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‘Yay!’ squealed Mansha and extended an arm towards Koyal.
‘I’ll come too,’ Atharv mumbled and followed the girls after bidding a polite goodbye to Hema.
For a few minutes after the three of them had gone, neither Hema nor Surya spoke.
‘Are you thinking what I am thinking?’ asked Hema, her brow furrowed.
Surya looked at her friend, still lost in thought.
‘Hema,’ she said, ‘when you called me late that night, and told me about the girl who had collapsed at the party and was mumbling Atharv’s name…’
‘And you asked me straight away if the girl’s name was Koyal and I was stunned.’
‘Yes.’
‘At the party they had behaved like strangers. And then when I found Koyal semi-conscious and mumbling Atharv’s name, I was shocked…’ Hema said.
‘Weird, isn’t it?’ Surya mused. ‘That night, Hema, I couldn’t sleep.’
‘I am not surprised.’
‘And you remember the next day I called you, told you about their history and said we had to do what we could to get them at least talking to each other.’
Hema smiled mischievously.
‘Of course! That is why I kept on telling Koyal she just had to go and thank Atharv for helping with the hospital admits.’
‘I know. Had you not chased that the way you did, I don’t think Koyal would have reached out to Atharv.’
‘I think she would have just fled the country.’
Surya nodded, smiling. Hema might be joking, but she was probably closer to the truth than she realized.
‘And then that little plan, where I kept a tab on when she went looking for Atharv and I immediately told you,’ Hema said, eyes gleaming.
‘And I called Atharv and made sure he went to reception while I was on the phone with him.’
Hema laughed. ‘And then I imagine you pretended to recognize the voice in the background.’
Surya allowed herself a little giggle. ‘I half suspect Atharv knows what we did, but yes, that is exactly what happened. I told him that I could recognize the voice and was it Koyal and forced him into handing the phone over to Koyal.’
‘We are such crafty women!’ Hema hooted with laughter, but stopped when she saw that her friend was now looking very serious.
‘What’s wrong, Surya?’ Hema asked, putting a hand on Surya’s.
‘Hema, when you told me about Koyal that night, you saw how my first question was whether the girl was called Koyal?
‘Yes, it intrigued me. You were expecting her to come back into Atharv’s life?’
‘No, someone else was,’ Surya said quietly.
‘What do you mean? Who?’
‘Nili’s mother.’
‘What?’
‘Yes,’ said Surya. ‘Since Nili left us, her mother would call me every few months with the same question.’
