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‘Let’s make you feel like a teenager for a bit longer,’ he said, grinning in that slow, lazy way that made Koyal’s heart thump, and went back to kissing her.
‘Get a room,’ a man in running shorts shouted good naturedly at them and Koyal and Atharv started laughing.
‘You are in your dressing gown!’ she exclaimed, still laughing and at the same time already teary-eyed.
‘Hey,’ he said, focusing on her eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I am happy,’ she said, shrugging. ‘That’s what’s wrong.’
‘Then get used to it, I am so done with you dealing with things you should have nothing to do with. You are just going to be happy from now on, Koyal, I will personally see to it.’
‘So bossy,’ she said, pretending to hit him, but when she saw his eyes bore into hers in all seriousness, she stilled. They stared at each other, lost like only lovers can be. And then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, she said what she should have said years back.
‘I love you, Atharv.’ Her voice melted with the sound of the rustling leaves. ‘I love you, have loved you and will continue to love you forever,’ she said, gazing at Atharv, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders.
Koyal saw Atharv’s eyes pool and she felt tears spring into hers.
‘Why did I wait so long to say these words?’ she asked Atharv, who shrugged, struggling visibly to contain his tears.
‘This … um,’ he said, sniffing and smiling, ‘is not very manly.’
‘It is very adorable,’ Koyal said, wiping a tear off Atharv’s cheek as tears raced down her own cheeks.
‘Love is not enough of a word, Koyal, to express what I feel for you, though I know I used it the first time,’ said Atharv, looking around helplessly for the right words, tears still flowing. ‘You are my oxygen. I have loved you since you were in pigtails and we marched to school together, I have loved you since before I knew what love was.’
And by now, Koyal was sobbing, with relief, with joy, with a kind of pain that comes from being reunited with the man you have loved more than anyone else.
‘I love you,’ she repeated, tears streaming down her face. She leaned in as did he. Their foreheads touched.
‘I love you, Koyal Hansini Raje. In the thirty-five years I have known you, I have never not loved you.’
And that, and the pain of having been away from this bit of throbbing heart, just made Koyal cry harder.
Epilogue
Four months later.
Koyal looked at the woman in the mirror and smiled. She looked resplendent in a heavy red silk sari, dotted with golden paisley motifs. Ma’s wedding sari.
Around her neck was an ancient and stunning gold choker that Koyal had lusted over as a child skimming through Surya Aunty’s wedding photogra
phs.
Dress and jewellery worn by two women she adored, more perfect than anything a designer could have ever dreamt up.
‘Koyal Auntyyy,’ came a dearly loved voice and Koyal turned around.
Mansha bounded in, adorably dressed in an orange and gold lehenga. She stopped when she saw Koyal.
‘You look beautiful, like a fairy,’ she said in awe and wrapped her arms around Koyal.
One of the best feelings in the world is when you hug someone and they hug you back, tighter. Koyal hugged Mansha as tightly as she could.
A polite cough at the door and Koyal’s heart skipped a million beats.
‘Can I come in?’ her most favourite voice in the world asked.
Koyal about-turned to face a dhoti kurta-clad, deliciously handsome Atharv.
