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‘Well, there’ll be many handsome boys at engineering college.’
Something inside Atharv’s heart slumped.
‘Right, handsome boys at Engineering College, Ghaziabad,’ he said, hoping his voice did not give anything away.
Koyal pretended to lash out at Atharv, and ended up hitting him quite hard. Atharv yelped in pain and Koyal doubled up laughing.
‘How terribly sad tonight would have been if we were going to different parts of the country,’ mused Atharv when they were both calm again.
‘Yes,’ Koyal said. ‘But we’re not. Delhi and Ghaziabad are practically the same city, so no problem.’ Koyal had gotten into the Royal College of Architecture in Banglore, which everyone thought would be a great career choice for her. However, for reasons best known to her, she took up a seat in a badly rated engineering college in Ghaziabad instead.
‘Really? Doesn’t all this affect you one bit?’
Koyal shook her head and kicked a stone that unfortunately hit a stray dog which yelped.
‘I am sorry! I am sorry!’ Koyal giggled at the dog.
Atharv looked closely at his friend, surprised at how relaxed and happy she looked, and then it hit him.
‘Oh,’ he said before he could stop the words, ‘you are hiding.’
‘Eh?’
‘Hiding behind the grin, hiding behind the red dress, hiding behind the make-up, hiding behind the mask of everything being fine.’
‘Of course not!’ she said hotly.
The language best friends use to communicate is facial expressions. And sometimes, though words mean one thing, the expressions tell the truth.
For a few seconds, both of them stared at each other – the few seconds it took Atharv to comprehend what was really going on in her heart.
‘Come here,’ said Atharv finally and pulled Koyal, who resisted for a bit, into a big hug.
Though she remained silent, Atharv knew exactly how hard his best friend was trying to not cry. She clutched on tightly to him and he could feel her nails dig into his skin. A tiny sob cut the silence of the night. An animal somewhere nearby called.
‘Shh,’ he whispered into her ear, thankful for the falling dusk. He couldn’t bear to look at her face and didn’t want her to see his eyes.
He felt her gulp hard.
‘This goodbye is hard,’ she said into his collar.
‘Do you know,’ Atharv said, ‘how lucky we are to have someone it’s this hard to say good bye to?’
Koyal smiled through her tears.
‘You know what else is going to be hard?’ Koyal continued.
‘What?’
‘To not be “we”, to just be “me”.’
Atharv drew back and stared at Koyal in surprise. ‘“We” will always be “we”, Koyal, no matter what,’ he said, looking intently at her.
He pulled her back into a hug and they stayed like that, under the imli tree, in a tight embrace. He’s becoming broader, more manly, Koyal thought. Atharv’s arms were the shield that even God couldn’t pull off, that would protect her from all harm. With her Atharv, she was safe; with her Atharv, she was she.
They stood like that under the imli tree. Two but not quite two. One but not quite one.
Afraid and scared on their own but so complete like this. Why, oh why did life have to come in the way, the imli tree wondered.
