Non-erotic The Gamechangers by Trambak

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Of course, I am." He was terse.

"Okay! Shoot." She said.

"I want to take my girlfriend to Diu for a week."

He had just joined the hostel 6 months back. Avik looked up sharply and smiled. For a moment, Fulki was stumped and then quickly recovered.

"You have a girlfriend??? Quick work."

"Yes."

"Who would be that stupid? Hope it is a girl!"

"Not important. Yes, a girl."

"Okay. Why do you want to go?"

"I want to know her better."

"Why can't you know her better from wherever you are? Why do you want to go elsewhere?"

"I want to go. It is my wish."

"That's no explanation."

"You have no right to ask that. Do I ask, where are you going?"

"I am earning and independent. I can do whatever I like. Not you!" There was a malicious tone in her voice.

Sensing a blowout between them, I intervened, trying to pacify, "Robin, going off with your female friend is not very acceptable. There are issues. The girl's parents may object."

"They have no problems. She's German."

"Oh! German!" I was short for words.

I still tried to reason, "Is this the time for you to be in relationships, you should rather be concentrating on your studies? There will be enough time for all these later on."

Robin pointed at Fulki and said, "She said I could say anything."

"Right, that's fair," Fulki said. "And we are interrogating you. Dad, do you want to ask him something?"

Avik looked up and said calmly, "Who is sponsoring your trip?"

With a faint smile on his lips, Robin muttered, "You."

"I humbly refuse," Avik muttered back.

"LOL!!" Fulki doubled up with laughter.

Robin shut up, the first round was over. He sulked for some time. More than us, he was upset with his father who simply snuffed out the flame of hope that he was harbouring.

Fulki, the perpetrator of the idea volunteered for the next round. We looked at her. She was 24 years old, working and busy. Taking out time for this vacation was difficult for her. Her career graph was an erect pole.

She measured her words carefully and said, "I don't want to ever get married."

Robin was unimpressed and caustic, "Who is marrying you, BTW?"

"No one, because I won't." She replied calmly.

"Today you are saying this. Tomorrow, you will yourself get someone home and mom will be jumping." Robin persisted.

"No, she won't. It's my life."

Sensing a ray of hope, I interjected "Ful, is there someone? We don't have serious objections except for a few routine things."

Fulki was prompt to answer, "I know that, stupid objections. But I am not into this marriage thing at all."

This was not surprising. Knowing Fulki, she had all those stellar qualities most disliked by every prospective mother in law. She had no interest in any household work and her room was a perpetual mess. So, we knew.

Still, I tried, "How would you live your life all alone? What about children? The later it is, more is...you know the problems."

"You don't need to get married to have children. I am going to adopt."

It was so irritating and the smile on Avik's face was making it worse.

"Are you just going to smile or ask her something?" I asked obliquely.

He at once stopped smiling, thought for a moment and asked, "Ful, would you agree that you have problems with social skills."

"No, never! I have so many friends. Not like you."

"Okay, okay. Let me frame it this way. Do you think that your complete disinterest in any household skills may raise some red flags in your prospective relationships?"