April 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge- Chapter 16- Poles Apart

I'll Be There Beside You

Chapter 16

Today’s Idiom – Poles Apart

Meaning- If two people are poles apart they have nothing in common.

We had already seen three apartments by afternoon and the scorching heat and unrelenting traffic of Bangalore made me suggest that we should take a break and relax for a while. We stopped at Café Coffee Day and after ordering our coffees I observed Lalitha as she looked silently at the menu.

Even though Lalitha had a good night’s sleep, she looked haggard and exhausted. There were dark shadows under her eyes and if it was possible she looked more withdrawn. She hadn’t spoken much since morning. I couldn’t help but ponder about how Monica and Lalitha were poles apart in their personalities. I had to know more from Lalitha and this seemed a good time to get my story out.

“You know Lalitha, yesterday when I went to the pub with my friends I met a girl. Her name was Monica and she looked exactly like you. I thought it was you and I ran after her, but it turns out she was someone else. Her clothes were… umm…quite different than yours. And she had a boyfriend too… someone called Roy”

I scrutinized her face for her expressions. Her eyes kept darting from me to the menu but her face remained calm and devoid of any emotions.

“You wouldn’t know her by any chance, would you?”

“Monica? No, I don’t think I know any girl by that name. And how would I know a girl from Bangalore. I’ve been here only a couple of times.” Lalitha refused to meet my eyes and even though her face was still composed, I could see her hands holding the menu trembling slightly.

Was she lying? It certainly looked like that.

“Even though she looked like you, her attitude and the way she talked was so different. She called me a lot of names when I stopped her and called her Lalitha. And her boyfriend and I were involved in a fight. It’s amazing how similar you both look. I mean if you were standing opposite to her, it’d be like looking into a mirror­­-”

“Stop it. I don’t want to listen about Monica or any other girl you met in the pub. I told you that I don’t know her. Why are you so keen to continue talking about her? Don’t you trust me? ”

I was stunned by her sudden outburst but I decided to drop the topic. Lalitha looked agitated. Her large eyes were brimming with tears and her voice was quivering with an unnaturally shrill tone. I knew that Lalitha was hiding something from me and I was adamant to find out about it one way or another.

You can read the previous chapters here-

Chapter 1                                     Chapter 8                             Chapter 15

Chapter 2                                     Chapter 9

Chapter 3                                     Chapter 10

Chapter 4                                     Chapter 11

Chapter 5                                     Chapter 12

Chapter 6                                     Chapter 13

Chapter 7                                     Chapter 14