Character Aesthetic : Virat

ii.

B E T E L G E U S E » the string of support

I always thought the moment you meet the great, the one and only, the love of your life, it would be more like they show in the romantic movies. Not exactly like the movies, with the slow-motion, and the hair fluttering in the breeze, and the heart swelling instrumental music running in the background. But at least there would be something, you know? A skipped beat of the heart, a gentle tug at your soul, and a flustered brain with thoughts like, "Holy shit! There she is. Finally, after all this time, there she is."

With Tara, I exactly feel the opposite because she was legitimately... crazy.

The moment she drags me to the rappelling point, I feel a weird sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. It's not the fluttery feeling you experience while falling in love. It's the feeling when your gut is being twisted in anxiety when you take a DRS review. 

"Did you drop your brain box while coming to Dehradun? Have you seen the height from where we'll be tied? What if I fall? What if we fall?" I ask anxiously, sucking in a sharp breath. Although, the chances of someone falling from the most well-known 'Adventure Sports Spot' is almost nil, but why take chances and risk your precious life... I was in no mood to die anytime soon because I'd so much to live for. My family, my fans, my love, so much.

"Virat!" Tara gasps in a dramatic tone, and then creeps down her voice to a whisper. "You're not going to fall, and even if you do, I will definitely save you." Her bright eyes crinkle into smile lines around the edges, accentuating her features even more.

Snorting, I pick up the safety helmet and secure it around my head. "I swear, I am dying on you, Miss. Tara Dobriyal." I mumble, jabbing my finger on her face. 

"Stop acting like a coward." she tells me, twisting my finger so that I retreat my hand back. With a snort, I follow her to the equipments place where the recruit ties the rope and mooring around us. "I'm sure you'll thank me after we reach down there." Tara adds with a knowing smile.

"I don't even know you." I mutter, rolling my eyes at her to which Tara laughs. I love the sound of her laugh. It is a light, fluttery sound that makes me feel as I can float away on it. She is the always laughing and smiling kind, I think. 

She is not my type.

And then, I see her swirling under the tender blanket of light snow fall and clouds. She smiles and she looks so —

Not. Your. Type. Virat. I remind myself.

The winds grow stronger when we reach the edge of the cliff. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach when I see the height from which were going to climb down. Roughly around 500 meters. One wrong move, and I could probably die.

But then a thrilling part inside me was pushing me to do it. After all, what was life without risks?

-

We're almost half way down when Tara breathes out an exaggerated and dramatic sigh. "How I wish my hair could magically disappear and reappear." she mumbles, balancing herself on the rope using one hand and tries to fix her fluttering hair. I felt bad for her. The entire time her hair was falling on her face, and by now - they were a mess.

I control the urge of tucking her hair strands behind her ear while I am hanging on a rope for life. I look at her, and see the gorgeous star-shaped stud on her ears, looking as gorgeous as hers. Tara tries to push her hair strands cluttered on her face behind it, and doesn't even realize she is hanging on a rope too — for life.

"Tara, just be careful, okay? You may fall." I tell her as I climb down another level of the cliff using my rope.

I am at a fair distance — around a couple of feet ahead of Tara when I hear a loud shriek escaping from her lips and I know she is in trouble. I see her dropping down suddenly as the moorings supporting her to the cliff snaps.

"Holy shit —" she shouts. I look up to witness the horrifying sight of the moorings supporting Tara to the cliff kept on snapping, until she is left hanging unbalanced using the only harness tied at the top. "I am going to fall, Virat." she squirms with fear, and I'm left more awake than I've ever been. 

"I am going to die Vir —"

"— give me your hand, Tara." I shout reflexively, outstretching my hand to the best of my ability. The adrenaline in my body is coursing unchecked, and my heart beats so rapidly that I can almost hear it hammering against my ribcage with a thud sound and then suddenly constricting in my chest with the thought what if she falls?

"Just give me your hand Tara."

Tara shakes her head in denial and screws her eyes shut. "If I lean down to the level where you are, this last harness will break too and I will fall down." she says, and I cannot help but agree with her.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? You will fall down anyway Tara, that single harness can't hold you for long." I retort as I feel another rock — on which I've been standing for too long — falling beneath my feet.

"How could I think this would be fun? I am going to die... prematurely. I am so, so, so stupid Virat. I should've simply listened to whatever you were advising me earlier against this entire crappy idea." Tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

I sigh, sucking in a sharp breath before I ask her coolly, "Do you trust me, Tara?"

She simply nods.

"Then give me your hand. Trust me, I am going to hold it. I am not going to let you fall or die or... whatever. Just trust me here." I tell her softly.

Tara blinks her eyes close, and leans down to hold my hand. Everything after that happens in a fast motion — her harness breaks, my heart stops, and my hand makes its way to hers. I lift her up slowly, and she grips her hands around my chest. She rests her head against my chest, and pants out shallow breaths with pauses. Like a broken record.

"That was a close save." she sighs in relief, holding onto my body tighter. On the other hand, I am holding onto the what ifs of this situation. My brains goes into an overdrive wondering, just imagine ifs and it could have beens. The primal one among them is — just imagine if she would have fall, it could have been her end. I could have never seen her again, just after getting to know her. 

I cannot stop thinking about them when Tara's soft voice drags me out of my over-thinking drive. "Virat? We need to climb down."

"I don't fancy hanging on a rope either." I say with a grimace.

"I am so sorry for the trouble." 

I roll my eyes at her. "I knew you were trouble." 

Tara shrugs cheekily but ends up laughing anyway. "You just accidentally quoted Taylor Swift's song. Hehe. And thanks for saving my life. I owe you a lot." 

•••

Tara and I hold each other at an arms length when our feet rests on the ground finally. The in charge is ridiculing the Safety Officer's excuses. 

"We're extremely sorry, ma'am." Anger washes over me at the manager's sorrys. We're sorry to leave you in a situation where you could have died ma'am. I assure you that you won't be left for dying like this ever again. That was the lamest apology one could ever give.

I fume in anger. "Do you even reali —"

"—  it's okay, officer. What really matters is that everyone's safe." Tara interrupts me mid-sentence, signing off with a gentle smile. I am left amused at how can she take this matter so lightly. She could've fucking died. "I have to go, and abseiling was fun." she smiles at him.

"Yeah, dying sounds like fun. A lot of fun." I scoff at her reply. The men surrounding us leave and that's only when I explode, "Are you crazy? You could've died and why the fuck were you smiling at him?"

"But I did not. You saved me. It's okay now." she replies with a cheeky shrug.

"But you could've died if I was not there with you." I retort, rolling my eyes at her.

"Exactly. It was in our fate, Virat. I asking you to come with me, and you saving my life. That was in my destiny. God wanted this, you know? For us to meet, and you to save my life." she says, brushing off her strands. 

I scoff to show my contempt for her very illogical reply. Actually, the concept of fate or destiny never bode well with me. Everything needs to make sense to me. And if something doesn't make sense, it frustrates me, it infuriates me.

"Really? You think it was in your destiny to ask an acrophobic person to come for abseiling with you to prevent you from falling. That makes so much logical sense, Tara. I am so impressed." I reply sarcastically, realizing that this girl was completely out of order.

"It doesn't have to. Some things don't make any logical sense but they do exist — for example — love. It never makes any sense but love does exist, Virat."

I silently nod, not wanting to stretch our argument, and ensue another fight. All I want to do right now is to calm her down because I notice her face has turn paler... due to fright. But I really want to reply, love doesn't make any logical sense either, Tara.

The concept of love revolted me all my life, the idea of putting your entire life on hold for some person who may or may not even be permanent in your life. How can love possibly be so strong that things stop making sense around you? How can a feeling — a fucking abstract item — change you so much that you actual forget about yourself?

"I think we should stop discussing love right now. Are you okay now? Should I drop you to your place?" I offer her with a chivalric smile plastered on my lips.

"No. I am good. Thanks for asking though."

"You should really come. It's too cold, and I don't think you're feeling okay."

"Virat, I'm absolutely okay -" Tara shifts backward, and screws up her face. I wonder what exactly happened to her and then I see her throwing up. I grimace slightly, but still rush by her side, rubbing her back to ease her down.

"God, you're not okay, Tara. I'm going to make sure you reach your home... safe." I tell her, once she stops. Tara gives me a silent nod, and I help her to get inside my car. Once I make sure she's comfortably seated, I give her some water to drink. "Feeling better?" I ask her, after she completes drinking the water.

"Much better. Thanks for helping."

"Will you stop saying thanks? It's been two hours since we've met and I don't think I've heard anything from your mouth except for your thanks." I mutter, tilting my head side to side as I watch her laughing.

"What do you want to talk about then?" she asks, after the laughter dies down.

"Lets get to know each other first." 

"You begin?"

"Okay."

I tell her about myself, which included my education till my 12th grade and how I had dropped from college to play for U-19 and then Ranji trophy. And every detail of my life including how I hadrly went on dates. Cricket was my only love, and there was no place for someone in my heart yet. After the end of discussion about my life, I tell her to share something about herself too.

"What's up with you men," she joked, the action giving her a slight jolt of energy as I see how her eyes dazzled. "Always wanting something in return."

But on the end, she had to compromise to two facts as she told me that her last name was Dobriyal (which I already knew). So, she ended up adding that she was from one of the traditionally richest families of Dehradun, and how she had shifted to Mumbai because of higher studies. The second fact was she hardly had friends - didn't tell me a reason but just told with a shrug that she loved being lonely.

"That's only two facts," I say with a whimper, desparation translating well through my voice. "We settled on three. Give me one more."

"I met a guy," she started, a smile playing on her lips. "He is a scaredy cat, and he can describe his life as if he is writing his autobiography."

"Sounds like a pretentious dude," I tell her, and she looks at me as if she was going to burst into fits of laughter.

"Yeah, he's bit of a lame ass too because he hasn't realized that the girl he had offered to drive home has already reached."

"Hey," I cry indignantly, finally getting her joke. "I sound only pretentious because of the way you described me." After that, it is an obscure silence, and it had everything to do with the fact that Tara was laughing her asses down.

"Chill superstar," she tells me after the laughter died down. "I'm sure your family still loves you very much."

I sigh, "Sure, but it takes a lot of effort for them to love me. I'm not exactly easy to love, you see."

Tara shakes her head in disagreement, "I'm sure falling in love with you is easy. You've so many fans," she says, exaggerating the many. "I'm sure out of the billion stars in the sky, many do fall into your lap."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Does that metaphor mean something? You're a star too." I smirk at her.

Her eyes narrow at me slightly before she starts shaking her head. "Bye Virat!"

"Um, before you go I just want to tell you that I can never forget this day. And, um, maybe I want to see you again." I tell her, my voice stripped of the usual confidence as the words comeout tired and slow.

"Again and again?" she asks, posing a question as she leans back, sighing in amusement.

A tired but giddy laugh escapes from my lips as I answer her with a nod, "most definitely. Again and again."

Tara perches herself to the edge of the car before getting out of it. Right after getting down, she peeks into the car through the window and sticks her tongue out at me. "Sorry kiddo. But that won't be happening." 

Leaning back, she finally walks away.