All You Need is a Little Faith

by Vaanya Singh

  ‘Slipped? It’s not that I mind you guys getting tattoos done but it makes me suspicious about what else you could be hiding from me,’ Damon complained.

  Both of them stared at each other before Alex blurted out. ‘Nana is coming tomorrow and I want her to meet Cory!’ ‘What?!’ all three of us exclaimed simultaneously.

  ‘Alex, it’s a big step because you know Nana,’ I tried to reason with him.

  ‘I know and that’s why I want Cory to meet her,’ he replied.

  ‘Are you crazy?! You want me to meet Nana? What if she doesn’t like me the way I am? Or worse, what if she doesn’t approve of our relationship?’ Cory asked a million questions while pacing around the living room.

  ‘Babe, you’ve got to calm down. It’s just my Nana.’ ‘Exactly! Your Nana! What if she doesn’t like me, Alex?’

  ‘She’ll love you.’

  ‘How can you say that? God! Alex, you’re so annoying.’

  Saying this she went up to her room. ‘Women,’ Alex muttered, following her.

  Damon and I stared at each other before we burst out laughing.

  Nana arrived in the evening the following day. She pulled Alex’s cheeks till they turned red and scolded him for losing some weight. Beth was so nervous that she kept mixing up her words and kept dropping whatever she was holding. Nana simply laughed and hugged her.

  She pulled dad’s ear for not talking to her since a long time and called him names. As for me, her eyes brimmed with tears as soon as she saw me. She hugged me tight and said, I was a carbon copy of my mum.

  Vaibhav and Damon, too, were thrilled to meet her.

  Cory was a wreck when Alex introduced them to each other.

  ‘Nana, meet my girlfriend, Cory.’

  ‘Oh, my God, look how much you’ve grown since the last time I saw you!’ Nana exclaimed.

  ‘It’s really nice to meet you, Nana,’ Cory said formally, extending her arm for a handshake.

  Instead, Nana pulled her and gave her a tight hug.

  ‘You’ve got yourself a good girlfriend, Alex. She’s sexy and well-mannered. Don’t fuck this up,’ Nana said, giving a stern expression to Alex.

  ‘I won’t, Nana,’ Alex said, hugging Cory from behind and kissing the top of her head.

  Around nine at night, Nana went to bed, declaring she was too jet-lagged. An hour later, Vaibhav came barging into my room.

  ‘I need to tell you something,’ he said.

  I looked up from my mac and met his worried eyes and knew something was wrong.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, walking towards him.

  ‘It’s Malhaar,’ he said, leaning against the wall. I waited for him to continue.

  ‘He’s devastated after Priya left. It’s like he’s a totally different person; drunk half the time and the other time he’s a cold-hearted asshole. I’ve heard him cry, Faith. I’ve seen my big brother cry and it breaks my heart.’

  ‘But he made it clear that he didn’t care about her,’ I whispered, not trusting my own voice.

  ‘But he does! Oh, God, he does! He loves her, Faith!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘He won’t forgive her.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I can’t tell you, Vaibhav. It’s not for me to tell.’

  ‘But what if he does? We don’t know the answer until he meets her.’

  I stayed quiet for a minute, weighing the pros and cons of the situation.

  ‘Come on, Faith,’ Vaibhav urged.

  I took a deep breath and whispered, ‘She’s in Gurgaon.’

  Vaibhav stared at me for a minute before he hugged me.

  ‘Thank you! Thank you so much,’ he kept repeating and hugging me really tightly.

  I laughed and hugged him back. He held me by my shoulders and brought us face-to-face.

  ‘You don’t know what you’ve done, Faith. Thank you so much.’

  I stared at his face and he did the same. I took in every feature ... that little scar near his eyebrow and another near his lips. Before I could register, he was leaning in and I was involuntarily doing the same. It was as if the earth had stopped rotating and the moon had set.

  I could feel his breath tingle my senses. Our lips were just a few centimeters apart when suddenly my bedroom door barged open. We jumped away from each other, startled.

  Alex came in, holding a plate full of cookies with his mouth stuffed. He looked at us before extending his hand and mumbling, ‘Cookies?’

  CHAPTER 29

  Never regret anything

  because at one time

  that was exactly what

  you wanted.

  MALHAAR

  Priya—that girl had driven me crazy. There wasn’t a second when I wasn’t thinking about her. In the beginning, drinking helped me numb that pain but not anymore. My family was worried about me. I could see it on their faces.

  But all of it was going to change today. Because I was going to meet Priya. I had contacted all her friends I knew from our college days and begged them to give me a clue as to where she could be. One thing led to another and I finally had the details. I took the first opportunity available to drive to Gurgaon and went straight to her place.

  The apartment she lived in was better than where she had lived previously in Delhi. I checked the address again before entering the building. I had to look for flat number 8-C and it took me around ten minutes before I finally found it on the fourth floor.

  What was I supposed to do now? After some contemplation, I knocked twice on the brown door. Two minutes later, she opened the door.

  A smile overtook my face while hers was covered in shock. She tried to shut the door but I put my foot to prevent it. Poking my head inside I said, ‘We need to talk.’

  She gulped nervously but didn’t say anything. I sighed and spoke again in a more gentle tone.

  ‘You can’t avoid me forever, Priya. We have to talk at some point.’ She meekly nodded and opened the door. I entered her apartment and sat on the sofa straightaway. ‘Abhay?’ I asked, wanting to know where her brother was.

  She shook her head as if saying, ‘He’s not here.’

  Her silence was killing me. I needed to hear her voice so I began.

  ‘I’m an ass.’ She still didn’t say anything.

  ‘I’m an ass for choosing Malvika over you. I’ve realised what a blunder I’d made and now I’m here to fix that. I know you won’t forgive me but I’m going to keep trying till you do. I love you, Priya. You’re my world.’

  Realising I’d said the words aloud for the first time ever, I repeated them.

  ‘I, Malhaar Raina, love you, Priyanka Rajput.’

  She finally spoke but they were not the words I was waiting to hear.

  ‘I’m pregnant,’ she whispered, not meeting my eyes.

  That’s when I noticed the little bump on her belly. I wasn’t entirely dumb and putting two and two together, I realised, ‘That’s mine!’ It seemed like the baby was almost four months along.

  She simply nodded.

  I didn’t know what to feel. My emotions were at war inside me.

  ‘Please say something, Malhaar,’ Priya pleaded. I didn’t know what to say. Because I didn’t know what I was feeling.

  ‘I just need to be alone for some time,’ the words left my mouth before I even knew it. I got up and went outside the apartment. The last thing I heard before leaving was, ‘I’m sorry.’

  PRIYA

  It’s been over five hours since I saw Malhaar. I can’t blame him for reacting in such a manner because it is partially my mistake; but he, too, is wrong somewhere. Only if he hadn’t been with Malvika ...

  Abhay had wanted to stay at his friend’s place, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Around ten minutes to eight, there was a knock on the door. I answered it to see Malhaar standing there. I let out a breath and the next thing I know is that he came and sat next to me.

  ‘I’m really, really mad at you,’ he began. I opened my mouth to say something b
ut he cut me off.

  ‘But I know it’s not only your fault; it’s mine as well. I’m angry with you for not telling me about our child. How could you let it grow fatherless? I mean ... how could you hide such a big thing from me?’

  Silent tears streamed down my face.

  ‘Priyanka, I know we can make this work and I know this because I love you. I want you and the child to be a part of my life. I want us all to be a family ... you and I and our child.’

  Saying this, he kneeled down in front of me and put his hand on my belly. His hands wiped away the stray tears still falling down my face. He then whispered, ‘Shh. Don’t cry, beautiful.’

  I literally fell on him, locking his lips with mine. The sensation to kiss him again, to feel his hands on my body was something that words could not express.

  CHAPTER 30

  Imperfections are

  perfections to those who

  love you truly.

  DAMON

  ‘For God’s sake, Damon! Where the hell are we going?’ Faith enquired.

  ‘Just shut up,’ I whispered, hitting her at the back of her head.

  She muttered a profanity but followed me nonetheless. We were making our way up to Cory’s room.

  ‘I had seen her in a heated argument with Alex sometime back and I just wanted to inspect. What can I say ... I’m concerned about her,’ I expressed.

  We were crouched outside the door which was slightly ajar.

  Both Alex and Cory were pacing the room and their expression indicated that both were really upset.

  ‘Look, Alex, if you continue this, it’s not going to work out,’ Cory spoke first.

  ‘So it’s all my fault now? Cory, you need to get the facts right. You are nobody to judge me if you don’t even know the bloody story!’ Alex retorted.

  ‘Oh, so you mean to say I’m blind or something because I was standing right there when the bimbo came onto you!’

  Oh, no! This did not sound good. Best friend or not, I’ll definitely break his face if he cheats on my sister, I thought to myself.

  ‘Cory, you were right there when she came onto me and I did nothing but push her away!’ Alex was saying.

  ‘Look, Alex, all I saw was her kissing you and because I couldn’t take it, I ran away.’

  ‘Well, you should have stayed for the part where I pushed her off and ran after you.’

  There was silence in the room and the only sound one could hear was the heavy breathing of Alex and Cory.

  It was as if my worst nightmare was coming true. My eyes connected with Faith’s and a mutual understanding passed between us. We had to get to the depth of this.

  FAITH

  I was sitting on the living room sofa with Nana when Alex came storming in, banging the front door. He would have stormed away to his room had Nana not stopped him.

  ‘Alex dear, come here a second,’ Nana called out. With a defeated sigh he entered the living room. ‘Yes, Nana?’ he asked.

  ‘Sit, mister,’ she ordered. She was the only one who could make Alex do anything she wanted.

  ‘What’s the problem?’ she asked.

  ‘What makes you think there’s a problem, Nana?’

  ‘Don’t try and lie to me, young man,’ she said in a stern voice. ‘It’s not a big deal, Nana! Cory and I are having some problems,’ he tried to explain.

  ‘Well, then fix it. I don’t like seeing my grandchildren gloomy. Understand?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  I muffled a giggle as Alex answered.

  ‘Good. Now drop me off at the local bakery; that young chap there loves to try his flirting skills with me.’

  I gasped at this. Alex simply grinned and said, ‘Well, sorry to say, Nana, if he makes a move on my lady, I’ll have to kill him.’

  Nana giggled and clapped her hands together. I went back to my room and lazed around.

  CHAPTER 31

  She had the spirit of a gypsy,

  the heart of a hippie and the

  soul of a fairy.

  FAITH

  ‘It’s just a stupid picnic, Vidya, not a date. So chill out,’ I tried to explain it to her for the millionth time.

  ‘Do I need to remind you what his exact words were? He said and I quote: “We’re going on a date; you owe me.”,’ Vidya imitated a guy’s voice.

  We were sitting in my room and Vidya was helping me look for an outfit for my own picnic with Vaibhav.

  ‘Oh, by the way, Ron finally grew some balls and asked Vanessa out,’ Vidya said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  ‘Oh, my God! You have to be kidding me! Seriously,’ I yelled. It was no secret that Ron was smitten with Vanessa. Gosh, that girl was so naïve!

  ‘I’m not kidding. He asked her just yesterday and Vanessa is still too dazed.’

  I simply smiled and sent a quick text to Vanessa.

  Now back to figuring out what I was going to wear!

  Vidya went inside my closet and threw some clothes at me. I grabbed them just in time and began to change.

  I wore simple denim cut-offs with a striped blue and white T-shirt. Slipping into my Converse high tops, I tucked my phone into my back pocket. After applying some eyeliner and mascara and throwing my hair into a high, messy ponytail, I was ready to go.

  At dot eleven, the doorbell rang. ‘I’ll get it,’ Damon said, grumbling. He was pretty pissed off at me for going to that stupid picnic.

  He was always hanging out at our place because he is my brother’s best friend. But he wasn’t able to help Alex in his current situation. He was sulking away to glory because of whatever problem was going on between him and Cory.

  ‘Hey,’ Vaibhav greeted me as I stepped out of the house.

  He was wearing ripped jeans with a light blue T-shirt. His hair was its own messy self, simple yet nice.

  ‘Hi,’ I replied back.

  He grinned and turned me around. There were two bicycles parked there, one with a picnic basket. I squealed and ran towards them climbing on one.

  ‘We’re cycling to the park,’ Vaibhav explained, climbing on the other one.

  As we were cycling next to each other, lively chatter filled the atmosphere as Vaibhav told me about some prank he’d played on Aditya. We’d just turned around the block when something happened to my bicycle.

  It began to shake and then suddenly the chain popped.

  Vaibhav leapt off his cycle in one jump.

  He checked mine before sighing and said, ‘Nothing can be done about it right now.’ We decided to park the other cycle as well and walk it to the park instead. He grabbed the picnic basket and we began to walk. As I locked my hands with his, I said, ‘Did you know that Ron asked Vanessa out?’

  ‘Well, it was high time anyway for both of them to get together.’

  ‘I know! Right from the beginning, I knew something would happen between them.’

  ‘I kind of played Cupid...’ he said sheepishly.

  Sensing my curiosity he said, ‘Believe it or not but I got them stuck in an elevator together.’

  After walking for another fifteen minutes, we reached the park and headed straight to a cool area under the shade of a giant tree.

  Vaibhav laid down a blanket for us to sit on. After that, he kept the basket down and began to take out some containers.

  ‘What are we having?’ I asked.

  He spoke as he took out each item. ‘We’re having fresh strawberries dipped in Nutella, homemade tacos and homemade ice cream.’

  My mouth began to water. Vaibhav passed me a container and he tried to open the jar of Nutella. I took the lid off and a horrible smell invaded my nostrils—the strawberries were rotten.

  ‘Vaibhav! What the hell? Is this supposed to be some sort of a sick joke?’

  With a confused look, he checked the container of strawberries.

  ‘I swear to God that I did not do this. I got fresh strawberries!’ he sighed. There was no point in fighting.

  ‘It’s okay. At least we have the Nut
ella,’ I tried to lighten the mood.

  He simply nodded but when he opened the jar of Nutella, the lid did not budge.

  We figured that it was sealed with super glue!

  ‘Well, my idea of dipping strawberries in Nutella has gone down the drain,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Hey, that’s okay. We still have the tacos!’ I said, trying to cheer him up.

  ‘Oh, ya. You’re going to love...’ but his voice trailed off when he opened the second container.

  I peeked inside to find stale tomatoes.

  ‘I feel it‘s jinxed,’ he said sadly as he turned towards me.

  ‘You know what, let’s just go back. The day’s not turning out to be the way I wanted it to,’ Vaibhav was very sad.

  I quickly interfered.

  ‘No, we still have the ice cream. I bet that it’s lovely,’ I said.

  Vaibhav didn’t look convinced so I pulled out the ice cream tub myself. Before opening the lid, I said a quick prayer.

  At the sight of yummy chocolate ice cream, I let out a sigh of relief. However, the relief was short-lived. The ice cream was laced with salt. We decided to call it a day and go home.

  CHAPTER 32

  You’re a king and I’m a queen

  and now we’ll stumble

  through heaven.

  VAIBHAV

  I looked around our living room. While Aditya and I were sitting on stools, mum and dad sat on one sofa. Malhaar sat in front of us. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

  Apparently, Malhaar had come back from Gurgaon yesterday and had something important to tell us.

  ‘So why are we here?’ I began the conservation trying to ease the tension. ‘I have something to tell you,’ Malhaar said nervously.

  ‘We know that, Malhaar; that’s why we’re here,’ Aditya said, trying to joke.

  ‘Ya. Umm ... Priya, you can come in,’ Malhaar called out in a gentle voice.

  My gasp matched everyone else’s in the room as Priya entered. She was wearing a pretty dress which was loose-fitted. With her hair flowing down her back, she looked very pretty. A shy smile dominated her lips. But that’s not what caught our attention. It was the strange chemistry between the two of them which all of us were curious about.