At 16, Roopali Agarwal was forced by her stepmother to work at the house of the boy from her class whom she despised the most.
At 21, she discovered she had feelings for him.
At 30, she became one of the most popular female authors in India.
Even...
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18 𓂃𓊝𓂃
The next day, we moved to Bombay. I left my mangalsutra at the hotel where we stayed in Delhi. Nobody knew where I was going. I didn't inform anyone; I didn't have anyone to inform except Neelam. Something restrained me from telling her about leaving my husband. Maybe it was shame. I didn't want her to think that I left my husband for a secret lover. And I decided that I would only tell her after getting a divorce from Vikram. I was starting fresh, building my life from the debris of my past. I did not want to take it with me to Bombay. It was something that tied me to my previous marriage. Even though I was free, I didn't exactly feel like I was free. My mind was a disturbed ocean throughout the train ride to Bombay.
"Everything's going to be okay." Apoorva grabbed my hand and reassured.
Everything's going to be okay. I repeated those words in my mind. But something didn't feel right. Maybe everything will fall into the right place.
In Bombay, we stayed at a house near the sea. It was the house of a friend of Apoorva who was residing in the United States. It was a relatively small house, but a beautiful one. We could see the beach from the house. It made me remember what Apoorva once said during Dusherra.
We were both sitting on the shore, watching the waves. It was my first time seeing the sea. It mesmerised me how frighteningly beautiful the ocean was. It could blanket everything if it wanted to, but instead it scares us with its waves.
"You did it." I said to Apoorva. He raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"You said you wanted to live in a house by the sea."
He smiled. "But I want to own one myself."
"Oh, come on, you can buy one right now."
"With my father's money? I'd rather let myself drown in this sea." He chuckled. "I want to buy one with my own money."
"And... How will you make money for that?"
"Ah, I'll do something." He deadpanned.
"You need to go to work for that." I was unaware of his career. "Well, what are you doing anyway?"
"Just..." He fidgeted with his fingers. "Let me stay with you now. We can talk about the job and money later." He said and placed his head on my shoulder.
"I was thinking about asking you this." He said.
"What?"
"When did you start liking me?" I thought about it. When was it? I couldn't pinpoint it.
"I don't know. Maybe it's after I came to Delhi." I replied. "What about you?"
"To begin with, I never disliked you." I scrunched my eyebrows. "You liar!"
