Page 71 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

“Don’t tease them, Bajim,” I said. “They are arrogant.”
He got up and wiggled his hips. “Baby, baby, baby!”
Down on the road, they were waiting for us. Lady Macbeth crossed her arms and leaned against the
tree. And Scarlet Rose came forward.
“Who eve-teased us?” said Scarlet Rose, pushing her glasses back up on her nose with her middle
finger.
Sherab bit his fingers as he peeked from under his thick glass, but Abhijit revealed to them. “It’s him.”
Bajim fidgeted.
“Who the hell are you?” I blurted. “Do you think you have the right to charge us?”
“Do you think you have the right to call whores?” she blurted back.
“Whore?” I uttered. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The color her temper drained to her fair cheeks glowed like a freshly-picked apple. She spoke with an
impeccable English accent. Later, when I heard she had read over five hundred novels, I wowed. “You
meant that to us. Say sorry or we’ll take this matter to the director.”
“No way,” said Bajim. “Do whatever you want.”
Lady Macbeth glared at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to say sorry?”
“Never.”
In the assembly ground the next morning, they came searching for us.
“Here they are,” said Lady Macbeth, keeping her hands on her hips. “Say sorry or we’ll take this matter
to the director.”
Bajim sneered. “Never.”
“You sure you don’t want to say that?” said Lady Macbeth.
“I won’t,” said Bajim. “Why should I?”
“Fine,” she said. “Let’s see in the director’s office.”
After the assembly, Lady Macbeth came and said, “The director wants you both in his office.”
“Oh, no!” I whispered. “We are done, Bajim.”
“Don’t worry, Uncle,” he said, rolling up his sleeves. “I will deal with them.”
The director was a saber-toothed tiger whom even lecturers shunned at. As we tiptoed into his polished
chamber, he gawked at us. He removed the reading glass and set it on the table. “What’s your problem,
boys?”
My legs trembled as I bowed low. “We did nothing, Dasho. Bajim just teased them.”
“Why did you tease them?” he blurted. “Did you make any sexual comments?”
I pointed to Bajim, “He only teased, Dasho.”
The director glared at Bajim. “You tell me. Did you make any sexual comments?”
“I didn’t,” replied Bajim.
The director removed his watch and set it beside his reading glass on the table. “Only wild animals fight
in the forest. Are you savage beasts?” He grasped Bajim by his collar and pressed him against the door. “If
this is a lie of yours, I am gonna throw you out of the window. Is that understood?”
Bajim flinched. “I swear I didn’t make any sexual comments, Dasho.”
The director sat in his chair and sighed. “Girls, write whatever you heard them say.”
The two girls scribbled down together.
“Hey, young lady,” said the director and tossed Lady Macbeth a paper. “Go there and write on your
own. Separately!”
She flinched and moved away from Scarlet Rose and scribbled down on the paper. As the girls wrote
their statements, the director rubbernecked us. I avoided his eyes and tried to stand steady on my wobbly
legs. Bajim’s eyes glittered with tears and his legs were shaking.

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