People often have a goal that define their lives. But for Piyali, it felt like her life was defined by her resentment towards Mukundo for that one stray statement. When Mukundo left after that clarification and unconditional apology, Piyali felt like her life was a balloon which had suddenly deflated. Was it that simple? That she should bring it up once and he will immediately apologize without trying to deny or justify his actions? She screamed her lungs out in frustration. Thankfully, her new flat mates were not in.

—

“No. No. You must tell him yourself,” Mohima barged into Mukundo’s room while speaking into her mobile, “Here Mukundo! Listen to the news.” She offered the phone to him.

“Who is it, Ma?”

“Piyali!”

Mukundo’s heart stopped for a moment. It had been over a month since he had left her at her apartment in Delhi. He hadn’t spoken to her since then. His ears strained to get any news he could from his parents. And now Mohima was thrusting a phone at him with Piyali at the other end. It took some effort to keep his hands steady and his facial expression normal as he took the phone from his mother.

“Hello!”

There was silence for a moment, then that familiar voice sounded in his ears, “Hello, Mukundo Babu. Are you doing fine?”

“Yes, yes. I am doing very well. What is the news?” He replied and wondered if in trying to sound normal to his mother, he had been extra-loud.

“Is Kaki there?”

“Yes.”

She sighed, then added, “I have gotten a scholarship. Just got the email. It covers the tuition fees and some more for other expenses.”

“That’s wonderful. Congratulations, Piyali,” and his next words were not deliberate or thought out, “Not that I am surprised. You will achieve more and go to places.”

She spoke after another moment of silence, “I would like to speak to you. Later.”

“Sure. Of course. I will call you?” Did he sound too eager?

“Yes. Please!”

Mukundo called her immediately after Mohima left. She was hesitant, could not talk much and finally blurted a request for him to come to Delhi to meet her.

“It’s still several months to the holidays when I can come home,” she added by way of explanation.

Mukundo assured her that he would come that very weekend. At home, he made up an excuse of a conference he had to attend in Delhi and took the first flight out on Saturday.

—

He was at her apartment by breakfast time. Her flat mates were still asleep. There was quiet all around. She had cooked for him.

“You didn’t need to cook. So much work, this early in the morning.”

She shrugged, “I felt like eating something good myself.”

Food was to Mukundo’s liking. All these years of helping Mohima in kitchen showed. They ate in silence. After finishing he complemented her on her cooking skills. She responded with only a nervous smile.

After the plates were cleared they came back to her room. Piyali looked fidgety, so Mukundo started the conversation and came straight to the point.

“Are you all right? Why am I here?”

“I am fine. I am completely fine, Mukundo Babu. I asked you to come… It was weird, but I thought that given how much you have done for me already, you wouldn’t mind one trip.”

“I don’t mind, Piyali. But you are making me nervous by beating around the bush. What is it?”

She met his eyes intermittently as she spoke, “All these years, I have resented you for what you said on that day. It came in the way of how grateful I always felt, because since then you have been nothing but kind to me and my family. I behaved towards you in ways I shouldn’t have. I don’t know if it mattered enough for you to resent me. Perhaps not. But it kept tearing me apart. The more time passed, the worse I felt. And I felt the need to run away. I don’t want to live like that. And I realize that I don’t have to. I just need to apologize to you and earn your forgiveness. I…”

She ran out of things to say and they looked at each other in stunned silence for a few moments, before he came forward, cupped her face in his hands, murmuring ‘Oh, Piyali!’ and the very next moment pulled her in a hug, one of his hands protectively pushing her head into his chest.

Piyali stiffened in surprise at first, but quickly relaxed and reciprocated.

He continued to hold her by her arms even after breaking the hug, “You don’t have to apologize, Piyali. You don’t have to earn forgiveness. I have to. You were a child. I was the one who knew what I had done. It was bad enough that I never came forward to clear the air and apologize. What is worse is that I never thought about how much harm I had done to you. I have apologized, but I know that it is not enough. If it takes all my life–”

“Mukundo Babu! Stop.” He did. “You are over-reacting. I was childish. I should never have–”

“No. You don’t understand how important this is! How important you are! How much I care! More than–” he stopped suddenly and bit his lips. He could have revealed more than he should. But he had said a few things, and he needed to close it, “You may not have realized, but I care for you, Piyali.”

She didn’t cry, but Mukundo could see that she was choking. Although he wanted to hold her and assure her that everything was all right, he was afraid of his own heightened emotions now. So, he asked, “Do you need a moment?”

She nodded.

He left the room and decided to wait in the hall. Her flat mates were still enjoying their Saturday morning sleep; so thankfully it wasn’t awkward.

She came out after a while, her face washed, and sat down beside him. “Can we leave this behind us?” she asked.

“Yes. Provided you can tell me honestly that you are no longer worried about or affected by any of this.”

“I am not, Mukundo Babu. Thank you so much. For putting up with all this.”

“You just said we are leaving this behind, didn’t you?”

She finally smiled and said, “Yes!”

They sat in silence for a while, then Mukundo asked, “Do you want to rest now?”

“Till when are you here?” she asked in return.

“I am yet to book the ticket. But I have lied at home and said that I have come for a conference. Else they would have worried about you. So, to keep that up, I will return tomorrow.”

She found that funny and chuckled, “You lied?”

He shrugged.

“If you are staying, there is a concert today. I have bought two tickets…”

That offering lifted any remaining traces of gloom off him. She had planned for a reconciliation!

“That sounds great,” he said sincerely.

He hadn’t yet been to his hotel. It was decided that he would go there, take rest and then pick her up in the evening for the concert.

“Oh! And there is stuff for you in the car downstairs. Kaki and Ma each had a bag to send. I will bring it up.”

“I will come with you.”

—

To be continued