~Sanvi's POV~
A shrill cracking sound reverberated throughout the house, rudely cutting through the blissful silence of the beautiful sunny morning. I had been awake long and was trying my darndest to work out.
I figured since I had to participate in it anyway, might as well get myself physically into shape for the Championship. Mentally, I doubted if I'd ever be normal about partnering with Rishabh.
It might have been my third yoga pose in which I was trying so hard to concentrate without being alarmed of anything going on downstairs.
The house was small and you could practically hear my mother dicing vegetables in the kitchen. I was genuinely afraid of them hearing all the shenanigans that underwent in this house the previous night.
But thankfully, they were all out as a light.
Most daughters expect their lovable fathers to wake them up with a pleasant 'good morning' or a 'the sun is not gonna wait for you, kiddo'. Lovable was an alien word to describe my father then. I usually got up to the sound of something breaking or some frivolous rebukes from downstairs.
The man had got no work lately. Just to leave home in the morning for the whole day and return back the evening that too just to snatch away our peace and quiet.
It felt almost alien to imagine a time when he used to be the ideal citizen everyone in the neighborhood looked up to. A well-payed job in a law firm, perhaps one of the most sought-after lawyer of the city, a loving husband , the best father and an ideal citizen who mended his ways as he went.
All gone, poof! with the man's deterioration to savagery.
One case, all it took for him to unravel was one damn case in which he defended a notorious murderer. Six years of unimaginable pressure, gruelling hours inside the mind of a monster rendered him inhumane.
Our house has been retaining wholly on my Mom's savings from when she used to work and my occasional meagre contributions for the past year and a half.
I came to know about this delightful little new alcohol problem of my father last month. It was not like I hadn't seen this coming from miles.
This made me worry whether all the tutoring money I had been chipping in the house for the past months was being used by that abominable man for his drinks.
I swore if he turned out to be the reason for which I couldn't bulk up my savings, I'd honestly stick his ass up in his bottle and throw him in the sea.
Sentimentally, I had then lost all the hopes of salvaging a happy family from the ruins.
Right then, if the man, out of nowhere, came out completely changed, begging us for a second chance, I oathed that I wouldn't give it to him. Not even if my Mom pleaded with all her 'mature-immature' philosophies, that man deserved no sympathy.
That poor woman had to suffer so much living under the same roof with the beast! While I could have a few moments of relief in my Grandpapa's apartment, she still had to stay here, make up for all that was lost in her family.
The unanimous decision of my mother and mine for me to stay out there for the school days and nights and return home during the weekends was so that I could get some space to study without any disruption.
My mother was, in the beginning, highly reluctant to let me go. She was a mother after all. But with the increasing chaos in the house, she could feel how this environment and her motherly instinct to have her close would do more bad than good for her daughter who was trying to break out of the shackles of suffering that this house had bestowed upon them both.
What safer place for her teenage daughter to move in other than their Grandparents' home? In this way, she wouldn't feel entirely cut out from her daughter's life and the daughter would have a personal space to work in.
Mom asked the lady next to Grandpapa's apartment to look after me. The lady had two kids whom she happily handed over to me to be tutored in return for a meagre sum of money. With the son, came his school friends and before I knew it, I had a substantial amount of money every month for my upkeep in the apartment with spare to help Mom in the main house.
For two days a week, I was a home tutor and for the other three, a full-time troubled student and for the remaining two, a selfish daughter.
I was zoomed out of the rabbit hole by a ding indicating a new text message on my cellphone.
Too engrossed in my yoga position to move and dismissing it to be a spam message, I turned to the very immediate thing on my thought-train,—Rishabh Singh Rathore.
His name itself had the capacity of enraging me but right then, I couldn't help but smile a little thinking about his antics the previous night.
My phone dinged again, and again and again and groaning out of my position, I slowly straightened up to grab it.
Weird and frustrating.
Upon opening the lockscreen, I was dumbfounded to find a chain of messages from a certain 'My Master'. I inhaled sharply upon realising that Rishabh might have saved his number by that name on my phone the other night.
But why on the earth THAT name? Was he half-witted or something? Didn't he realise how sexual it sounded? I have had read my share of online trash romance novels to cringe at the connotation there.
From: My Master
Recieved 8:13
Bad morning, Bimbo. You up?
***
What was with the very fuckboy tone? That was anything but Rishabh.
From: My Master
Received 8:15
Still sleeping? Dixit, honestly, I thought you'd be up exercising now.
***
How did he know that? I looked around wildly to spot any camera bug he might have placed around my room. I was still sceptical about this dude's intentions.
From: My Master
Recieved 8:18
Bimbo, you need to get your ass up before I am forced to go down there again.
***
What did he think of himself, bossing me around like that? Was he my strict daddy or something?
The thought immediately made me cringe. What the hell was I thinking?
The first round of order should be to change the name immediately. I couldn't take anymore of My Master.
My fingers typed away at the keyboard angrily.
To: The Bloodsucking Leech
Sent 8:21
What does it matter to you if I am awake? Go, mind your own business.
***
I sighed and placed the phone right on the floor near me before stretching and bending over my knees in a yoga pose. My phone dinged immediately afterwards.
Wow, that was quick. Was he waiting there with his phone in his hand?
From: The Bloodsucking Leech
Received 8:21
Awe, that hurts. You promised to stay by my side forever just last night. Were all those romantic words for naught?
***
I snorted loudly at his cringey words.
From: The Bloodsucking Leech
Received 8:22
Also, did you forget we were supposed to congregate at the school hall at 9 this morning? I stg Dixit, I will most definitely break into your house again and haul your ass down here if I have to.
***
Wow, and there I was concerned about him using the information of my house being a literal hell hole in situations like this for absolutely nothing. What a stand-up guy!
To: The Bloodsucking Leech
Sent 8:23
Don't worry about that. I'll be there. You do your job and go talk to Father about our tasks.
***
From: The Bloodsucking Leech
Received: 8:24
Didn't I tell you last night that Bossy Sanvi isn't really a good look on you? Also, it's fine if you'll be late but we have to go talk to Father together as a team. Do you want me to pick you up?
P.S.: Is your headache okay now?
***
I felt a warm sensation in my heart after reading the text.
Rishabh Rathore was okay with me being late? Shouldn't he have been crazy disciplined when it came to things about the Championship? And he wanted to come pick me up? Did the sun rise from the west that day?
To: The Bloodsucking Leech
Sent 8:24
I am fine, Rathore. I am not disabled or anything. I can ride on my own to the school. I'll meet you there in half an hour. Hold onto your pants until then.
***
Sending so, I hurriedly stood up to go take a quick bath because no way in hell was I letting Rathore come down to this house ever again.
I checked my phone one last time after coming out in my towel.
From: The Bloodsucking Leech
Received: 8:35
Worried about my pants, Dixit? Don't worry, I'd happily let you take care of my pants when you come down here. ;)
***
I thudded down on my bed with a palm over my mouth, suppressing a demonic screech at the very smooth sexual innuendo from his part.
Wasn't I his first kiss, according to him? How did he get to be this smooth with his flirtation then? I cursed my mouth to be vigilant everytime it opened in front of him from then on.
This guy was an entirely unpredictable pervert.
****************
To Be Continued.