was livid. As she rode the elevator back up to her house, she touched her lips. What a great thing to discover after she had just kissed him. Thank God it was a kiss and nothing more. She went into her apartment and shut the door of her room closed.

She went to her printer and printed out a picture of Vikram. Satisfied with the size, she attached it to her dartboard which hung at the back of her door.

She had ten darts in hand and started aiming them at his face.

"Cheater." The dart landed on his forehead.

"Player." This one landed on his cheek.

"Lunatic." This landed on his chin.

She spent a good thirty minutes scolding him all the bad words she knew of and one of her dart had broken all because of fucking Vikram.

She went into the bathroom and washed her face, scrubbing her lips a little too hard.

She braced herself against the counter of the sink and glared at herself in the mirror, from beneath her lashes.

"You're stupid."

She huffed and dried her face with the towel hanging from the towel holder, only to realize it smelled atrocious.

So, she had to wash her face again and she did, but this time, she used her own towel to wipe her face.

She wanted to tell someone and the only person who knew the whole Vikram situation was Latha, but she didn't dare call her because Latha would tell her, 'I told you so', and honestly, Subhadra wasn't in the mood to listen to that.

So, she forcefully got into bed and tried to sleep. There was lots of tossing and turning, but in the end, she managed to fall asleep, hoping it was all just a nightmare.