Speaking of Yougal Lucas, the man seemed to have dominated her thought a lot lately. It was inevitable as the man had been constantly crossing her paths, every time jolting her inner composure. Last Friday after he passed out while hugging her, Zubeen and a security guard carried him to the back seat of her SUV. Nia drove him to his home. Haru the driver and another man carried him to his room.
The two men were obviously surprised to see their employer in such an inebrited state as they had never seen him in such condition before. Nia wanted to slip out without meeting grandma Fi. But the old lady was woken up by the little commotion as her bedroom was on the ground floor. Haru came running out to the side of the driver's door as she started the car and told her that grandma had asked her to come inside. So she had no other option but to follow Haru to the living room.
So Nia told grandma Fi how she had meet him outside the nightclub and that he passed out in front of her. She snipped the part where Yougal Lucas had hugged her and also the part where he called her sweetest love or cruel. Grandma sighed, then said,
"We had a fight earlier tonight."
Nia was startled. She could not ask what they were fighting about and wondered if she was in some way related to it. So she sat on the sofa, silently staring at the grandma. Grandma Fi did not elaborate on the matter of the quarrel with her grandson. Nia left soon after telling grandma to go to sleep and not to worry.
That night though she was tired Nia could not sleep till the dawn. The man's face and his words kept replaying in her mind again and again. Zubeen and Mahua did not ask her anything, nor did they made any comment. Only Bornali asked her back at the apartment before going to bed.
"He loves you a lot, sister. Why don't you accept him? Don't you like him at all?"
Nia said nothing in reply. She only smiled at the girl. Mahua dragged her friend away to the other bedroom.
"You're being inquisitive, aren't you? Come on, let's sleep."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Despite her decision to let her grandson suffer a little grandma Fi was worried when she saw him in such a state. He never drank to the extent that he would get intoxicated. Actually he drank very little and that too occasionally. Grandma Fi wondered if she was being harder on the boy. She knew Nia was apathetic to Yougal's feelings. Grandma Fi thought she should help her dear grandson in getting the girl.
After Nia left she did not go to her bedroom but instead went to Yougal Lucas' room. There she sat for a long time gazing at him. He seemed to have woken up in the middle of his sleep, murmured something, then fell into deep slumber again. Her heart squeezed. He must be dreaming about Nia, because in his half awake state he talked of not letting her go, of not letting Mark Adam take her away from him.
She thought out a plan to bring the girl and the boy together and smiled in satisfaction. She only needed to wait for the right time to execute it. Only her grandson deserved to marry that girl. Yougal would be leaving for Gangtok on Sunday morning. Grandma Fi decided to put her plan into action after that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Next morning Yougal Lucas woke up with a heavy hangover. He showered, took some medicine to get rid of the hangover, then went down to the dining room for breakfast. It was nine in the morning. Grandma was drinking babycorn mushroom soup. He went over to her and kissed her cheek.
"Good morning, grandma."
Grandma greeted him back but refrained herself from asking anything about last night. Yougal Lucas felt relief. After he had showered and changed he tried to remember last night. Though he was drunk and his consciousness was hazy Yougal Lucas remembered following the woman he loved out of the club. He also remembered hugging her but however much he tried he could not remember a word he had said to her.
He did not know who brought him home. Perhaps she had called Nicholas and he was brought home by his friend. Fear gripped him suddenly as the thought crossed his mind that he might have offended her by doing or saying something in his drunken stupor. He decided to give Nicholas a call after breakfast.
Before Yougal Lucas could call his friend, Nicholas called him on his phone. He was still at the breakfast table. He did not want his grandma to hear him asking Nicholas about anything relating last night. He picked up the phone and went out to the balcony by the side of the dining room.
"Hey Lucas, why did you leave last night without a word?"
Yougal Lucas was surprised to hear the question from his friend. Who brought him home then if not Nicholas? He thought aloud.
"What? Didn't you go home by yourself? And what did you mean by who had brought you home?" Nicholas was surprised too.
Yougal Lucas did not say anything for a long time. At the other end of the phone Nicholas patiently waited for his friend to explain that strange question. At last he replied,
"I passed out in front of her."
Nicholas understood who that Her was. Then he heard Yougal Lucas say something more, in a tone as if he was muttering himself,
"So she brought me home last night."