A leap of faith

Reflecting back

Ayush was startled by his ringing phone.

"Hello, Ayush ? How are you dear, when did you land, why didn't you call for so long ?" Ayush's mom sounded quite worried.

"Mom, slow down, I am fine, I was just caught up with something, let me get a cab and call you back."

"Sir, double charge at night, plus it's raining sir" said the uber driver.

"Ok, ok just start bro" said Ayush just wanting to get into the car and feel safer.

As the car rolled off, Ayush started looking back to see if he was being followed. It was hard to tell for sure with so many cars leaving the airport but no one seemed to be actively pursuing his cab.

The expressway was a bit of relief as it was heavy traffic even at this hour. Ayush expected to be home by 12 midnight. He started thinking about his options. Could this be a complete hoax and maybe nothing would happen if he took off the watch. But what if the man was indeed a commando and someone who knew about bombs and stuff. It would be a nasty one for the rest of his life to have one hand blown off. Plus if he knew the incident about Dia and was indeed Dia's father as claimed then it was quite possible that Ayush was actually wearing a bomb right now.

Next he thought about calling the the police and bomb disposal squad for help. But then he remembered these bomb squads always came dressed in their giant suits which meant sometimes the bombs did go off. Not a chance he could take.

Finally he considered what had been asked by Dia's father. To undo his misdeeds. Compared to the other options this was at least something completely in his own hands and seemed a fair chance of coming out unharmed.

"Boss, please stop at a cigarette shop" said Ayush to the cab driver. He badly needed a drag to start thinking clearly. It had been a few months since he had started smoking. Of course, no one except his closest friends knew.

The rain had stopped by now and the roads glistened from the rain. Taking a deep puff on his cigarette Ayush kept a watchful eye all around him glancing now and then at the watch-bomb on his wrist. The cab driver was at a distance smoking one that Ayush gave him. Ayush tried to calm his mind and think rationally although this was something very difficult with a bomb tied to your hand. Stubbing out the cigarette with his foot Ayush started walking back to the car decisively. He had to do what was necessary to retain his hand. This was going to be a long night.

Night driving in Bangalore after a rain feels beautiful. The air is cold and the city has the freshness of a hill station. However it was a tense night for Ayush. He was filled with anxiety as he looked outside the car and thought about Dia.

Dia had been Ayush's classmate for the last 10 years. They had never been very close friends but it didn't require a genius to see that Dia had a bit of crush on Ayush. But then, who didn't have a crush on Ayush. He was the 10th grade Rockstar. Everyone loved him from teachers to fellow classmates. He had been consistently topping the class in academics as well as sports. His smile made the girls go weak in their knees. On Valentine's day while the boys were chasing girls, Ayush was busy counting the love cards he got. All this attention had gone a bit to his head and lately Ayush's arrogance started to get the better of him. Ayush and his boy gang often played pranks on others that they shot on video and posted on Instagram. In fact their Instagram account called ~dumbgirlfails~ had gained quite a bit of popularity over the last few months garnering as high as 100K views at times.

Dia on the other hand was the girl you hardly ever noticed. She was neither a topper on the first bench nor a last bencher brat. She was neither spectacularly gorgeous like some of the other girls nor did she attempt to be. But she did like Ayush, a lot. She would often stand outside the field watching Ayush score goals and win games. Her eyes oozed admiration when the teacher asked a question that no one knew but Ayush stood up and answered confidently.

But Ayush had a girlfriend already since last year - Elina. Elina was quite poor in academics, barely passing her exams from year to year. But what she lacked in merit she made up for with her drop dead gorgeous looks. Elina's skirts were always a tad shorter than others making the boys swoon over her like flies and she swept up all the attention quite gracefully. Like Ayush, Elina too had her girl gang and mostly all brats. It was no secret that Elina came from a very affluent family. It was a normal scene to see a chauffeur jumping out of a Mercedes to open the door for Elina while others would be trudging down the school bus. If Apple released a new phone she would be flaunting it next day at school while others were yet to get entitled to a smartphone from their parents. Even some of the teachers it seemed were softer in their approach towards Elina compared to others. Some people said her father was one of the trust members and literally owned half the school.

Rumors were that Elina and Ayush were seeing each other outside school. Although there was never any direct evidence like pics on facebook but people said they went clubbing quite often. Clubbing was the kind of stuff that Dia and her kind could not never dream of. Dia was from a middle class family. Entertainment was a visit to the mall with her parents and buying clothes from Max. Time with friends was restricted to a game of basketball and to get home no later than 7 PM. But Dia did not complain. She loved her parents and her parents loved her dearly. She was the girl who was satisfied with the life she had except for one thing. Over the years her crush had never changed and she was still head over heels for Ayush. "I would do anything to have Aysh love me back" Dia once confided to her bestie Mishika. Mishika didn't consciously mean to let Dia's secret out but somehow the word travelled. Soon Dia's secret crush was out in the open and it reached both Elina and Ayush and so it happened that the ~dumbgirlfails~ prank gang found their next victim.