Piyali woke up groggy. When she came to she was startled. Where was she? It took her a minute to identify Mukundo’s bedroom. With the recognition came the panic? How had she landed here? She couldn’t remember anything of the last night at all. What had happened? She jumped out of the bed. But felt dizzy and had to sit back. After a while she slowly lifted herself and carefully walked towards the door. From there she spotted Mukundo sitting on his couch and sipping tea.

He noticed her and stood up abruptly. He looked uncomfortable as he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“How did I… Why am I here? What happened?”

“You were too drunk.”

“Drunk?”

“I, perhaps, don’t have the right to lecture you, Piyali. I had been telling you all these months that you need to go out and all. But it doesn’t mean that the first party you land in, you get yourself pitch drunk like this. You don’t remember anything, do you?”

“But I never touched alcohol!”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I swear, Mukundo Babu. I had only taken some juice. I was too nervous to try anything fancy.”

“Holy cow!” Mukundo came up to her, “Did someone spike your drink?”

“There were so many people. And I did go to bathroom once leaving my glass behind. I don’t know… I can’t remember anything. I–”

“Calm down,” he put his hand on her shoulder, “You are safe. It’s over.”

“How did you find me?”

“I… just… I didn’t have anything to do. So I thought I would swing by. Thankfully I reached in time.” Mukundo shuddered inwardly thinking of the man who was trying to molest her last night. But he decided not to worry her with that just now. The disaster was averted.

After a moment of awkward silence, he said, “Why don’t you wash up? I will get you some tea. You will feel better.”

She nodded and before heading to the bathroom told him a small voice, “Thank you, Mukundo Babu.”

She splashed water on her face and then looked around. She had been to his house only about twice before. They usually met at Aporna’s place. And then to come back in such circumstances! She lingered a little longer than needed in the bathroom to let the blush fade away.

—

Along with tea, Mukunod had also made some eggs. The smell made her realize that she was famished and she gobbled them hungrily. After a few bites, she felt satiated and was in a position to eat slowly and talk.

“You came to meet me yesterday,” she started the conversation both of them really wanted to have.

He gave a small smile, “You must already know why. I had come to apologize.”

“You don’t need to–”

“You were right, of course. But even if I didn’t believe you, I had no reason to be so hurtful.”

“You were caught unawares. You were shocked.”

“Do you forgive me then?”

“Do you forgive me?” she asked back.

“You were trying to save me, Piyali. Why should you ask for forgiveness?”

“I hurt you and I couldn’t really save you.”

“At least I didn’t spend on the ring,” he tried to smile.

“You didn’t propose?”

“Despite my disbelief, I had grown wary. I almost proposed, but without the ring. Anyway. What would you do with gory details.”

“You don’t need to recount bad memories.”

“Right. Thanks.”

“And thank you so much for rescuing me last night, Mukundo Babu. I have no clue what happened.”

“Don’t think about it. Just rest today and recover.”

“I need to go home.”

“I will drop you.”

She went to the kitchen and washed her dishes. She picked up her handbag to leave and habitually took out her mobile to check for any messages.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed.

“What happened?”

“There are like a hundred calls from Shahid.”

“The guy you had gone with?”

She was surprised. How did he know? Did he remember a fragment of overheard phone conversation? Outwardly she just nodded and said, “My phone was silent for some reason.”

The she dialed Shahid back.

“No… No… Calm down. You haven’t gone to cops yet, right? Good… Just wait. I will reach home in ten minutes… I will explain everything…. Yes, yes… Be there…”

“He was worried?” Mukundo asked after she disconnected the call.

“He was frantic. He looked for me everywhere. Went to my home and was planning to go to the cops. I need to meet him at my home now.”

“Let’s go.”

—

Shahid was a Ph. D. student, Mukundo found out, when he met him at Piyali’s place. He took one of Piyali’s tutorials. He was also from Kolkata and that’s how he and Piyali started talking and became friends. His distress was genuine and Mukundo was satisfied that he was not responsible for Piyali’s condition last night.

“I will not leave you alone in a party ever again,” he said.

“I will not go to a party ever again,” Piyali replied.

“That’s little extreme, Piyali,” Mukundo interjected, “I know you are scared right now. But you just need to be careful. You can’t lock yourself up in your room because of what someone else did.”

“Exactly!” Shahid concurred.

Mukundo then left them to talk and took his leave.

—

Mukundo resented Piyali and himself by turn. She seemed to have too many friends all of sudden, too many activities on her plate. She didn’t have much time for him. Then he remembered that he was the one who had encouraged her to go out, to make friends and to not remain confined in her little cocoon. And she, perhaps, wasn’t even overdoing it. Whatever time Piyali had for him had been more than sufficient when his life had revolved around Aporna. He had grown so secure in his relationship that he wasn’t prepared for a life without her. He had no regular get-together with his other friends, no regular social engagements. Planning the time when he was not working was an effort and it depressed him. If only there was another default option. That’s when he wanted to reach out to Piyali, but found her busy with her own friends and engagements. And far too often he spotted Shahid around her.

—

To be continued