Doomed

Chapter 17

      "I don't understand why we had to come here, at the park." Dhruv said to Kushi.

       She in turn smiled at him. "It's less crowded."

      For a moment, Dhruv had really forgotten that Kushi was an acid accident survivor. It must've affected her thinking, her daily life. 

     "Oh." Dhruv said.

     "Please Dhruv, do not pity me. I don't want to be pitied. Please, behave normally like you would, on your dates with other girls."

     Dhruv chuckled, "I always take them to the coffee shop. I have this whole routine, coffee shop, then a bar, then my apartment. That is not going to happen today, is it?"

    Kushi nodded her head in negative. "Tell me more about you, about your family, friends..."

    Dhruv stuck his fingers inside his jeans pockets. "I don't have a special thing with my family?And I don't talk to them, anymore."

    "Why?"

    "It was five or six years ago, they did not approve of my changes in career choices."

    Kushi looked at him astonished, "Really? What were you going to become before?"

     "I was in a police academy but I left it to become a psychologist."

      "But that isn't bad, I don't understand why they disapproved?" Dhruv watched Kushi's eyebrows dip and her lips were in a pout. His heart burst into tiny little petunias from her cute face.

      "Because I left it out of spite."

     "Why?"

     "Uh...because I loved a girl and they didn't want me marrying her."

     "Wow. I have never faced such restrictions."

     "What did you want to become?"

      "A doctor." Kushi sighed. "My Mother is paralysed from neck down. So... but then this," she motioned to the right side of her face, "happened and I couldn't leave the house and slowly I lost interest in being a doctor too and my father deceased and my mother needed someone to take care of her, plus, Janvi dee was already on her way to become a police officer, so I decided to stay home."

    Dhruv said nothing. It was pitiful. But he didn't want to be rude, so he stayed quiet.

     "You're quiet because you are afraid of offending me." Kushi said.

     "Yes."

      "I think you will get used to. Aghanya got used to it too. But now, I have to leave, my mother is wake up soon and I have to give her her meds."

     "Come, I'll drop you home." He said and they walked towards his car.

On his way Dhruv contemplated his whole decision of taking Kushi on a date. His main aim was to hit Janvi where it hurt the most for what she did to Aghanya but he couldn't. Kushi was something else, he couldn't even describe her. After a long time, he felt calm. The chaos inside him had died down.

They stopped when they finally reached her building. He got out and opened the door and she got down.

"So...let's meet again?" She asked him.

"Yes."

"I'm just kidding. Thank you, Dhruv. I never thought I'd go on a date, kiss someone.... so thanks." She said her lips wide in a smile.