Aaryan Khanna

“Let’s chat peacefully. But, in short, I wanna kick Vikram's ass.”

Amit smiled. “I guess I know why y’are here.”

Akshay and his two guys in tight black jeans and white shirts tucked out stood about a step or two away from Amit, who sat dominantly on the metallic bench in the middle of the night with his hands wide open and his left leg on top of his right one. About eight or nine or men surrounded him—all in shades of red shirts and black pants. Akshay moved the bat on his shoulder down, hung beside his right leg.

“By the way, why should I believe that y’are really on my side and not his spies, eh?”

“We have two reasons for that. Firstly, that fucker has no reason to send us as his spies because he’s already beat ya up.”

Amit smiled devilishly. “Ah…”

Akshay then continued. “And secondly, we’re ready to disclose everything—their business model, suppliers, everything.”

Amit nodded, his smile still on his face. “So ya serious about this shit, eh?” He moved his back and shifted his balance from the backrest to his waist. His back bent a little frontward at Akshay, his smile faded, he asked, “So tell me, how does he obtain so much money to get all that amount of cigarettes, vapes, and weed? And, from where does he get the vapes and weeds? I gotta know the suppliers’ names and shit.”

“The answer to all of these questions is one man. The primary investor, the supplier, and the provider is… Rohit Sharma.”

Amit looked at his eyes, dead serious.

Akshay continued, “Rohit is the guy who gave us all this stuff. We just sell it and take a percentage of profit margins. He’s the main player, overall. And… it’s because of that fucker that I’m here.”

“… Tell me everything.”

“Ain’t that’s why I’m here?”

***

Kritvik Bhatt

“The shit were ya on, asshole?!” I heard Aaryan’s angry and furious voice as I stood at the gate beneath the darkness of the night, with trees on both sides giving me those damned shadows. My silhouette’s chest was moving up and down, my arms outside the pockets, and my legs straight.

Aaryan was frowning as he looked at me. “Aye!”

I then moved my right leg up and walked toward the gang. Everyone had their eyes on me as they looked at the silhouette moving at them, frowning, as they sensed something uncanny, maybe.

“Asshole…” Aaryan whispered to himself.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

I walked out of the shadows of the trees. My eyes were painfully furious at that guy. I looked at him with fire behind my back. “What do you think you are, huh?” I asked Aaryan as I looked straight into his eyes.

“What?” He was a little shocked. He didn’t see that coming. No one did, no doubt. Everyone had their eyes at me, confused and a little scared. Vikram too had his serious gaze toward me as he exhaled out. “What do ya think ya are, asshole?!” He shouted back in anger.

“Shut the fuck up, you damned bastard!” I shouted back, pain in my eyes.

Aaryan was shocked at my words. His eyes opened a little wide and he stood silent for a couple of seconds. There was a distance of a dozen steps, maybe, and nothing stood between us.

“… So ya can speak, right, asshole?”

***

Aaryan Khanna

“Rohit Sharma is the son of the famous businessman Anurag Sharma, the founder of a five-star hotel. So, he has a lot of wealth inside his ass. Rohit too is rich just through his pocket-money. He gets nearly five thousand a month as allowance, and he can get anything he wants through it, since his parents don’t mind.”

Amit was listening as that asshole was narrating him all that shit. Amit nodded.

“So, there’s no surveillance by his parents on him.”

“Rich parents, eh?” Amit commented.

“Sure they are,” Akshay replied. “And one of his parents’ rich friends… has a factory of vapes.”

“Ah, so that’s where the money and the vapes are from, eh?”

“Yeah,” Akshay commented seriously. “Rohit’s friend just steals some of the extra vapes of his dad’s factory, sells it to Rohit, and Rohit passes it down to us.”

Amit nodded and turned his head downward. “So that’s how they get all that money and shit, eh?”

“That fucker has some connections, goddammit” Akshay commented.

Amit then turned to Akshay again. “But why d’ya wanna kick Rohit’s ass, then? That asshole can be fucking helpful.”

“Rohit…” he turned his head a little down, “is helpful only to that fucker Vikram.”

At the back of his head, Akshay remembered shouting, “Why d’ya gotta be our leader?!”

***

It was some time back, ya see. We all were there–at our usual meetup place. It was that same park, at the seat right in front of the entrance, after dark.

Akshay stood one step away from Vikram. He had his right arm raised, his forefinger pointed at his face. “Why is this fucker our leader?! He can’t even kick the ass of a pussy!”

“Who fucker asked ya, Akshay?” Vikram asked dominantly.

“Huh? Why didn’t ya then?!” Akshay shouted back.

“Stop this shit, ya two!” I stood between the two of them, my hands on each of their chests. Everyone in our gang was sitting and standing around, looking at the drama unfolding. “This won’t get us anywhere. To raise our business, we gott—”

“The fuck are ya talking about, Aaryan?!” Akshay shouted back.

I turned to my left at him. “Why do ya start fights when shit’s just alright, asshole?!”

“Fuck ya, fucker!” Akshay then turned to Vikram. “No one here likes ya and works for ya. They all want money from down yer ass. I’m gon’ change that.”

Rohit lit the orange plastic lighter, moved it in front of his face, and lit the cigarette in between his lips. He then moved the cigarette down and turned his head up, looking at Vikram sitting on his right, Akshay standing in front of him, and me in between the two.

“Listen to me, I ain’t yer slave, fucker. Imma kick your ass if I want. I ain’t working for ya.” Akshay then turned to his right at his two guys. “And nor will anyone else, right?!”

“Yeah, man!” One of them shouted.

“We ain’t!”

“We ain’t working for ya!” The first one turned to Vikram. Vikram gave him a dead irritated gaze with his narrowed eyes. “We’re not gonna work for a fucker like this!”

Akshay then turned to Vikram. “No one here ain’t working for ya, fucker. Take that up your ass.”

I then angrily told Akshay, “Let’s get this shit sorted out, asshole. Let’s get the voting done. Right now, right here.”

Akshay smiled, the right edge of his lips way above than his left edge. “I’m in.”

“No,” Rohit’s voice echoed. Akshay, Vikram, I, and everybody else turned to him. He moved the black vape out from his lips with the two fingers of his right hand. He then turned his eyes up at everyone. “I ain’t supplying shit to ya motherfuckers if Vikram ain’t at the lead. Whaddya say?”

“No, Rohit,” Vikram commented, his gaze fixed on Akshay. “Let that motherfucker see himself how many are gonna leave me for him.”

***

“Everyone who had said they were on my side backed out during the voting.” Akshay had his head tilted downward. He then turned upward to Amit. “That’s because that fucker Rohit had intervened. Everyone wanted his money. If he had not interfered, I’m sure that I’d have won, goddamnit.”

Amit nodded, his serious eyes in Akshay’s eyes. Amit then turned his head downward.

“I know I can’t beat him alone. Ya know ya can’t beat him alone.” Akshay then extended his right hand. “The enemy of the enemy is a friend, right?”

***

Kritvik Bhatt

“… So ya can speak, right, asshole?”

“No doubt,” I added. My furious frowning eyes were glaring straight at Aaryan’s shocked and angry ones.

I then started to walk toward him. Just as I was walking toward him, all those memories hit my head at once.

“Lemme tell ya that I’ve got people all around, and if I ever get the news that ya did something against us, Imma first put all the blame of drugs and shit on ya, and then beat ya up. Ya are gonna be surrounded from everywhere. So, it’s better not to even think of shit like that.”

“And don’t ya dare run away, asshole, or else, ya know what the Black Reapers can do to ya, got it?”

I remembered the three guys in all-white uniform and black bags standing at the right turn of the intersection, with their heads tilted backward at me as they whispered among themselves.

I remembered the dark nights with my body covered in the blanket, my face sunken inside my pillow, and my eyes leaking out as I sobbed.

I remembered all those dark memories of helplessness and being seen as weak at once. All the words echoed in my head.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. My feet walked angrily.

A drop of tear ran down from the edge of my right eye. I stood in front of him, and moved my right fist up above my shoulder.

BANG!

The punch hit his left cheek. No doubt, that punch was strong and hard. But, all it did was to turn Aaryan’s face a little to his right, for some reason.

“WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BEHIND ME?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME, HUH?! WHAT DID I DO TO YOU THAT…” More tears ran down my cheeks. I closed my sinking eyes. “What did I do to you that you’re torturing me like that? I… I just want to stay away from you… stay away from this darkness, but every-fucking-where I go, it’s… always you.”

Aaryan stood silent, his face tilted to his right, his eyes turned down. He then turned his head toward the front and looked at me with his narrowed annoyed eyes. “Ya… fucking… assho—”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, MAN! SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I covered my crying face with both my hands. “I WANNA KILL THIS DAMNED LOSER THAT I’VE MADE OF MYSELF! I DON’T WANNA LIVE LIKE A FUCKING LOSER!”

“I AM NOOOOOOT A FUCKINGGGGG LOSER!” I screamed on top of my lungs. My voice had turned hoarse. It was damned broken, man.

“LEMME TELL A LOSER LIKE YA WHY—!”

“Shut up, Aaryan.”

Aaryan stopped midway. He turned back at Vikram, who was sitting dominantly on the bench. Everyone else had turned to Vikram now. Vikram then stood up and started to walk toward the two of us, his eyes fixed at the sobbing figure of mine. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Aaryan stepped aside, and Vikram stood in front of me. “Aaryan bullied ya, right?”

I snorted in. I had begun to calm myself down. I was taking breaths in and out calmly, my chest floating and contracting repetitively. There was a silence of a second or two as he stood facing me, and I stood with my hands sunken inside my palms. “… M-Maybe that’s what you call bullying.”

“He forced ya in this shit against yer will?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Vikram turned to his left at Aaryan, who had his head tilted down. “Imma see this motherfucker myself. Don’t ya worry.”

“Huff… Huff… Huff… Thanks.”

Vikram then turned to me. “What’s yer name?”

“Kritvik.”

“Now listen, Kritvik. I know what this motherfucker did was wrong, and I apologize on his behalf. I see that y’are hurt.”

At that sentence, the other members of the gang started to whisper here and there with each other.

“But, I gotta say that we really need yer help in this matter. No one but ya can pull this off. Or else, we might need to shut our business, and we ain’t want that.”

Everyone turned silent again.

“We don’t wanna get caught by his parents or lose our customers. And, if anyone from our gang goes to Rohit’s house, his father will know immediately. It’s just our appearances, and I don’t wanna risk that. Rohit too is working with us against his father’s will. And now, Rohit can’t come out himself, because he’s in danger of being attacked by the other gang.”

I rubbed my cheeks and face. I moved my palms down, took out the handkerchief from my pocket, and started to wipe my face.

“So, will ya help us?” Vikram calmly asked.

“Y-Yeah. Thank you.” I moved my head up at his face and rubbed my left eye. “We-We’ll be even that way.”

Vikram smiled a little. “‘Kay.”

“I had imagined that I’d punch him in the face and have a fierce fight with all of them, and maybe end up beaten up, but, thanks to that guy, I was able to stand up for myself and not regret it. He gave me back the self-respect I had lost, and in return, I was gonna be of help, no doubt. For some reason, Vikram didn’t seem like a nice guy from outside, but maybe he is. But, what a day it was, man! Damn! Good that everything is sorted out.”