LOST

10. AADITYA

~ Aaditya ~

She was a mess.

When I saw her earlier in Nanu's room, I couldn't recognize her as the girl who'd come home rambling about her boss. That girl had class. She looked like she could knock down a dozen guys only with a flying kiss. But the girl in there was... broken. Her face had absolutely no glow and her skin was dusky. Her eyes had no spark and she had dark circles under them. Even then, so many things drew me closer to her.

Her innocence when she smiled the best smile I had seen in my entire life. Her acceptance when she saw herself in the mirror and loved herself despite all the physical flaws. Her voice when she spoke, that sent me into a beautiful world of memories.

She had changed completely, yet she seemed the unchanged to me.

Her room was even messier.

Starting from my right, there was a little round desk, and a chest of drawers, with papers coming out of it. The wall had hundreds of colorful notes stuck on it. Above it was a shelf that was tree-shaped, and books kept on it looked more like they were hanging on braches of the tree. There were a couple of portable trolleys with hangers full of clothes. A dressing table, more so a spring box, stood at the far corner, consisting of exactly five spring like things popping out of a carton-like structure. Each spring ended up filled with accessories. Bags, glasses, bangles, scarfs and anything else a girl could think of. Besides the dressing was a single door wardrobe, beneath which lay a long line of shoes, everything from heels to flats. On the ceiling was a wall mount LCD screen, which made my mouth fall open. The only thing that looked normal in the room was her queen sized bed occupied with a large number of cusions.

"What now?" she fumed. She was more annoyed than she was when she had entered the house.

"What's in there?" I pointed at the door behind her, just alongside her box of springs, where she was seated at the moment. She looked behind her shoulder and said, "See for yourself." With that she started applying something on her face.

I went across the room and stood in front of the door. I unlocked it.

"Fuck." I breathed out. That was awesome.

"Not again," she sighed. "Cut down on the word usage, please?"

I completely ignored her as I admired the beauty of that thing.

It was a small glass cabinet, with three glass walls from floor to ceiling looking out into the world. A wooden swing hung from the ceiling. The place was so small that it could stand only one person. That too, seated on the swing. I stepped into the cabinet and sat. That's when I noticed that even the base was made of glass. It was daunting but utterly breathtaking. The scene from there was beautiful. The trees and the bungalows and the roads and the traffic and the birds and the clear open sky.

It was all so fucking awesome.

"It's better in the night." She was standing behind me.

"I don't believe it. How do you think of all this stuff?"

"I like being creative. You have no idea how huge a fight I had with the township's head secretary for permitting me to have this place set up here!"

"This thing is worth it."

She hummed in response and leaned against the side wall. Her face was now covered in makeup, hiding all the darkness under her eyes.

"I don't let anyone in there, you know," she whispered, staring at the ceiling.

"That makes me special."

She took a sharp breath in, glanced once in my direction and steamed off. "I have to go."

I locked her secret cabinet and sprinted out to follow her. She was already gone through the elevator. I hurried down the stairs and caught up with her on time.

"You have a work voice." I said to get her attention.

She rolled her eyes at me and started walking.

"Want me to drive you?" I asked her.

"No, that's okay. I've called Chintu."

"Boyfriend?" I internally smacked myself for that.

"Cousin." She said it with more force than needed, glaring at me.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" I smacked myself again for blurting that out.

Her eyes widened. "No!" She yelled and stormed off. I wanted to follow her but just then my phone rang.

"Karan," I said, surprised.

"Sir, a particle with initial velocity v moves with constant acceleration in a straight line. What is the distance travelled in nth second?"

I recognized the question. It was from the practice sums I had given my students as homework.

"Distance travelled in nth second is equal to distance travelled in n second subtracted by distance travelled in (n-1) second. Here, distance travelled in n second will be replaced by the kinematic equation derived using a graph. I've explained it in class, do you remember?"

"The one with uniformly accelerated motion? Yes."

"Exactly that one."

"Sir, you're a genius! Thanks," he sounded pleased and disconnected the call.

I laughed and turned around to head back upstairs.

Lata Aunty informed me Nanu was in his room so I went in there and found him licking his chocolate coated fingers.

"You still love chocolate, don't you?"

"Mmm hmm..." He nodded as he moaned, taking another bite of the chocolate bar.

I chuckled and sat on the bed, right next to him. It had been so long since I met Nanu. I wanted to talk to him, tell him everything about my life, about Dad, about my feelings, about my passion. But I was still upset with him. And I had other matters to look into.

"How is she?" I asked Nanu earnestly and the playfulness on his face faded.

"You've met her. You can tell." Nanu had his guards up. He never did that with me. Instead he would always open up and let me into his heart. The distance that had taken birth between us hurt me.

"All I can tell is that she doesn't remember a thing."

"Because it's good this way. She's happy."

"Happy? Have you seen her? She's just living a lie, Nanu."

"Baccha, I don't want to talk about this. Please."

Somehow, his old face convinced me and I didn't prod him further.

"How have you been?" He asked me.

"Better than I thought I would be." I stared down at my hands, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, not wanting to be in the same space as Nanu.

So I got up and left, ignoring him calling me and asking me what was wrong.

For I didn't have the answer to his question.