Dedicated to @Confused_Cherub for listening to my rants and insecurity with this book and for giving me a heads up with the climax of the plot♡

Continuation...

"Well, that's where the problem lies," I spoke to them in a meek manner.

"We are not some sort of psychics so can you kindly please elaborate what you are trying to tell us?" Rajiv looked pissed off and I didn't know why. I guess he just gets pissed at everyone in a fraction of a second. I wonder how his wife will survive with him.

"If you want us to help you out then stop day dreaming and hurry up. I have much better work to do." Rajiv snarled at me and I pulled my hair in frustration.

I wasn't good under pressure and Rajiv was pushing my buttons. Couldn't he understand that sometimes it's difficult for a person to open up?

"Rajiv, please stop pushing her over the edge. Just look at her face! It's drained of energy and she has dark circles underneath her eyes. Nathalia has come to India for the first time and it hasn't been a pleasant experience for her so far so give her some space and time to process everything." Lee hushed Rajiv who was trying hard not to snap my neck.

If he was a cartoon character I think there would have been fumes coming out of his ears.

My gut instinct was telling me to trust them. I shouldn't lie to them or it might back fire me later on.

"I don't want you both to judge me and give me any sort of pity later on. I don't know why but I think I am going to tell you everything this time. Nothing sugar coated but just the plain truth so don't interrupt me while I speak."

I closed my eyes and silently asked fate to not fuck me up after this; there was only so much that one could handle and I didn't want to back down or breakdown.

"I was five when I last saw my daddy. It was my birthday and he left me during my birthday. After he left my mother didn't console me but asked me to just forget that man and move on but how could I just move on? I was confused and I think any kid of my age would have been confused. I needed answers so I pestered my mother but she didn't budge. Zara came into the picture who claimed to have known my daddy for a really long time; Zara was more motherly to me than my real mother would have been."

By now my tear ducts had opened but I didn't care that I was crying in front of two complete strangers who were sort of my acquaintance.

"Zara chose to be my personal manager when my mother thought that it was the right time to follow her footsteps and become a model. I didn't want to be one but I didn't have any say in it."

I couldn't tell them the bitter words my mother told me that kept haunting me forever.

"I didn't plan for you and you were like an unwanted gift. Your father left us and I'm stuck, looking after you, bringing you up and you tell me you don't want to enter this industry after me? Before you came I had a perfect figure; now my stomach has stretch marks that wouldn't have been there if you hadn't planned to come into the picture. You have to start earning by giving me a break. You will now do everything to show that you are grateful by what all I have given you so far."

My shoulders were shaking and I didn't realize that my body had hit the ground while I was reminiscing about my past.

Lee was running my back and even Rajiv gave me a look of concern.

"You don't have to tell us..." Lee rasped out but I shushed him off.

"I have to tell you the complete picture now so that you will know I am not lying and I genuinely need help so please let me finish it off," I spoke while taking sips of the cool water that was brought to my lips by Rajiv.

"I am not going to say I am very bold because I do lack confidence in a few areas; a girl came into my life like a storm and the impact she left on me is really bad but I am grateful that she came into my life so I would like to brand it as an experience."

When I thought about Tahilia I didn't have any bitter feelings towards her but I just felt remorseless for her. Why should I cry for her anymore? I was the best thing that had happened to her so she should be then one crying over me. I didn't want to talk about Chase because I knew what we had felt like a dream; not all fairytales have their happy endings, do they?

How strange is life? The people you actually knew turned out to be strangers while strangers might turn out to be your friends.

Every person present in our life was first a stranger, some continue to remain a stranger while some become more than strangers.

The people I had known in my life were more than strangers but they turned out to be people I never thought I knew.

Sometimes you may know a person for a long time but you might really not know them while there are a few people you don't know them at all yet you know them more than anyone else.

"The stories in books or movies that portray a happy ending makes us, no sorry leads us to believe in things that are superficial. Why don't they talk about the aftermaths? Don't you think that your favourite fictional from a book or a movie would actually get divorced or die? Call me weird but I don't watch any movie or read a book that has a happy ending because at the end of the session my hopes would be high only to get crushed."

I looked at lee and Rajiv and spoke to them in the eye so as to not make myself look meet or incompetent.

"The sole reason why I ran away was not because I was a coward but because I knew I was going to run into something better. I feel that I was just a project my mother had invested and she wanted a good outflow; when there was a diminishing marginal utility she tried her best to make the curve be in equilibrium."

I chuckled when I realized that I spoke the last bit in economics terminology.

"I don't have a feeling; I know that my daddy is not the bad guy in the picture. What made him leave me and never contact me later on is why I came here. A few days ago a guy kept messaging me claiming that he was brother. Seems that my dad had adopted him and took him under my wings while he was still trying to get in touch with me but failed every time then he lost hope so Ankit, my brother decided to find me and help us both out. There was a picture of me and my dad that I still have and Ankit had mailed me the picture so there was no doubt that he wasn't stewing a lie or else why would a random guy suddenly claim to be my brother and want me to meet my dad? My mother doesn't know that I'm here because I didn't tell her. I ran away with the help of Zara and I don't plan on going back no matter what the outcome would be."

First, I had given them a raw outlook on why I was in this country but now I had told them everything.

I turned my body to face the window that had an outlook of the children's park behind this building. I didn't have it in me to look at their faces to know what they would be thinking about me now.

"I am not going to say I'm sorry or that I feel you if that's what you want to hear," Rajiv spoke with his palm outstretched towards me.

"Yea why should I say I sorry when I haven't done anything to be sorry about? I say let's kick some arses." Lee hooted and I gave him a look of disbelief.

Lee didn't look like a person who would have said that.

"All this emotional heart to heart is making me queasy so let's eat!" Rajiv pulled me up and gave me a hopeful look.

He definitely wants something.

"Go make us something!"Rajiv pulled me towards the kitchen and I swatted his hands off.

"What do you mean by make something? I don't know to cook! I don't even know how on turn on the gas."

Well, it was true. I wasn't allowed to venture into the kitchen and the gas stoves I have seen were only in the ones shown in the commercials.

I didn't know so many things in life but I was not ashamed to admit it because there is always a scope to learn them later on.

"Maggi has been banned and that used to be the only star dish I knew to make." Lee awkwardly scratched his neck.

What and how did these guys eat anyway? I thought to myself while observing the kitchen. I don't know how a typical bachelor's house would look like so I didn't judge the kitchen when I saw spiders crawling at the corner of the room.

Out of a dark corner, a pale colored lizard emerged and swallowed a butterfly that flew into to kitchen through the window.

"Aye cockroach" Rajiv screamed and jumped into Lee's arms.

"HAHAHA you are so big and that insect is so small. Shame on you! Being scared of such a tiny...HOLY SHIT."

I tried to pry Rajiv's arms away so that I could also have Lee embrace me and save me from that evil creature.

"IT'S BLOODY FLAPPING ITS WINGS IN OUR DIRECTION!" Rajiv screamed and for a moment, I hoped that the cockroach would enter into his mouth.

"WHY DO YOU WANT THAT THING TO ENTER MY MOUTH?" Rajiv gave me an appalled look.

I guess I spoke my thoughts out loudly.

"Well because then you would shut up plus this insect would go away, so basically its two shots using one arrow." I babbled on.

"Stop, You both are hurting me. Airo rama kadavleh kadavleh." Lee shook us off and I was wondering if he actually cursed is some language but whatever he spoke sounded so beautiful.

(Kadavleh means oh god in Tamil)

"Are you cheating me, Lee? After what we both had been through? How could you do this to me?"

A new voice entered the kitchen and my jaw dropped upon looking at the person before me. The person was so beautiful my eyes hurt.

"No babe, There is a cockroach flying in this kitchen... OH LOOK IT IS HOVERING ABOVE YOUR HEAD." Lee panicked while the word 'Babe' registered in my mind. Why did he call the man BABE?

"You guys behave like adolescents." The beautiful man spoke while looking at the ceiling and in one swift motion, he caught the insect that was flying. He noticed the creepy lizard that was observing us with his creepy black eyes and made his way over to the corner of the wall.

The lizard was about to crawl back but the beautiful man caught the lizard by the tail and in the next moment both the species were out of the window.

"Anyone hungry? I am thirsty for blood." The beautiful man narrowed his eyes while giving me a once over making me shiver under his gaze.

"It's not what you think it is pooh-bear. Come let me explain everything to you." Lee pecked the man while making his way over to the living room.

We all sat in the living Indian style. Lee adjusted his glasses while Rajiv plopped his head on my lap and that beautiful man was trying to keep his hands off from Lee.

"Well, you what happened is..." Lee began to tell him everything; when everything was laid out, the beautiful man made his way over to me and took my palm between his hands while giving me a soft look of concern.

"Darling! I am so sorry I gave you the evil look before but I couldn't help myself when I saw you wearing Lee's clothes. Now that I know that you are not a threat I am going to open up to you about us all because it's fair that we all trade our secrets.

"My name is Bobby Daruwala. I met Lee last year during his college days before he dropped out and I met this prune guy, rolls eye Rajiv because of Lee."

Bobby's voice had toned down from masculine to soft, almost feminine.

"Hey who gave you the rights to talk about us?" both Lee and Rajiv spoke up but Bobby chose to ignore them.

"My parents disowned me because I am a transgender, I am not ashamed to admit that I have the body of a man but my inner soul of a woman. I don't think a person's sex should define gender anyway I am getting out of topic, where was I? Oh yes! Lee here was in depression because he couldn't clear some test when he was studying for engineering and I was his counselor."

My eyes were as round as saucers when I processed all this new information I got from Bobby.

"Lee was neither my student nor my client." Bobby rolled his eyes at me even though I didn't even think about those things he assumed I would have thought but he carried on talking me smoothly.

"I was an outside faculty who was roaming around in the campus premises and one fine day I see a guy hunched up and crying. He was so lonely and my heart broke for him. He was like an innocent lamb in a heard of black sheep."

Bobby looked at Rajiv and gave him an evil smirk but Rajiv turned his face away to observe the walls in the room as if it fascinated him.

"I was called upon for some work and I was sad because I wanted to talk to the lonely soul but I left putting my faith in God's hands. The same evening I was in a club and LO! Rajiv was trying so hard to get Lee laid that he didn't see who he was talking to at all. Rajiv came up to me and slurred that his friend was lonely and a good bang would cheer him up and asked me to help him take him to heaven." Bobby laughed and even let out a chuckle.

"I just smiled at him and took Lee with me for a walk. Yes, all we did was walk in a comforting silence then I took his number. I canceled my tickets and extended my stay in the city. I called Lee to show me the capital city but we saw everything but this beautiful city if you know what I mean." Bobby chuckled while I nodded my head eager to hear more from them.

"Lee's Father got furious when they came to know that he is with someone who is not normal and gave him two choices, them or me. I wanted Lee to stay back with this parents but he was reluctant to leave me because I was the one who understood him, not his father nor anyone else so he preferred to be with me rather with someone who didn't see his son's only happiness."

I didn't realize that I was crying till Bobby silently wiped my tears with a sad smile.

"Rajiv here... well Lee and Rajiv had met 10 years ago in a boarding school. Lee and I are his real parents because he doesn't have anyone else other than a maternal aunt who just sends him some money once in two months."

"I am not going to tell you hey, don't cry because others have it worse than you do you want to know why?" Bobby paused and I nodded my head. "Because when someone is happy to do we tell them hey, don't be happy because other people may have it better than you," Bobby spoke while I let out a full on belly laughter.

"Life is a game that plays with us through various stages. No one remains a virgin in the game of life because it always fucks us in some way or the other." Bobby winked at me and for a moment, I thought of taking down all of his philosophical talkings.

"Why is that piece of potato laying in stationary?" Rajiv asked while poking my hammy, who was sprawled on the carpet.

Bobby carefully picked up hammy and poked his belly.

"I guess he is hungry," Bobby observed hammy like he was some sort of a magnificent art piece.

"Can we cook him up and eat him?" Rajiv asked I smashed his face with my elbows which were easy as he was still lying on my lap.

"Worry not when I am here," Bobby smirked and took out a few takeaway bags that were kept on the coffee table.

How did we never notice that?

"Seriously? Mujhe ghaas phus nahi khana." (I don't want to eat leaves and stuff) Rajiv threw the bag at me. The cartoon box was labeled as Subway so I threw it in Lee's direction who caught it on reflex like he was used to getting the leftovers.

"Oh Smoothie, Give me that!" I hurriedly grabbed two glasses of colorful looking smoothies then passed the bag to Rajiv who grabbed a box labeled as McDonalds Happy meal.

"Oh Bobby, You know me so well! Thanks for this" Rajiv didn't glance at his meal but rather the action figure in his hands with gleeful eyes.

"Whatever," Bobby mumbled while slurping some noodles.

"Babe I prefer to be called she, not he ok?"Bobby glanced at my direction so I assumed his context... sorry her context was for me.

***

"So why don't you call up Zara and ask her for Ankit's phone number?" Rajiv asked me while fluffing his pillows next to me.

"I have a vague memory in remembering people's names or phone numbers so umm..." I rasped out not missing the look of disbelief he threw in my direction.

"We can't keep guessing by fulfilling the blanks of the number she doesn't remember because this is an international call that we are talking about so we would be pretty broke soon," Lee spoke out and I nodded my head in his direction.

"So what do we do now?" Lee asked us with a bored look.

"Maybe we can open her social sites or email account?" Lee asked bobby to get his laptop.

"I don't exactly remember my passwords. I created my account like more than two years ago since I had got my phone but never have I ever logged out from the apps so... if only my phone wasn't broken or my sim wasn't lost."

If someone else had told me all this I would have just laughed at their faces and called them stupid but what's done has been done.

"Lee can try to hack your account. He is a technological geek." Rajiv hollered at lee who shook his head.

"I have never hacked anything but I can try." Lee offered when I gave him a hopeful look.

Lee asked me a few personal details and tried to crack the codes that could have been used as a password but each time the screen kept displaying 'Your password is incorrect' that made us all get frustrated.

For more than an hour all our efforts had been going fruitless then I realized something.

Whoa. Wait! The screen displayed that...

"Guys move it! I think I got it. The past me knew that the future me would be an even more stupid person so I had kept my password easy but let's hope that my guess is correct."

I typed the word 'INCORRECT' in the password box and my Gmail account opened.

"SEE I GOT IT! HA!" I raised my fist in the air but the peeps around me gave me a look of disbelief.

"Can I strangle her?"

It was Rajiv who spoke, Bobby nodded his head and even Lee gave me a wounded look.

Come on! We all make mistakes don't we?

"Don't give me that look, please. We are all imperfect people so cut me some slack." I crossed my arms over my chest and Bobby made a motion to bring my arms down.

"Though the T-shirt it loose, you are making it obvious that you are not wearing a bra underneath it if you crush your melons like that." Bobby whispered in my ears before taking me into one of the rooms.

"What are you...?" My voice died down when I saw her tearing an old white top. She tightened the top at the bottom and asked me to wear it.

It looked like a sports bra and I was grateful that Bobby was such a considerate person.

"I got Ankit's number and sent him a text asking for his address," Lee spoke to me while awkwardly standing in the doorway.

What if my mother would be torturing Zara at the moment?

"Though Zara helped you to come here but you haven't been in touch with her since you came here so obviously she would be fretting over you; your mother would know that Zara is actually scared of you so she would think that Zara doesn't know where you are. She wouldn't have even doubted her." Rajiv spoke behind Lee and for the first time since I met him, I liked what he spoke because it was true.

If the past event hadn't occurred and if my mother would have had any sorts of doubts she would directly suspect Zara because I would have been in touch with her but I'm not so Zara wouldn't have been tortured by my mother.

Please look after her fate! Please! I beg you. Whenever you give her an inch of happiness, you take it back from her with 10 times the force. Why do you make people suffer? Please let the people around the world be happy.

"I call dibs on the bed." Rajiv hollered, "We have no bed" Lee retorted back.

"Don't you remember that you broke your bed two days ago while jumping up and down like a maniac when you got the news of being featured in a 5-second shampoo add?" Lee questions at Rajiv whose smile turned into a frown.

"Guess we are going to sleep together," Bobby spoke up and laughed at our horrified expression.

"I meant that we could join Lee ad Rajiv's mattress together in the living room and sleep there? If we need more space then we could just fold a blanket so we would all be having something behind our back instead of a solid ground."

Lee smiled at Bobby who immediately pecked his lips.

"Try to keep your hands away from me ok? There are going to be two kids with us in this room." Bobby winked at Lee, whose face had turned several shades of red/

"Hey, I am not a kid! I am 25!" I shouted at bobby who ignored me while Lee was toying with his hair.

"Lee is 21, Bobby is 24 and I am 23... YOU ARE THE OLDEST HERE!" Rajiv gasped at me as if I was the oldest women he had ever seen.

"I wonder how it is to date an older woman." Rajiv glanced at me with a longing look and I looked away.

I am in no mood or stage for a relationship... for now.

"Good night! Hope we get a reply from Ankit soon so we could all hit the road and help her united with her dad." Bobby kissed me on the forehead and my heart warmed towards her.

Maybe after this journey, I would actually get real true friends and maybe something more...

I glanced at Rajiv who was already looking at me and my stupid idiot moronic heart began to beat wilder.

Maybe I'm just scared for what's going to come tomorrow?

"You never know. Anything could happen." Rajiv smiled at me, a real sincere smile and wished me goodnight.

Yup, there will be definitely something more and come to think of it I didn't even think of chase. Is it normal to forget your ex soon for a person you met a few hours ago?

***

A/N from the next chapter Nathalia and her three partners are going to be on a running spree. Give me ideas of scenes you want to see in this book (if any)

mlx*G߅