At around 8:30 PM Ziqing was wobbling. Juhi held her by her shoulders and looked around for a safe place to sit, sweat dripping from her forehead as knots of worry threatened to make her hands go cold and just give up.
It was all Ziqing's idea.
"You know… we should try out a club," Ziqing said.
Juhi had laughed it off thinking she was kidding.
"There are quite a few where ladies get free entry at this time, you know," Ziqing poked Juhi's arm. "I can show my ID and we both can get in, you knowww."
Juhi had given in because this would probably be the last time ever Ziqing would get to do this. After she went South to become a nun, it would all be over. But why with her?!
Ziqing had loads of friends, yet she wanted to do this right now.
What happened inside the club was a blur, because everything had been dark and Juhi did her best to not be noticed by anyone. She held Ziqing's hand tight and followed her blindly.
Juhi hadn't even noticed that Ziqing had downed a random glass sitting on the table. Neither of them knew what was in it either.
Obviously no one in the convent was going to advise them on how to be careful at the club. They advised them never to go to one in the first place!
Not long after, Ziqing started mumbling shit. That's when Juhi knew she was lost and they would be in big, BIG trouble.
"How the fuck are you going to be a nun like this?" Juhi spat at her as she finally sat her down at a bench in a park on the way.
The place was deserted, shops had closed and only a few streetlights remained on.
A dog passed by.
"Shhh… you'll disturb the neighbours, " Ziqing giggled. "And don't swear. Young girls can't…" she giggled as she leaned forward and hugged Juhi's leg.
"Shit…" Juhi removed her claw clip in frustration and ran a hand through her hair before clipping it back again. "Okay I'm going to call sister Mariyah."
Ziqing shot up and screamed, "No! Please!" She fell to the floor and shook her head in fear. "Please, you can't!"
"Ziqing!" Juhi screamed back. "If we don't call her, we are going to literally die out here! Forget being a nun, just let me call her!"
Ziqing shrieked and grabbed Juhi's hands, "Please, Juhi, no. I'll be ruined completely if she knows about this."
"Ughhh…" Juhi clicked her tongue and sat on the bench with her head in her hands. "I don't know man. We shouldn't have gone to the club."
"Yeah," Ziqing said sadly as she sat back on the bench. Next second when Juhi looked at her, she was crying.
"Fuckkkk," Juhi took out her phone and went through her contacts, and found no one else. That's when she realised Ziqing might know someone. "Give me your phone, I'll call someone."
Juhi fished out her phone from her pocket and typed in the password, it was Juhi's birthday. Or more accurately, the day the convent found her.
"Mina… Lorence… Ray Jane…oh! Aarushi? Can I call her, she has a car right?"
"No!" Ziqing squealed. "We fought last week."
Juhi slumped on the bench as she continued scrolling. "Man I thought she was nice, you guys used to hang out a lot too."
"Yeah but she got on drugs and wanted me to start too."
"Oh that sucks. Oh, what about Jun?"
"Jun?" Ziqing stared off into the distance. Juhi stared at her, she had never seen her in such a state before. It was clear from looking at her dazed, dilated eyes that she was completely wasted. If sister Mariyah saw her like this… she might think Ziqing wasn't serious about becoming a sister. As much as Juhi wanted to sabotage Ziqing's plans of becoming a sister, she knew that respecting her decision was more important. So she tried to ward off the evil thoughts forming in her mind.
"Oh Jun…" Ziqing finally realised. "Arjunn… oh yeah he's nice, he has a bike."
Juhi had never met Jun, but she remembered Ziqing's descriptions of him- a tall, friendly looking guy with curly hair and a nice smile.
"Are you guys good friends?"
"Yeah, sort of," Ziqing shrugged. "He confessed to me last month."
"Oh."
So Arjun was one of Ziqing's admirers. "What did you say?"
"What could I say? I never saw him that way. But he was very nice about it. I don't think he has moved on, but he isn't bothering me much either."
After a few minutes, Juhi's drooping eyes opened up as she heard the faint thunder of a bike in the distance. "Oh!"
A black Triumph bike came closer… and zoomed past them.
"Oh just another guy."
Juhi stared at the bike go, and wished it had been Arjun. It was almost 9, and Sister Mariyah would have started worrying by now.
Then, that same black bike came to a slow stop, turned and came back to stop in front of them. Juhi placed a hand on Ziqing's lap and looked at the rider, he had thick black riding gear on with white and red stripes at the arms and pants. She watched cautiously, without a word as he took off his helmet and looked down at them.
Yeah this definitely wasn't Arjun.
Ziqing's head bobbed up and looked at the guy. "Oh helloo…" Her voice drifted.
"Shh, Ziqing!" Juhi slapped her lap lightly and whispered before looking back at the guy.
He silently studied them from the middle of the road, before opening his mouth. "Do you need help?"
"No thank you!" Juhi said immediately and turned to look at the road, hoping Arjun would come any moment now.
This rider kicked the stand and walked to them with his helmet tucked under one arm. "Sorry, but it's not safe for two girls to be out in a stranded place like this. Especially now. There are too many kidnappings happening."
"How do I know if you're not here to kidnap us?"
He shrugged his shoulders, and looked back at his bike, "On a two wheeler? That's quite dumb."
Juhi didn't want to talk to this stranger anymore. "No thank you, we've called someone. He'll be here."
"Oh," he nodded and leaned against the tree next to them. "Then I'll wait here until they come?"
Juhi frowned and looked up at him. He seemed to be their age, lean build, messy short hair and maybe a hint of a beard. "Why are you doing this?"
His eyes softened, as he looked away at the road. "My sister was kidnapped last week."
"What?" Juhi took in a breath.
"But they returned her two days later when they found out she had a family, apparently. Are you both…"
Fear bloomed like wildfire within her chest at this information. "We're orphans," she said quietly, as she realized. If they were kidnapped now, they wouldn't be returned either. She then bit her tongue as she realized she revealed that information to this stranger. 'Shit!'
Five more minutes passed, so Juhi called Arjun again as Ziqing started to snore on her lap. The biker guy was still leaning on the tree, even though there was a lot of space left on the bench.
"He's not picking up…" Juhi muttered. She had called him and he said he'd be here in 10 minutes, but it's 15 minutes past now and there's no trace of the guy. For someone who confessed to Ziqing, he sure acted like an idiot.
"Look, I would take you home right now, but on my bike only one other person can get on. That would leave one of you alone, and I don't want that either."
Juhi wondered if he genuinely was a good person. "What's your name?" She tried to make out the features on his face, but it was too dark to do so.
"I…" He tapped on the helmet tucked under his arm. "Nick. I study at KN Uni."
She knew this college. It was around 2 hours from this place.
"I'm just out for a night ride to get my mind off stuff," he said, "I'm serious. I just love riding at night because I can go faster."
Juhi thought about this and looked at him. She looked down at Ziqing who was now turning pale. She pressed her hand to her forehead and found out that she was burning up. "Oh God!"
Nick flinched, before asking, "She sick?"
"Yeah, I think it's a fever."
"Did you guys have any food before drinking?"
Juhi shook her head and he explained why they should have. Intaking alcohol on an empty stomach never turned out nicely for anyone.
"What did she drink?"
Juhi shook her head, "I don't know… it was a random glass…"
"What the fuck?" he raised his voice. "Are you girls just born dumb?"
"Excuse me?" Juhi raised her voice in return.
"Why can you never be careful?"
"Why are you blaming us? Can we not have fun? What about the people who left that on the table?"
"The world is a horrible place, you can't change that. So you girls have to learn to protect yourself."
"Look Nick, I'm sorry about your sister, but we are not her. You have no right to talk to us like this."
Nick blinked, and scoffed before turning his head away. "So then, what's your plan, wait for your punctual friend till the sun rises?"
Ziqing suddenly got up and her face convoluted.
"Ziqing?" Juhi held her hand tightly. She vomited all over the pavement, some drops falling on Juhi's sandals.
"Shit…"
Nick rubbed the center of his forehead as he saw this sight. He wondered what would have happened if he just drove away. "She needs to go to the hospital, especially with that fever."
"I…" Juhi's head started exploding from the worrying. Tears started forming in her eyes as she tried to process and figure out what to do. But the truth was, she had no idea.
She turned around to him. "Can you take her?" She couldn't believe she was doing this. "CN Hospital, just ask for Nurse Smitha, she knows us. She'll know what to do."
Juhi's phone buzzed and she opened it frantically. Finally, Arjun called-
It was Sister Mariyah.
"Shit," she whispered before picking up. "Helloo sister," Juhi put on a fake smile. "We're just about to get a ride, don't worry. The Uber was late… Yes… Yes sister. Sorry."
"You live at the St. Mary's Convent?" Nick guessed, from connecting the dots of CN Hospital's location and now addressing the person as a Sister.
"Yes," Juhi nodded as she wiped Ziqing's mouth with a part of her own dress. She was fast asleep again.
"I can't take her to the hospital and leave you alone here," Nick finally said. This was final.
-
A few kilometers away, Arjun's bike lay on the ground, its tires still reeling from the crash. Arjun whimpered as he tried to get up and look at the bright flashing lights of the car in front of him. The lights dimmed and he made out the shape and guessed it was a Chevrolet, it had to be.
Why did some rich guy come and crash into him??
He placed his hand on the ground and looked up to see a tall, broad shoulder, dark silhouette of a man grow larger in his eyesight.
"Who…"
A bang across his face and his cheeks hit the asphalt, unconscious.
"What slow reflexes humans have," the silhouette spoke as he threw the spanner to the side and it spun and clanked until it hit the curb. He cut the engine of the car, which he had stolen, and moved to straighten the bike, which he was planning to steal now. He took off Arjun's riding gear and wore it, not bothering to cover up the guy after.
As he sat on the bike, he took out the white card and stuck it in between a gap in the control panel and revved the engine, before driving away.
"Glow little card, glow," he sang to himself as he decided to prowl the dark streets for a good, ugly target.