SUDDEN TWIST

by Flame Dragon

  There was a silence in the hall and the waiters came running.

  “Please sir your causing a scene,” the waiter tried to intervene.

  “C’mon man cant we settle this somewhere else?” Mathew asked Sachin.

  “You shut up! Hiding behind two girls you wimp,” Sachin snarled at him.

  Natasha lost her cool and slapped him on the cheek.

  “Sir you better leave,” the cashier said holding his shoulder.

  Sachin pushed him away and he fell on one of the tables the 5 men sitting there were outraged and got up.

  “Hey asshole! Who the hell do you think you are huh?” one of them roared.

  Sachin grabbed a plate nearby and flung it at them and they dodged it, but it came straight at Natasha who was right behind them Mathew immediately blocked it with his right arm, thanks to his plastered right arm the plate harmlessly deflected sideways.

  “Good thing I broke my arm,” Mathew quipped.

  “That was close,” Natasha gasped.

  “This is bad,” Sakshi said anxiously as they began to beat up Sachin “you better do something unless you want him to land in a hospital,” Sakshi continued.

  “Mathew don’t just stand there help him,” Natasha urged him.

  “Me? I have a broken arm,” Mathew said reluctant.

  “C’mon what kind of man are you? Don’t tell me you got no balls,” Sakshi taunted him.

  “Dammit!” Mathew cursed as he rushed to Sachin’s aid.

  “Yo can we talk about this?” he yelled as the men kept kicking Sachin.

  One of them took a chair and came towards him swinging it, Mathew used his right arm to block the blow and kicked him in the knee.

  “Ahh!” the guy howled as he collapsed.

  “Shit! Get him,” One of them shouted as the 4 of them rushed at him.

  Sachin used the opportunity to get up and grab one of them and chocked him by wrapping his arms around the guys neck.

  Mathew on the other hand threw a hand full of cutlery and a table cloth on them.

  One of them tripped and fell because he got wrapped in the cloth and couldn’t see.

  While another got hit by some of the cutlery and was recovering.

  “Why you!” said the last guy standing as he tried to land a punch.

  He dodged the man’s blow and punched him with his right arm the cement covered arm was so heavy and hard that he was knocked out cold and lost two of his teeth in the process.

  One of them grabbed a knife and ran towards Sachin.

  “Sachin look out,” Natasha screamed.

  He threw the guy he was chocking aside but the other man was already near him knife in hand.

  “Not enough time!” Mathew thought at that split second so he took one of the plate and threw it. Like a flying shuriken it cut through the air and smashed the guys arm and the knife flew off his hand.

  “Faa!” the guy yelped and fell to his knees as he cradles his broken fingers.

  Even Sachin was shocked for a few seconds seeing how Mathew threw that plate from such a distance nearly 20 ft precisely at the man’s hand.

  “Nice shot!” he said and kicked the man with his knee.

  “Phew! Good thing it didn’t slip off like that fork,” Mathew thought looking at his left hand.

  “Sachin wait!” Natasha shouted out to him but he ignored her and left.

  A Pillow For Your Sorrows

  They were once again in professor Phillip’s office, this time though he had 4 of them to deal with Mathew, Natasha, Sakshi and Sachin. Sachin however was missing he didn’t even answer his phone.

  “Where the hell is he?” Philip asked them.

  “Well Sir I don’t know,” Natasha replied looking down at her shoes.

  “Look at my face when I am talking to you!” he yelled and all three of them jumped in shock.

  They had never seen him this angry or upset.

  “You were the last ones to see him….am I wrong?” he asked them fuming and they nodded their heads.

  “I mean for heavens sake it was a hotel! A hotel!!” he yelled.

  “Sir?” Mathew said raising his hand “it was a restaurant”.

  “Shut up!” he growled.

  “Do you have any idea what you just did?” he asked them and once again they nodded their heads.

  “They are gonna sue us for the damage saying they were our students……you even scared all the customer’s away!” he bawled.

  “Do you even have the money to pay for all the mess you made?” he asked them Natasha opened her mouth to answer.

  “No you don’t! Why? Because your not rich!” he answered his own question before Natasha could say anything.

  “Since the last fifteen years that I thought at this prestigious St Xavier college, I have never every come across anything like this!” he yelled stressing the last 9 words.

  “But sir we had to help him they were beating him up,” Natasha tried to reason with him.

  “He deserved it if what I heard was correct he assaulted on of the Waiter’s, a few kicks to him would have bought him back to his senses, but what you guys did was much worse you wrecked the whole place!” he said banging his table. “you could have registered a police complaint for gods sake” he added.

  “Sir we did what we thought was right,” Natasha said raising her voice a bit.

  “And what if Mathew was beaten too? What do you think they would do to the two of you? You put yourselves at risk there,” he said opening a water bottle and gulped down the water to quench his thirst.

  “All this screaming is making my throat dry,” he said after he had finished. “This is gonna go on the news paper and its gonna tarnish our name I can’t let you guys get away with it,” Philip said picking up the phone.

  “What’s your father’s name again?” he asked Natasha.

  “Nooo!!” Natasha yelled grabbing the phone from the professor’s hand,

  Philip looked at her startled realising what she had done she handed the phone back to him apologizing.

  “Please don’t call my dad….pleeasee!” she begged him kneeling and joining her hands together.

  “So your scared of him?” he asked her surprised and she nodded.

  “I’ll do anything just don’t call him I’ll..…I’ll….. I’ll even clean the toilets,” she said begging.

  “Really? Oh well we do have a shortage of staffs,” he said pleased with himself.

  “My hand is still broken,” Mathew said.

  “Then use your other hand,” he said.

  “No way I cant!” Mathew protested.

  “Should I call your dad too?” he threatened him.

  “I don’t have a dad he expired,” Mathew answered calmly.

  “Oh I….I....am sorry to hear that, my bad,” he said apologizing.

  “Its okay,” he said.

  “Don’t worry professor I’ll make him do it he will listen to me and so will Sakshi right Sakshi?” she looked back at the two of them.

  Sakshi cleared her throat but did not answer and Mathew avoided her eyes.

  “You better do or else I will give him a call you hear me? 1 week of toilet cleaning and I am being lenient here,” and he waved them off.

  Sakshi and Mathew left grumbling while Natasha stayed back and thanked him 20 times before leaving.

  “That’s the last time I am ever listening to you,” Mathew declared.

  “You gotta help me with the cleaning or else he is gonna tell my dad guys,” Natasha told them worried.

  “No I won’t,” Mathew said firmly.

  “You know its against my principles to clean a toilet,” Sakshi said “besides I didn’t do anything,” she said.

  “But what if—” Natasha looked at her with pleading eyes.

  “Ah hell whatever! Having a best friend is such a pain,” Sakshi said rubbing her forehead, “you owe me for this don’t ever forget that,” she added pointing her finger to Natasha and Natasha happily kissed it in delight.
/>
  “Mathew if her dad finds out he will beat her with a leather belt,” Sakshi said.

  “Wait what? Th..th.. th…..that’s abuse,” he stammered in shock. “Its a lie right?” he asked Natasha.

  Natasha looked at Sakshi who winked at her and Natasha nodded.

  “Fine I’ll help,” he said finally.

  “Ah your so gullible,” Sakshi thought barely controlling her laugher.

  “We’ll lets go to the class shall we?” Mathew asked them.

  On the way back they met Sachin who was going to the office.

  “Where were you? We were looking all over for you,” Natasha asked him grabbing his hand.

  “Why do you care,” Sachin said freeing his hand from her grasp.

  “Are you still mad?” she asked concerned.

  “Of course I am!” he said raising his voice. “why do you think I came now? I was avoiding you,” he told her.

  “But what did I do wrong?” she asked him teary eyed.

  “Everything!” then looking at Mathew he said, “You like him so much? Then why don’t you make him your boyfriend and leave me alone…I am done with you don’t ever talk to me again,” and he left for the office.

  As they were sitting in the class Natasha was busy thinking looking all gloomy.

  The lecturer was busy working out a sum on the board when suddenly Natasha burst into tears.

  “Natasha?” Sakshi leaned towards her to hug her and console her. It came instinctively to her whenever Natasha was sad she would give her a hug. But instead Natasha placed her head on Mathews chest and began to cry wrapping her arms around his waist.

  “Are you okay?” Mathew asked startled.

  “Noo!” she said snivelling.

  Gathering her wits Sakshi asked the professor “Professor can we take a break?”

  “I cant stop the class midway because of her but please feel free to leave you can come back later,” professor Chandan said.

  “Thank you sir,” Sakshi said and took Mathew and Natasha outside.

  It had been 10 minutes and Natasha was still sobbing, she even blowed her nose with Mathews shirt.

  “Ew! Good thing she didn’t cry on me,” she thought as she blew her running nose with Mathews shirt again.

  Strangely though Mathew didn’t seem troubled at all as he patted her on the back.

  Sakshi then remembered she had a pack of tissues and took it out.

  “Here! Give it to her,” Sakshi said handing over the tissues to Mathew.

  “Guess I will be needing a new shirt now,” Mathew said giving Natasha a tissue.

  “Are you too lazy to even bring a handkerchief?” she asked him.

  “I forgot,” he said.

  “Well you wont forget now not after this,” she said pointing Mathew smiled at that.

  Natasha eventually cried to sleep at Mathews lap.

  “Well there goes our engineering classes,” he said as the bell rang signalling the end of the class.

  “Any idea why she is crying?” he asked her.

  “Sachin maybe,” Sakshi said guessing.

  “Don’t tell me she is such a softy,” Mathew said hardly believing what he heard.

  “He was her first love believe me not matter how strong you are the your first love hurts you most,” Sakshi told him.

  “Hmm that’s true there is nothing like your first heartbreak,” Mathew said.

  “She will recover eventually,” Sakshi assured him.

  “So she did love him after all even though she acted as though she didn’t care much,” Mathew said quite surprised.

  “We girls are like that we don’t show our feelings that easily,” she told him. “She must like you a lot though,” Sakshi informed him.

  “Really I never noticed,” Mathew said Natasha raised her left eyebrow at that.

  “Guess she sees you like a brother she never had a brother after all,” Sakshi said looking for his reaction.

  “Sigh* I didn’t have a sister either,” Mathew responded. “Sakshi you better go to class ill take care of her,” Mathew added.

  “Okay call me if you need anything,” she said rubbing Natasha’s back before leaving.

  It was another hour before Natasha finally woke up.

  “How are you feeling?” Mathew asked her.

  “Better,” she replied.

  “I am sorry for all the trouble how many classes did we miss?” she asked.

  Mathew showed her two fingers.

  “I am really sorry I promise I’ll make up for that,” she assured him.

  “Its okay it was boring anyway,” Mathew said.

  “I must look silly to you,” Natasha said.

  “Just don’t think anything okay?” Mathew said and she nodded.

  “If you ever feel sad again don’t hold back, you can always cry in front of me I wont judge you, nor pity you, nor laugh at your silliness,” he said rubbing her back. “Think of me as your pillow, just like a pillow I will silently absorb all your tears and your sorrows and I will cushion and comfort you and hide your shame like its my own,” he said tenderly hugging her, “If you ever feel sad all you need to do is hug me,” Mathew said smiling at her.

  “Thank you it means a lot to me,” Natasha said.

  “No problem,” Mathew replied.

  “Where’s Sakshi?” Natasha asked.

  “She went back to class,” Mathew answered.

  “Some friend she is!” Natasha grumbled.

  “She felt bad that you hugged me instead of her,” Mathew said laughing.

  “Well thing is I mistook you for Sakshi,” Natasha said.

  “Really?” Mathew asked amused.

  “I was crying okay, I could barely see,” Natasha said defensively.

  “Say that to her she was soooo upset,” Mathew lied teasingly.

  “Maybe we should go back its getting late,” she said pulling him by the hand.

  “You go first I’ll join you later,” he said.

  “Why?” she asked looking perplexed.

  “I need to wash my shirt,” he said showing her is shirt and chuckling.

  “Oh my god I didn’t!” she said shocked.

  “Hell yes you did,” he said.

  “I am so sorry I’ll buy you a new shirt I promise! This is so embarrassing,” she said looking at it.

  “Just go to class okay I’ll be back,” he said.

  “I am so sorry!” she said twice before leaving.

  Natasha’s Secret

  “Ah Natasha I am gonna go visit our home for a few days,” Sakshi told her one fine day as they were waiting in the hospital.

  They had accompanied Mathew there to get his plaster removed.

  “Why?” Natasha asked.

  “Well one of my cousin’s is getting married,” she said.

  “Really! Can I come…. Please?” Natasha begged her enthusiastically.

  “Your dad wont allow it besides you are not even related to my cousin,” she explained.

  “Ah! I hate my dad sometimes so annoying, he wont event let me enjoy my life sometimes you know?” Natasha grumbled angrily.

  “Cheer up I’ll bring you a souvenir,” Sakshi consoled her.

  “I don’t need a souvenir I need nice food, pretty clothes, plenty of friends to talk and I like to dance,” Natasha declared.

  Sakshi shook her head pitying her friend “Anyway you will be alone for a few days so be careful okay?” Sakshi cautioned her.

  Natasha nodded “I’ll miss you,” Natasha said trying to hug her.

  “Its only for a few days so stop being so dramatic,” Sakshi said pushing her back.

  “If you miss me so much then get one of our classmates to sleep with you for a few days,” Sakshi told her.

  “Can I?” Natasha asked excitedly.

  “I meant a girl!” Sakshi shouted her, “Don’t you dare get any strange ideas about getting Mathew to sleep with you for the night you hear me? I’ll be watching,” Sakshi warned her.

  “But
he is a nice guy and he is strong too,” Natasha told her.

  “I don’t trust him and neither should you,” Sakshi said firmly.

  “But….but—” Natasha started.

  “No buts you hear me? End of discussion,” Sakshi roared. “boys are very instinctive you never know what they may do when they are left alone with a girl,” Sakshi added.

  Sakshi then gave Natasha her taser “Take this just in case keep it close by I’ll call you everyday to check,” Sakshi said.

  “Okay,” Natasha replied.

  “You need anything from home?” she asked Natasha.

  “Yep my mom’s prawn pulao,” Natasha said and Sakshi smiled.

  And so Sakshi left for a few days she told Mathew to watch over Natasha.

  “Well I guess its just you and me,” Mathew said waving at Sakshi as she left on the train.

  Both Natasha and Mathew had accompanied Sakshi to the train station.

  “Oh ya I forgot something,” Natasha said on their way back.

  “What did you forget?” Mathew asked.

  “I wanted to ask you if um…..you could stay with with me tonight,” Natasha said.

  Mathew did a facepalm openly expressing his disappointment.

  “What did Sakshi tell you?” Mathew asked.

  “Oh C’mon I don’t feel safe sleeping alone in my room,” Natasha said.

  “Really? And you feel safer sleeping with me? Your unbelievable you know that?” Mathew told her.

  “C’mon just one night! I promise I wont tell her,” Natasha begged him.

  “Only for one night! She’s gonna kill me for this,” Mathew said remembering Sakshi warning, she threatened to skin him alive if he ever slept with her.

  Mathew did come that night half heartedly. The first thing he did was try to go into Sakshi room but it was locked.

  “Does she always lock her room when she leaves?” Mathew asked Natasha.

  “Yep she always does that never bothered to ask her though, I mean what does she have to hide in there anyway?” Natasha replied.

  “She has some weird habits,” Mathew said he had an idea why she did it. “Who knows what else she hides in that room?” Mathew thought to himself.

  “By the way how did you manage to rent such a big mansion anyway?” Mathew asked noticing for the first time just how big it was. Two rooms and a hall and a bathroom and attached toilet and a kitchen which was made into a storage room. Any normal person would call that a bungalow since it was in the middle of a metropolitan city.