Prithvi... [Vol 5]

Chapter 128

Prithvi didn't look up from his phone as something flamboyantly red and heavily perfumed occupied the seat near him.

"Hey Prithvi," a husky voice said.

"Hey," he said absent-mindedly.

"What is that drink?" the voice asked with fascination.

Prithvi glanced thoughtfully at the neon pink liquid in the glass on the table. "I don't know. I just asked the bartender for the ugliest pink mocktail in existence," he admitted, looking at his phone again. "But I suspect it has been made out of one thousand fairies and elves - by drunk leprechauns."

The voice laughed throatily. "You have a great sense of humour,"

"It's absolutely fantastic," he concurred.

"Prithvi, I - and all of us here - will miss you once you leave for India," the voice regretted.

"That's natural," Prithvi consoled as he typed out a reply to an email. "My personality is to blame. It's just too ******* adorable and magnetic."

"It is...Listen, before you go, how about taking me out to dinner?" the voice purred. "We could have a lot of fun together."

"I can't. Indrajit will be heartbroken," he regretted.

The voice vanished for some seconds. Then it warily asked, "What do you mean?

"He likes you very much," Prithvi shared seriously, his eyes on the screen. "Talks about you all the time. In fact, if you could wait for a minute, I'll take you to him."

With a slight note of crazed panic, the voice murmured something, and then the flamboyant red was gone from the periphery of his vision.

Grinning, Prithvi continued to work.

He glanced up moments later to see Kadambari marching back to her seat with a blue drink in her hand. "Choti maa, how could you leave me defenceless in the midst of these vultures?" he asked in a hurt tone.

"That girl's mother wasn't letting me return," Kadambari said grimly as she sat down. "But she's lucky she left before I could deal with her." The young females in the party were waiting for her to move from her seat, so that they could make one last attempt to snare Prithvi before he left for India. But now that she was back, none of them would have the courage to come near him.

"What did you tell her to scare her away like that?" she asked Prithvi suspiciously.

Prithvi put aside the phone and smiled mischievously at her. "Only that Indrajit was interested in her."

Kadambari laughed.

About twenty feet away, his mother had ceased to converse charmingly with a large group of acquaintances whom she hated, and was gazing at him. He smiled drolly and raised his bright pink beverage in a toast.

Priyamvada smiled at her son and looked away.

"By the way, where is Indrajit?" Kadambari asked cautiously, looking around the attractively lit and decorated room that contained about fifty people.

"Not sure," Prithvi shrugged. "But I know Mr. Sinha has a collection of antique weapons in one of the rooms on this floor. I can bet a hundred billion dollars that Indrajit is in that room right now...probably doing the salsa with a 200-year-old rusty spear," he nodded.

Kadambari chuckled, but then she apprehensively said, "You tease him too much at times, Prithvi. It scares me. He might have changed a little but I don't trust him."

"Relax, Choti maa," Prithvi dismissed. "He just looks like a flesh-eating giraffe, he's not one."

Kadambari didn't reply. Her opinion about Indrajit was not going to change. She could not forget or forgive his attempts to kill Prithvi. She was hoping that, after they landed in India, Indrajit would spend more time in his own palace, looking after his wealth and estates.