Hamesha, Yours!

-33-

They ran down the shopping streets, lurked around candy shops devouring some like kids. They entered karaokes and sang openly, Nandini still keeping herself limited to soft clicks and melodies as singing still pinched her than scarring her. They roamed around the beauty of botanical gardens, open farms where she memorized tree-climbing skills and fruit picking, and sat in coolness of the sea-side. Their spree ended with light talks making each other known of their favorites and their impressions about fun. Their talks weren't about the past or of the present or future. Their talks didn't reach into the depths of them either, they were random silly talks and moments about how they spent time in the present. It was truly how they lived life in the moment- not worrying about where they would be in the next. But, it all had to come to an end, their moments of pure childish bliss had to face reality and the time had to move on. 

"So you head home now!" He looked at the drooping sun and threw her the car keys lightly. 

She caught them with a curious look and saw him fiddling with a glossy white rectangular paper. 

"How's that me only? Are you planning to fly back home!" she quizzed comically. 

"Well..." he paused and looked at her, "You could say something like that."

"What is your filth planning?" Nandini doubted. 

"You go back home. I have somewhere to be, Nandini." he clarified, "I have stuff to do. You have things to take care of. Things that I care about, may be out my selfishness but I do. For you to take care of them, I have to go on. I have to fly away. "

"So today?" she questioned, her eyes watered. This was another cue for a bye. This was yet another bye of a person who she started to care about, fall for as a friend. He meant something to her. Though she hated her for what he did, he was still a part of her stories- the story of her better and worse. He was a contradiction but a part of her contradictions too. 

"That was your thing to kick me off! How rude of you Harshad!" she put up a brave face and huffed dramatically crossing her arms around herself. It was a small self-hug, self-comfort as she faced another bye. This difference being this would be a bye without tears. 

"I know but it's not right for you to be here, around me. You don't know, I'm a mess and if you have to move on, then go away! I could only push you back into dungeons, Nandini. Band of Brothers went down this way, history is gonna repeat. Life is a cycle and you being on a tangent is the safest." He sighed and made her wear her bag around her and secured the keys he had thrown to her in her fist. 

"Go and take care! You'll find love, always, just not until Band of Brothers is around! Keep this number for those days but remember it may need someone too!"

Nandini stood flabbergasted and tongue tied at the sudden grimace in which his voice drenched her. She folded the number in the pocket, asked no more and wrapped herself around him in a warm, friendly embrace. 

"Take care. I'll call." She muttered lowly assuming the number was his and this friendship was to last. 

She believed still.

----

-Goa: Harshad's House-

Nandini reached home an hour later after their day's solemn end. She flicked open the lights of the house to find it lying there relaxed from their yesterday night's indoor-camping, that was what he wanted to do outside. She kept the keys on the treasure chest near the door and absentmindedly went to his room. The light poured in, highlighting the room's emptiness. He had pre-planned it. He knew it all and yet kept it under wraps. There wasn't a sign of his belongings, not a hope that her friend would come back for his forgotten phone charger or file. It was all gone. All too secretively gone.