‘Sasha, do you have money?’, Anushka asked Shashank.
‘How much’, Shashank asked her taking out his wallet.
‘Around 600 bucks’, Anushka said calculating in her mind.
‘Here! And can I ask for what?’, Shashank inquired.
‘I gotta buy Rajat a present for this valentine’, Anushka said snatching the money from his hands.
Shashank and Anushka had been neighbours and best of the friends since pre-school. Shashank blindly believed in Anushka in everything. Each word of Anushka was like a word from bible for him. He never raised any questions on Anushka’s choices except for the case of Rajat. He did not like Rajat. Not that Rajat was a bad guy or something but since he came in Anushka’s life Shashank had started feeling sidelined. But Anushka was trying hard to find someone for Shashank.
‘Sasha how is that one?’, Anushka would say pointing at a girl going on the road which would make Shashank frown. When Rajat came in Anushka’s life Shashank busied himself in other things like sports and painting. Anushka tried her best to manage time for Shashank. They had made a pact in class four that Anushka will do homework for both and Shashank will manage everything else. At that time he thought that he had fooled Anushka but now he had realized that girls have special power to foresee the future. With time the ‘everything else’ had increased multiple times the amount of homework.
‘Sasha can you drop me at the mall on 14th please?’, Anushka asked him.
‘OK then 11’o clock’, She replied herself without waiting for an answer.
Sometimes Shashank wondered that what kind of a guy Rajat was. How could a guy not be bothered about a boy having so close friendship with his own girlfriend? But then he knew who Anushka was. She could convince a dog that it’s a lion and vice versa. He started planning what he would do on Valentine ’s Day. And then he realized that it would be same as any other day. He will sit with some of his other lonely friends and have smokes or two listening to some music or may be the best he would do was going for a movie.
On 14th February Shashank dropped Anushka and came back. He was sitting and watching television when the cell phone rang.
“Hello Sasha, Come and take me home”, Anushka spoke in a very low voice.
“Why? I just dropped you there!”
“Are you coming or not?”, Suddenly there was anger in her voice.
“Ok ok”, Shashank got up picking up the bike key from the table.
When he reached the mall He saw Anushka running towards him with tears in her eyes.
‘Let’s go.’, She said to him as soon as she reached near the bike.
‘But what happened?’
‘Nothing, let’s go”.
“Unless you tell me we are not leaving”.
Anushka broke into sobs. “I will never see that bastards face again, he was lying to me all the way since start.”
“OK, But I mean what happened exactly?”,
“His real girlfriend came with Emotional Attyachar team”, Her sobs became even more violent.
“What? That TV show in which they catch cheating partners on camera?”.
Anushka did not reply.
“Hey don’t worry about that. My friend’s father is in the production team of that show. I will try to stop that show from being aired. Or otherwise I can get your face blurred in that episode at least so that nobody could recognize you.’
‘You dog! My problem is not that. He cheated on me”. Anushka cried.
‘Ok then let it be aired’.
Anushka knew that Shashank won’t let the show get aired anyhow. She did not speak further.
She silently sat on the bike.
‘By the way Emotional Attyachar was one of your favourite shows”, Shashank tried to lighten the mood only to get a heavy punch in his kidney from behind.
‘Shut up doggy”, Anushka cried.
Just then Shashank had to apply breaks. There was some Anti-valentine protest thing going on. He tried to turn the bike but the protestors already surrounded them.
‘Who is she?’, One of the protestors asked Shashank.
Shashank could feel Anushka’s finger clutching his waist tightly from behind. He knew that she was afraid.
‘Is she your sister?’, Another guy asked from the crowd.
Shashank did not know what to do.
‘Who is she?’, The same guy asked again.
‘Why would you care?’, Shashank tried to stop himself but words slipped from his mouth.
‘Ok so you are celebrating valentine’s day?’, the guy said with a sarcastic smile.
‘Now we will make your valentine’s day special’, the second guy spoke again.
‘Now speak that this girl is my sister loudly’, the first guy ordered Shashank taking out a rakhee from his pocket.
‘Today we will celebrate rakshabandhan’, the other guy spoke laughing.
‘I won’t’, Shashank said firmly.
SLAP! Shashank got a tight slap on his face from the first guy.
‘I said I won’t.’, Shashank spoke getting even more obstinate.
The first guy raised his hand again.
‘Stop or I’ll show you who I am!’, Shouted Anushka.
The hand of the first guy stopped in the air.
‘The Superintendent of police is my uncle, so slap him again and see what happens’, Anushka spoke showing a number in her phone’s contact list to the mob in front.
‘Oh! Then prime minister is my grandfather’, said the guy rolling his eyes.
Within no time Anushka dialed the call and handed it over to the first guy. He took the phone. The jaw of the
first guy dropped within seconds he brought the phone closer to his ear.
‘Let them go’, He told the crowd, backing off.
On the way home Shashank inquired Anushka about the phone call.
‘What do you think, only you have contacts or what?’
He was looking on the road but he knew the exact expression Anushka had while speaking this sentence.
Later at home Anushka was sitting in Shashanks room tending his slapped blue-black cheek with a hot bag.
‘Bastard was like a bear’, she abused the guy who had slapped him.
‘You need coffee?’ She asked shashank.
‘Desperately’
She went to the kitchen to make coffee and came back with two mugs. Sitting in the room, sipping the coffee both of them watched the orange sun setting. Now the both of them were sure who their real valentine was.
