Choose Your Battles Carefully (Pt. I)
Hey readers! I am Vishnu, an aspiring writer and am publishing my first article ever here on Medium. This is a short story driven by the writing prompt “In Another Life” by Reedsy: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/contests/196/. I have deviated a bit from the prompt trying to stay on course with the theme and the central idea of the short story. Let us pass this as creative freedom and excuse this beginner.
This is the 1st article in a three-part series.
Bitches on Beaches
Life was good.
No, not good. Life was freaking amazing!!
Beads of salty secretions were gliding down the face of a tall, athletic hunk right after his intense workout session. Pranav, our protagonist, was sweating profusely which glistened against his light skin. Being a jovial, friendly, humorous, outwardly and most importantly, happy person came with a cost. His jaws were still hurting from grinning and laughing that hard in the gym.
If the gym mirrors had tiny little cameras, similar to the dressing room mirrors in hotel rooms, attached to them, the storage would be filled with snapshots of Pranav’s shredded physique to the likes of fitness influencer and pearl-white teeth of his.
Pranav had never been unhealthy. Sure, just like anyone else, he had done his fair share of time being skinny. And yes, there have been times when his mother was tempted to borrow the conspicuous pot attached to his belly for the kitchen. Nonetheless, he was always within the recommended Body-Mass Index.
But, he was being consumed by an obsession to build his dream body. Based on his current well-researched and pragmatic estimates, he was gonna secure that six-pack for the bitches in the beaches in a mere span of 2 months.His desire, passion, and commitment drove him to stick to his fierce routine day after day, night after night.
Motivation is temporary but discipline lasts forever
This had enabled him to achieve the new-year resolution of managing a muscle-up.
Fitness wasn’t the singular activity in which Pranav outshone others. Just 24 hours from now, his succulent lips were gonna go to town on a glass of champagne on a business class seat on an aircraft bound towards Singapore. His golden-ratio adhering visage will be bathed in the spotlight while Pranav delivers his speech for the “Toastmaster International Speech Competition” to tens of thousands of gentlemen and gentlewomen all around the globe. He had ventured agonisingly close to claiming victory in this esteemed competition the previous year.
There was an unbeatable gut-feeling that this was gonna be his year.
Let it be work, football or relationships — Whatever aspect of life one looks at, Pranav exhibited exceptional prowess in it. He was neither the jack of all trades nor the master of one. Truly and simply, he was the “master of all trades”.
The Attention
The clock was ticking without lingering. Arihant was expecting him at his place by 8:30 PM and it was already 8:00. Arihant had been Pranav’s best friend since childhood. He had to dress up in accordance with his lofty fashion standards. Lakshya and Amrutha, Arihant’s colleagues, were looking forward to this night enthusiastically. He had never met either of them but knew very well that his homie had his eye on Lakshya. They were not from the same department and never work together. So, it is okay. At-least that’s the excuse Arihant’s mind voice used to justify his intentions and actions. Arihant made him promise to be the perfect wing-man and help him score.
The ladies joined the chaps directly at the club and Lakshya pupils’ widened as soon as the guys made their entrance. Arihant started rejoicing; He let his imagination take over and his heart was full of hope. On further notice, it was very clear that Arihant’s elaborate schemes had failed and his hopes and dreams crushed. There was no mistake about Lakshya’s excitement but it was not directed towards Arihant. Amrutha’s hair had also suddenly turned into a favourite toy for the kid that is Amrutha’s fingers. Pranav made quite an impression. Lakshya’s pupils widened as if she had just entered a dark room and if this wasn’t enough, before the conclusion of the night, a hottie at the club hit on him. One simply cannot call it uninvited or unexpected.
“Hey! Your moves are fabulous. You are a freaking amazing dancer”
“Thanks ya!!”. He almost voiced out “My speciality is actually couples salsa. Can I lead you, milady?” but then there was a sudden voice inside his head reminding him about his girlfriend.
“Is it cool if I get ya number, hottie? I would love to get a cup of coffee with you.”
Arihant excitedly whispered into his ears “Man, she’s a perfect ten. You gotta hit it.”
“You look stunning girl, but I already have a girlfriend. Sorry!”
In the background, a few feet away, Lakshya and Amrutha were sighing. Such incidents were uncommon occurrences in his life. They were the consequences of possessing that impeccable jawline, spotless skin, pearly-white teeth, enticing smile and pulling off that Hollywood retro middle-split hairstyle. He truly was a sight to behold.
The Mystery Man
If Pranav was one of the seven wonders of the world, the zeroth wonder of the world also existed in the same club. Pranav was reminded of his salsa days by the made-for-each-other love birds grooving to salsa throughout the night — They didn’t give a hoot about the song selection of our sky blue haired, ear studded DJ. They were in their own realm appreciating each other. Every gracious manoeuvre was a tribute to their partner.
His competitive, curious and growth mindset ushered him to receive fundaes about salsa from the young couple. Without pausing for even a second to gather courage to talk to a stranger(as if that was a thing), he approached the nobleman and oh, boy, little did he know how that small incident was gonna completely turn his world upside down. Madhav, the down-to-earth, friendly, approachable, wise gentlemen initially started off with salsa but quickly divulged into life-advice about simplicity and minimalist lifestyle.
He went on a quick rant illustrating how the quality of his life increased tremendously after choosing his battles carefully. He quickly caught Pranav’s smirk (I mean who wouldn’t?) and added “I know my suggestions might sound like bullshit right now but you guys will realize its value much later in life and that’s alright. We all need our time inculcating the learnings from other’s experiences.”
Before Pranav could point out the glaring and obvious issues in his comments, Madhav added
“Okay young men, it was fun chatting with you all. I hope your life is peaceful”. With that, Madhav grabbed his love’s arms and got into their Rolls Royce.
“Oh man, he is driving a freaking Rolls Royce. Must be a prosperous person. ” uttered Arihant.
Pranav responded “Cart full of crap. Did you even listen to him going on and on about simplicity, taking it easy, mindful living blah blah blah. And wishing us a peaceful life instead of a fulfilling, successful one. Must be daddy’s money” stroking his ego.
Arihant dragged his bestie to keep him company while he smoked up and dozed off to sleep while our protagonist was rebalancing his short-term investments based on the market trends.
This night’s rant was about Madhav and his success. Arihant started blabbering “I want to be like that salsa guy when I am older. He was physically fit, madly in love, an amazing dancer, driving a fancy car.”
The usual “Sure, yeah, bro” sufficed to silence Arihant’s mind which then wandered off to weird places.
There was an undeniable voice inside his head proclaiming that Pranav was going to be as successful as that oldie. Hell, no. He was gonna be much more successful and accomplished owing to his hustle culture compared to the uncluttered lifestyle of Madhav. The “Give it All” attitude was gonna take him places. He was sure of it.
He couldn’t help but pity the state of his bestie while contemplating life, success and everything in between. Arihant had been a moderately achieving student till high school but he had gotten lost in his university. He was a figure roaming around without any motivation, goals, aspirations spending most of the day high on the green leaves, whiling time away boozing. Arihant had convinced his well-off parents to let him stay in Bangalore while he sorted his life applying for jobs with the support of his friends in a fresh environment. But, he gave up on job hunting one week into the thing and the divine entities of every faith would have definitely heard Pranav’s prayer “Oh God, please help him out”.
Wow. Did I mange to capture your attention for this long? Kudos to me xD.
Part 2: https://medium.com/@nv.vishnukiran00/choosing-your-battles-carefully-c3cf11c7597e
