91 A Fragile Heart

Kumari stood on a sidewalk as she waited for that a certain rascal to come to pick her up. It was supposed to be a full day outing with him but Aditya called last night and postponed the program to the evening as he said something about being busy. What can a teen be busy with other than going to school? Kumari knew that Aditya was not going to school and according to Kranthi he had stopped working in the garage every day as well.

Aditya was only coming one or two days in a week to do some work, the reason that he gave to Uncle Ramlal (Kranthi's father) was that he was preparing to give exams to become a certified Automobile mechanic. Aditya had said that the training centre was far from the garage and so he had rented another place near the training centre. Taking the fact that Aditya was Kranthi's former schoolmate and that he was very talented, Uncle Ramlal not only agreed but also encouraged Aditya for taking this career seriously.

Kumari was wearing a shaded blue denim Bardot top with off-shoulder styling and short sleeves along with a pair of white skinny fit mid-rise jeans. A pair of galaxy blue, silver plated and handcrafted tasselled contemporary drop earring dangled from her pinkish delicate earlobes. She wore a pair of blue and white checked ballerina shoes. Some people would turn to take a second look at Kumari from time to time but she was already used to this attention and did not bother about it.

What irked her the most was that fellow Aditya been late again. If she was not a childhood friend of Aditya and understood him quite well, she would have already gone back home feeling insulted. Aditya had a chronic problem of been late. It would be shocking if he was on time. Talking about been late Aditya was even born a month late.

Her birthday was on January nineteen which was coming in a few days and Aditya had promised her a surprise. Kumari always argued that she was a month older than Aditya as his birthday was on February nineteen and that she was his elder. But Aditya would refuse to acknowledge that on the grounds that he was born after ten months of pregnancy, unlike others. So he would say that if he also would have been born on January nineteen if not for him being 'late'.

Kumari knew that Aditya had been taking some time every week to spend with her so that she could recover faster from the impact of 'Sameera's death'. He would take her to all kinds of places from amusement parks to crowd packed bazaars. From pet shops to temples. They would mostly just go for window-shopping as they strolled around aimlessly.

A few days ago, when Kumari was particularly tempted to buy an adorable and cute kitten in the pet shop, Aditya stopped her as he knew that Kumari was woefully incompetent in taking care of animals which had been proved by her in the past. Kumari's family was against buying a dog as they had an Indian sweets shop and the place of making the sweets was in their home. They feared that the dog's hair fall might get into these sweets accidentally.

But Kumari who was famous for her stubborn mentality fasted for a whole nine hours before her father acquiesced. But he had separate area apportioned to the dog and restricted it from roaming around the home. The duty of taking care of this dog was also given to Kumari who accepted it happily.

She took care of all its needs in the first week without missing a thing but afterwards, slowly things began to become less interesting and more hard for her. Aditya still remembered the pitiful dog which used to starve because Kumari would forget to feed it and play outside. In the end, Aditya and Kranthi gave away the dog to a friend and Kumari did not notice the difference until a whole day had passed. With this kind of track record, Kumari could only give up grudgingly.

A smile appeared on Kumari's face when she remembered these past events. As Kumari was reminiscing, a black jeep wrangler stopped by her as the youth who was in the driving seat looked at her and said, "Hey fairy, did you get injured when you fell from heaven."

Kumari looked at Aditya and made a vomiting expression as she said, "Gosh! Your opening lines are becoming more and more cheesy. Did you trap elder sister Hamsa with these words?" she walked towards the other side and got into the vehicle.

Aditya laughed as he said, "Of course, who can resist my flirting, you can try it also. You do not even to change the lines as you would be trapping women as well."

Kumari smiled mischievously as she said with a 'pondering' expression, "maybe I should try it on elder sister Hamsa."

Aditya trembled when he heard these words as he looked at Kumari with a fake 'pleading' expression, "Kumkum, can't you spare her? Tell me what do you want?"

"That will depend on the gift you got me for my birthday," Kumari snorted as she looked back at Aditya.

Aditya took out a card which seemed to be painted with metallic gold and threw it at Kumari as he started the vehicle. Kumari caught it and noticed that this card had words printed in Emerald Green colour which read ' Galaxy Market City' in the middle, 'Royal Group' in the corner. She was shocked to find the name 'Kumari Hegde' printed in rose pink colour at the bottom. It looked like a real credit card with a magnetic strip at the backside.

Kumari looked at Aditya with confusion as she asked, "What is this?" She knew that 'Galaxy market City' was one of the largest malls in Bangalore and that their plan was to go there today but she did not know what was the purpose of this card which itself looked quite expensive.

"It is a Gold class premium membership card of 'Galaxy Market City' as well as the 'Royal Group'. With this card, you can buy anything you want in that mall and also avail all facilities in all entertainment centres belonging to the 'Royal Group' for free." Aditya smiled as he explained. He had taken that card from Taarini as this mall and 'Royal Group' was her's, to begin with. She had only a handful of these cards which she had prepared as complimentary gifts to some very affluent people but she gave it without thinking twice when Aditya asked.

"What!" Kumari was shocked when she heard Aditya's words. One had to know that Kumari's family was just an upper-middle-class family and she did not experience any form of a luxurious lifestyle. She was already shocked when she saw Aditya driving a sports bike or a high-end car but she did not think that Aditya could get her a card like this. 'Galaxy Market City' was a go-to place in Bangalore for buying any kind of articles of many foreign luxury brands. Anything that was bought there would not be lower than 10000 bugs (150 USD).

Kumari, like any other teenager, wanted to don those clothes from various luxury brands. But she was aware of her family's economic situation and so would not demand anything. She kept her thoughts and wishes to herself. But recently, their school had got a new batch of students midterm and all the students of that batch were from very rich families. Even if they did not want to show off, even the normal clothes they wore, segregated them from others.

So, when Kumari saw those girls, who were not as beautiful as her, wearing elegant and appealing dresses during a cultural fest and looking at her simple clothes with disdain in their eyes, she also felt intense urge to wear such clothes. She had seen those rich boys gifting dazzling, expensive jewellery to her classmates and taking them on rides in their sports cars. She had also observed that even their teachers would sigh with admiration and envy when they conversed about these students.

Her classmates had started bringing things to the school to show off their branded LV bags, Chanel perfumes, Gucci clothes and Dior make up sets. They would tell stories about various film stars' personal lives their boyfriends took them to meet or the various facilities they enjoyed at their stay in five-star hotels. The various cuisines that they tried and how some foreign variety was very delicious. The various expensive treatments they had undergone in the high-class spa in those hotels and how the massages felt relaxing and invigorating.

For the first time in life, Kumari felt that it would be good to have money. But she still maintained her bottom line, she did not want to sell her integrity in exchange for this luxury which could be seen from her decisive rejection to all advances from those rich kids. But the fantasy of wearing these clothes, living that kind of exuberant life still lingered in her heart. So, one could imagine her feelings when she held this card in her hand as she turned quiet for some time.

Aditya noticed her reaction and smiled as he shook his head. How could he not observe that Kumari who usually never cared about these things in the past was actually starting to take notice and talk about other girls' clothes and accessories in the past month? He knew that Kumari was in the age when her outlook of the world was changing and evolving. Aditya's observations were confirmed when Hamsa, who still continued her friendly relationship with Kumari, also alerted Aditya to the change in Kumari.

Though Aditya was technically the same age as Kumari, he had practically lived his life twice due to the dream world which allowed him to have a renewed look at life and the art of living. Also, one had to know that Aditya was a unique case. With all kinds of special circumstances surrounding him in addition to his interactions with people possessing different mentalities and perspectives on life in the past few months, his world view had become quite mature and steady.

With his foresight, Aditya felt that Kumari's emotional state was currently very delicate because of Sameera's death and mistakes, which are impulsive in nature, can happen which she might regret later in her life. So, he figured out that since she was showing interest in this opulent lifestyle, he could let her see for herself if these things would bring her solace.

Aditya did this simply because he could do it, if he was just a normal school kid like any other, this would not have been possible. He might have just advised her and tried to stick around so that she would not do anything foolish. She was his childhood friend after all and frankly, in Aditya's current position, this was very simple.

The thing, which was a little more difficult for Aditya, was finding time to accompany Kumari. He knew that what Kumari needed now the most was a psychological and moral support to mend her injured heart. Lavish lifestyle was something that dazzled Kumari and so she mistakenly felt that this life would help her be happy and at peace. His mother was the best example that it was not the case. Though Kumari's parents were pretty caring, they just couldn't fill that void in her.

But, Aditya who was of the same age and her closest childhood friend was in the right position to support her. Aditya also had a brief tryst with Kumari which made it even more hard for him to ignore this concern and he would look down upon himself if he did not even try to help her.

Aditya had planned to live in his original form while having real social interactions for three to four days in a week which would serve as his alibi if 'those' people came looking for him like that 'Bunny' who could crush a stone to dust with his bare hands. He squeezed the time to be spent with Kumari in his busy schedule which also became the good cover up for him. So, he was fulfilling his duty as well as not delaying on his tasks.

After some time, Kumari mumbled, "Thank you, Adi." while still keeping her head lowered as she fiddled the card with her slim and delicate fingers.

"Oh, the rowdy tomboy also has days when she acts coy. It is the end of days indeed," Aditya teased as he looked at Kumari.

"One more word and I am going to tell elder sister Hamsa how you liked to lick and bite my earlobes," Kumari said as she glared at Aditya.

"..."