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‘They say,’ Koyal said, ‘that those you love and those who love you never really leave your side.’
‘Does that apply to friendship too?’ he asked. ‘Because I can think of one friend who did leave my side,’ he said, looking at her meaningfully.
In the middle of a noisy auditorium consisting of excited parents cheering for their children, Koyal and Atharv sat, wrapped in silence that belonged to another world.
‘Do you know what was very hard for me?’ he said finally and she looked up at him.
‘To suddenly not be able to talk to someone you are used to talking to each day,’ he said slowly. Koyal didn’t know if he was talking about Nili or her.
The theatre erupted in applause as the dance finished, but Koyal and Atharv did not hear a sound.
‘Koyal,’ he said, leaning closer, and Koyal could feel her senses fill with his smell – a bit of wood, a bit of hospital, a bit of wealth, a bit of heart. ‘Why?’
She looked blankly at him.
‘Why did you leave me?’
There was something about the way Atharv s
aid this that tore Koyal’s heart to shreds.
‘I am sorry, Atharv,’ she said, tearing up and finally saying what she had been thinking of for the longest time. ‘I am so, so, so sorry, Atharv.’
Atharv pulled Koyal into a fierce hug just as the audience got to their feet to give a standing ovation to the little performers.
‘You will never tell me, will you?’ he asked, his face buried in her hair.
She shook her head.
I can’t, Atharv, I can’t.
‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled again just as the tears came on in full force and rendered any further speech impossible.
Atharv wrapped his arms even more tightly around her waist.
And for one mad minute, Koyal allowed herself to imagine that this was not a friend hugging her. Instead, this was Atharv, the imaginary Atharv who was madly in love with her, hugging her.
And for that one mad minute the world became more beautiful than it had ever been.
‘Ughh,’ the woman standing behind them whispered to her husband. ‘I am sure their child perfomed well, but to burst into tears like that is a bit much, isn’t it?’
‘Dear, I don’t think this has anything to do with the perfomance,’ replied the husband. ‘I think they just need to get a room.’
The two of them giggled like schoolgirls.
The two they were laughing at stood like that, arms wrapped around each other, for an eternity, in an ocean of excited, noisy parents.
36
Surya and Hema were sitting in the Jayakrishnas’ living room when Koyal, Atharv and Mansha trooped in, excited and full of chatter.
Mansha, still dressed in her tutu, was holding on to a huge bunch of colourful balloons and had the widest grin plastered across her face. She chattered nonstop to the two older ladies, telling them all about her performance. Atharv and Koyal hovered in the background, stealing glances at each other and smiling.
‘Time for bed now?’ Surya Aunty said to Mansha, looking pointedly at the clock.
‘Can I put her to bed?’ Koyal asked hesitatingly.
‘Yes, sure,’ Surya Aunty said slowly, thoughtfully.
