For The Better, For You : With Love, Thamrah.

Back Home : The Escape

Zayyed's call helped Christopher maintain his calm till the end of breakfast. He was disappointed he could not attend Zayyed's call but he was grateful to him too.

Christopher raised his eyes to the pretty cuckoo clock which was one of the many curious, lovely things that adorned the walls of the dining room.
Hoping to cite time as a reason to leave, Christopher made a move but unfortunately made eye contact with his mother, who gave him the look. Christopher sat back in his chair, fingers pressed to his temple. He was getting more frustrated with each passing minute.

Suddenly, Natasha sat up straight in her chair; she had been slumping. Christopher threw a look her way and was able to read her expression. He imitated her, a smile on his face.

Might as well bear it by pretending I don't give a damn. Thanks Tash.

Christopher was aware of Stephin's eyes on him.

The sight of Stephin and his family was a sore to the eyes of Christopher and Natasha. Natasha could not stand Stephin's younger sister, Merlin, who happened to be of her same age.
The parents seemed to be only ones who were on truly good terms.
'Well, Helena aunty, I scored 250 marks for JEE Mains. Kerala rank is 45. And for JEE Advanced, I scored well. So technically speaking, I managed to get into IIT Madras for B.Tech.'

'Congratulations, Stephin.',smiled Helena as she threw a dirty look at Christopher. Christopher dropped his head.

He had only qualified JEE Mains. He had not been able to attend JEE Advanced due to a problem which popped up unexpectedly. And his parents seemed to use it to attack him. So, Christopher quietly bent down to it.

And now, these voices boring their way into his head was irritating him.

'Yes, aunty. I did a crash course at ...'
'Yes aunty. Compulsory study time.'
'Ohh, yes. We had to solve those ...'

Blah blah.
Spare me the pain !

And suddenly.

Will you fucking leave this table ?

A voice screamed inside Christopher's head.

Christopher looked across the table and locked eyes with Natasha.

Suddenly, the both of them stood up.
Everyone else at the table looked at them.

'Christopher -', began his mother.

'I've to go, emergency.'

With those words, Christopher grabbed his plate; Natasha grabbed hers and the both ran to the kitchen.
Natasha handed the plate over to the maid and turned. Christopher stared at her. It was odd she had just done that, for she normally did her dish herself.

She looked at him. And suddenly, she snapped. In their mother tongue - Malayalam.

'What're you staring at ?'

Christopher cracked a smile. Natasha glared.

'What ?', she demanded.

Christopher laughed, with ease he hadn't felt since Stephin's arrival. He managed to keep a straight face and answered her.

'It's funny, hearing you talk in our mother tongue. Especially, since you've got that weird accent for Malayalam too !'

Natasha smiled, but immediately shot back.

'Yours isn't any better.'

Christopher laughed again as he handed the plate to the maid. Natasha grinned. She couldn't have had a better brother.

'You should go.'

The words caught Christopher by surprise. He responded in Malayalam.

'What ?'

Natasha's tone had changed. She sounded a bit nervous but grave.

'Go, I'm pretty sure you planned to meet Zayyed, Sourav and all. Go before mummy forces you to cancel it. I'll cover up for you.'

Christopher stared at her. For a minute, he thought back.

They usually fought a lot - Christopher and Natasha. Physical fights were common, so were the verbal ones.
However, things had changed after she came to India. She seemed to understand him better than before and even backed him in his disastrous scenarios. Her pleas were the reason their parents forgave him for the problem that caused him to miss his Advanced.

Christopher snapped out if this thoughts, smiled at Natasha and rushed out of the kitchen and made his way to his room.

On reaching his room, he quickly typed in a message to Zayyed.

Daa, njn ethaam. Ivide ithiri scene ind.
(Dude, I'll come. There's a small issue here.)

Christopher stripped quickly and was pulling on his favourite black t-shirt, when his buzzed.

Zayyed had texted back.

Scene illa, aliya.
(No issues, brother.)

Christopher smiled at the screen. And threw it onto his bed. He pulled on his jeans, not to mention socks and sneakers, stashed the keys into his pocket and quietly but quickly sneaked downstairs. And then confirming that everyone was in the kitchen, he made a beeline for the porch.

His eyes fell on his bike. And he smiled.

Not one as sexy as this beast !

But the sight of it also reminded of the problem at home.

If his mother caught him, he would have to stay and listen to the stories of 'pain' and 'hard work' Stephin spun.
It had to be now or never.
Christopher eyed the gate - open. The security guard had left it open for some reason.

Thank Heavens.

The engine roared to life. It made a lot of noise, but Christopher chose to ignore, despite knowing that his mother would be alerted.

A voice shouted.

'Christopher !'

The roars drowned out his mother's voice. He would be in trouble but he did not spare much thought.
Christopher raced out, excited, with the wind in his hair.

Njaan ethi, makkale.
(Here I come, guys.)