Secrets And Lies [Completed]

07. back to delmore

Song of the chapter is
I Found by Amber Run

-07-
-Himanshu Arora-
-Present-

_______________

Delmore, Goa
11 November, 2030
6:18 pm

As I stood in front of my old house, a surge of wistfulness rushed over me.

The white porcelain texture had now been reduced to a pale yellow, with cracks and shafts in some corners. The old beige sapele door stood in an untouched glory, the little engravings on it still visible. The small porch had now been covered with the plants that my mom had planted over the years.

Everything was old, yet still the same.

"Babe, are you sure we couldn't have stayed at a hotel or an inn or something?" Dhrashti's voice echoed behind me as she pulled her pink chanel bag out of the dicky.

I turned to look at her as she came and stood beside me.

"I mean, I really don't want to cause any trouble for your parents. You know they are old." She uttered, but I knew that it was mainly because of the exiguity of my house. I didn't blame her. She had grown up in a lavish mansion, with thirty people always at her beck and call. She didn't exactly like houses that were smaller than her bedroom at her parents' villa.

"I'm sure it won't be a problem for them." I said, assuring her. "Plus, they are incredibly fond of you. I'm sure they'll love spending time with you."

She gave me a plastic smile and I returned a genuine one. Ngl, I was kind of enjoying annoying her for a change.

My parents greeted us at the door as we walked up the porch steps. After all the pleasantries and sweet smiles, we finally got to settle down for a bit.

Stepping into my old room, I felt a resurgence of a familiar nostalgia. Everything was still the same as I had left them. My Nirvana posters, the black and white pictures of every famous author that had graced my book shelf, my small typewriter that I had bought with all of my savings --- everything was the same.

I almost smiled to myself.

As I sauntered through the room, my eye caught sight of a familiar picture on one of the walls. As I walked up to it, I realised it was an old polaroid picture.

I pulled on it slightly and extracted it from the wall. The ridges of the photo were a little yellow now and there were slight creases on it as well.

However, one thing was still the same.

Our smiles.

It was polaroid of the six of us.

My smile faltered as I softly grazed my fingers over the picture. Saina stood next to Zizi, with her arms around her shoulder while Kartik and Siya stood next to them, their eyes trained on each other rather than the camera. I had a huge smile on my face, with my two fingers up, making a peace sign.