Hamesha, Yours!

-12-

His head blasted, his eyes burned unnecessarily. The past spilled over into the present and the future bit him back in the present-he was done from both sides. He was a mess but had to keep up for a better of someone who still lived on. He pressed against the cold glass wall, his hands shivering as he struggled to keep them inside in his deep pockets looking for his solitude that should be existing in there somewhere deep.

His struggle with his insides subsided as he felt Manik walk up to him. His eyes deepened back and he shot a glare at him, his eyes watering for reasons unknown.

"You know where she is?" Manik growled at him and held his collar tight with a small leap he took towards him.

"You wanna bet?" Harshad snapped back and clicked his tongue in his cheek. Manik narrowed his eyes at him and looked at him trying to decipher his loophole.

"Come on, Manik! I thought you loved bets!" Harshad chuckled, "A bet for the races? A bet about competitions? A bet for the firsts? A bet for friends? A bet about friends? A bet for life? So why not let's put a bet on her too?" Harshad laughed and stood there his eyes more watery than before. Manik left a heavy sigh and rolled his head in annoyance.

"Am I on your nerves?" Harshad asked excitedly, Manik blazed back at him. "That's so cute that I can still do that!"

"Spit it out, Harshad!" Manik spat.

"I have nothing to do with her." Harshad shrugged giving up on the fight, giving on himself. "Why would I hold on to such a commoner? Hell, I don't even know where and how she disappeared that day!"

"That stinks, Harshad!" Manik snickered. "For once, you should learn that you are a bad liar since childhood!"

"Oops! So should my pants be on fire?" Harshad jested.

"I know you know where she is!" Manik pressed.

Harshad gave him a contempt laugh, "And I know that you are trying to know that I know where she is and what she knows. But, you should know me well to know that I don't know what you know and what she knows?"

"What?" Manik jumbled at the sentence.

"Happy figuring that!" Harshad pulled away from his hold and patted him at his shoulder. "You'll soon know what I now know!"

-----

-Goa-

The evening sun mellowed into the clouds shedding its light all over in the living room. Nandini stared outside as the breeze caressed her face. A sudden bark brought her out of her blank observation of nature and she looked over at the "dog" who was willingly jumped at the window. His eyes glowed at the flying birds outside and the playful breeze that ruffled the leaves.

It wanted to be out, just like her.

It wanted to be free, let go its ties.

She bit over her lip and looked at her silent phone. She and this dog had no one else. They were alone perfectly undisturbed and happy in the solace and warmth of this house. It wasn't that this feeling of solitude was unwelcoming, she enjoyed the slowness of it. It was much better than her nights that haunted her. She liked evenings slightly more than night now, until the nights met a night with Abhi and Aryaman. She sighed at her thought- they were happy, they should be happy. They were free of her now, they were free of childish demands, of her burden. A sudden urge crawled in her and the dog's excitement or may be, a plea to be outside nudged her feeling a bit over. They were free and so was she.

"Oh okay!" she got and kept her book, "The Tale Of Two Cities", down.

It was weird Harshad had that in the house. Well, he had a mess of books- he had a book shelf to himself very contrary to what she knew about him. Was there more to him? May be, but who cared, for now when he wasn't here. She let go of her gaze on the book and her thoughts and got up straightening her crop top.