Besabriyaan

Chapter 61

N A N D I N I

I had seen beauty, and things quite opposite to it a number of times. I saw them so often that when summer broke over my skin, I remembered winter. But now as the winter was finally over, I was able to paint that self-portrait who was no longer sleeping on that winter field or the girl who was bleeding into a plaster or eaten by vultures. I saw a woman who was smiling warmly under the bright sun, lost in a sunflower field and it felt nice to finally say that... the woman was me.

"It's nice." Aryaman smiled placing the huge mugs of lattes on the coffee table of this hotel cafeteria.

Awoke from my reverie, I blinked once. "What is?"

"Seeing you smile for a change." I could see half of his eyes as his lips hugged the hot cup.

"I plan on doing it more often now." I curved my lips to a smirk, holding the mug closer to my mouth.

"Then do it properly. Smile like you really mean it." His and my equations slightly changed and there was no denying it. He was one of those persons who just being around made me instantly feel secure and happy and I needed that.

"Eeeee" I flashed all thirty-twos and after a short grin, he rolled his eyes.

"Now, you are plain embarrassing us in public." And, for some reason unknown that made me laugh a little harder. I needed that too.

Some soft ballad started playing in the stereos and he, unmindfully, drew lines on the wooden table and in an awkward moment of silence, I decided to take another sip.

It had been sometime that none of us spoke a word, so I decided to go first. "I forgave Manik."

His eyes..for a second, they froze at his fingers before he carefully dragged them up to me and they hid something which I could not quite tell. It was strange considering how readable his eyes had always been to me but not today.

After a careful study of my face, he invited a soft, undecided smile upon his face. "Good for you." Then, he looked down again. "Good for you both, actually. You needed to unload the gun before anymore bullet was fired."

The beautiful lyrics played through the speakers and I turned my face to the window and watched how the raindrops immersed themselves in the depth of the pool. Reading my face for a while, Aryaman too was looking outside and it felt like the nature too was washing off its wounds and healing itself.

M A N I K

'Take my mind
And take my pain
Like an empty bottle takes the rain
And heal, heal, heal, heal..'

The piano keys were soft under my command and after a long decade, my own voice brought a quietness that was peaceful. The artist in me was not disturbed anymore. He was at an undefined state of tranquility.

'And take my past
And take my sins
Like an empty sail takes the wind
And heal, heal, heal, heal...'

My mouth pulled a smile that I thought I had left behind in my adolescent years. Content came to me like it was a natural state of affairs but I knew the source of it. My eyes travelled to the shivering, soft, white curtain that offered the view to the slow rhythm of the rain falling from the sky into nothing.