It's Complicated

Chapter 2: The Marine Drive

After we were done with our visit to the almighty, we were in the taxi on our way to Marine Drive. The silence of the 3 am road away from the flock of visitors was music to my ears. I told Ashwin to lower the volume of the music he was playing and saw him obediently listen to me without a cringe on his face. My mind was taking in the peace as my eyes closed steadily and it started raining heavily.

We reached the smooth wet road of the town beside the Arabian Sea. As I stepped down the taxi, cold air caressed my body, making me stretch out all the exhaustion of the night.

"Let's take some pictures!" I said and brought out my phone from my purse. Tina posed with her brother and I clicked the duo. Then Ashwin brought out his phone from his pocket and started clicking his sister. She stuck out her tongue, made a peace sign, and winked at the camera. I wished I was goofy enough to do that with this confidence.

Then he turned towards me and I tried posing with my hand on my waist, not understanding at what angle to keep my neck, and felt my body stiffen, "I am so bad at posing!" I stood there awkwardly.

"Hanish! Come on," he told him to pose with me.

Hanish walked up to me all excited. We wrapped our arms behind each other and they started teasing us, "Wow, such a nice pose!" Tina said and Ashwin grinned.

I rolled my eyes mentally when I realized that Hanish was looking at me.

"Anika, you too look at him!" Ashwin commented but I did not want to give that couple pose with Hanish. So, I looked at Hanish for a second and then looked away. It made my heart uncomfortable and an unknown fear pinched me from within. At once, I smiled at the camera left Hanish, and quickly walked up to Tina, "Show!" I took the phone and realized how much weight I had gained in the past month, "I need to resume my yoga!" I said to no one in particular and silently ambled ahead.

We started walking towards the coast and settled on the stone benches. We remained silent in the company of each other as some people passed by. It was still dark and only a few vehicles broke the silence. My eyes darted towards Ashwin every now and then. I wished for him to sit beside me, talk to me about life but he was busy murmuring to his sister. They seem quite close and keep talking about their families, work, and friends. I let out a deep sigh understanding that he is not only not interested in me but he would not think of me in that sense since his best friend still harbors feelings for me. And as per bro-code, he will not break that. I looked at Hanish sitting beside me and rolled my eyes. I am done with him, how lost he is all the time, a big question mark on his face.

"Why are you so expressionless all the time?" I asked Hanish.

He shrugged and said, "So do you expect me to keep smiling like an idiot?"

"No, but some emotion is visible on everyone's face," I paused as he tried to understand what I was saying, "Okay tell me, what were you thinking right now?"

He thought for a second, his eyes looking up as he said, "That...we had such a clear view of God and he will keep us happy and safe."

"Means you were thinking something positive, you were happy, right?" I asked him a bit annoyed when I saw from the corner of my eyes Ashwin's attention turn to us. He captured the conversation turning serious but I didn't want to create a scene in front of him. So, I forced a smile at Hanish.

Again, he just shrugged matter of factly and my gut started boiling. Taking in a deep breath, controlling my burning blood due to the four eyes observing us, I said very softly with a forced smile, "So, when you are thinking about something positive, there could be a bit of a shine on your face rather than looking so dull," making sure they did not hear us.