Chapter Four
Bali, Indonesia
‘Timira! Timira! Tim! Can you hear me?’
‘Doctor, is she coming around?’
‘Tim! Abbe, kitna soyegi ?’
She feels a familiar, cool touch on her forehead.
A hand that smells of vanilla and shea butter.
The voice sounds familiar, too. Loud, warm, like home.
She takes her time to wake up, her eyes slowly adjusting to the surroundings.
Pastel walls and cheery, chequered blue curtains.
A giant flatscreen on which an old Arsenal–Chelsea game is on stares at her.
She can now hear the faint beeping of the little boxes next to her—boxes that look like professional versions of children’s doctor play sets.
Her eyes, having taken the surroundings in, now travel down her own self and register a needle.
Almost simultaneously, as if on cue, a sharp pain stabs at her head.
On trying to trace the trigger, she discovers a tiara-like bandage across her crown.
Unable to hold it in any longer, she finally cries out in shock and agony.
‘AAAAAAAAAAAAA!’
She shrieks loud enough to disturb the nurses at their station engrossed in a dubbed rerun of Jang Hyuk’s You Are My Destiny on the Biki app on their phone. One of them comes running and barges into the room.
‘Is everything okay? Doctor, can I help?’
The doctor—a man in his early fifties, balding, a million laughter lines around his eyes and mouth—laughs a little and tells the nurse not to worry and to get Timira something to eat.
‘Timmy, darling, does it hurt?’
Alice’s large, kind eyes are looking down at her. ‘Um, no. Not really,’ she lies.
I’m a strong girl. Nothing can hurt me.
Bhaskar walks closer to the bed and asks in a small voice, ‘Bro, tu theek hai na ?’
‘ Haan, bro ! Par yeh bata , how did I get here? Are you guys okay? Were we not together?’
Bhaskar and Alice look quizzically at each other and then expectantly at the doctor who kindly explains that since Timira had had a concussion, her recent memories might have gotten a little muddled.
‘None of her core memories, don’t worry.
Only the last couple of days, or maybe even less.
You might only have a few hours’ gap in your memories.
And those will come back, too. Just try to stay relaxed and don’t force yourself to remember,’ he smiles.
‘Thank God! Imagine if I were to forget how awesome I am,’ Timira sniggers. Seeing as her rotten sense of humour is entirely undamaged, Bhaskar and Alice heave a sigh of relief.
‘Doctor, could you share the details of the person who brought my friend here? We’d like to thank them.’
Someone brought me here? Who? Argh, why do I always get into trouble?
‘You can check with the admissions department. I’m afraid I don’t know much else.’
Frowning as much as her bandaged head would allow, Timira looks expectantly at Bhaskar, who promptly disappoints her by not pressing any further. She cusses under her breath but keeps quiet. Bhaskar enquires if Timira can be discharged right away.
‘I see no reason for her to stay here any longer. Make sure to have her stitches removed in a week, here or elsewhere. No monkey business until then!’ The doctor grins at Timira, a sage-like smile spread across his wrinkled, weathered face.
Before she knows it, Timira is out of the Digene-pink hospital pyjamas and in her trusty cargos and tee.
‘Thank God this happened AFTER the wedding. Can’t imagine turning up at a party looking like this!
’ Timira is feeling the bandage with a sour expression on her face which quickly changes to a grin when Alice puts an arm around her and gently squeezes her shoulder.
‘Alice, you and Tim head out. I’ll settle the bills and catch up in a sec,’ Bhaskar tells them sweetly, but the girls are already out of earshot, yapping excitedly like little schoolgirls.
Timira suggests they go to the cafeteria and grab some juice.
‘Tim, aren’t you curious?’
‘About what?’
‘About what? Seriously? Don’t you want to know how you got here? Aren’t you at all curious to find out what happened?’
Of course, I want to know who saved this damsel in distress! But she decides against wanting to seem too eager. Part of her is also worried that learning their identity might be anti-climactic given my sodding luck !
Timira wants to lie but knows she can’t. Because Alice will definitely see through it. So, she decides to go with a half-truth.
‘I’m safe, isn’t that what matters?’
‘You have stitches on your head! You call that being safe?’
Feeling her bandaged forehead, she suddenly recalls the dream from the previous night and groans.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I saw a dream last night. Well, a nightmare, really. I was at the beach and a flying saucer hit me. And, Rod saved me. Yuck! Ally, it couldn’t have been him, right?’
‘It was just a dream, Tee. He’s busy with SoBo socialites and Bolly starlets, I’m sure.’
Even the thought of Rodrigo makes Timira want to either break something or bawl her eyes out.
‘It’s all your fault. Yours and Bhaskar’s. You didn’t take good care of me. Bad, bad friends I have, tch!’
She sticks her tongue out at Alice and attempts to skip away, but Alice grabs her by the collar and doesn’t let her move even an inch.
‘You are right. We shouldn’t have let you escape last evening, you loony. You aren’t going out of my sight for even a moment for the rest of this trip!’
Alice has been gripped with guilt since the phone call from the hospital.
They had made plans to explore a bar they’d learnt about on IG and then shop at the night market.
Timira told them she was running late for their table booking and that she’d catch up at the bar which was only a ten-minute walk from their hotel.
Alice and Bhaskar did not think much of it, given Timira’s history of terrible time management in her personal life.
No sooner had they reached the bar did they realize that they’d been duped.
The hostess, a gorgeous local woman with skin so clear that Alice was tempted to enquire about her skincare regime, led them to a candlelit table in a secluded area.
The sun was yet to set and the yellow of the candle flames was weaving magic with the orange of the sun.
Creamy mimosas were brought out. A singer, long-haired and tan like Nuno Bettencourt, appeared out of nowhere, holding a guitar, and sat himself down near their table.
‘Timira,’ Alice had smiled.
The singer started off with Magic!’s ‘Rude’. And both Bhaskar and Alice’s phones dinged. A text from Timira.
‘Guys, aren’t you sick of babysitting? I know I’m tired of being babysat (hold up, is that a word?).
I know, I know, I’m a lot of fun. But you should learn how to have fun without me!
I need to share my fun with the rest of the world, too.
The planet needs meeee! So, have fun (or, don’t.
Bore each other to death idc). Main chali to heal the world, make it a better place … ’
Before they could react, their phones had dinged again.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t stray too far and I’ll stay away from the water. Okay, mumma? Okay, papa?’
Bhaskar laughed but Alice was worried.
‘Should we go back? Will she be okay?’
‘Don’t worry, Ally. She might be a little cuckoo, but she’s one helluva smart egg. Let her be. Maybe she also needs a little space. And, honestly, you and I haven’t really had any time to ourselves since we got here …’
Alice knew Bhaskar was right. Timira was wiser than she let on. And it was true, they could most certainly do with an evening by themselves.
‘You are right, babe. Tim has outdone herself with this surprise. Let’s do it justice and have a ball!’
After dinner, they went to the night market.
Alice wanted to buy matching jewellery for herself and Timira.
Bhaskar thought it’d be quick. But even after two whole hours of circling the market five times, Alice still hadn’t found anything to her liking.
Until she finally did. From a stall they had passed by a dozen times and stopped at at least four times and Alice had rejected every item each time.
It was well past midnight when they returned to their hotel.
Alice’s face wears a pained expression as she now recalls the details and she curses herself for not trusting her instincts.
‘Oi! What’s wrong? Why do you look like someone socked you in the gut?’ Timira snaps her fingers at Alice.
‘No, no, nothing. It’s nothing,’ Alice stammers. ‘Just promise me you’ll stay within my line of sight on this trip!’
‘Aye, captain,’ Timira salutes her and giggles.
‘I am going to the admissions department now and you are coming with me!’
Timira rolls her eyes but stays silent and allows Alice, who’s now holding her by the wrist, to lead the way.
At the admissions department, paperwork is retrieved and details shared.
‘Ma’am, all payments were made in cash. So we don’t have any bank details.’
Timira taps lightly on Alice’s shoulder with her index finger.
‘What?’
‘I want to know what you would have done, suppose they did have the bank details? Are you a detective? Would you ask the police to trace the account?’
Alice knows she is speaking the truth but doesn’t respond. Instead, she keeps up her investigation.
‘Phone number. Do you have a phone number?’
The executive scans the form and replies in the affirmative.
‘Yes, ma’am, there’s a number mentioned here!’
Turning towards Timira with a triumphant smile, Alice lifts her eyebrows, and her eyes look all smug. Timira responds with theatrical applause.
‘Could you please share the number with me?’
‘Yes, of course, ma’am. It’s 91 …’
‘Indian number?’ Both Timira and Alice can’t hide their surprise.
‘98675 …’ the executive, a young man with a unibrow and a head full of shiny, dark hair, continues in his thick Balinese accent.
Alice is mouthing the digits while pressing hard on her phone screen.
‘That’s Bhaskar’s number!’ Timira exclaims, half laughing and half disappointed.
But Alice is not ready to give up.
‘He must have had to sign somewhere? Can’t you find out his name from there?’
‘Ally, it’s a signature. Most are illegible.’
Alice recalls Timira’s untidy scrawl which changes every few seconds.
‘Please, brother. This is really important.’ Alice looks pleadingly at the young man and pouts.
Obligingly, the man goes back to the form on his computer screen and looks up after a minute.
‘Here, ma’am. Relation to the patient: family. Name: Sky. Signed: Sky.’
Sky? What kind of name is Sky? Can’t even tell which part of the world he’s from. Tch, what a bummer!
Timira looks crestfallen.
‘Look at you, Timmy. I thought you didn’t care, and look at you now. Tell me honestly, you were hoping it’d turn out to be some famous hot guy, no?
It’s now Alice’s turn to tease Timira. Recovering quickly, Timira says to Alice, ‘ Chal, chhod na . Drop it. Let’s just go. I’m dying for a smoke. And, your bubster hubster must be done, too. Let’s go, let’s go!’
Alice sneaks in a quick ‘thank you’ at the desk executive as Timira drags her away out of the hospital and into the bright daylight.
They reach a little garden just outside the main hospital building, waiting for Bhaskar, and Timira begins to pester Alice for a cigarette.
‘Medical dramas have lied to us! McDreamy? Doctor Stranger? And, I get McUncleji? Doctor Grandfather? Just my luck!’
They laugh and curse dramas, but Alice can tell that Timira is nervous. She’s biting her plump lower lip and crossing and uncrossing her fingers—telltale signs of anxious Timira. Having known her for over a decade, there is little about her that Alice can miss.
They spot Bhaskar walking towards them, still looking like a teenager in his capri shorts, and wave at him. Just then, a car whizzes past. Open sun-roof, a man at the wheel.
‘Ooh, sweet ride!’ Alice observes. Timira, never having shown much interest in or appreciation for automobiles, glances unenthusiastically and then looks away almost immediately.
But, Alice is quite taken in by the swanky Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet—she and Bhaskar have been looking at convertibles as an addition to their Nissan GTR—and continues to admire it.
As the car catches up to them, she spots the driver and notices a rather striking man at the wheel.
But he isn’t looking ahead at the road. Instead, his gaze seems to be focused entirely elsewhere …
right on her and Timira, she’s surprised to find.
Does he know us, or one of us? I don’t think I’ve seen him ever; there’s no way I’d forget a face like that!
The car slows down as it approaches them and Alice, now extremely curious, observes that with a hint of a smile on his unusually beautiful face and an expectant look in his eyes, the driver of the VW, wearing a light blue Versace baseball hat and dark wayfarers, is looking to press the brake.
Tim, unbothered, is waving madly at Bhaskar, who has by now almost caught up to them, but stopped at a little distance away to pet a dog.
The car has come to a halt, too.
‘Tim, look to your right, but don’t make it obvious,’ Alice mutters softly, hands covering her mouth, eyes looking down.
Timira, almost immediately, turns sharply and obviously, having heard only half of Alice’s sentence.
‘Argh, I said to not make it obvious!’
‘Sorry, sorry, I didn’t hear you.’
‘See that black SUV? Do you know the guy driving it?’
‘Huh? What car? What guy?’ Timira appears nonplussed.
The Versace guy has now taken his shades off and with a smile is about to open the door.
‘Never seen that car or that man before! Why would I know men in this foreign island? Or, even women, for that matter? How would I know anyone here?’ Timira announces loudly enough for the man to hear and for his face to suddenly lose all colour.
‘Oh, Ally. I hurt my head but you seem to have lost a few marbles, hehehe!’ Timira giggles, tapping Alice on the head with her knuckles.
Alice, curious and worried, continues to look at the man. He revs up the engine almost instantly, and with one last look of longing at Timira, drives off. Alice turns her neck to catch the number plate, but the car is nowhere to be seen. It has driven off and away from them.
‘Babe, did you see the car? What a beauty! And, a beast!’ Bhaskar exclaims almost as soon as he reaches them. But Alice doesn’t answer.
Who was that guy?
Could it have been Sky?