Chapter 12

twerping

@twerping

Two days later Raman found himself outside Ruhi's school once more. He was a bit early and the crowd of parents were yet to arrive. His eyes searched for Ishita's familiar red car but it was clear to see that she wasn't there yet. The disappointment hit him hard enough to momentarily throw him off course. He could not remember the last time he had felt such want for someone. It almost made him turn around and leave, possibly return to Mumbai with its less disruptive offerings.

As the minutes trickled by, the crowd thickened. When the bell announcing the end of the school day was heard, the murmuring of the crowd had reached a cacophonous peak. Raman felt something within his chest settle. There was still no sign of Ishita.

And then the gate opened and the kids emerged, one or two or a dozen at a time. When Ruhi came out, she didn't see him at first. Her eyes were busy searching for the familiar face of her Ishita aunty. But when her eyes landed on him, she yelped and made her way straight for him. Raman felt his heart soar. Why didn't he come here every day?

Ruhi seemed to think that they were planning a big surprise for her and kept asking where Ishita was. She looked around him and at the car as if expecting the woman to pop out of the bonnet.

A few parents tried to come up and make conversation with Raman Bhalla but the meagre response they got for their efforts did not make the exchanges too promising. When the boys, eternal stragglers that they were, emerged, Ishita had still not arrived. Raman was worried now but hid it well. They hung around him with an air of uncertainty. He reached for his phone and made the call.

It rang and went straight to voicemail. He tried again.

"Should we head home?" he finally asked the kids. Ishita wasn't answering her phone. He typed out a message to her telling her that he was taking the kids.

The boys agreed, halfheartedly. Shravan looked somewhat worried. But Ruhi was adamant.

"We can't leave without Ishita aunty! She promised she'll come to pick us up! She doesn't break her promises."

Ruhi's tiny face was red with earnestness mixed with anger. Raman looked at her and suddenly felt like there was a bit too much of him in the child.

"Well, Ishita aunty hasn't come," Raman said, but there was no calming Ruhi down.

Shravan said they could go to the clinic. Raman looked at the boy. The boy met his eye boldly. Quite the young man then.

They piled into the car and Raman ruefully watched the kids make themselves comfortable with their dusty feet sprawled across the swanky clean seats of his new BMW. He felt a newly founded respect for Ishita.

They never reached the clinic. Halfway to the place, they came across her car. She had the bonnet open and was yanking at something within. When they pulled up, she turned and there was a look of utter shock on her face.

"What time is it?!" was the first thing Ishita said before Raman had taken three steps toward her. 
Raman watched her face dissolve into panic quickly followed by relief as the children surrounded her and peered at the engine parts like a bunch of mini-sized mechanics.

"Can you figure out what the problem is?" Ishita asked anxiously as Raman studied the engine.

"Do you have a box of tissues?" He asked her in turn.

She nodded and began to move towards the car but he held out his hand and stopped her. Then Raman brought out the box and took out some tissues. He handed them over to her. 

"Wipe your hands!" he instructed.
As she was busy doing that, he called Mihir and told him to arrange for a service truck for Ishita's car. She looked at him bemused. He shrugged his shoulder. 

"That's the best I can do for you right now."
"I though for a moment..." she began.

"What?" He cut her short, laughter dancing in his eyes. "That I'd fix your khatara car for you!"

Her eyes widened at his choice of words and she opened her lips to protest. But he had noticed a smudge of grease on her cheek and chose that very moment to raise a finger to wipe it off. Whatever she was about to say died in her throat as she felt his every ministration like fire on her skin. Raman was busy wiping at the grease when he suddenly noticed the red flush spreading under his finger. He removed his hand as if he had only then recollected himself. He pulled back and enjoyed the crimson-faced picture of confusion standing before him.

Ruhi tugged at his hand. The children with the certainty of a compass needle had spotted an ice cream parlor. With an unsaid agreement, they all headed towards the parlor. After all, it would be a while till the service truck arrived.

Ishita was busy making phone calls explaining the present predicament to the worried families back in Mayur Vihar as Raman ushered the kids towards the counter. By the time she was done, they had settled down at a table near the window with a good view of the street.

"I ordered for you," Raman told her. He was looking forward to her expression when she saw what he had ordered for her. She smiled and sat between Ruhi and Shravan. 

She was seated close to him and every fiber of Raman's body wanted to simply reach out for her. His fingers still carried the silkiness of her skin on them and he wanted to feel it once more. 

The waiter arrived with their orders. The children had all shown great ambition in their choices. Ishita eyed the towers of scoops in shock. But then they placed the bowl of kulfi before her. It was comical how her face fell and Raman couldn't stop a chuckle escaping.

"That day I tasted your favourite flavour so today am returning the favor," he said trying to school away the grin off his face. She didn't give away anything as she ate a spoonful. He watched her every move. The kids chattered away excitedly but Raman barely listened. It was only a few minutes later it seemed to him that Ishita jumped up at the sight of the service truck. Sometimes, Raman cursed, Mihir could be too efficient.

Once the car was towed away, Raman had to shepherd Ishita towards his car along with the kids. She looked almost distraught at the loss of her trusty steed. Ruhi settled down on her lap in the front seat while the boys lounged like little maharajahs in the backseat. Sensing Ishita's worry, with the uncanny ability of a child, Ruhi kept up a continuous chatter of comforting words about the car's swift recovery. Raman listened in on this conversation with little surprise. His champ had done the same many a times when she had caught him in one of his moods. But this was the first he saw her do this to someone who was not her Papa. 

Ishita slowly made an effort to come down from her cloud of worry and by the time they reached Mayur Vihar, she was listening keenly to the accounts of the woes and joys of life in junior school. As they turned in at the gates of their complex, Ruhi asked again, "You are not sad anymore, Ishita aunty?"

Ishita smiled and hugging the girl close to her replied, "If Ruhi gives me a kiss now, I won't be sad anymore!"
Ruhi obliged. The kids didn't wait once the car was parked and the doors were opened for them. They raced each other to see who reached the row of buildings first. Ishita was about to leave as well when Raman called her back.
"I never knew a kiss could work such magic," he said, heady from the proximity they had shared all afternoon.
She looked at him in wide-eyed wonder for a second before the flush overtook her cheeks again. Raman looked on mesmerized. She stuttered a little when she replied, "You just have to believe in magic a bit more then."

And with that she was gone leaving Raman with a vivid memory of her parting blush. He knew for certain now she wasn't unmoved by him and he felt the euphoria of the hunter who knows the prey is his for the taking.