Chennai Terminal || WLW Novel || Indian Sapphic

14. She had her shit, I had mine, we moved on

"Hello! I'm finally a fan" the phone shrieked. It was the Housefire girl.

"Thank you" I said calmly. "Why now?"

"Your comic! That was out a while back!" She said and my brain went "what? Oh." My hands just wanted to cut that phone then and there. The thought of me sitting and pulling out my hair, twisting my brain to come up with not just the plot, but basically the colour palette, styling, dialogues, jokes and arcs and executing them all single-handedly in a matter of 6 hours is almost traumatic. I tried to hire people in the past, but it almost never goes right if you have a very particular vision and idea. Listen kids, never make passion your job, that's all I'm saying. But, you know, also kinda make your passion a full-time job. Like y-you know, nevermind, you'll figure it out.

"So, Xiah and Marge huh? That's a risk." She goes on.

Nancy and Xiah were lovers who switched worlds everytime they kissed. The zombies, cyborgs, a black and white world, there's a strip where the people are dogs, stuffs like that.

I tried to give them a funny break so they get stuck on a weird planet until they kiss but at some point, maybe it's me, Nancy or Xiah, but it didn't feel right for them to end up together.

I gave Nancy a boyfriend in hopes Xiah would get jealous and they would become a couple again but the plot paved no way for it to happen. And last night, I thought it was finally time Xiah had a chance to move on. Maybe it was my lack of sleep, or the fact that my phone kept ringing, I decided to just take that risk and get off with this.

Xiah always had Marge as her childhood best friend, who had a crush on Xiah but still supported the couple, and I never realised how well they fit together.

"This is a huge risk but I like it" the voice on the phone continued. "That means a lot, thanks" I said.

"I'm glad I took this risk..." I said and there was breathing but silence, and then the line cut.

I heard there was a mini bar down the basement of the hall and I rushed as fast as I can. I waited too long for the elevator to arrive, and then just quit and took the stairs. As I rushed down the stairs with a little smirk, I locked eyes with someone who climbing up the stairs. I slowed down and my hands went to adjust my three-piece here and there and I stopped. It was Nayan.

She was wearing a Blue Saree with her hair chopped up into a pixie cut. Her eyes had lines beside them and she had a full makeup face on. She looked very much young still but someone watching us both would not assume we used to date.
She had cheekbones which, I could not tell if it was because of her age or because she maybe works out. She slowed down and finally stopped at the stairs too. She put a small smirk and her face showed tiny wrinkles here and there.

"If I'm not wrong, Are you maybe- Nayan?" I mumbled.

"I am. How are you? Didn't expect to see you here" she was loud with her hand gestures and a teethful smile.

"I'm doing good. Uh- how's- how's everything?" I asked.

"Nice. I- uh- run an organisation now- uh" she paused and looked around, "you used to be good at art right? Or is it the HR again?" She said and laughed.

"Oh, it used to be. Now I'm making art my full time." I said and smiled again. I was smiling, but it hurt. I imagined meeting her again a thousand times, and it was filled with love, joy and a cinematic plot probably. But this, didn't feel like love. If I met Shree or any of my classmates here, I would've reacted the same way. We were strangers.

I'm sure she was hurting too, not feeling anything towards me after all those memories.

Somebody yelled her name and she began to climb the stairs slowly. "Stay here. We should catch up. I'll come back." She said. And I waited, awkwardly for like 10 minutes and I just walked away to the mini bar.

I asked the bartender for something strong and he gave me it in a glass. I couldn't feel any kind of strongness from it, only the bitterness somehow. I hoped it made me pass out but it only made me nervous that the literal freaking Nayan was in the building and I was drinking. She would probably be relieved that she didn't end up with someone that would fucking drink. I threw the drink away and tightened my hands and legs as I sat in the corner.

--

It was raining. Heavily. I got home with my dad after getting seated into a very respectable and famous University for my post graduation. I worked so hard for months reading and I don't remember anything else from that section of my life. My mother gave me a bundle of sweet boxes and asked me to pass it on to the neighborhood. I rolled my pants up, had an umbrella on one hand and sweet boxes on the other as I hopped through the puddles to each home.

Every neighbour had something nice and appreciative to say, some patted me on the head, some fed me those sweets. In my last trip of the back and forth picking up of sweets, I noticed the final house that was purposefully the last for some apparent reason. I hesitated but I had to go. I walked down there with the water splashing as I step on the road each time and I reached.

I went inside and saw them with their welcoming frowns and sighs. I handed them the box of sweets like I just don't know why they're looking at me like that and subtly scanned their house. Nayan wasn't there. Her scooter, the frame of their marriage picture and random accessories of her, were all gone. It terrified me, maybe they murdered her. She did look like she was crying out for help and I ignored them.

As I slowly started to panic and step out of the house, I saw her coming down from top of the stairs. I put a small "oh" and calmed and went to climb the stairs to give her the sweets. "I'm- I got a seat for PG. It's- in Trichy." I slowly mumbled. I felt bad for her because she didn't have a job anymore and her married life didn't particularly seem exciting, but she said "Oh congrats! I got a job too. In Bangalore." And the heavy sound of the rain made me wonder if I heard it wrong and I nodded to see if that's what she meant and she nodded with a smile back.

"Oh my god congratulations" I screamed and my face glowed. It slightly pricked me that we won't be seeing each other anymore but whatever, I was over that movie like ending phase. And I think I was maybe dating someone at that point? I don't really remember.

And that was it, our love was over. She had her shit, I had mine, we both moved on. I think.