Mukundo hadn’t allowed himself to dream earlier. Even now he wanted to restrain himself. But it was futile. He could not help imagining his life with her by his side. To sleep with her in his arms. To wake up beside her. To go to work together, if she chose to work at the university. To travel all over the world together. And at the end of the day, to come back home. Together! He yearned for her like never before. He wanted to call her, but was afraid that he would catch her at the wrong time. And then it felt like she heard him from afar. His phone rang. It was her!

He didn’t realize when he drifted off to sleep. When he woke up in the middle of the night, the phone was still connected and he thought he could hear her soft breath from the other end. Grinning, he thought of disconnecting it, but then decided to let it be. This would be closest they could come to sleeping together until he was ready to reveal to all and get married.

—

“My phone was on roaming,” she was fretting the next day, “Imagine the bill–”

“Sit down and relax. Do the Maths. How many hours was it on for?”

“Ten?”

“Event at 2 Rs. A minute, that’s 1200 Rs. Even with your scholarship you can pay that. Don’t you have more money in your account?”

She flushed, “That doesn’t mean I should be wasting it.”

“But it wasn’t wasted, Piyali. I slept so much better knowing you were at the other end.”

That made her smile, “But if you intend to keep doing that, we better be on some unlimited plan.”

“Okay, Ma’am! Can we go outside now? I am bored of my confinement.”

“Let’s go,” she offered him her hand and he took it without hesitating.

—

Mohima heard their footsteps and removed herself from the way. She had noticed the awkwardness and furtive glances when she and Debangi had gatecrashed on Mukundo and Piyali the day before. So, when she had seen Piyali coming to the main house yesterday, she had not come in the way. She had seen them from afar as they had walk out to the garden together. She noticed the repeat performance today and was sure of what was going on. She need not be pushy and nosy any longer. But she was dying to talk to someone about it. Should she speak to Debangi? But perhaps it was too soon. In the unlikely case that she was wrong, it won’t be a good idea to raise the poor woman’s hopes. God only knew what her brooding son and Debangi’s strong headed daughter would finally decide. She decided to content herself for now by telling her husband all about it. He wasn’t good enough a talker, but he will have to do for now.

—

“You know, you are yet to explain to me some of the things I don’t understand about you,” Piyali said when they reached the garden.

“I know,” he smiled, and explained matter-of-factly, “I had a girlfriend. Ruchi. We were going steady for almost two years, when one fine day, she suddenly announced that she was getting married. To a boy her parents had chosen. Didn’t she love me? She did. Would she not think about me when she was with him? She would. But she would still marry him and not me? She would. Because she didn’t have it in her heart to go against her parent’s wishes. I was heart-broken. But more than that I knew that I didn’t want to be the guy she was marrying.”

“Let me guess. That’s why you made Kaki and Kaku promise that they wouldn’t force their choice on you.”

He nodded.

“Do you miss her?” she asked sincerely.

“It is surprising how much one can get over. No, I don’t. It didn’t take even a few months for me to leave it all behind. And I don’t think she thought of me for too long either.”

“But you still didn’t marry all these years.”

“It did become difficult to take relationships seriously. Until I realized that…”

“When did that happen?”

“What?”

“When did you realize that you liked me?”

He smiled, “When I saw you with a boyfriend for the first time.”

She looked embarrassed.

“I don’t think I ever had one worthy of your rivalry. My head was so messed up.”

“It was, wasn’t it? I wanted to stay away from you, Piyali. I was afraid of my feelings. But you were increasingly behaving so weirdly, so irresponsibly, that I found myself watching you even more closely than earlier. Why were you behaving like that? I had a feeling that I was the reason.”

“I couldn’t have articulated it back then. But my head was messed because I loved you and hated you at the same time. And I couldn’t make up my mind about what I really wanted between the two. It suffocated me at times.”

“I am so sorry.”

“I am talking because we have agreed to talk. But there can’t be any more of the apology business about it. Remember we were supposed to leave it behind?”

He stopped walking and turned towards her, smiling. “Yes, we were,” he said and pulled her close for a kiss.

“What else is remaining?” he asked after the kiss.

“What?” her head was foggy from his proximity.

“What else about me you didn’t understand?”

“I can’t remember anything now,” she said honestly.

“I do. The travel.”

“Yes. Why don’t you travel now?” she managed to ask, her breath barely in control.

“Because all my friends have either moved out of the city, or have married and settled down with a few kids. They don’t have enough time to travel with me. And I can’t do it alone. I look forward to traveling again though. With you.”

She didn’t reply and rested her head on Mukundo’s chest. He put his hands around her and pulled her closer.

—

To be continued