My cell phone beeped again. It was text from my sister Richa. “Parents are leaving to Bangalore on emergency. Mama(my mom’s eldest brother) met with an accident. What time would you be home?”she asked.
I was not surprised about my mama’s death. He was bed ridden from last 3 months. I knew this was coming. Last month I and my sister visited him. My parents would not want us to miss our classes. So I knew they would leave without us to complete the death rituals. Today, I have already committed to Arun that I will be there to booze. I did not want to make his day worse and so I replied, “I will be there at 11 o clk.”
“Oh k cool, just call me when you are about to reach home,” she texted. That was unusual. She never asks me to call her for anything. There were instances when we stayed at home without our parents around. She never really cared if I was there or not. We never spoke to each other than it was absolutely necessary. We were siblings who never really got connected.
“Oh k. Will call you when I reach,” I texted her back.
I started my bike and went to cyber café nearby to work on my college project. Time flew by and it was already 7:00pm. That’s when I heard the phone ringing. It was Arun and I picked up the call immediately.
“Where the fuck are you?” asked an angry Arun.
“Will be there in 15 minutes,” I told him.
“Get some cigarettes,” he told me. I said alright and dropped the call.
My bike was Yamaha RX 100 and anybody in the neighborhood could hear my bike engine within 100 meters of circumference. When I was about to reach our apartment, I parked it outside the compound wall to make sure my sister does not hear me and walked towards my apartment. I did not want her to know that I reached the apartment. As I approached near, I saw that lights to my flat were lit except for one room which was Richa’s. I knew Arun and Shabaz must already be in our hangout zone in the terrace and would probably have started without me.
The parking lot for ‘Happy Homes’ was behind the apartments. One would have to take their vehicle from the right side of the apartment through the narrow road. There was 6 sheds all attached and had rolling shudders to every single one of them. From the edge of the last shed, was a narrow lane which went till the generator room. The narrow passage to the generator room was quite filled with bushes and covered from plain sight.
I slowly climbed the stairs wondering how mad Arun would be for not being there on time. When I was about to take the second floor. I smashed into something and I fell back. My head hit the floor and something heavy fell on me.
That’s when I heard a sweet voice, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I was going to the grocery shop to get vegetables. I din see you coming. Does it hurt? Should I call an ambulance? Oh my god. What have I done?” said Shifali. She was all over me; I could feel her heavy breasts on me. I could not believe my luck. I slowly lifted my hands and placed it over her hips and acted as if I was trying to help her up.