The Vaticinator

furious to have not been knowledgeable about it. I can only imagine how pissed off he may be.

  “You have left Aakir in the past, your own family behind, to protect Neal.” Terry uncle says to Jennifer, “I think it’ll be better if you remain here. Aakir and Josh can go with Neal.”

  Jenifer huffs but decides not to comment on the accusation. She instead trains her eyes at me, looking at me in an incredulous fashion.

  “So, this is your son?” she asks my father but her eyes are on me, “Neal’s partner?”

  Neal frowns, looking at me. My whole face burns red as I awkwardly look away. What the hell is she doing?

  “Yes.” Father sighs.

  “Partner for what?” Neal asks, looking at his aunt then my father and then finally at me.

  Jennifer raises her eyebrows in surprise, “You didn’t tell him?” she asks me.

  Neal’s frown deepens more as my face burns more red.

  “Tell me what?” he demands. Suddenly he scoffs loudly, shaking his head in exasperation, “There is more that I don’t know of?”

  I open my mouth but words fail me. What do I even say? Hey, Neal, sorry to not inform you earlier but we are kind of life partners. Hope you’re fine with it. Yeah, right. I can see that going down well.

  “Are you sure he’s your partner?” Jennifer asks me, breaking the tense silence in which I was doing nothing but standing like a moron, contemplating what to say. “Because the way I see it,” Jennifer continues, “It’s very unlikely for a vaticinator to have a male partner.”

  “Would anybody care to enlighten me?” Neal snaps, his hands on his hips as he continues to glare at the floor.

  I clear my throat. That attracts Neal’s attention. He looks at me, frowning, silently demanding that I tell him.

  “Come on, Lichinsky.” Neal rolls his eyes, “We are partners in what?”

  “I suppose we’ll have plenty of time for the discussion.” My mother comes to my rescue.

  “I think,” Jennifer says, looking at me, “that Neal should be informed of it.”

  I raise my eyebrows at her, “You’re one to talk after keeping him oblivious for years.”

  “Josh.” Father says, sternly, not happy with my snappy tone. But really, can you blame me? How dare she put forth such a lame reason? She’s the last person to be pitching in for Neal to know everything. I look at Neal who is staring at me stoically. As our eyes meet, he raises his eyebrows in silent question. I dare to look around the kitchen once. My siblings are watching me apprehensively, looking slightly worried. The elders however are looking at ease, as if it is the weather I am being asked about.

  “Uh…I’ll tell you on way to your home?” my suggestion comes out as a question.

  Neal appraises me for a moment and then sighs. I guess I look pleading enough for him to nod minutely at me. I breathe out in relief.

  “Alright,” father says, “You and Aakir can accompany Neal to his house. Be careful and alert.”

  “Ergg,” Aakir stutters, “I think I’ll stay back.” He says, awkwardly stepping from one foot to another.

  Aakir wins a glare from me and a frown from Neal. I know what he is doing. Since I am planning to ‘talk’ to Neal, Aakir is opting to stay out. But hell knows I probably require him to be there. He may even be able to explain the situation better than me. After all, Aakir is the one who was the calmest at learning the gender of my partner. Plus, I may not want to talk about this in front of a full-fledged audience but amongst one or two close people, it can actuallybe helpful for the situation. And I know that I am going to feel incredibly awkward if I alone talk to Neal about this.

  “Two people must accompany Neal, Aakir.” Father says.

  “Yeah,” Faith speaks after an eon, “And Josh probably wouldn’t want me to accompany.”

  “No shit.” I say instantly. Faith will end up insinuating romance between partners. Her presence is definitely a no-no. I look at Aakir, “Dude, you’re his protector.” I say, waving at Neal, “how can you say you don’t want to accompany us for his safety?”

  Faith, Rufina aunt and my mother chuckle slightly at that. Aakir glares back at me. Neal looks at us exasperatedly. Aakir rolls his eyes and starts walking. Neal goes ahead of him and quickly moves outside, without glancing back at anyone. He looks annoyed to zenith and I am really not looking forward to inform him of partners. As Aakir and I trail behind, Aakir turns slightly towards me.

  “Funny, how a few days back you didn’t want me to bother Neal.” He drawls in a low tone.

  I sigh. Yes, I remember how annoyed I used to become whenever Aakir would yap on about Neal. And now I am practically dragging him to help me explain our ‘partner’ theory to my partner.

  “Things change, Aakir. Things change a lot.”

  13.The Awkward Me

  The overwhelming tension in the air has me feeling queasy. I am thankful that Aakir has allowed me to drive otherwise I may have been fidgeting incessantly. Even now with the steering wheel in my hand, I find myself squirming slightly once in a while. Aakir is sitting in the front, beside me. Neal, who sat in the back seat, has been suspiciously silent. He has spoken not one word since we left the house and now we are almost about to reach Neal’s house. He has been stoically looking outside the window, his stance more than suggesting that he is not in a good mood. Aakir is almost as impassive as Neal but manages to look a littleanxious, almost. I am quite sure that they have forgotten about the ‘partner’ discussion and are in turn worrying about their newly learned…statuses. It almost seems surreal how much different these two days have made the situation. Just two days back I was looking for excuses to hang around Neal. Now the said person is sitting right behind me for all the unwanted reasons. But I think the most shocking is to learn of Aakir. It’s bizarre to realize that the guy I have spent my whole life with, the guy who knows almost everything about me and about whom I know everything, that guy has been suddenly recognized as some long lost savior.

  But knowing Aakir, I am sure he isn’t taking it as a very big deal. It’s Aakir we are talking about, who was most placid at knowing of my partner. I believe it will take a lot more to mentally shake Aakir than just learning the reason behind his weird eyes. For all I know he may be feeling almost giddy to be someone of importance. Not to mention, his fascination with Neal’s aura has been explained largely, for which he must be quite content.

  I hear Neal sigh heavily at the back, probably a signal that he is about to speak. But he doesn’t say anything.

  “This all is actually kind of cool.” Aakir blurts when Neal says nothing.

  Neal scoffs quietly, “Yeah, right.”

  Aakir frowns as he turns back to look at Neal, “Seriously?” he says to Neal, “Aren’t you the least bit excited to know that you’re somewhat important?”

  I watch in the rearview mirror as Neal gives a perplexed and a confounded look to Aakir. “Are you kidding me?” he says quietly.

  Aakir sighs, “You don’t feel…I don’t know, man. I feel kind of surprised. On a good end, you know? I mean I was just a vague kid two days back. And now,” he grins,“I am a bodyguard of a fortune teller.”

  “Yeah,” Neal says, “I may have been surprised had I not known what I can do.” He sighs.

  “Yeah, I am surprised that you knew.” Aakir says quietly.

  Neal shrugs. He then frowns at Aakir, “You’re awfully fine after meeting your aunt.” He points out, drawling the word ‘aunt’.

  Aakir shrugs, “I don’t see why she should be affecting me.” he says in a careful tone, “She is practically a stranger, irrespective of what relationship we share.”

  Neal appraises Aakir for a moment, his mouth agape then he nods slowly. He says nothing and simply turns away to look outside the window, reclining back into his previous stance. Aakir and I exchange stolid glances. The next ten minutes are spent in awkward silence, with me driving. As I turn into the dirt road that leads to the beach house in the far distance, Neal decides to break the silenc
e.

  “So,” he starts, turning to look at Aakir and I. Aakir shifts slightly so to be diagonally inclined in his seat while I look at Neal through the rearview mirror. Neal makes sure he catches my eye in the mirror and then, “We are partners for what?”

  I remain silent for a minute, choosing to keep my eyes on the dirt road in the front. When I look in the rearview mirror again, I am greeted by Neal’s demandingly inquisitive face, his eyebrows crawling for his hairline. He looks suspicious.

  “It’s complicated.” I blurt.

  “Oh, surprise me, Lichinsky.” Neal mutters. He then starts in a louder voice, “I think I have learned of enough complicated things to not be taken aback by whatever revelation you have up your sleeve.” He rolls his eyes by the end. “And just so you know,” he adds in a hardened voice, “I would very much like to be aware of the whole situation than be kept in the dark.”

  “It’s not that a significant detail.” I mumble. Neal being a vaticinator is too much of big deal in comparison to the futile news that he is my partner.

  “I’ll beg to differ.” Neal says dryly, “Since, now that I think of it, it has become quite blatant to me that I being your partner in whatever the hell of a job we have to do is partly the reason why your father is being so protective.” He snorts slightly.

  I sigh. Yes, he is quick to grasp that. Father is worried about this whole situation because firstly, Neal is my partner and secondly, we have been caught red handed in