From T to A in 16 Days

Epilogue

Hrithvik pov 

I stood before at the entrance of the café, still wondering how I got talked into it. Ankur had stated that I should do it, and gave just one reason in his support. That if Tisha and I broke up mutually, then I shouldn't be scared of meeting her, even after a few years. I agreed, just like that. He didn't even have to pressurize me, I guess I did want to meet her, look what time had done to her. Also, if things did turn awkward (which was definite) I could just leave with the excuse of an important call. There wasn't anything that could go wrong. 

I chanted the sentence as a mantra before entering the meeting place. I noticed Ankur's slight wave, the occupant on his side with her back towards me. Ankur told her something, maybe announced my presence (he definitely did that only) as he stood from his seat to greet me. The first thing that came to my mind was that she would be sitting across from me, but I guess (actually consoled myself) that it was better than sitting on her side. Tisha greeted me before I sat, and the only way to describe the visible change in her was that she had matured. Her expressions during the brief interaction conveyed that her confidence had grown quite a lot.  

As I read the menu, I felt a pair of eyes on myself. The ones that belonged to the one occupying the seat across me. Maybe she was observing how much I had changed, or comparing me to my past self, like I did. I was expecting a comment on my hair colour, but wasn't surprised at the silence. We weren't close enough for her to say bad about it, and praising it would be outright lying. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* 

It was going good, surely there were times when I felt left out because Ankur and Tisha were on a topic which I knew nothing about and I was pretty sure it must have happened with Tisha too, but overall Ankur deserved credit for choosing most of the topics which we (or he and Tisha) hadn't talked about. But all good things come to an end. And this end came when Ankur received a call and he had to step out to take it, leaving me and Tisha alone. The conversation came to a halt, leaving the awkwardness I feared in its tracks. 

"So, what made you come here?"
"Excuse me." She looked somewhat confused, offended and a little bit startled (though I could be wrong with the last one.) 
"I meant how did Ankur convince you to join him here, with me. Surely you were told that I would be coming here too." 
"Why would Ankur need to do something to convince me?" She let out a small laugh. " And of course, I knew you would be coming. Why do you think I wouldn't be willing to meet you?" 
"Maybe because we still are exes, right?" 
"We dated years ago, Hrithvik. Why do you think I would be affected by your presence now? Wait, are you feeling uncomfortable in my presence?" She raised her eyebrow with the question. It was a challenge. 
"Years and not decades Tisha. Also, I am not uncomfortable in your presence (lie), it's just that I have friends who still feel awkward holding a conversation with their exes. So I thought that maybe you wouldn't wish to come here after knowing about my involvement. Because when Ankur told me that he had invited you, I thought he was joking for some good minutes." 
"Maybe those friends of yours didn't have a mutual break-up. We were together for what, sixteen days ." she sipped her coffee after her statement. "But I get your point, I should be unconformable in the presence of the  man who called me names for some reason like pricing himself 'cool'."
"I never called you names Tisha.'
"But you didn't try to stop them either. You actually laughed at every cheap comment about my body, my personality, my character.

The brief chat was followed by a much less bearable silence, amid which Ankur came, excused himself due to some emergency and left. The table went silent again as we (or only I) processed the fact Ankur's departure meant one or both of us would be leaving soon too, it wasn't like we had tons of topics to catch up on.

"Why did you break up with me?" 
"This question doesn't matter now Hrithvik." 
"It does. You confessed that we broke up mutually. Everyone who knew about us knows my reason, what was yours, no one knows the reason for your decision." 
"Maybe someone does. Maybe I realized that I wasn't ready for another relationship, or maybe I realized that you weren't that much invested as you showed to others. Maybe I actually noticed the signs that I skipped the first time, and wanted to avoid another heartbreak, or maybe someone else had caught my eye. There are so many possibilities Hrithvik." 
"The last one could be struck off. You were single for a long time after we parted. One less possibility to think about. How about you make it easy for me and give a proper answer." 
"Maybe I would have given that to you if you asked for it a few years earlier. I am not answerable to you Hrithvik. Or why don't you first provide both of us the answer to your silence when I was mocked. Actually you were right this whole time, if Ankur didn't force me to come here, I shouldn't join you."

She signaled the waiter and asked him for the bill wanting to split it up. I declined, reminding her that I owed her as she paid the last time she dined. She seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding and leaving after pushing her chair back to its original place. 

There was a possibility that I never considered, but was afraid now that it turned true. The lady, even after everything that happened between us (in the past and now again), still managed to play with the strings of my heart.