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These sounds were becoming louder. The party, very jovial, was beginning to troop in.
A voice. The voice. Slightly different from when she had heard it last.
Deeper than before. Richer than before, the edges mellowed. A touch of an American accent. A whiff of the British.
It was different but it was the same. It was a voice that was, even with all these changes, after all these years, more familiar to her than her own.
Koyal realized she was not breathing.
‘Akki, happy, happy birthday,’ the voice shouted happily, joining the other voices yelling birthday wishes as the troop bounded into the conservatory.
‘Thank you, thank you!’ Akki Uncle shot up from his seat and lunged forward to greet the gang.
Koyal sat, her back to the voice, frozen, her eyes pooling, her heart throbbing, her mind numb.
‘Koyal, stop thinking about chess now and meet the boys!’ Hema said, coming closer to her and placing a warm hand on her shoulder.
Koyal got up, slowly.
She turned around.
And stared.
The world disappeared. The conservatory vanished. The sounds stopped.
A tall, broad man in his mid-thirties stood in front of her.
A crisp white shirt peaked from beneath a black sweater. His hair was slightly wet and he was smiling a smile that had just begun to fade. Handsome, no doubt, in a slightly unconventional way. Beautiful brown skin complemented by black eyes. Eyes that were full of life. Eyes that were used to laughing, but that in the moment, were turning red with shock. Success clung to him yet he looked kind. Very kind. For the moment, his face had frozen and he was staring at her as if he had seen a ghost.
‘Koyal, meet Atharv,’ said Hema, beaming, entirely oblivious of how the world had just shifted on its axis for the two, ‘and Atharv, meet Koyal.’
Koyal, meet Atharv.
Atharv, meet Koyal.
Hema Aunty was saying something about Atharv being Arjun’s best buddy and then she started chattering about how she met Koyal on a flight, but these words did not quite reach the two. The world had ceased to matter and the universe had melted into oblivion. It was just the two of them staring unblinkingly at one another, unable to breathe, unable to not breathe, unable to look at each other, unable to look away.
Ten years.
Ten long years.
‘Nice to meet you,’ Atharv said curtly, his eyes giving nothing away.
‘Nice to meet you,’ Koyal said mechanically at the same time, her heart thumping in her chest.
Neither smiled.
Koyal, meet Atharv.
Atharv, meet Koyal.
17
How beautiful it is when strangers become best friends.
How heartbreaking it is when best friends become strangers.
‘Is everything okay?’ Hema asked, looking at Koyal’s pale face. ‘You haven’t spoken a word since we started dinner.’
