Amidst A Thousand Suns

~epilogue~

One month later.

~~~

Anamika wiped the clear sheen of sweat that had formed on her forehead.

Although the weather was always pleasant in Mussoorie, Anamika's frail hands that had carried all the luggage and possessions she had ever owned into her old room in her old house, was quite tiresome and was bound to bring sweat with it. On top of that, Tuffy's constant barking did not make it easy for her patience, which was slowly ebbing away.

'Good thing I left him with my parents or else he would have created a ruckus here!', she thought.

And on top of it, her Brave heart had decided that despite of the tiresome journey from her former home to her old home in Mussoorie, she will climb all the way up to the old town bookstore with almost a dozen of her previously owned books and novels in intension of a generous donation to the said library for the townsfolk.

She kicked open the door of the library and it rang a familiar jingle.
The stern owner looked at her through narrow eyes but she dodged his look by completely ignoring him.
After keeping the heavy box of books on one the tables at the far end of the bookstore, Anamika fanned her hot and sweaty face with the thin end of her cotton saree.

In a mechanical sort of way, she picked up books from the box one by one and started placing it randomly on any shelf that provided her the space to keep it.

She was taken by shock as her phone rang suddenly.

"Shh!", the old receptionist warned and Anamika rolled her eyes.
Even after so many years, some things never change.

It was a call from Alfaaz.

She rushed out of the store before the old man could scold her and picked up the call.

"Hello?", she answered when she was finally out in the warm sun.

"Hello aunty.", his voice sounded tired; like happiness was forced upon him when he clearly was exhausted.

No one can blame him for having such a mood after what happened.

"Yeah, beta. How are you?"

"I am fine, aunty. Thank you. Uhh... actually mom asked me to call you that if you has settled down, and if you need anything, we are here to help you."; his voice was undoubtedly mechanical.

"Oh, please convey my word of thanks to her and tell her that I have arrived just a day earlier, so it may take a few days for me to settle into this environment, and if I will need anything, I will surely contact you first."

"Okay...", he trailed from the other hand.

"Hey, umm...Alfaaz, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"Did you receive any word from the University of Germany that you applied for? You mother was talking about it..."

"Yeah! I...I got accepted into it-"

"Oh, wow! That's great! Congratulations!", she interrupted.

"Yeah, thank you so much, aunty. We are almost done with the paperwork and my bags are also ready. And yeah, I mean, I have a flight to Germany in almost two weeks and all the things are so hectic right now."

"That's great, beta. I have seen you sing and play your guitar so beautifully that I know you will do great in that university! And besides that, music has always been your subject of interest!", she tried to sound cheerful but what came out was strained, pretended enthusiasm.