Happily ever after

The four of them were sitting in a circle,on the terrace of their hostel building, chugging beer. Ram, Sunny, Kumar and Raj. They were all talking loudly, having fun.They just got done with their undergraduate degrees. It was the night of their last exam of the final semester. They all secured jobs in different companies. They were talking about their college life, how they first met, and their future.

“Does any one remember how we met first?” Ram said.

“I do..no wait,i don’t.” said Raj.

“I do. we were collectively summoned for ragging by the seniors, in first year.” said Kumar

“oh yes, that time where they got us to give random girls roses.” Sunny added.

Ram was quiet. He was In deep thought, sipping his beer slowly.

‘What’s his deal’ asked Kumar

‘It’s the girl. He is worried about the girl’ said Raj, looking at Sunny, signalling something.

‘Ah yes. What happened, hasn’t he told her yet?’ asked Kumar.
‘no, he hasn’t the balls to do that’ said Sunny.

‘ i need your help, guys’ said Ram.
Kumar finished his beer, opened another one and started thinking.

‘How about you tell her over the phone?’ Raj said.

‘ No, that wouldn’t be impressive’said Sunny.

‘What do you know. I’ve got so many people hitched on the phone’ Raj retorted.

‘They must have broken up on the phone too’ said Sunny, laughing. He high fived Kumar, they all laughed for a while.

‘Guys, be serious’ said Ram. He looked tense.

‘Send her an email’ said Kumar.

‘Who will get him her email ID, your dad?’ Raj asked rhetorically.

‘What does my dad have to do with all this?’ said Kumar.

‘Okay then, write her a letter.’ Sunny said, getting his headphones away from the phone, just in case someone spilled beer.

‘That sounds like a good idea, improvise on it. Make sure that i’m not involved’ said Ram, showing a hint of relief

‘We will get someone else to give it to her’ said Sunny

‘She will fall for the courier then’ Raj quipped.

‘Yes, let’s do something else. Get someone like her brother to do it’

‘She has a brother’ Ram’s face lit up.

‘OH, this guy. You got your enquiries done, then’ said Kumar.

‘Okay, find her brother then’ Kumar said, in a matter of fact manner.

‘Why finding him, when he’s right here’ Raj said.

Kumar was puzzled.

He glanced at each of them.

‘it can’t be his sister,cuz he loves he’d he thought, looking at Raj

He looked at Sunny. ‘he’d be tensed if it were his sister’ he dismissed.

‘this joker doesn’t even have a sister’ he thought, looking at Raj.

‘okay, it’s my sister then’ he said, standing up from the table.he walked away and immersed himself in thought.

He turned. ‘why aren’t you two shocked?’ he asked, looking at Sunny and Raj.

‘we knew it already. We didn’t know how to tell you. Hence the whole arrangement’ said Raj, pointing at the drinks table.

They all laughed. And then, they drank happily ever after.

Never the prey

Rubin was talking to someone seriously. There were many armed men around them.The location was rather deserted,with rubble everywhere.The discussion was rather heated. They were both pointing at a box and trying to deliberate on something. A price,actually. A price for the contents of the box. Rubin seemed to have the upper hand. His aggression was quite evident. At last,they seemed to have reached an agreement.

“Alright then. we have a deal.” Rubin said.
“Looks like we do.” Robert said.
“Was a pleasure dealing with you.” Rubin concluded.

Everyone retreated out of the location. The armed men were gone. Rubin was gone. The place was back to it’s deserted quiet self. There was a small noise at the corner nearest to which Rubin and the man were discussing the deal. A man rose from the shadows. He darted across the hall,opened a small side door.Another man came in.

“Looks like the deal is done,Max.” The guy entering the door said.
“yes it is.now let’s get the bugs and leave,Ben.” said Max.
“careful with the sharp edges.” Max said.

They were in a room,studying something on the computer. Max was looking at the box which was sold by Rubin.

“If only we could catch a glimpse of the contents of the box.” said Ben
“i’m trying,Ben.it’s not easy.” retorted Max.

Finally..finally they saw the contents of the box. One time Rubin opened it to check the contents. It was a collection of arms. Guns of different makes,revolvers,rifles. Their eyes sparkled.

“It doesn’t matter to us anyway.” Ben said.
“yeah.our target is a whole different one”

They went back to work. Their work was to kill the dealer, Rubin and steal all the money and the weapons for their boss,Robert. They had Rubin’s hideout on the radar for a while now. They looked for times with least security and they narrowed down on a particular time. So the plan was made,everything was set.

They entered the premises,Ben was covering while Max was attacking. They ducked, shot, moved silently and stealthily> At one point, Ben almost got strangled to death by one of Rubin’s guys,but Max came to the rescue. they decided to stick together and not go in different directions even if they see a way. After clearing their way through about 10 armed men,

Finally,they were in the same room as Rubin, with Rubin at gun point.

“Your game is over,Rubin” Max said.
“Oh you have no idea about the game,Max” retorted Robin. He grinned.

Before he could say anything, Max felt a searing pain in his back. He turned around to see what happened. He saw Ben,firing shots at him in a loop. He touched his shirt. He was losing blood. He knew he couldn’t make it. He looked at Ben,asking for an explanation.

“He has my girlfriend.” Ben said,sobbing. He went to Max and held him.

Max was no more. He knew Max would never forgive him. He knew God would never forgive him. He has done injustice to Max’s belief in him. He knew that he was going to regret this for life. He was selfish..

“I’ve done my job. Show me where Diana is.” Ben said, still looking at Max’s lifeless face.

“Diana” Rubin said. A gorgeous woman came out of the side door,a door similar to the one Max once opened for Ben.

Ben looked at her. she was safe.she looked lovely. As Ben bent down to rest Max’s body to go hug her, he heard gun shots. Rubin yelled out in pain. When he turned around, Diana was dishing out the shots. Rubin lay there,dead. Before he could look back at Diana, a bullet pierced through his flesh.

He knew it was her. There was no one else in the room. He had another bullet go through him.

“Why?” he squealed,withering in pain. “I loved you dearly.”

“Yes,i know. But i never loved you.she said, i was working for Robert all this while. He hired me before he did you. He feared something might go wrong,in killing Rubin. Rubin wasn’t an easy prey,after all. So he had his options open, and roped me in for the mission.I was never the prey, I was always the set up.”

She concluded, shooting for one last time.

Ben’s eyes closed, the last thing his vision ever captured was her beautiful face. The beautiful face of the woman he loved so much. The beautiful face for which he killed his dearest friend….