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Her phone, lying a few feet away from her, rang and utter dread enveloped her.
Amit. In the middle of the night. Just like all those years ago.
Unimaginable fear began to tighten its grip around her throat. Flashes, in dark angry colours, came rushing to her in a powerful wave she could do nothing to stop.
The phone stopped ringing and Koyal slumped with relief.
And then, just as she was about to start breathing again, the phone began to ring again and in response, her body began to shake.
‘No,’ she hissed savagely to herself, ‘I will not let this happen. I will NOT be scared. I will NOT be scared.’ She reached out for the phone.
And then her eyes fell on the name flashing on the screen.
And the world paused.
She blinked.
Once, twice, a few times.
She stared open-mouthed at her phone. And then slowly this time, and from a different place inside her, the tears began to flow.
Relief, unimaginable and immense, flooded over her. For the name on the screen was not Amit.
Not horrible Amit.
For the first time in ten years, Atharv was calling her.
He knew – even though he did not, he knew.
Koyal picked up the phone and had to but hear Atharv’s ‘Koyal’, all concerned and considerate, for her to break into sobs that she thought would never end.
‘Oh gosh,’ she heard him say. ‘Hang in there, I am coming.’
And with that the line went dead.
Twenty minutes later, when the doorbell to her apartment rang, Koyal shot through her room, ran to the door, and just as she was about to open it, she stilled.
A moment of hesitation that evaporated the next instant.
Koyal opened the door; Atharv stood there, wearing a coat over pyjamas.
‘I…’ mumbled Koyal, shuffling and looking everywhere.
Atharv took in everything. The bloodshot, skittery eyes and the tear-stained face. Bravely soldiering on alone, but so very scared. Something about her plight made him see red.
‘I’m not going to put up with this nonsense for one more second,’ he snarled angrily, meaning every word. ‘Now come right here,’ he ordered, and opened his arms wide.
Koyal stood there, her hands by her sides, tears streaming down her face.
‘Come here.’
Koyal did not, could not, move.
‘Come here, Koyal.’
The tears gathered momentum and now burst forth with renewed vigour.
‘Damn you, Koyal Raje,’ Atharv mumbled angrily, took one long stride and the next instant had wrapped his arms around her in a firm embrace.
