Perfect Mistakes... Chapter 19 Update

||Chapter One||                  

He sat there spinning the marble on the polished glass desk waiting. The person he was waiting for finished reading the file and looked up at him. Noticing his apologetic look, Viraat decided to say something, if he couldn't change it he could make it less painful. "Barney chill, it's okay. Look I had expected this so why bother making your middle aged self look any older with your tension lines. Seriously, I don't mind." Barney gave a sad smile, "Look Viraat I know how much you were hoping and I couldn't, Viraat, I don't know what to say, I'm so sorry". "Barneeyyy. What did I say? I expected this, I mean come on I've already failed in my families eyes. Remember I'm a good for nothing loser. I was bound to fail this test too. Don't stress yourself. Please. Now smile a proper smile this time. I heard smiling takes years off your face." Viraat made it sound cheery, like a happy memory. But deep down it hurt him badly. Remembering his family was something he tried to do less of, but somehow like some bad Chinese food one would eat, it always found a way to come back up. 

He watched Barney fiddle with some pens. It was obvious this was hard on him. After separating from his family, Barney was the closest Viraat had to a grandfather like figure. The feeling was mutual from both sides. With three daughters, Viraat became the son the kind man never had. A ringtone went off and Viraat sighed out of relief. It was starting to get awkward, and if there was one thing he hated, it was awkwardness. Barney picked up the phone and spoke for a good ten minutes. Viraat watched the tension lines on his forehead get deeper. Barney finally hanged up after apologising a million times to the person on the other end and sat down, exhaustion masking his face. "Anything wrong?" Viraat asked. The tired man sighed and waved it off as nothing. But Viraat being stubborn by nature, eventually got it out of him. The person who called was Jessica, Barneys 25 year old daughter. She was married and had twin boys aged three. She worked as cultural worker and was in charge of organising an ethnic, cultural event called 'A perfect blend'. Barney had promised to help her find the final person to participate in the event but as usual had forgotten about it. The person had to be Indian. "Erm hello, when Viraat is here, not to fear," Barney looked confused. Rolling his eyes Viraat pointed at himself, "If you haven't noticed I'm Indian." 

He had realised but he knew it wouldn't right to ask Viraat for a big favour not in this state. So he tried convincing him he would find someone else, but Viraat insisted. "Look, all I'm saying is just because I fail a lot doesn't mean I can't do anything properly." "I didn't mean that I.." Viraat cut him off, "so I take that as a yes." He sighed and nodded there was no point in arguing. "Let me call Jess back, don't leave we have to make sure you pass this test. You're not a failure Viraat, do you get me. I'll be back in two minutes. After that we'll see what we can do, and, then I think you can leave in about, let's say, two hours."

                                                                     *

Two hours later, Viraat stepped outside, taking in the sunny day. Putting on his aviators, he made his way to Central Park. Luckily it was only five minutes away, but he didn't mind walking. As he entered the park he looked around until he found the person he came to meet, Tyler James, his best friend. As he advanced near to him, Viraat noticed Ty flirting. 'Not again,' he thought but took a seat to watch the show. Ty was a huge flirt; he knew he looked good so he used it to his advantage. Viraat found it stupid at first but now he enjoyed it. He found a game to play whenever he caught him flirting. There were two types of girls Ty always flirted with. Group 1, those who were under his league, therefore they would giggle and flirt back and leave him their number. Viraat called them 'desesperado'. It was mean of him to call them desperate, so he thought he'd say it in Spanish instead, it sounded nicer.They would go out with ANYBODY. Then there was group two, girls' way out of his league. The Prada wearing, ego filled Ballerinas as Viraat called them. They would create a huge scene, (yes, this included some fake tears and the exaggerated hand fan), when Ty flirted with them, they weren't hard to miss. Secretly he hoped Ty would be flirting with a ballerina, he needed a laugh too lighten up. He kept a tally of each girl, and classified them as group 1 or 2. He quickly tuned in to the conversation. 

Viraat scoffed at such a cheesy line. He leaned back on the bench waiting to mark the girl off as one or two. What he heard surprised him.

Girl: "First of all, I'm not a "sweet thing" really I have my bitter moments. And secondly too much sweet can give you diabetes," she answered pretty calmly, almost as if she was bored.

Ty: Don't worry I like bitter *wink*

Girl: I'm sure you do. Oh and one more thing. Thank you

Viraat sat up. He actually thought she was different. He was just about to mark her as one when he heard,

Ty: For what, being increasingly good looking

Girl: for proving me right

Ty: what now

Girl: "You just proved that all men are douchebags." And with that she turned to walk away leaving a very confused Tyler. 

Viraat saw her as she walked passed him. She was pretty, not over dressed, simple make up, hair let loose; she wore black denims and a blue jacket. She had a pair of converses on and aviators also covered her eyes. He watched as she put on some beats headphones. 'She made a whole new category for herself. Neither was she desperate nor was she rude. Nice,' he thought as she disappeared through the trees. He felt Ty slump down next to him. "What just happened?" Viraat looked at him for a moment, "Dude you just got called a douchebag." Ty sighed, complaining he was depressed. Viraat chuckled as he teased his friend. A few minutes later Ty found another girl to flirt with.

                                                                 *

Maanvi groaned in frustration. "Stupid guy, I seriously wanted to punch him so bad." Fortunately, she somehow managed to control herself and answer back calmly, just like she promised. She hated New York already. 'What am I doing here?' she asked herself. Seconds later, she remembered.

"Maanvi, you're one of the brightest students at Harvard Law. You entered ahead early on full scholarship and yet behaviour like this." Maanvi hung her head down. "But Ma'am I just couldn't stand there, I mean," she tried to persuade her professor that she was not in the wrong, but before she could even finish she was punished. "Look Maanvi, you're bright, so I'm giving you a chance. Its summer vacation, so I'm sending you to New York to participate in a cultural event my friend is organising." Maanvi protested but her professor ignored her. "Think of it as community service. You should be getting punished more for what you did to the poor boy." 

Maanvi slammed the door in frustration; she couldn't believe that they felt sorry for him. All she had done was taught him a lesson. He tried to kiss her so she made him drink something that almost burned his tongue. "Law school my foot," she mumbled as she fell on her bed.

A few days later..

"Sorry dude won't be able to meet you today, I'm still at campus and I have to be at the APB meeting in five minutes. No I don't know if there are any hot girls, I'm not even there yet. Look, I'm not trying to be rude but I am hanging up on you now." Viraat ended his call before Ty could respond and quickly rushed out to grab a cab. "How quickly can you get me to the Bronx?" he asked the driver. "At least 20 minutes, but seeing New York's traffic.." Viraat groaned and slumped down his seat. Great, he was once again late.

Forty five minutes later Viraat hurriedly entered one of the meeting rooms in a small grey building. "Look before you say anything, it wasn't my fault, there was traffic." Jess rolled her eyes in response to his lame excuse, "Don't worry, surprisingly you're not the last one to arrive." "I'm not," he said happily. She glared at him and he stood up straight, "I mean, I'm sorry," "Better answer." She seemed annoyed. He noticed she had the same worry lines as her father and smiled. "Something funny?" He immediately wiped the smile of his face and shook his head. To his surprise she started laughing, "Chill Viraat, I'm only messing. Gosh, I must look like dad right now." "You said it, not me," he replied putting his hands up in the air. She gave a light shove before reminding him that she had to behave strictly and professional with him just like she did with the others. He nodded obediently and headed towards a seat, but not before giving her a quick hug. "Viraat, we miss you. We don't even see you anymore. You're coming to dinner tonight at Dads place and I'm not taking no for an answer," Jess ordered him. He said he missed them too but couldn't make it tonight and promised to come during the weekends. Truthfully he was scared the more he saw them, the more easily he would blurt out everything, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. She gave in and let him go to grab a seat. 

It had only been two minutes and he was already bored. "Excuse me, is this seat taken?" He looked up to see a pretty blond girl with a bit too much make up on pointing to the seat next to him. "Nope," he replied and returned to being bored. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. The girl just couldn't keep her mouth shut. "So are like single?" "Omg! Me too, we should like totally hang out!" "Do you like Italian food? I don't, too carby." "Have we met before? You look really familiar."

 He couldn't believe how someone could speak so much nonsense under the space of five minutes. He finally got her to shut up after saying he wasn't interested in dating but took down her number anyway. She seemed exactly like Ty's type. He sighed. Most guys would love the attention he gets from girls, but not Viraat. He was flattered but honestly he thought it was stupid to spend precious moments of your life with somebody you're merely attracted to. It's those who have a huge impact on your life that you should share your life's moments with, not those that come and go. He had once said this to Ty, who responded, "You're only young once." Viraat chuckled at the irony of his comment. He was brought out of his thoughts by a somewhat familiar voice. "Erm, is this where the APB culture meeting is being held?" He looked up and was taken aback by what he saw. Correction, who he saw.

                                                                 *

Maanvi couldn't believe it. She was lost. There was no way she was going to take a cab to get there since most of the drivers were men. So she settled on taking the subway. Some stops later she realised she was heading in the wrong direction and was forced to make her way through the crowd and somehow ended outside the station. Taking in her surroundings, she realised she had no idea where she was. She reached inside her pocket and took out her phone. After checking Google maps she made a call. "Where are you?" the person on the other end asked frantically after hearing Maanvi's story. "Chinatown." "What! You're meant to be at Bronx. Seriously Maanvi. Okay, wait. I know! I'll text my friend, she'll drop you off, till then stay put". 

Maanvi obediently did what she was told and an hour later she arrived at the grey building. "Stupid cabs, stupid subway, stupid city," she muttered as she pushed open the door to the meeting room. She politely asked if she was in the right place to a tall, brunette woman who seemed in charge. "Finally!! I started to think you weren't going to make it. Please don't waste any more time and take a seat", the lady ordered. Maanvi immediately disliked the lady but did as she was told and took the last available seat in the group circle. She was going to hate this, she could feel it. 

The lady she had just spoken to introduced herself as Jess and went on to give some speech about the APB cultural program and other stuff. Maanvi instantly zoned out at looked around the room. She noticed many different cultural backgrounds and noted that there was an equal amount of males and females. She also realised that she along with maybe a couple of others were about the same age, but she was the only Indian there. As her eyes scanned the circle she suddenly realised that she wasn't the only one not paying attention. 

She was wrong, she wasn't the only Indian there, the guy sat opposite her was Indian too. He was staring at her. And here she thought this day wouldn't get any worse, along comes a guy. She obviously expected some idiot guys trying to flirt with her, but she was kind of surprised that somebody like him would also try it too. As much as she hated to admit it, he was good looking. The well-built, clear skin, well dressed type as one would describe him. And it was true. But Maanvi saw differently. All she saw was ego, attitude and vanity. He raised one eyebrow at her, questioning her lack of attention. 'Men,' she thought to herself. She replicated him and raised one eyebrow at him reminding him that he's not paying much attention either. He leaned forward clasping his hands together in front of him in defeat. She smirked in victory and turned her attention towards Jess, but she could still feel his gaze on her. "What a Chep," she mumbled.

P.S If it sucks, I'm truly sorry

Okay, so bye 

Ava

i have been reading it already... :)