Opening his eyes slowly, listening to the
noise of people from the other buildings, Dorji looks at Tshoki, who is
sleeping so beautifully beside him. Many boys fell for her but she always
rejected them. He feels lucky to be her boyfriend. Her eyes closed, face
glowing as if to smile, which touches his heart deeply; she is a ‘sleeping
beauty.’ Stretching his hand slowly, he grabs the phone from the table. As he
looks at the number of missed calls from his parents, he gets up immediately,
waking up Tshoki.
Opening her sleepy eyes, a little, she
utters, “Going?”
“Yeah. I have exam today.”
As he wears the jeans, an unusual headache
pricks his head. He feels as if the building is shaking. Grabbing the coat from
the bed, leaning forward he kisses her and walks away towards the sitting room
when the doorbell rings, frightening Tshoki. She gets off the bed instantly and
dresses up.
“Shhh!”
She follows him, taking gentle steps
towards the door. The doorbell rings again. Going to the door looking very
frightened, she slides the latch slowly. Opening the door, a little, she stands
frozen. In the meantime, Dorji asks her, “Who is it?”
On hearing this voice from the inside,
pushing the door hard, Khandu walks in. stepping inside, looking directly at
Dorji, who is the brother of his younger sister’s husband, he asks, “Dorji,
what are you doing here?”
Dorji takes a glance at Tshoki, who stands
at the door, looking very terrified.
Instead of responding, Dorji walks away
from him. Standing in front of Tshoki, he says, “I am going. Catch you later.”
As he leaves the room, face burnt by his
anger, looking very dark, Khandu goes in front of her. Catching her shoulder,
he pulls her towards him. Looking deep into her eyes, he asks, “Tshoki, explain
me, why was he here?”
Keeping her head down, she stands like a
deaf, who has not heard a word of him.
Khandu shouts, “Tshoki! Explain me.”
He looks around the room and finds beer
bottles, lying on the floor. Cigarette butts are scattered, at the kitchen
doorstep. He jumps on the sofa, hunching back, ruffling his hair with his hand,
he shouts, “Tshoki, please. Say something.”
Tshoki stands like a statue when he gets up
and looks at her neck, lifting her hair covering her neck. Observing carefully,
his eyes getting out of its socket, he asks, “What are these?”
At the same time, at Taba, Dema stretches
her hand and picks up the phone and checks time. Keeping the phone down, she
closes the book in front of her and arranges the books. Folding her hands, she
closes her eyes and prays facing the picture of Jampelyanng pasted on the wall.
As she tries hard to concentrate on the picture, her mother walks into the
room, distracting her prayers.
“Yes, mom.”
She comes closer to the table and sits down
on the bed, looking at her as if she wants to say something.
“Mom?”
“Dema, I understand that Tshoki and you are
very close friends. Please, tell me the truth about what is Tshoki up to these
days? Our neighbor’s son Dorji is missing since last night. Her parents
contacted every classmate of him but nobody knew about Dorji’s whereabouts. Now
they are going to report the missing case to the police. Other students say
that only you know about Dorji and Tshoki,” says her mother, when she has no
idea about this. If Tshoki is with Khandu, why would Dorji go to Tshoki’s
place? Dorji does not know about Khandu and Tshoki relationship.
As she stays silent, thinking about these
possibilities, her mother pleads, “Say something.”
“Umm, I will call Tshoki once.”
Grabbing the phone, she dials her number
and waits. Even after repeated calls, getting no response, she ends the call
and looks at her mother.
“Not responding.”
“So, you know the truth?”
Her mother asks, when she lies, “I don’t
know. I thought, Tshoki may know.”
“But last time you told Tshoki’s sister
that Dorji is Tshoki’s boyfriend,” says her mother, “please, if you speak the
truth before it’s too late, you might be able to help both Dorji and Tshoki.
You don’t know, how much pain Tshoki’s sister is in these days.”
“Okay. The truth is,” says Dema when her
mother interrupts, “come on, let’s go to Tshoki’s sister house.”
Getting up, Dema follows her mother,
confused if she should the truth or lie? Horrified by not being able to make
the decision, taking her slippers out she walks in when Tshoki’s sister,
Lhaden, stands up excitedly on seeing her.
Her mother greets Lhaden and sits down,
when Dema stands beside the sofa. Tears filling up her eyes, jumping on to
Dema’s feet, Lhaden cries out loudly, “Dema, please help me!”
Story by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)
Chapter 11 Tomorrow @9PM
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