70-30 ?

                                    Mr. Philophobic

                                                      - Arjunan kumar

                                       Chapter - 3

70 - 30? :

Hannah and I were preparing for our semester exams together in my house.

“Hey bubbly, how’s your Spying work going on? It’s been a week”, Hannah asked me.

“Hmm….As I said before, he is a mysterious man. He read books of variant languages constantly. He drinks occasionally, but when he does, he drinks like it’s the end of the world. At night he takes his guitar to the beach and starts playing it, mostly melody and sorrow tunes. And he is Anti-Social media person and Anti-social person. I made several attempts to have contact with him, but failed tremendously. He lives with his father, and most of the time, he seems to be depressed, and all alone”

“Oh man, I was just joking. Are you seriously spying on him? Did love just took over my dear friend?”

“I don’t know Hannah…”,Suddenly I got a text from John.

**Come here. It’s urgent**

I ran to my pub, Hannah followed me. I saw some officials from the Bank exiting my pub and John stood there with a letter in his hand. He saw me. I understood his grief look. We entered the pub and scrutinized the letter.

“So, the deadline is in just three months, right?”, John sighed.

“Things are getting out of our hands. But I can’t give up this place. My parents built this from scratch. I can’t let their efforts go in vain. It’s all my fault..”, I broke down in tears. John held me.

“Come on, child. This isn’t your fault. We shouldn’t have trusted that b*****d”

“Which B*****d? And what’s the drama going on here?”, Akshay entered the Pub. “John, one Manhattan whiskey cocktail please”. He took a seat next to me.

“what’s wrong?”, he asked me. I tossed him the letter. He gone through it and said, “Uff, debt of 5 million to be repaid in 3 months? How’s this huge figure came up?”

“My uncle, legal guardian, mortgaged this place for 7 Million, in the name of renovation four years ago and eventually disappeared into thin air. Then I attained my legal age, took over the business and repaid nearly 2 million by my hard work. But the surging competition made our business dull for the last 2 years, and now it’s coming to an end”. He was enjoying his cocktail and paid less attention to me.

“How about Mortgaging your house and repay the debt and renovating this lousy place with the surplus amount ?”. He finished his cocktail.

“The house is the only property I’m left with and you want me to mortgage it? I don’t wanna take that risk”. He paid his bill and tipped John.

“Then enjoy your boring evening in this sinking ship. Bye”. He took off.

‘His words irritated me to the core. I’m not expecting him to help me, but atleast he would have said some nice things to me, like kinda moral support. Ah, he is such a heartless man. By the way, how can I expect a third person to be nice to me when my own blood lines betray me’, I sighed. We returned to my house around 10.pm and saw Akshay busy with his MacBook in his portico.

“Ah, I wasted a week spying on a heartless man”. We entered our room and tried to concentrate on our studies. Suddenly, Akshay entered my room through the window.

“Can I come in?”, he asked me.

“I think you already entered”, Hannah teased him. He sat next to us and showed some sketches from his Mac Book.

“So, you came here to show your drawing skills? Okay, we love it”, Hannah giggled.

“These are the sketches I made for the renovation of your pub. Pick one”, he tossed his Mac book to me.

“What? Akshay, thanks for your sketches. But am I sitting on a golden throne? Renovation of pub needs more money. And I don’t have any penny left…”. He placed his finger on my lips.

“Shush….just pick one and meet me at my house in the morning. For now, goodbye and good night”, he exited through the window. Hannah and I can’t understand what just happened. His sketches were marvellous, and there were plenty of them. ‘why is he doing this? How he’s gonna do it?

Or is this a game?’, numerous questions aroused on my mind.

I went to his house in the morning. Akshay was waiting with a lawyer and sipping his green tea. “Hey girl, take your seat. I want you to sign this document after giving it a read”, he passed me the document.

‘ what am I gonna do with this? Wait, what? A partnership agreement?’, my mind started spinning. I stared at Akshay and shouted, “What the hell is this Akshay?”. He took me aside, to his kitchen and started preparing me a coffee.

“I’m gonna offer you 7 million. You should use it to repay your debt and spend the surplus to renovate your pub…Ah, sorry…our pub”

“Akshay, slow down. What are you exactly trying to do? We barely know each other, and what’s the reason behind offering me this much money?”

“Because my family owes you”, he looked into my eyes and then laughed, “Haha, I was just joking. The reason is money, profit. See I’m just investing in your business and I love John, he’s a great manager cum bar tender. And moreover I need alcohol anytime, so I don’t the only pub in my neighbourhood to be gone”. I hesitated and gave him an confused look.

“Hey listen, just think this as a business deal. Nothing personal, Okay? You wanna save your parent’s sinking ship, right? Then just sign the papers”. Though this felt odd and awkward, I really needed that money.

“Okay, then what’s the profit sharing ratio?”, I questioned him.

“So, are you okay with the deal?”

“Depends on your answer”

“Okay, 70-30?”

“What? That’s my pub. How can you take 70…”

“Hey pressure cooker, 70 is for you. I’m just taking the balance 30. Calm down partner”

“OKay but, how you arranged this much money in a night?”

“Okay, let this be a little secret between us. I smuggled some cocaine to Africa. That’s how I got 7 million”

I gave him a scared look. He giggled. “I borrowed it from my mother. So, no problem. If you are okay with our deal, drink this coffee. But at your own risk, coz I made it”. I accepted the deal and to be honest, his coffee was better than Banu’s.

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                                                           - Arjunan Kumar.