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At the shriek, Mansha woke up and proceeded to scream at the highest pitch possible. And Atharv realized he was shirtless so he leaped for the tee he had just picked out and hurriedly put it on.
Amongst the trio, Mansha was the first one to gain composure once she had gotten over the shock and stopped her screaming.
Atharv and Koyal were both mumbling incoherently and looking everywhere.
‘Oh Daddy, it’s you,’ said Mansha, sounding fairly disappointed, wrapping her arms around Koyal again. ‘Koyal Aunty,’ she said reassuringly to Koyal, ‘it’s just Daddy.’
Koyal nodded. Yes, she could see that.
‘Dadd
y,’ Mansha was saying, ‘can Koyal Aunty and I sleep here, please?’
‘Yes … yes…’ Atharv said, staring at Mansha, who had by now settled her head on Koyal’s shoulder and was looking up, drowsy and smiling.
Koyal, however, was far from smiley.
‘I’m sorry, Atharv,’ she began, her face pale. ‘I … Mansha … Mansha spent the entire evening talking only about you, and when it was bedtime, she insisted that she wanted to sleep in your bed. I tried to get her to sleep in her own room, but she insisted. I…’ Koyal touched her forehead. Could anything be more embarrassing? Whatever would Atharv think?
What Koyal had chosen not to mention to Atharv was that his bed smelled of him, and surrounded by this – a heady smell of something very clean and familiar – she had slept better than she had in ages.
‘That’s okay,’ Atharv said, looking fairly emba rassed himself, and was turning to leave the room when Mansha called after him.
‘Daddy?’
‘Yes, darling?’
‘My goodnight kiss?’
‘Oh yes,’ Atharv said with a smile that melted Koyal’s heart.
Koyal didn’t quite know where to look as, in a few quick, long strides, Atharv covered the distance from the door to the bed, leaned over Koyal and planted a kiss on Mansha’s cheek.
Why is that some moments, simple as they might seem in retrospect, have an air about them, such a magical, fuzzy, inexplicably intoxicating air that the mind begins to wander to places it should never think of revisiting?
For a brief moment, Atharv’s face was close enough for Koyal to feel his breath. Mint-fresh. Koyal inhaled and then stopped short. For Atharv was smelling of the hospital.
‘You didn’t go for the dinner then, did you?’ Mansha was asking Atharv.
‘How do you know that?’ Atharv looked genuinely surprised. ‘You little Sherlock!’
‘You smell of the hospital,’ Mansha replied, grinning.
‘Quite right, there was an emergency and I had to spend eight hours in the OT,’ he said. ‘Another time, maybe,’ he added, shrugging.
The relief that Koyal felt wash over her not only surprised her but also worried her.
Not your place, Koyal, not your place, she said to herself. He’ll hurt you again if you let him.
‘Daddy,’ came Mansha’s very awake voice, breaking Koyal’s line of thought.
‘What now?’ he said, turning around, pretending to be annoyed.
‘Please read to me?’ she asked, snuggling in closer to Koyal and grinning happily.
‘At two?’
‘Why not?’
