Chapter 39: Scheiβe Auf!

“Oh, shucks! Look at the time!” Jatin exclaimed, “I’ve got stuff to complete! I have to go!”

Aakash glanced at his watch; the hands showed 8:16.

“Mm. We should get going too. It’s late.”

With that, the four men rose and went to the counter to pay. Acting as if his life was being ripped away, Jeet slowly withdrew Harshil’s amount and paid that too while waving away the others who wanted to pitch in, “It’s technically my treat, so I’ll pay for him too…ah, what a hard life.”

“More like, a lowlife. If it’s his treat, why are we paying for our share?” Cabir grumbled as they headed towards the exit.

“…” Jeet glared at him, at a loss for words.

Instead, he muttered darkly, “I’ll squeeze every penny out of the crappy psycho when I catch him later on.”

“Firstly, he’s a psychiatrist, not a psycho-” Cabir began.

“But you can consider him a psycho.” Jatin interrupted.

“True that.” Aakash nodded.

Tilting his head for mere moments, Cabir too nodded, “Yeah, fine. We can. Anyway, secondly, we don’t use ‘penny’ in this country.”

All three rolled their eyes.

“Are your jokes worse because you spent some time with Harshil recently or is your sense of humour just bad in general?” Jeet asked.

“I think it’s probably both.” Aakash smirked.

“Though the latter is probably the major part of it.” Jatin cracked a grin.

“…Assholes.” Cabir scowled.

Bantering all the way, the men made their way to where their respective rides were parked. Just as they parted, Aakash seemed to remember something and called out, “Hey, Jeet!”

“Huh?” The lanky man turned around.

Jatin, who was beside him looked over curiously too.

“You wanna grab Harshil, right? Aanya said it’d be nice for all of us to meet up so I was thinking…how about Sat-” His eyes widened recalling an important detail, “Can you come over on Sunday? I’ll invite Harshil and Janya too. Jatin, you too.”

“Hmm? Sure.”

“...Oh, yeah. It might be a bit crowded. Just a heads up.” Aakash added.

“Why?” Jeet asked.

“Did you forget what date it is?” He grinned.

“Wha-oh.” Jatin snapped his fingers and told Jeet who was beside him.

Cabir too sucked in a breath, he recalled Sunday’s date.

“I totally forgot.” Jeet exclaimed. “Sure, see you all on Sunday, then!”

“Yeah, bye, guys.” Aakash waved.

“Sayonara.” Cabir waved from beside him.

“Scheiβe auf!” Jatin grinned from ear to ear at Cabir. Then, he nodded at the spectacled man, “Bye, Aakash.”

As the two strode away, Cabir muttered towards Aakash, “Wait…I don’t think he has good intentions if he’s bidding you goodbye separately…”

“Well, duh. ‘Scheiβe auf’ is German for ‘Fuck off’. Did you forget? We used it back in school so many times.” Aakash shrugged.

“That fucking…” Cabir turned around and yelled, “Jatin, you f-”

Aakash clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him back, “Don’t cuss so loudly in public. Have some decency, bro.”

As they weren’t too far away, they heard the chuckles from their departing friends. Cabir just gave a “Hmph.”

Opening the passenger’s side of the door of the red Honda Amaze, he ducked in. Aakash grinned wryly as he made for the driver’s end.

Starting the car, he informed Cabir, “Technically, ‘Scheiβe’ is ‘shit’. But it’s commonly used as ‘fuck’ too nowadays. ‘Auf’ isn’t the grammatically correct word. The literal translation for ‘fuck’ should be ‘fick’ actually-”

“Aakash,” Cabir interrupted him. As he glanced over, the man enunciated each word, “Fuck. Off.”

Chortling at his friend’s fed-up look, Aakash stepped on the accelerator.

*****

“Oh, Aakash, do you mind if we order something for lunch tomorrow?” Aanya asked as the four people settled down for dinner.

“Not at all. Why all of a sudden though?”

“Aanya is craving junk food.” Cabir butted in as he bit into a fish chop.

“She is also craving to beat idiots into pulp. Would said idiots mind?” Aanya replied indifferently.

“I’m sure Aakash wouldn’t mind.” Cabir shrugged.

“Of course he wouldn’t. He would enjoy seeing you getting beaten up.” Aanya nodded her head in agreement. “How about you?”

“Uh…continue your conversation. It’s shameful if you don’t allow me to have my dinner in peace.” Cabir murmured before turning his attention back to his food.

Aanya shared a look with Aakash; just then, Aarav asked Cabir in a very serious tone, “Uncle Cabir, did you get beaten by Mom a lot during your school days? You seem scared of her.”

Cabir, who was just taking a sip of Sprite, almost spat out the drink hearing the question. He glared at the kid, replying, “It’s not what you are thinking. You are wrong.”

“Really?” Aarav grinned like a Cheshire cat.

“Yeah, he’s right.” Aakash defended him.

“I knew it, Aakash. You are my true friend.” Cabir looked very touched…

And promptly got betrayed.

“He got beaten just once. But it was enough to scar him for life.”

Cabir’s jaw dropped.

Aaya made a bashful expression, “Hey, don’t paint me as a she-devil or something. C’mon.”

“What else would you call someone who kicked me in the-” Cabir snapped his mouth shut realizing what he had almost revealed.

But Aarav was smirking; he had figured it out.

“Tch. Kids these days…too smart for their own good.” Cabir gave the boy the stink-eye. Turning to Aakash he spat, “Scheiβe auf!”