Page 213 - The World's Best Boyfriend

father’s eyes.
‘Actually, it was me who cheated,’ butted in Aranya. ‘He got caught saving
me.’

Aranya saw Dhruv’s hand creep up to the almost empty bottle of Vodka on
the side table. He unscrewed the cap and touched it to his lips.
‘DHRUV!’

Dhruv shrugged. ‘What? Like father like son. Did you expect anything
better?’
‘You will NOT drink!’ His father stood up and snatched the bottle from him.

The drunken demeanour had been replaced by a murderous frown; his feet were
no longer unsteady.
‘You’re a fucking hypocrite, Dad.’

‘I will smash your head if you swear in this house,’ thundered his father.
Dhruv turned away from him. He started to walk away. ‘It was a mistake
coming here. I should have just left you to your misery.’

‘What else would you do?’ shouted his father to his back. ‘Go, leave me! GO!
DO JUST WHAT YOUR MOTHER DID. GO.’
Dhruv looked back and stared him in the eye. ‘And what did you do? WHAT

DID YOU DO, HUH? DID YOU FIGHT? NO! So fuck off and drink yourself to
death.’ Dhruv waved the middle finger at his father.

‘Ha! My son! Full of innocent pride, aren’t you? Showing off in front of your
female friend how great and sensible a man you are?’
‘I’m a better man than you were any day, Dad. You are nothing but a chronic
disappointment.’

‘Then pray tell me something, son, when you left this house a couple of
months ago with similar bravado, waving your finger at me, calling me an

incompetent father, a drunkard, a pervert, you said you wouldn’t ask for a single
rupee and yet I see you relentlessly swiping the debit card I gave you. What’s
with that? Where does the Dhruv who doesn’t go back on his word disappear
then?’

Dhruv clenched his fist; Aranya could sense a fight brewing. ‘That’s me
giving you a chance to redeem yourself, Dad.’

His father laughed it off. ‘So benevolent of you, isn’t it?’
Dhruv’s jaw tightened, he took a few steps towards his father, then backed off
and walked out of the room without a word. Aranya kept sitting there, awkward,