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How her heart had recoiled with jealousy. How she had imagined their happy lives and felt embittered beyond words. How she had envied them their happiness.
When this was what Atarv and Nili had been dealing with.
And then, without any warning, an image flashed in her head.
Atharv, having just lost his wife, holding his newborn daughter in his arms in the hospital room.
Alone and scared. Wishing desperately that she, his best friend, was with him.
And there she was, getting raped by her own husband. Wishing desperately that he, her best friend, would swoop down into her life and save her.
What had life done to both of them, she wondered.
‘Are you okay?’ Atharv asked, staring at Koyal.
Koyal looked at Atharv but said nothing.
There was nothing to say.
27
Three days after the accident, Mansha was well enough to be discharged. One of Atharv’s doctor friends, Dr Kimberly Nash, came to say goodbye.
From a distance Koyal stared at Kimberly and tried hard not to feel small. Literally and figuratively. Kimberly towered above her at five feet eight inches, and in her heels stood shoulder to shoulder with Atharv who was a bit over six feet. Her blonde hair was coloured perfectly and her make-up was spot-on. She was dressed in an expensive suit beneath the white coat and looked more like a glamour model than a doctor.
Conversation seemed to be flowing easily between Kimberly and Atharv, always a hallmark of good friendship. Koyal noted how Kimberly’s pretty face scrunched up with worry when she spoke about Mansha and how a smile lent more beauty to her already beautiful face.
The perfect woman for Atharv, she thought to herself, studying Kim.
As Koyal made coffee for everyone, she could see that Kimberly was trying to strike a conversation with Mansha who had pursed her lips and folded her hands across her chest.
Much to Koyal’s surprise, no matter how much Atharv coaxed her into speaking up, Mansha, usually impeccably mannered, flatly refused to say a word.
‘I don’t like her,’ Mansha mouthed at Koyal a little later. Koyal tried to look sternly at Mansha, but she could do little to control her giggles when the little girl began to pull funny faces.
‘Here, your coffees,’ said Koyal, handing a cup each to Kimberly and Atharv.
‘Oh, thank you,’ Kimberly said, smiling, but when she looked at Atharv taking his cup from Koyal, a look of concern crossed her face.
‘Atharv is a bit particular about his coffee, do you think I should make a cup for him?’ Kimberly said gingerly, careful not to say anything that might offend the woman she’d hurriedly been introduced to as ‘a friend’.
Koyal looked at Atharv and then at Kimberly.
‘One teaspoon coffee powder, one teaspoon water, both mixed furiously till bubbles form. And then a cup full of milk?’ she rattled off from memory.
Kimblerly stared at Koyal and then smiled.
‘Oh … you know,’ she said slowly.
Koyal barely heard Kimberly – all of her was concentrated on Atharv whose eyes, she knew, were boring into her.
‘I remember,’ she said simply, shrugging her shoulders and not looking at Atharv.
When she finally looked at Atharv, he was talking to Kimberly. Atharv was smiling a wide smile and somehow Koyal knew that smile had nothing to do with what Kimberly was saying.
‘Koyal Aunty,’ Mansha asked, breaking her line of thought.
‘Yes, Mansha?’
