The mixed smell of different alcohols hangs
in the air; only middle-aged people are present sticking their butts on a tool,
with glass in the front filled with drinks, listening to the slow soothing
music playing from the speakers attached to the different corners of the room.
A few old men walk in with young girls. Trying to keep his eyes open, Khandu
gazes at a woman sitting on the sofa, all by herself, in the middle of the room
as if waiting for her Prince Charming.
“Another bottle.”
Taking a bottle from the rack, the
bartender hands him a bottle. Lifting the bottle up, he pours the beer into the
glass, when the bottle slips off his hand and falls on the floor, breaking into
pieces. As other people start eyeing on him, he takes out his wallet and looks for
money but it’s empty. In the meantime, a lady, dressed in kira comes nearby him
and pays the bill. Holding his shoulder, she whispers into his left ear, “Sir,
I want to tell you something. Let’s go to that corner table and talk.”
Grabbing his shoulder, she walks him
towards a corner struggling to support his drunk body on her thin body.
Dropping him down on the sofa, she sits beside him facing him, with her face
hidden in the shadow. He can see only blurry face of her.
“Sir, your wife never cheated on you. I am
wife of Tencho,” says the woman, these words buzzing his ears, like bees
circling his head.
“What do you mean?”
“Tencho was drunk last night. He knew that
you are nominated for the vice president post. Which means tomorrow you will be
elected as Vice President of your company. Angered by this, he cried whole
night. He told me that he tried to ruin your life since the beginning of this
year after knowing that you were capable of becoming the vice president. He is
planning to do something tomorrow to harm you before the promotion.”
Saying these words, she stands up and
whispers into his ears, “Take care.”
As she walks away through the crowd, as the
other drunk men tease shouting at her, “Hi Love. Come and drink with me.”
Keeping his hand on his forehead, he checks
the temperature as the sudden giddiness shoot up his head. Getting up, he walks
out of the bar and as the cold winter wind colds beer heated ears, he looks for
his car. Trying to find his car, he walks towards the parked cars under the
light from the street poles. Finding his car at the end of the line, he unlocks
the door and gets inside. Closing the door, he grabs his phone from the seat,
where he left it after receiving call from Tshoki this evening after the
office.
It has been two months since Yangchen left
to village with her parents soon after the night of breaking phone. When he
woke up the next morning, she left taking even Yuden, whose exam was just a
month away. Going to office, he asked Tencho about keeping the phone in the
cupboard and visiting her when he was not home, but Tencho denied doing all of
these things.
He tried a few times to get password for
Tshoki’s phone to delete the footage but he failed. Staying with her for a few
days, he left her after he found her talking with another man in a restaurant
one evening. Soon after that night, she neither called him nor tried to contact
him. He assumed that she is with a new man. Feeling lucky, he stayed at his old
house at Motithang only, with the memory of Tshoki fading away day by day.
But she remembered him today. Calling him,
Tshoki said, “I am pregnant. Meet me once tomorrow evening.”
Not being able to take the news positively,
he ran into the bars and started drinking beers. So now, he is here in the car
drunk, looking for Yangchen’s number on his phone. Finally, he dials the number
and waits. It’s 9PM. She would be sleeping by now. But he keeps calling her.
Finally, she answers with a sleepy tone.
Listening to her voice, Khandu says softly,
“I am so sorry, Yangchen.”
“Sorry?”
“Yeah! Now, I understand why Tencho
befriended me this year. He is the one who told me nasty things about you___he
told me about your college days, you sleeping with many boys. After listening
to those words from him, I started hating you because you never mentioned about
having relationships back in the college. You just told me about a boy
bothering you. You said that you never accepted him. After telling me about
your college days, he encouraged me to look for another girl. He told me about
Tshoki. I listened to him. Now, I understand that he did these things just to
ruin our family. He was just jealous about my promotion to vice president. If
possible forgive me. I am sorry Yangchen___,” says
Khandu, when Yangchen does not say a word.
“Yangchen, are you there?”
“Yes, I am. I am sorry, too. Khandu,”
speaks Yangchen into the phone.
“Why?”
“Hmm, remember the boy who was always after
me back in the college?”
“Yeah!”
“It was Tencho. After the farewell dinner
in our final year, walking towards me he told me, “Yangchen, you made fun of my
love. I will make you pay for this, one day. Just wait and see.”
“What?”
Khandu shouts, not believing this history,
as Tencho never mentioned about his love to Yangchen back in his college days.
“So, he is trying to hurt me and our
family,” says Yangchen, when Khandu’s head starts to spin and the phone falls
off his hand and drops down, hitting his head hard on the steering wheel.
Story by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)
The Final Chapter Tomorrow @9PM
No comments:
Post a Comment