CHAPTER 14

Arjun spent every second of his free time between practice and meals by pestering Ira with questions such as how was he supposed to behave and what would impress a girl. Ira understood that he was having a cold-feet but she was getting fed up with him. She wished the time could run faster so that Arjun would be finally on his way to meet his date.

It was seven in the evening and Arjun was trying on different shirts. He was meeting his date in another hour.

“That’s crap.” Ira commented.

That was her comment for every single shirt Arjun tried. He had a decent collection of clothes but nothing superb enough for a date.

“Hold on.” she said, and walked off his room.

When she entered his room again, she saw Arjun wearing a bright yellow t-shirt.

“Perfect.” she exclaimed.

“It is, isn’t it?” Arjun said, not catching her sarcasm.

“Yeah, of course. It would be extremely helpful to a beggar, he can attract a whole lot of people wearing that.” Ira said, trying to keep her face serious.

“I’ll better go naked, at least it might be impressive.” Arjun snapped.

“That’s a lot of confidence mate.” Ira said, laughing breathlessly.

“Ira…”

“Aju..”

“Please babe.” he moaned.

“Put on that white t-shirt and this over that.” she said, throwing a light blue jean shirt at him. “And leave it unbuttoned.”

“I look breath-taking.” he chuckled and gave her a hug.

He took off in Ira’s car and reached the restaurant on time.

After a couple of hours, Ira heard the door click as she was sitting on the couch reading ‘Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince.’ Arjun walked in with his head hanging down. He climbed on the couch from behind. He always did that whenever he was sad.

“What happened?”

“She was really pretty and everything went okay. But she was not at all interested in badminton. And she kept hinting on wanting me to take her home.”

“So..?”

“I ended the date sooner.”

“Are you regretting now?”

“Oh no. She is not my type.”

“I am going to the beach, coming?” Ira asked.

“Yeah.”

Ira and Arjun walked to the beach that was nearby their home. Ira enjoyed visiting the beach at night, when it was empty and the only sound heard was that of the waves. Arjun didn’t want Ira to be alone on the beach late at night, so he usually ended up accompanying her.

“Aju, what’s your type in girls?”

“I don’t know.” Arjun said, as they sat down on the sand.

They sat in the calm silence listening to the song of the waves till Arjun spoke again.

“I want to love and be loved not just with the heart but with every beat of it.” he said, and continued, “And I also want a girl who likes badminton.”

“I would advise you to find a girl who hates badminton, so that you will be able to figure out how much she loves you.”

“Didn’t get you.”

“If the girl tries to like badminton just because you like it, I swear you can’t get a better girl than her.” Ira said and continued, “I know you really fancied that girl. Try giving her another shot. And I wouldn’t blame her for wishing to be taken home, you do know you are damn fit.” Ira said, sniggering.

“Yeah. I liked her, she was hell pretty. I’ve never seen a pair of eyes like hers. To be honest, she was damn tempting too.” Arjun said, his face burning up from pink to red in seconds.

“I can close my ears in case you decide on something.” Ira said, raising her brows.

Now Arjun had turned scarlet. They headed home and Arjun texted his pretty date apologising for cutting short the date. She was quick in her reply and accepted she was disappointed but would like to see him again.

Days turned into weeks. Arjun was high on love with Pooja, his once upon a time pretty date but now his girlfriend. Pooja Chaudhary, a medical student from Delhi. She was in Chennai for a couple of months to visit her grandmother who lived here. She was alright from head to toe, but a little selfish at heart. Arjun was blinded by love that he failed to see it much to Ira’s annoyance. All Pooja wanted was Arjun’s company, it was sweet that she loved him too much, but it got a bit over the edge when she completely avoided Arjun’s needs. Ira was scared that she would end up loathing Pooja and that’s the worst thing to happen when the person is your best friend’s girlfriend.

Hardly two weeks was left for the state tournaments to start when Pooja thought it was the right time to move in with Arjun. ‘What The Hell?’ was Ira’s immediate reaction when Arjun told her about Pooja’s sudden decision?

“Aju listen, I’m sorry, but you’ve had enough of romance. It’s high time you compensate for the time you thieved from practicing for spending more time with your girlfriend.” Ira said, one evening as Arjun asked her to end the practice for the day earlier.

“What do you mean ‘compensate’? I’ve been practicing for ten hours per day. And ‘thieved ‘? Seriously Ira…?”

“Oh come on Arjun, in the ten hours of practice you spend half the time talking on the phone or she crashes here in the name of supporting you when all she does is keep snogging you the whole time.”

“I can’t believe this. Pooja was right. You are jealous of us because you don’t have a boyfriend. You wouldn’t know what being in love feels like because you have never dated a single guy in your entire life.” Arjun snapped, as his eyes smouldered under his dark lashes.

Ira huffed and rolled her eyes. She was so done with the conversation. It wasn't their first fight. Since the arrival of Pooja into their lives, Ira and Arjun were constantly at odds. Their unspoken understanding, mutual sparks of happiness when their eyes met, everything seemed to be deteriorating.

Later that night, Ira got home hoping to get some rest. Just as she grasped the sight of Arjun and Pooja snuggling up to each other on the couch whispering some stupid couple talks, she turned away and headed to the beach. She succumbed to the sound of the waves crashing the shore. The cold wind of the night made her throat dry urging her to cough. She clasped her mouth with her hands as she coughed. The over-wetness of her mouth after coughing didn’t seem normal. She felt a hot fluid dripping down her mouth, she wiped it with her hand and looked down at it. Her hand was stained with blood. Ira knew what that meant, she knew that her old enemy was back, her cancer was back.