This flower seems very familiar.
No… It can't be
The flower of Chaos.
They were surrounded by it.
…
Archie stood there, glaring intensely at the rose. Her heart was beating faster and faster every time she recollected her father's words. She was certain that it was the flower that he always talked about. The flower which will flag the beginning of her failure. She was only getting a start to her career, but now it was all going to be lost.
She knew that Afsah had a reason for following her here. Of course he didn't just want to help her from the starting trouble of an aspiring lawyer.
"What's wrong? Is it too early?" Afsah's shy smile turned into concern and worry, squinting his eyebrows and holding the rose back towards his chest.
"Too early for what?"
"To…"
His innocent face. His glassy green eyes. Archie could see through him. Maybe it was just another lie that her father had made. Just like the others. It wasn't even too surprising anymore. Maybe the next thing she found out would be that today was February 30th. And that day doesn't even exist.
She looked around her once more. The sweet scent of the roses persuaded her that they meant no harm.
"So, I take that as a no…"
"You take what as a no? I don't understand."
A long pause. He understood that she was beyond clueless.
Afsah folded his arms, careful enough to gently cup his hands around the rose and he thought, looking off into the distance.
"Hmm. How should I put this?..."
"Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?"
Butterflies. Butterflies everywhere. As if she were a jar of honey. Her heart beating was loud enough to nearly shake herself.
As much as she was infatuated by the idea of having Afsah all to herself, she was aware that she didn't know him… at all. As her heart screamed and cheered "yes!", it was almost impossible to hear her mind whisper "no…".
"I don't want an answer yet. We'll both know when it's time without needing to ask."
Archie looked down shyly at her feet which was almost drowning in the petals of red and white roses. She just about felt complete.
"I'll drop you off at the firm tomorrow."
Afsah gently grabbed Archie's hands as though she was fragile enough to shatter and lead her back through the pathway from which they had come from all the way back to the jeep.
…
"Where the hell did you guys go for so long?"
Augustin was sitting on the couch behind the TV, with folded arms and a packet of mixture beside him, watching Afsah and Archie remove their shoes from the front porch.
"We-"
"We went for a walk, Augustin. Couldn't you handle being alone?" Afsah laughed.
"To be honest, no I couldn't. I was watching- I mean I was FORCED to watch a soap opera on the television with mother Devi. She just went upstairs to clean."
Afsah held his breath to not laugh.
"Oh my dear! How could you do this to me! But mother!!! I love him!!!. Blah blah blahhh." Augustin mimicked unenthusiastically.
They had a good laugh before Augustin went upstairs to check on mother Devi and Archie went into the kitchen to see what they had missed for lunch.
~
"Krishna… what am I going to wear!"
"Allah… What is she going to wear!"
"Jesus Christ… What is she going to wear!"
The three were in Archie's room arranging and organising for her first day at work the next day.
Archie was sitting crouched on her bed with shirts, jeans and skirts scattered all around her. Afsah was sitting beside her at the edge of the bed looking at her state sympathetically. Augustin had one earphone in and was sitting on the couch with his legs stretching on top of the bed.
The sun was starting to call it a day, an explosion of mango orange invading through the curtains. Another choir of birds took their stage and chirped without rhythm along the sound of the trees against each other.
"Come down for dinner, children!" mother Devi's voice swept through the large oak wood door.
"Just a minute."
"Why what's happening in here?" Mother Devi opened the door gently and peeked inside. She sat beside Archie on her bed, opposite to Afsah.
"What wrong, Architha?"
"She doesn't know what to wear tomorrow for the first day of work."
"That's all?" She laughed. "Don't worry about it now. We'll solve it in the morning, come down and eat for now."
~
Before the stairs ended, you could already smell the varieties of curries, so many at once that it was impossible to distinguish one at a time.
The three laughed and spoke together while eating, while mother Devi ran around the large glass table, trying to feed them one rotti after another until they could no longer see their feet.
"One more, Augustin?"
"Mother Devi, I can't, its not possible!"
"Nothing is impossible, my son. Just one more."
"I'm going to be so fat…" Augustin complained before reaching for the bowl of curry.
"That's my boy."
~
Just before she got into bed, full of energy for the day to come, she glimpsed at the mirror.
She walked towards it with squinting eyes, almost as if she was the reflection of a ghost behind her.
She stood in front and studied herself.
"You are going to succeed."
"Tomorrow is going to be eventful."
"You will make more friends."
"You will learn new things."
A long pause.
"Afsah…"
"Life will get better."
She looked towards her bedside table and saw Tanvi's phone. She missed her more than she would like to admit, but the pain of betrayal from those who you trusted more than yourself is nothing less of a million blades carving the names of those who wish for your failure into your body.
Sighing, she picked up the phone and searched for her father's contact before pressing 'call.'
"Architha?"
"Hey."
"It's been a while. How are you?"
"I got into a law firm. I'm starting tomorrow."
"Really?" She could hear the excitement in his voice. "Wait a minute, I will give to Tanvitha."
He waited for a bit to see if Archie would refuse but she remained quiet.
"Hello?"
"Hi."
"Architha. Father's talking about some law firm. Congratulations."
"Thanks." Archie had so much to tell her. So much. But she couldn't.
"I'll give the phone back to father."
"Better that way."
Archie could hear Tanvi's faint sigh. She felt regretful but she knew it was the only way she could show her anger.
"Hi, Architha, it's me. So what firm is it?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to say. VicTorie Lawyers."
"VicTorie…?"
"Yeah… Anything wrong?"
"Who is the manager?"
"Oh… I think his name was Christopher."
"The handsome man?" He laughed.
"Uhh…"
"Be aware of him. Not the best apple in the basket."
"What do you mean?"
"I have to go now, urgent work. Call me tomorrow and tell me how work was. My baby is finally growing. It was just yesterday that I bought you that four wheeled bicycle."
"..."
She hung up
How convenient that every time she enquired about a bomb that he drops, he has some urgent work to do? Is he just running away from having to explain?
Still looking off into the wall of her room thinking about what her father had said, she heard her door open.
"Can I lay with you for a bit?" "I can be on the couch if that's more comfortable." "It won't be long."
Without even turning around, she knew there was only one person who came into her room without ever knocking. It was Afsah.