The Last Goodbye

Chapter 4

On the last day of November, when Simran made her way back into the college gates she found people to be dressed in a bit thicker clothes. Though the weather wasn't chilly ,being in Mumbai other than summers and Monsoons nothing was perfect weather. Winters were never winters and nor were the autumn and spring. It was either summer or the monsoons. There was nothing in between them.

Smiling at the watchman who had now begun to recognize her face she walked into the gates, the little haphazard moment at the stairs still surprised her as much as it did on the very first day of her college. Simran's phone buzzed in her hand as she reached the first floor, the corridor still a bit empty with the morning lectures still going on, she walked up to the window that overlooked the street of their college and then attended her phone.

"Hello." She whispered, her heart beating loudly.

"Simran, I want to meet you. This one last time please listen to me once and then you can decide what is it that you want to do. Please." The person on the other side pleaded. She didn't know what it was that she should do? Accept his apology and meet him and listen to him or let it slide by, focus on the things that were in her hand at the moment.

She found the later one to be more reasonable and said, "I am sorry, I have a busy day today. We have our meeting, and then lectures till evening."

"Evening... how about evening, even at night would work, I can come at your place for dinner."

Simran was about to reply to him when she felt herself being pushed into the window pane, "Hii simran!!" She recognized the voice very well and she cut off the call immediately, turning around and hugging her tightly. She needed this hug that would assure her that things would be alright.

"I missed you so much, whom were you talking with?' Divya asked as she let go of her. Simran studied her smiling face, she looked happy. She had seen different faces of Divya. The one who has been the strongest of all after Nandini. May be because she never let out her feelings to others, but she had seen the days when she would meet her out at the tea stalls with her shoulders slumped down,, but her smile...her smile had always been as bright as this one. There would be these other days when she would just come and hug her randomly because she needed it, or the times when Divya herself knew that something was wrong with her and she would come up to her, hug her and ask,

"Is everything okay?" just the way she did the moment she realized simran wasn't replying to her just yet.

"Yeahh, Where is the meeting?"

"Ohh I am yet to find a classroom, you wait here I will go and do that...or maybe you want to come along? Nandu is here in college itself."

Adjusting the strap of her bag, Simran's attention then went to her buzzing phone, she cancelled the call and said, "Yeahh I will come with you, I might be of some help." The two walked upstairs where Nandini was talking with one of the peons, more like laughing. Simran looked at Divya who excitedly waved at the two. It seemed she knew them.

The old man with specs who was seated on the chair looked at her with admiring eyes as the two conversed in Marathi, Divya kept on narrating how her diwali went off and asked him about his. A few moments later the old man stood up and made his way upstairs on the third floor. However making way to yet another floor with Nandini and Divya by her side wasn't that easy. People would come and meet them at each step, it was as if she was walking with two celebrities. Majority of them knew both Nandu and Divya, a few who were from the Degree section of their college seemed to know Divya only...and then there were some who knew only Nandini. It finally made Simran remember why she avoided walking with the two through the college lanes. They knew a lot of people and hence a walk of 10 min would somehow take up 30 min with them.