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‘I … I…’ Kimberly got up to leave but Koyal gently pulled her back.
The women stared at one another, not saying a word.
‘Don’t do this,’ Koyal final
ly said.
‘I don’t know what else to do…’ Kimberly said, shrugging her shoulders, ‘and you know what, I can’t have this conversation with you … This … this is madness … you and Atharv…’
Koyal stared at the woman looking helpless in front of her and something inside her gave way. In the crumpled mess that Kimberly was at the moment she recognized someone she knew.
‘I can’t be Nili,’ Koyal said and Kimberly looked up, puzzled.
I can’t be Nili. I cannot let another girl live without the love of her life. No, I cannot let that happen, no matter what it costs me.
Oddly, Koyal only felt a wave of sympathy surge through her.
‘I … I understand,’ she said, surprised at the words that were coming out of her.
‘You can’t. You have Atharv.’
‘I can. I did not always have Atharv,’ Koyal replied.
Kim was about to say something when Koyal raised a hand to shush her. Her brain was working fast, and within a matter of a few seconds, she knew she had made up her mind.
Koyal got up.
‘What are you going to do, Koyal?’ Kim asked looking up.
‘I think,’ said Koyal taking a deep breath, ‘I need to leave London, Kim, not you. I cannot come between you and Atharv.’ Kim stared at Koyal. ‘I wont be able to live with myself if I know that I have snatched someone else’s love. Someone did something similar to me and it took me a good ten years to get my life back in shape.’
The two women looked at one another.
‘Nili?’ Kim whispered and when Koyal avoided her eyes, she knew she had guessed right.
‘You and Atharv loved each other and Nili took him away. That’s why his eyes have looked so empty all these years,’ said Kim, thinking out loud. ‘Because he always loved you.’
‘I don’t know if he loved me.’
‘I know he loved you even when Atharv was married to Nili and he loves you now. I can see it.’
Koyal stared at her feet and Kim felt a weird tug at her heart. The clouds, gathering force in the last few weeks now parted, the sun shone finally and sense prevailed.
‘Oh, poor you,’ Kimberly said, hiding her face in her hands. ‘And what the hell was I about to do? You two deserve to be together, now after all these years.’
‘I can’t do to you what Nili did to me,’ Koyal said.
‘Hell, I cannot do you what Nili did to you!’ exclaimed Kimberly.
‘Kim…’
‘Koyal, no, I was wrong. I always knew Atharv loved you, and I still kept on trying.’
‘Atharv did not love me.’
‘He loved you, he loves you and he will keep on loving you, even if you leave and I end up being with him. So no, sorry, no thank you. I am not going to be that pathetic. I am just surprised I did not see this earlier.’
Koyal could only stare.
