Attachments

Chapter 23

Vaish sat cross-legged over the rugged carpet in the dimly lit living room, and fidgeted with a crushed ball of tissue, as she sobbed softly; that was the first thing I laid my eyes on when I snuck inside the apartment in silence at 01.15 a.m. "Vaish...", I called out in a worried hush, but she did not move a muscle; she simply sat still and continued to crush the crushed ball of tissue in her hand. "Hey, why aren't you asleep?", I questioned, gently shutting the door behind me, and she reverted silence back. "Vaish, say something!", I insisted, and dropped my handbag on the couch. "What happened? Where are Nash and Chanch? Did something go wrong with them?", I asked her, and knelt down on the carpet, beside Vaish, who shook her head to the sides. "Then?", I narrowed my eyes and kept my hand over hers. "Nothing", Vaish whispered shakily, and sniffed in. "Vaish!", I exclaimed in disdain, and exhaled loudly. "Now, I understand! Had Nash or Chanch asked you, you would have poured it out to them without hesitating because you know them since...forever. But because I'm the stranger, you don't want to let anything out, right?", it was high time to make good use of my mom's blackmailing techniques. "Fine, don't tell me!", I huffed, disappointedly, and crossed my arms against my chest. "You're assuming things, Dityaa!", Vaish hoarsely said, and I didn't say anything back. "Why are you crying?", I repeated. "Just like that", Vaish shrugged, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "It's almost 2 a.m. and you're crying in the living room, instead of sleeping. Do I look stupid to you?", I questioned. "No...I am stupid", Vaish answered back. "Fine, don't say anything to me. Wait until your best friends wake up", I snapped in annoyance, and almost stood up from the floor. "You'll think I'm stupid...if I admit the truth...", hesitantly, Vaish said, and I froze, midair. "All of us are...stupid, who am I to judge you?", I comforted, and knelt back down on the carpet.

Her back rose, as she took a deep breath in, and she swallowed hard before picking up her iPhone from the couch. Silently, I watched her unlock her iPhone, tap on the Facebook icon and scroll through her page for a long, long while with full focus. Moments later, she held out her iPhone towards me and without uttering a word, I took it from her hand, looking down at the bright screen, curiously. It was a digital poster of Darshan Raval live in Mumbai, where Darshan lazily slumped back on a couch, holding his guitar, and I couldn't help but gaze at him for a while. He glaringly contradicted the Darshan Raval I worked and hung-out with, who was always well-groomed and was the Epitome of Decency; immaculately ironed formal suits, serious expression, decent smile and perfectly gelled hair, where even one strand was not out of place. But he was a completely different person on the poster; he wore a plain white shirt, which was ironed to perfection, but the top three buttons were left open, exposing his bare chest, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled all the way up. His hair closely resembled a bird's nest, I swear; it was ruffled all over his head and fell over and concealed his eyes. He looked hot...and I couldn't take my eyes off him, until Vaish's voice reemerged, breaking the trance I was held up in.

"The show is on Tuesday...day after tomorrow, and I have been trying to book the tickets since last week, but I don't know what bad luck this is, nothing's working out. I tried contacting the event organizers, and today was when they answered the call...", Vaish paused, and I turned my head in her direction, looking away from the pretty hot distraction. "And what did they say?", I interrogated. "The show is almost sold-out", Vaish revealed. "Almost?", I echoed. "Well, they have the last eight tickets with them, but they're selling it at an extremely high-rate. I'll have to sell my goddamn kidneys to buy it, now that I'm completely broke", Vaish said. "How much does it cost?", I raised another question. "Fucking eight-thousand rupees!", Vaish stated, angrily, and my jaw dropped. "EIGHT THOUSAND?!", I screamed right on the top of my lungs. "The prices have been higher than this, and this honestly is not that big of a deal. But the thing is, I cannot afford eight-thousand rupees at this point of time, and I cannot even let go of the chance. The last time I attended his live concert was eight months ago, and I missed his most recent one because I was performing at Hilton, myself, and I needed the money. This Tuesday, I have all the time in the world to hear him live, but I do not have the money I need; my life sucks!", Vaish nagged, throwing her head back. "And I honestly don't want to miss this concert because I miss him...ugh, to whom am I even complaining? You won't even understand how helpless a fan feels", Vaish huffed and ran her fingers through her hair.