Jason came back to his dingy little PG, which had poor lighting in the staircase and a bunch of pictures of previous residents that the owner took with her small film camera that still worked after so many years.
He was too exhausted to even lift a finger, let alone talk to his mother about how his day in college went, but unfortunately, like clockwork, his mother called him at 6:30 pm.
"Honey, how was your day?" His mother said cheerfully, which made him feel even more drained.
"All good," he said while keeping his bag on the left leg of the sofa and lying on the cool floor. "It was a hectic day, as usual, with college and all."
"Oh christ, it must have been very hard. I shall pray to Him to lessen your burden in the coming Sunday. Have faith in the Lord, for He gives the hardest battles to His strongest soldiers. Amen." His mother did the sign of the cross, and so did Jason.
Jason grew up in a pretty religious Oriental Protestant family. His father, the pastor of his locality church, was pretty orthodox. So, when Jason chose not to pursue theology and instead science, his father, out of pure anger and torment, chose to cut him off from the family that has been doing service to the Lord for generations. His mother, a totally free-spirited woman who chose to stay married to his father only for appearances in a small town, decided it was finally the time to get rid of the marriage after his father cut him off.
She had officially filed for divorce and very recently got her divorce certificate mailed to her by her lawyer.
She took up her freelance photography work that she left after marrying his father back, using her old contacts, and is now currently settled in the fast-paced city of Mumbai.
Fortunately for Jason, he had a trust fund that his maternal grandparents had prepared for him that barely would cover the funds to finish his master's, but it was fine by him, for he had decided to start earning as soon as he finished his bachelor's to save up for his further studies.
"Mom, what do you think? Should I give another try to get a fine arts seat?" Jason asked his mother.
"Well, why not? If that's what you want and the Lord shows us the best future, who am I to stop you? But only if you are sure. I don't want you to jeopardise your current life." His mother backed him up.
"I wouldn't even think about it, Mom. I know taking science was the lesser evil way to protest back then, so I took it. But my heart lies in photography, like yours." Jason put the phone on speaker and put it on his centre table.
The window was open, and bright moonlight shone, illuminating the dark room. Jason turned and lay on his stomach and took out the camera that was kept on the sofa. He adjusted the ISO and changed it from automatic focus to manual, then adjusting the shutter speed, he clicked the picture, capturing the full moon of the night with little clouds that tried to hide the brilliance of the moon every now and then but eventually failed.
"It is a treacherous path but a satisfying one; I approve." His mother giggled.
"Honey?" His mother asked.
"Hmm," Jason replied.
"Do you miss your older brother?" His mother very carefully, as if treading on thin invisible ice.
"No, I don't. Not him. "I miss my 19-year-old brother, not him," Jason said firmly.
"Ok then," his mother said. "Have a good night's sleep, Jason."
"I will, Mother. "I will," Jason said, and cut the line.
Jason took his phone and started checking messages. His girlfriend, Janice, had texted him to meet up the coming Sunday for a lunch date. His college group chat blew up during his commuting time because a professor segregated some topics for all the hundred students and just asked them to read the topic and present it on Tuesday, making it only three days to finish the assignment. Then, his maternal grandparents texted him to come on Saturday for dinner.
Jason scrolled down further and saw the chat message he was looking forward to. His online friend LazyBones had messaged him to let him know when he would return to his room and join the game. Jason's only addiction - chess. He was part of a huge online chess community from a very young age to rebel against his dominating father. There, he met his best friend, LazyBones.
LazyBones was a guy who was older than him by three years and was a student like him too.
"I have reached." Jason quickly texted and joined the online gaming platform.
After logging into his account – SacerdotisFilius – he pinged LazyBones.
"Ready for a match?"
"Born ready," LazyBones replied instantly.
***** ***** ***** ****** *****
Lalith looked into his iPad and saw that pesky little online best friend of his challenging him to a chess match. Honestly, he really was one of the best players he has met so far and could easily become a grandmaster if he wanted to; after all, Lalith was a former grandmaster.
"He's good-looking in real life too. I wonder if he knows that the person he is arrogantly challenging is the vice president of the student council." Lalith smirked.
After a bunch of satisfying matches, Lalith went to check on Siddharth.
Siddharth's fever had come down quite a lot. The medicine and dinner did wonders on that sick patient.
Siddharth's cousin, Jasmine, sure was perfectly matched for Kriti. After all, they had so many sparks between them that ancient humans could make a huge bonfire out of it.
"Kriti better confess properly, and Jasmine better be honest with her feelings. I need to see them dating from tomorrow onwards," Lalith said exasperatedly.
He looked outside the window and said, "The rain really cleared the sky, making the moon able to shine so beautifully."