Kintsukuroi _ Chapter-11
Chapter-11
It had been a few months since her
disastrous attempt at ‘wooing’ Janardan
yet Jayna still felt her cheeks flame when she thought back on her
cringe-worthy attempt, but by some miracle, Janardan had never breathed a word
about it to anyone. When she’d dissolved in ugly sobs at the alpha’s promise,
the warrior had joined her on the bed and held her for a long time-apparently,
long enough for Jayna to fall into an exhausted sleep. She’d woken to find herself
curled around a pillow and with Janardan’s watchful eyes upon her. She rubbed
at her eyes wearily, noting that they were crusty from her crying-jag and that the
door to the room was still locked. While she just sat there digesting her
mortification at the situation she had entangled herself in, Janardan had calmly
proceeded to fetch a moistened wash-cloth from the en- suite bathroom and
gently wipe at Jayna’s face, ignoring the omega’s embarrassment. Then he had
waited for Jayna to freshen herself (Janardan primly offering his back to grant
her some much appreciated privacy) before leaving the room. Jayna realized that
it hadn’t been as long as she’d feared even though so much had changed that it
felt like an eternity had passed since she’d set foot in the room. Her friends’
shot her knowing looks and Jayna couldn’t help but cringe that her absence had
been noted. Somehow, through the disaster of her failed seduction, she had
grown closer to the warrior though.
The next weekend, she availed the holiday
season offer and treated herself to a brand-new, modern and environment
friendly hatchback and passed the keys of Adam’s gas-guzzling black monster to Janardan
to go with his brand-new driving license. Even if the car was not new, the
warrior seemed genuinely pleased with the gift, admitting that he preferred the
solidity of the older vehicle to Jayna’s futuristic wheels.
Her parents had invited them over to spend
the Christmas with them and instead of boarding the usual flight she took for
the journey, they had driven across the state-lines with Benny in tow. It had
been a long drive, but split between the two of them made it manageable and
fun. Seeing the amount of effort her parents had put into making them feel
welcome and to make Ben’s first Christmas without his father memorable had
tears springing to Jayna’s eyes and vowing to visit more frequently in future.
And now she had even invited the man to
accompany her to Ben’s school for the boy’s performance at their annual ‘young
talent’ display... what she had not anticipated was the realization that having
been the one to escort Ben to and from school, Janardan was actually the one
more familiar with the other parents. She overheard a few unflattering
discussions about herself and briefly wondered if she should not allow Janardan
to join her at public events like this in the future, but they had grown close in
the months the warrior had spent in her home and Jayna had found herself
relying more and more on the man. In the end, she decided that she treasured
their friendship over the narrow-minded opinion of a few bigots and settled in
to watch the little ones strut their stuff on-stage.
She was ready with her camera when Ben’s
name was called out and shamelessly whooped and cheered her son. Unfortunately,
the bright lights and expectant faces of the audience seemed to give the child
stage-fright and Jayna’s smile faded as the boy continued to stand awkwardly. A
glance at Janardan showed the alpha watching with his brows furrowed as well.
Another minute and hushed whispers and stifled laughter from the gathered
audience had Jayna’s face warm with embarrassment. She guessed she should have
anticipated this given the way Ben was prone to hide behind either Janardan or
her when faced with strangers for the first time, but the numerous times they
had rehearsed had lulled her into a false confidence that Ben would manage to
overcome his stage-fright this year and
complete his performance. She gestured with her hands for her son to begin
reciting the poem he’d rehearsed, but either Ben didn’t see her or was too
overcome by nerves to react and after another interminable minute of awkward
fidgeting, the teacher gently escorted the boy off the stage. Given that the
youngster had frozen up on-stage at the previous year’s programme as well- and
she had helped Ben rehearse extra this year to avoid a repeat of the previous
year’s fiasco, Jayna was feeling less than charitable. She barely managed to hold
in her ire until they were all back in the car and driving away , “What
happened back there, Benny? You can talk our ear off, but when you actually need
to speak you stay silent? That’s
ridiculous! You’re not a baby anymore, you are a big boy and you pull this kind
of-”
“Jayna!” Janardan’s sudden loud call had her
jumping and glancing at the alpha next to her in surprise. The man’s eyes were
fixed on the road in front and she could see his throat working. She followed the
warrior’s gaze and frowned when she saw nothing. She shot him a questioning
look.
“I uhm...” Janardan explained haltingly, “I
thought I saw something,”
Jayna narrowed her eyes at the man; leaving
no doubt in the other’s mind about her awareness of his subterfuge but the
man’s pointed glance at the rear-view had her shooting a grateful look for the
intervention: Ben sat with his face firmly turned to the window and fat tears
making their meandering tracks down his still baby-fat filled cheeks.
She wasn’t surprised when the child opted
to glue himself to Janardan once they returned home but the rejection stung
nevertheless. Over the long New Year’s weekend, Janardan spent a lot of time
with Ben and his friends and Jayna was startled to realize that despite his
quiet nature, the alpha was popular
among the kids. However, as the Spring Equinox celebrations rolled around, it
became evident that it just wasn’t the kids that the warrior was popular with.
Everybody greeted the warrior familiarly by
name as they made their way to the neighbourhood park to celebrate the ecclesiastical
full moon. The city had large formal celebrations annually but most
neighbourhoods held their own celebration and their own little community was no
different. Dressed in their finery with the majority sporting their rarely worn
traditional outfits everybody seemed to be relaxed and happy. Jayna glanced
around and felt a little guilty that Janardan was the only one not in
traditional wear. Fortunately, the alpha didn’t appear to notice, busy helping
old Mrs. Gunarrson to a seat and then getting practically mobbed by the
twelve-and-below group.
Jayna winced.
While the alpha’s popularity with the little ones was
commendable, the adults usually frowned if they made a huge ruckus during the
prayers; given that Janardan appeared to be the one in charge of the kids this
time, Jayna feared the man might lose a little of his popularity.
Much to her surprise however, she watched the children all
settle down into impressive quietness once the purohit took his seat. Their usual purohit- an aging alpha, had suffered from a brain-stroke and
become paralyzed just after the previous year’s festival; so this year a new
alpha had been hired for the job. Young, bespectacled and with a nervous demeanour,
the new purohit did not inspire much
confidence. And there were audible murmurs of dissent when the boy pulled out a
book to read the prayers from. The alpha had a nice voice and started out with
a surprisingly loud tone, but the older members were frowning hard and when Jayna
made soft enquiries, Miles told her that the boy was terribly mispronouncing a
lot of the words from the invocation. Biting her lip in amusement at the
revelation, Jayna paid closer attention to what was being said, relying on her
elementary knowledge of the native tongue and grimaced as she realized that
even she could understand the
incorrect enunciations.[purohit=
priest]
“Does Janardan know the words?” Charlie, the self-appointed leader of the neighbourhood wanted to
know after a few minutes as the young alpha purohit
was ceremoniously anointing the wood for the sacred fire.
Jayna blinked, taken aback by the unexpected query, “I uh...I
don’t-”
“He’s been mouthing the words along with ‘im,” The elderly,
retired insurance-agent told them.
Both Jayna and Miles glanced towards where Janardan was
sitting ram-rod straight between the gathered children and found the observation
to be correct. The warrior had his nose scrunched in distaste at the mangling
of the chant but was silently mouthing the words to every hymn. And then the
man’s eyes widened even as they watched and there was a commotion in the front.
Turning to the front again, Jayna craned her neck to figure out what was
happening and realized that the young alpha had dropped his tome and was now furiously
flipping through the pages to find the correct incantation.
Without another word, Charlie left to speak to the warrior
and then Jayna found herself nearly bursting with pride as the warrior was nodded
to whatever was being said and then headed towards the alter. She briefly
feared that the younger alpha would create a scene, but Janardan had to only
place his hand at the man’s shoulder and the purohit was conceding his
spot.
The man was dressed in denims and his usual black tee-shirt
with flannel button-down, but when Janardan sat in the textbook perfect lotus
position and began the invocation with a clear voice, no book in sight and his
diction crystal clear, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the man knew
his stuff.
When Jayna enquired later, Janardan only smiled bashfully and
said that it had been a part of his Guard training.
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Earlier Parts: Prologue- Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter-3- Chapter 4- Chapter 5 - Chapter 6-
Chapter 7- Chapter 8- Chapter 9- Chapter-10
As always, comments and critique is welcome :-)
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