Closing the book, he closes his eyes and
thinks about Tshoki’s words. He met her last year and she is his first love. It
was the night of concert, when she accepted him, three months after the
proposal. She is a sweet girl. He considers her as his soulmate. He wants to
marry her. But recently, Tshoki is not at school and the rumor about her
running away with a man hurt him and no matter how much he tries to connect
with her, he was not able to do so. A call from her today surprises him. He is
writing trial exams. He has exam tomorrow. What to do now?
He opens his eyes as his phone rings again.
It’s Tshoki. Looking at the number, he checks the clock. Picking up the phone
from the table, he answers, “Where are you?”
“Olakha,” comes the reply from Tshoki, with
her voice sounding like a damsel in distress.
He stays silent.
“Please, come.”
She pleads, when he finally replies, “I
will just meet you and come back.”
Hanging up the phone, he goes to his
cupboard and takes out the jeans. Meanwhile, her mother shouts from the sitting
room, “Dorji, dinner is ready.”
“I am coming, mom.”
He shouts changing his dress. Looking at
the mirror, he makes his hair.
“I cannot ignore her, when she needs me the
most.”
He says to himself and bending over, he
picks up the phone and takes out some money from the drawer. On noticing the
textbook, touching it with his hand, he says, ““I am coming back.”
He has exam tomorrow. He has to return home
by any means.
As he walks into the sitting room, his
mother appears from the kitchen. Observing him carefully, looking stunned by
his dress up, she asks, “Dorji?”
“Mom, I forgot my book at friend’s place. I
will be back very soon.”
Saying this, he rushes out as his mother
keeps standing with rice filled plate in hand. He has to rush out before his
father comes home. Walking outside, he rushes up towards the road filled up
with plying vehicles with blinkering brake lights at the back, making the road
colorful.
At Olakha, checking time in the phone,
Tshoki calls Khandu again but he is not responding the call. Then a
notification beeps. It’s a message from Dorji.
“I am coming.”
Excited by this message, she plays a music
loudly and walks towards the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she looks inside.
Only vegetables. Dorji likes beef. She has no idea where the meat shop is but
she knows how to cook eggs. Taking out a few eggs, she keeps it in the wash
basin. Checking the rice cooker, she warms the rice.
Going to the sitting room, she logs into
Facebook. Sitting down on the sofa, she keeps browsing the news feeds when a
meme about drinking alcohol strikes her mind with something. Rushing to the
bedroom, she checks her purse and taking out some money she runs out of her
house.
On reaching the taxi parking in the town
from Taba, going to a bakery, buying her favourite chocolate cake, Dorji walks
towards a taxi driver who is shouting, “Olakha, last seat.”
Getting inside, he sits next to an aunty.
She smiles at him. Travelling for a few minutes, finally he calls Tshoki,
asking about the building’s location. Taking note of that, he stops the taxi
and holding the cake in hand, he keeps walking looking for the building.
Having done with the egg frying, Tshoki
takes a piece and tastes it when she realizes that she has forgotten to add
salt. Grabbing the salt container, she is about to open it when the doorbell
rings. Keeping it down, she rushes to the door.
As Dorji stands at the door, she hugs him
tightly.
“Thanks for coming.”
Walking inside, he hands her the cake when
she comments, “How sweet of you!”
Observing the room carefully with hesitant
eyes, he sits down on the sofa gently. In the meantime, she goes to the kitchen
and comes back with her phone. Keeping it in silent mode, she goes back to the
door and latches it.
“Whose house is this?”
“Umm, my aunt’s. They went to Paro. So, I
am all alone,” says Tshoki, unwrapping the cake box.
As she picks up a slice of the cake, he
asks her calmly, “Why are you not in school these days?”
“I am sick.”
“What?”
“Yeah, that’s why I am not writing trial,” says
Tshoki, munching the cake, looking like a happy kid after father’s arrival with
a chocolate for her, while Dorji looks at her, making a sympathetic face.
“I am so sorry to know about that. Dema
didn’t tell me about that,” says Dorji, when Tshoki goes near to him and looks
into his eyes, her hands touching his. Taking her face forward, she lifts her
chin up and takes her lips closer to his, closing her eyes. He stays struck
closing his eyes, as her lips feel the warmth of his. Pulling her on to his chest,
he runs his hand down her back breathing heavily.
The next morning, at Motithang, as the dawn
breaks, opening his eyes, Khandu looks at his baby son, sleeping peacefully
sandwiched between them. Yangchen is still sleeping. Last night, Tencho left
only after the dinner. He was drunk and he feared that he might speak out about
his relationship with Tshoki, luckily, he didn’t. He is still confused why
Tencho came home with those vegetables. Last night, before sleeping, he could
not say a word to Yangchen.
Pushing the blanket away from him, he gets
off the bed. As his feet touch the floor, Yangchen turns her face towards him,
opening her eyes a little. She keeps looking at him, as he gets into the
bathroom.
Toweling his face, he stands in front of
the mirror, when he hears his parents-in-law reciting morning prayers from the
other room. Yuden is sleeping with them. As he combs his hair, Tshoki flashes
in his mind, rushing to him. She always used to hold him from the behind,
whenever he combs looking into the mirror. Keeping the comb down, he goes back
to the bed and takes out his phone from beside the pillow. He forgot to check
his phone last night. Looking at the number of missed calls, he keeps the phone
down. Taking the car’s key, he rushes out of the room when Yangchen says, “Eat
breakfast and go.”
Story by: Phurpa Dorji (PJIKKS)
Chapter 10 Tomorrow @9PM
No comments:
Post a Comment