Stars | completed

49. Star-Crossed Lovers

we are soulmates,
cursed with misfortune
in this lifetime;

how many more lives
do i have to endure
to finally be with you?

how many more deaths
do i have to suffer
to finally be yours?

–star-crossed lovers,
anonymous.

Author's PoV:

"Let's take a break," Aliya announced, determined, standing up from the couch after hours of meaningless discussions about how to reach Mukti and not coming up with anything intellectual enough to be called a plan.

Neither of them had the power to argue or resist going out for a while.

For only one evening, they had decided, they would forget all of their problems, live a little, breathe some fresh air and pretend to be reckless twenty year olds having the time of their lives in a foreign city instead of having to be careful adults shouldering responsibility of the fate of a lot of lives, constantly worrying who was going to play the dice of life and death next, something that no one but God alone should decide about.

~            ~

The wooden path ahead was glistening with golden and white fairy lights and battery-lit tea lighters enclosed in jar bottles, kept along the path.

"Do you think this will work?" Nandini's voice was laced with worry.

Manik delicately took her hand in his, entwining their fingers and bringing it up to kiss it gently. "Do you believe in magic?"

"Well, I and you are together after everything that happened," she looked up at him, as they walked up side by side, "So yes, I think I do believe in magic."

"Then have faith," he kissed the top of her head, "Everything will work out just the way it's supposed to."

"Mh-hmm," she buzzed back, "I hope."

~

When Aliya had suggested going out, she didn't exactly have another carnival in mind. To be fair, she didn't have anything else either, but spending time in an isolated carnival which could quite easily pass for a haunted house wasn't on the top of her mind. But the others were adamant they wanted to be there, in the glass mazes and perfectly still ferry wheels and take walks on the golden lit wooden pathways as if it was a portal to another world.

They hadn't originally planned upon coming here. When Navya and Cabir decided they wanted some time alone to talk about preponing their wedding due to the sudden pregnancy, the four of them decided to just drive around for an hour until they reached the carnival that had actually ended the previous day, but there were no labours and the equipment was still in it's place.

Aliya had imagined more of a playful evening with her friends, but when Manik and Nandini took their sweet time, slipping into a dream land, being left alone with Aryamman was the last thing she wanted.

Sitting in the chair before a gaming arcade, she brought out her phone, scolding on social media offline, despite being in a no-network zone. She paid zero attention to the man sitting in an adjacent chair beside her, not until he gave out a purposeful exasperated sigh.