Under The Mango Trees

Chapter Twenty Five : In Between Romantic Evenings

When I handed over the bags of snacks to my aunt, my uncle impassively carried the crates of mangoes and stacked them in the dickey of the car as if our exchange was some professional trade rather than one of relation and love. Lila was thrilled to be the center of my aunt's attention who ensured that she ate the finest delicacies fit for a queen. Meanwhile, I was given all sorts of gratuitous recipes to make a concoction that claimed to make me as pale as plaster of paris. Lila held my hand under the table through it all, stroking my palm almost sensually, to remind me that I was "hot." I needed no such reassurance since I was accustomed to hearing all sorts of patronizing remarks about my skin colour, but I loved the feel of her skin against mine so I accepted her sympathies whole-heartedly.

We stayed the night there, my aunt sleeping on the bed in between us, snoring so loudly that I had to shush Lila from the other side to prevent her from giggling. Sometimes, my aunt whistled along with the snoring which made Lila clutch her stomach and shake almost violently like a little demon with a stomach ache. I turned away from them both, facing the wall and letting sleep deafen me to the madness around.

I woke up late to discover that Lila was out picking mangoes with my uncle and my cousin, so I was left to peeling potatoes and peas with my aunt for lunch. Before washing my face, she smeared the paste of turmeric all over my face, all in good intentions. My stoicism towards her efforts was now starting to waver, indignation flared up within me as I struggled to remove the remnants of turmeric- the faint yellow tint. So when Lila burst into the house with a provocative smile and holding mangoes against her chest like pointed breasts, instead of being horrified, I burst out laughing and all my tension dissipated with every explosive laugh. But soon, my naughty, little cousin burst into the house, miming Lila's actions and knowing fully well that those mangoes were something that the women around him hid behind their pallus and dupattas. It took a great deal of coaxing and bribing to snatch those mangoes from his hands and prevent him from doing that in front of his parents.

The aroma of ripe mangoes wafted after us as we journeyed back to the villa and when I helped Manu with the directions, Lila leaned on me with gleaming eyes and said, "You're super smart. You know everything. Do you know why I joined the quiz competition?"

"Because nobody else joined since it was a week before exams?"

"Shush . . . " She placed her finger against my lips and I instinctively looked at the back of Manu's head, but he was abstractedly driving as if driving was as natural as breathing. "I would like to think that I joined because of you." And she tapped that finger against my lips, leaning away. "I have never won any competition. You made my first win that day!"

We settled into a comfortable nostalgia, reminiscing all our moments and trying to dig up who fell in love with whom first. Lila tactfully observed that she had caught me staring at her from across the classroom multiple times even before we became friends. I retorted that everyone would stare at her if she half-shuddered and half-giggled, muffling her ears with her shoulders every time the teacher's fingernails inadvertently made a screeching noise on the chalk board. That noise set off crackling sensations on the surface of her skin and unlike the rest of us who would control ourselves and wince, she couldn't do that. Once that ignorant teacher taking her giggles as causing mischief behind her back, sent her out of the classroom. I could still recall vividly how Lila went shivering out as if she had witnessed the horrors of war.

We returned to the villa and without wasting a second, we changed into our swimsuits and after a refreshing dip in the sea, we strolled with our hands interlocked to the farthest right of the beach where the black rocks prodded out of the sand and the seawater was as gentle and clear as a lake. There was a grove of palm trees behind us and nobody seemed to pass by. So we made that our routine for the next five days, playing on the sandy shore, then running off to the rocky parts before Raul and Anthony came to swim. We would watch the soothing clouds embracing the blushing sky after its rendezvous with the sun and only after they  drifted into a spaceless sleep, Lila and I would go crawling back to the villa in the darkness. Somedays, we would spot some baby stars of the sky and Lila possessing no knowledge of them, would point out to me and say how a belt of stars resembled a penis. I would find myself replying, "How romantic."

It was our last night when we were forced by the housekeepers to have dinner downstairs with everyone instead of us in our room. Until then, Lila and I had shrewdly managed to not bump into Anthony or Raul, it was easier to do so since  the breakup with Raul and the mortifying kiss with Anthony, neither of them tried to confront us. I could see their bruised egos reflecting in their downcast eyes as I sat opposite to them at the dining table, Lila taking the seat next to me. Without any hint of awkwardness, Lila began chatting with both of them, enquiring first of their whereabouts as if we had actively searched for them all these days. Her pretense was almost convincing and Raul and Anthony responded with deliberate effort to not give away the tension. I found the entire conversation exhausting and a sham, so I kept quiet.

When Lila falsely insisted on having missed both of them these days and them having long before understood her lies, I retrieved my phone with my clean hand and texted her to stop from under the table. I placed the phone on my thigh and popped a crispy pakora covered in green chutney in my mouth. Just then I heard Lila asking loudly, "Why did you text me, Tulsi? I'm sitting right here beside you."

I was ready to facepalm myself to the grave then, incredulous at how she failed to understand me. She unlocked her phone and from the opposite end, Raul snatched it from her as quick as a thunderbolt. It all happened so fast, Raul was snickering and gazing at the screen. He even let Anthony peek and said, "Let's see what Tulsi wants to tell Lila in secret."

Before he could scroll up, Lila threw herself at him, trying to grab her phone which he kept out of her reach. "Stop it, Raul! There's nothing in there!"

I grew cold with fear at those words, pushed my chair back, marched towards him and balefully gripped the phone. He challengingly cocked his head at me, letting go off the phone with a haughty grin as if he had done me a favour. I glanced at the screen and saw one of my earlier messages, "Stop using your phone in the bathroom and come out. I miss you."

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