Olive Chaudhuri

 ~FORTY THREE~ Meera gazed at the old, silver-coloured scooty parked and felt herself breaking into an unconscious grin. How many times had she hopped behind Vedant on that thing? She stopped at the main gates of the typically Gujarati house quietly, her head snapping up to the third floor of the house. The back balcony of the house was attached to Vedant's bedroom, where she would spot him with his Company Law textbook almost every time she would step out of her house once upon a time. Now, it looked rather empty, the bamboo swing hanging untouched. The door of his bedroom that was visible from the balcony was locked, and the clear darkness within the currently uninhabited room could be seen. Meera smiled to herself, already able to picture Vedant's thin frame with days of unshaved beard due to the exam stress walking the span of the balcony with a yellow highlighter balanced between two fingers on his right hand. Sometimes he'd be too deep into studying to notice, b...

~TWENTY FIVE~ He pulled at the hem of his shirt and dabbed at his forehead dripping with sweat as he sat on the ground, panting for breath. "Not much of a football lover, are you?" Vedant looked to his side with a little smile, "That obvious?" Rishi nodded, passing a bottle of water. Vedant gulped down all the water in a matter of seconds. "What do I say, man? I'm in bad shape." He explained, wiping at his lips with the back of his hand. Rishi grinned in response. "What about the match this Saturday? Think you'll play?" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he offered, "I won't be in town." "Oh? Where to?" Both got up from the ground, dusting off their shirts. "Time for the annual Bank Audit." "I see." They were there again, at the tea stall they always visited after playing football every Sunday. "So...where are you going?" Rishi enquired after a moment of silence, as he rais...

~TWENTY THREE~ "Vedant." He watched himself drive, his hands alternating over the gear box and the steering wheel. The stereo played old Hindi numbers, and every few seconds he'd hear Meera hum along with the song from the passenger's seat. Clad in a navy blue kurti and her hair sprawled wildly, she hugged her legs to herself, folding her knees. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were quirked up with a satisfied smile. Abhi na jao chod kar.... Ke dil abhi...bhara nahi. She sang along softly. Meera wasn't much of a singer, but her voice was something Vedant had always found rather soothing. Abhi abhi toh aaye ho Bahaar ban ke chaye ho... "Vedant." Meera called again. His forehead creased with confusion. Her voice sounded d istant  suddenly. But she was singing next to him, just two seconds ago. "Vedant. Come  on ." Now, her voice sounded urgent. He pulled the brakes to the car at a red signal, the stereo still playing the...

~TWENTY TWO~ "Meera-" "-don't ask any more questions. Why can't you just be a sport sometimes?" Meera complained, propped behind Vedant on his scooty. Vedant sighed, stopping at a red signal and narrowing his eyes at her through the mirror. Something was deeply unsettling about her today. For instance, she looked extremely excited and hadn't even gone home to change out of her office clothes. It was just seventy thirty, which meant she'd come with him straight after office. What could have been so urgent? "Because you always plan things. And when you don't, it's scary." He explained, referring to the sudden call she'd given him with wanting to meet 'urgently'. In the month after the results, Meera had presented herself in the interviews of all the seven firms Vedant had helped her apply for. Eventually, she joined one of the firms that were conveniently close to her place and paid a decent stipend. Vedant h...