Chapter 6 - Mahe's Men

Chapter 6 – Mahe’s Men

All the characters in this series are fictional. Any resemblance whatsoever is purely incidental/unintentional.

Suzanne slammed the phone down. She felt she was the most unfortunate thing in the universe. Why was God playing such pranks on her? She had taken a week off from work for a trip and now the trip stands cancelled.

No boyfriend to call up and flirt around! All friends would be working during the week and more importantly her best friend would also be busy attending to her brother! She had nowhere to go but sit at home and accompany her mother in watching the hopeless daily soaps. Well, maybe she would go and meet Suchi in the hospital. That seemed the best option for her now. After all she was her friend and she would need some kind of support.

“Ma.” She called out. “I’ll have my breakfast now. Hungry.”

“Come to the dining hall. I am making pooris.  You can have them hot, if you come right away.”

“Am coming.”

She went straight to the kitchen, helped herself to some crisp pooris and hot potatoes. She kept thinking about what she would do the whole day after meeting Suchitra in the hospital as she ate the pooris served by her mother.

 “Maybe I must take Neelima along with me. At least Suchi would feel better when some of her friends are around.”

As she kept thinking about it, her phone rang. Neelima’s name flashed in her mobile.

“Hello.”

“Hey Suz. How busy are you today?”

“Quite free as the trip is cancelled.”

“I have informed Revathy also about it. She’s fine too. Hey, by the way, can we go and meet Suchi today? Maybe around evening? We can take Revathy along too.”

“Ok Great. I was thinking about it too. She might feel better if she sees us.”

Both of them agreed to go to the hospital around evening. It was decided that they would all meet at Suzanne’s place and leave for the hospital from there.

She spent the rest of the day watching television soaps with her mother. She became equally interested in them and was somehow able to while away time till evening.

Neelima and Revathy arrived at Suzanne’s house at sharp 5. They left for the hospital together in two different bikes.

 “Do you know the way to the hospital?” Suzanne asked.

“Yes, I do. Just follow me.” Neelima replied as they took their vehicles and drove towards the hospital. Revathy was the pillion rider with Neelima  and was always entertaining Neelima with her PJ’s which made Neelima enjoy her ride to the hospital.  Suzanne was quite serious while driving as she usually was and followed Neelima to the hospital.

They reached in half an hour’s time and the girls alighted from their respective vehicles. All three of them marched inside the hospital. Neelima had earlier spoken to Suchitra and found out where she was. They took the stairs to the second floor without waiting for the lift.

“Hey. She’s there.” Revathy who was the first to reach the second floor announced to the other two girls. Neelima and Suzanne ran fast to catch a glimpse of Suzanne. And there she was looking tensed and troubled in a conversation with three other men. As they approached her, Suzanne found something other than Suchitra to be more interesting.

“Hey, who’s that?” she whispered to Neelima.

“How the hell would I know?” she replied.

The abrupt and plain reply from Neelima took her by surprise.

“Well, wrong question at the wrong time” she thought. But she couldn’t take her eyes off that interesting living being in front of her eyes.

“Hey Suchi. How are you di?”

“Hey girls. I am in a total mess right now. I don’t understand what’s going on around me. It’s a good time you three came here. I need someone to talk to.” And her eyes welled up with tears.

John, who was watching all what was happening, turned around to meet the girls.

 “Suchi, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be alright. Leave it to me. I’ll handle it. All you need to do now is just take care of Sridhar and your parents. More than anything please take care of yourself.”

“Thanks John. I hope everything turns out to be fine. By the way girls; this is John, Sridhar’s best friend and my brother.” Saying so she smiled at John.

“Hi John. I am Neelima.”

“Hi. I am Revathy. My friends call me Revs.”

“Hey hi. I am eh…eh…Suzanne. How are you doing John?” Suzanne blushed and the other girls gave a confused look.

“Am good Suzanne. So your friends call you Suz is it?” and he smiled.

“God. What a smile! Just the perfect kind of guy I’d want to marry.” She thought. “Sparkling eyes, muscular arms. John, you’re my man dude.”

“Hello madam. You’re in a hospital. Stop day dreaming, alright?” Neelima reminded her with a stern look on her face.

“Huh? What? Eh….Sorry John, did you say something? ” She felt embarrassed.

“John, I’ll be back in sometime. Girls, can we just go down to the lobby downstairs?” Suchitra asked the rest ignoring Suzanne’s hazy behaviour.

“Sure, let’s go.” Revathy said.

They proceeded towards the lobby and took their seats there. Suzanne felt defeated.

“Damn. I’ve never been like this before. S**t. What’s going on with me? John! Who is he? I haven’t even spoken to him much. How can I possibly have a crush on him. Arggg…” she kept mumbling to herself as she got down the stairs.

“Suchi. Tell us. What is happening? We are concerned about your health and safety.” Neelima asked her as they kept walking towards the lobby.

“Even I don’t understand what’s happening around me. I don’t even know who to trust and who not to. Except for this guy John, I don’t think anyone else is true around me.” Suchitra’s distressed look made Suzanne wonder how she was possibly managing her problems.

“Tell us Suchi. We are here to help you on this.” Suzanne assured her. She was now out of her thoughts and was now completely with Suchitra. “If you are in need of any kind of help, let me know darling. After all what are friends for?”

“One of Sridhar’s friends has poisoned him and he claims my parents asked him to do it. And when I asked them why they did it, they said because they didn’t want to see him die of pain. He was suffering from a rare form of hemorrhage. But now this doctor, one, Dr.Sudhakar says he’s got no hemorrhage. Why would my parents ever want to kill my brother? Their very own son? I don’t understand one bit of what’s happening Suz.”

“Okay okay. Relax now dear. We’ll help you out on this. Are your parents here?” Suzanne asked.

“No. They are at home.”

“Do they know that Sridhar is fine now?”

“No. They don’t.”

“Hmmmm. Shall I talk to your parents?”

“No. Don’t do that. John and I will take care of that part. Can you do me one favour?”

“Sure, please tell me.”

“Can you ask John to call my parents and inform them of the developments? I feel I am troubling him too much. So can you do that?”

Suzanne felt ecstatic. Though she didn’t make it seem too evident, she did sport a smile on her face.

“Don’t you worry about it Suchi. I’ll tell him. I’ll go right away.” And before anyone could say anything she ran upstairs to meet John. She went to the second floor and as she was approaching John she thought about what her choice of words would be.

“Hey John. We need your favor dude.” Or maybe “Hey pal. Can I ask you for a favour?” or no maybe. “Hi John…...”

“Hey Suzanne. I thought you were there downstairs.” John came in the way of her thoughts.

“Eh…What? Oh yeah. I was there. Can you call her parents? Oh no. She didn’t ask me to tell you. Oh no. nothing.” She blabbered like a mad woman.

“Hey chill. Have some water.” As he extended a glass of water to her.

“Thank you John.”

“I know Suchi much better than you girls do. She is like a sister to me. I understand that she might have thought not to trouble me much. She isn’t. So tell me now. What should I do?”

Suzanne felt like kicking herself at her foolishness. “What a dumbo I am.” She thought.

“Yes. She wants you to inform her parents about the developments.”

“I have already done that. Do not worry about it.”

“Thank you John. And sorry for the way I behaved.”

“Absolutely fine. But there is something else I’d like to tell you. Can I?”

“Sure. Please do.” Her heart skipped  a beat when he said that. She wondered what it would be. “Maybe he’d ask me why I look so foolish and also act that way? Or maybe why I look so ugly.”

“It’s a bit personal, so can I still say?”

“Oh yeah. Sure you can.”

“Eh…I Love you Suzanne.”

“What?”

“Hey hey hey. Suzanne! What’s wrong? Did you get what I was saying?” Suchi screamed.

“Huh? What? What were you saying? Yeah I got it. But wait. What should I tell him?” Suzanne was lost in her own world while Suchitra was explaining what she must be telling John.

“S**t. A dream again.Damn!” she mumbled to herself. “What an a** I am. Where did this John come from. Sheesh!”

“Nothing. Neels can you do it for me please? I have a feeling Suzanne might screw up.”

“I’ll do it. Aren’t to worry.” She sped towards the second floor after saying this.

 “Ah my day-dreaming. I don’t know where this is going to take me.” Suzanne cursed herself.

Suchitra sat down by the couch near the reception along with Revathy. Suzanne approached her and held Suchi’s hand.

“Suchi. You have been a wonderful friend to me. Everything’s going to be alright.” Suzanne spoke assuredly.

Suchitra suddenly smiled at Suzanne as she said, “These were the same words which John used. But don’t you dare think of anything crazy about him huh?”

Suzanne blushed and replied on the negative. “Hey come on. You think I’ll do like that.”

“But even if you want to you can’t.”

“Why?” Suzanne realized that she had exposed her desperation. But she became curious and asked her for more information.

“Why can’t I?

“Ha ha ha. Look at her. Someone’s growing desperate. You cannot hit on him, I mean John, simply because he’s married.”

Suzanne was stunned.

To be continued……

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