《Short Recap》

Flicking his nose playfully, I turned around and made my way to collect my towel and clothes.

The moment I was out of his sight, I pulled my lips into my mouth and swallowed ruefully.

Do all good things stay forever? I don't know.

One can only hope. But blind hope and faith has a way of leaving you fucked.

●○●

I sucked in a nervous breath as I set my jaw determinedly and swallowed.

'It's simple, a cakewalk really', I told myself, 'Just stay upright and push the red button gently.'

I pressed down on the red button slowly and the humongous silver and black metal beast I was sitting on lurched forward a couple of feet precariously and I gasped loudly.

Fortunately, we were in the empty driveway of the first level parking of our apartment complex. It was quiet today.

People hardly went out on Sunday mornings so it was therefore the best time to learn how to ride a motorcycle.

"Hands off the red button Akira!" Vinay reprimanded me, "Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"Yeah, I know," I replied stubbornly, blinking twice, "I don't know how that happened."

I really despised being talked down to like I was a baby, and on the rare days when I felt excessively petty I could go to exorbitant heights to defend my cause.

"Ok now focus," Vinay said as he corrected my helmet, "You have to..."

"I feel like the motorcycle is too heavy for me Vinay." I cut him off midsentence.

"You knew that, yet you insisted on learning how to ride." He raised his brow.

"I know," I conceded, "But what if I fall?"

Vinay brought his hand up to rub his light stubble, and answered, "Well, let's see. I'll kill you and than resurrect you so you can pay for the repairs."

"Wow, that's reassuring." I muttered under my breath as I repeated the instructions that he'd given me inside my head.

I cracked my fingers, the sound of the nitrogen bubbles in my synovial fluid bursting had a calming effect on me.

I let out a deep breath, turning the handle of the Royal Enfield Classic 350 slowly. The engine hummed to life under me, sending shivers down my spine all the way to the tips of my toes.

"I get why men like biking," I stated aloud, "This engine is like a freaking life size vibrator."

Vinay ignored my musings and placed one hand on the back of the seat to steady the bike.

"Okay, now pull the clutch lever. Then press down on the gear shifter and release it repeatedly until you're in first gear." He said.

I did exactly what he told me to do and nodded. I pushed backwards with my feet until only my heels touched the ground.

"Good, you're doing great babe," he lauded me, "Now release the clutch very slowly."

The bike began to roll forward slowly and I was delighted by my progress.

"Oh my God!" I squealed, "Tell me you're recording this."

"I am now." Vinay called out from behind me, "No, don't turn around. Eyes ahead!"

Feeling slightly more confident I began to accelerate slowly, tightening my core to maintain my balance as the metal beast began to gain momentum. I vaguely registered Vinay jogging behind me, but that was all. I was finally riding a bike on my own and I felt proud of myself. I was barely fifty five kilograms and I had successfully brought a hundred and ninety five kilogram motorcycle under control.

I deserved a pat on my shoulder and a banana milkshake.

Just as I reached the end of the driveway, I heard a honk from round the corner of the lane. A bright green Reva with a fifty something year old aunt at the helmet were headed my way.

I know I should have just braked and let the car pass or manoeuvred the motorcycle to one side but in that precise moment, I began to panic. And unlike any badass-biker-gal, I screamed.

If it's any consolation, the aunty screamed too and ended up accelerating her tiny two seater car in the process.

"Akira, use the brake!" Vinay shouted, "Use the fucking brake."

But my hands had other ideas. They refused to budge from the bright red button next to the handle.

When the car was less than two meters away, I swerved to the left and missed the bonnet by a couple of inches and continued forward until I finally reached the gate and rode out before braking the bike on the edge of the street outside.

I pushed the bike onto it's stand and jumped off. My legs felt wobbly because of the panic but I managed to keep the from buckling.

"My baby!" Vinay shouted in relief, running over to me.

"I'm all right." I smiled, "See, not a single scratch."

But he walked right past me and closely inspected each and every inch of his beloved motorcycle.

Right, that's the baby he was talking about. I rolled my eyes.

"I almost died and you're concerned about your bike?" I huffed in annoyance.

Vinay chuckled, pulling me into his chest gently and kissed my forehead.

"I know you're tough enough to get over the shock." he smiled.

"Whatever." I shrugged passively, "Tough or not. I need some babying too sometimes."

"Aww princess," he pouted, "Would you like some ice cream to make you feel better?"

Princess? Was he serious?!

"Yes, I would love to ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough to be precise," I asserted, somewhat childishly, "And don't ever call me princess again. It's so...I don't even know, bleh."

"Right." Vinay snorted, "I think I need to make a proper list of endearments and cross out the ones you dislike."

I rolled my eyes.

"That's awfully lame," I said, "How did you get so popular again? Because it's definitely not because of your wit and humor."

He smirked.

"No, I mean like really. I always perceived you as a very different person."

"You said it yourself," he shrugged, pulling his lips into a thin line, "Honestly, I feel like most people are simply drawn to my superficial persona that they see from afar. My looks, my athletic prowess, at some point my smoking and drinking and my unpredictable, impulsive behaviour made me seem enigmatic I suppose. No one ever looked past that facade, more importantly no one ever wanted to."

I raised one eyebrow.

"It's an undeniable human trait, you know," Vinay continued, "The superficial charm and dark shades of a person's personality captivates many people. It's a primitive signal that indicates that the person can live dangerously without suffering harm. People liked what they saw and perceived, so they maintained the same impression of me. First impressions are lasting however deceptive they might be. And it gave me what I wanted so I didn't care at the time."

"Wow," I breathed, "That got factual very fast."

"Uh, yeah." Vinay chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

I sucked in a deliberate breath before running my fingers through the length of my ponytail.

"I don't feel like going out anymore," I said, "How about we head back to the apartment and have a marathon or something? We can order food and ice cream."

"Sure." He replied with a lopsided smile, "In fact I was thinking the same."

He swung his right leg over the bike and started the engine.

"Hop on," he nodded towards the back seat, "Let's get my baby parked."

●○●

We ended up ordering chicken biryani and ice cream, a rather odd combination if you think about it. But eh, who cares. Both taste heavenly, so I'm not going to complain.

The fragrant aroma of the variety of crushed spices in the biryani wafted through the air when we opened the box and I leaned for another whiff.

"Have you selected something to watch?" I yelled from the kitchen.

"Yes," Vinay answered, shooting up from the cushiony spread he'd made near the balcony for us to sit and watch the movie, "I'm pretty sure you've never watched it before but I know you're going to love it."

I quickly piled the plates with food before emptying the rest into a Tupperware box and put it into the fridge along with the ice cream.

Handing the plate with the larger helping to Vinay, I settled down on the blanket and cushion arrangement.

"So what are we watching?" I asked peaking at the laptop screen and frowned, "Kelebegin Ruyasi? Which language is that?"

"Turkish. It means The Butterfly's Dream." Vinay replied, hitting the play button, "Don't worry, it has English subtitles."

Ok that's fitting I suppose. Turkish film with biryani on the side. We just needed a cup of masala chai each to add to the mood.

The movie was about two young poets living in the famine stricken times of the second world war. The storyline took a rather dramatic turn when both of them fell in love with the same girl. The entire movie was beautiful. I really loved the bittersweet combination of the pain and joy in their lives that continued despite the horrors of the world war. I was so immersed in the story that it took me more than an hour to realise that Vinay spent more time looking at my subtle reactions rather then laptop screen.

Rustu and Muzaffer, the two poets, were incarnations of optimism and pessimism respectively and kind of reminded me of Vinay and Harsh.

I sighed quietly, before turning to look at Vinay who brought an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him as we snuggled.

"I still have that post-it with the poem that you stuck on my door." I grinned.

"Seriously?" he asked, surprised, "I presumed you threw it away or something. It was pretty stupid anyway."

"No, it wasn't." I frowned, pressing the side of my head into his chest, "I'd like more."

Vinay's chest rumbled against me ear as he laughed.

"Sure, let me see if I can make something up on the spot?" he said as the movie credits started to roll.

"Well, I'll give you time until I finish rinsing the plates," I said, " And I'll bring the ice cream tub after that so we can watch another movie. Choose something funny and light-hearted this time."

When I came back, Vinay was busy typing away on the text memo app on his phone.

Right, so he actually took the ten minute poem challenge seriously.

I leaned over his shoulder to take a peek but he moved the phone out of my sight immediately.

"Just give me thirty seconds more and I'll be done," he said, "You don't get to see it before it's complete."

I plopped down on the seat next to him and stuffed a spoon of the cookie dough ice cream into my mouth as I waited patiently.

"Ok here." Vinay handed me his phone, "It's not my best but..."

"I'm sure I'll love it because I'm very poetically uneducated if that's even a thing."

I increased the screen brightness slightly and began to read.

In this vast abyss of free space,

Like a blinding supernova you stand.

You're divine, you're strong,

An expression of everything and nothing at all.

Set yourself free, hold nothing within,

There isn't much to lose.

For one day you'll reach far beyond everything I know

And I shall then believe,

Believe that somewhere in a tiny crevice,

The universe is working to make all our dreams come true.

I glanced up to see Vinay watching me carefully.

My face lit up with an enormous grin and I asked, "I'm a supernova?!"

"Ugh, fucking kill me already," he groaned, burying his face in his hands, "If you're going to tease me just get done with it."

Laughing, I leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"No, I absolutely love it and I'll probably frame it for my great grandchildren to see." I said.

"Ugh..."

●○●

Happy Navratri to everyone who's celebrating!

Also, I really hope my silent readers can start voting. It makes me happy to get a confirmation that you're enjoying what I write. It's just a tiny request and it would certainly mean the world to me!

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QOTD: What's your favourite foreign language film?
I've never watched any except a couple of Korean romcoms so feel free to drop in suggestions :)