Musical Notes (The Last Page Series-2)

Good, Bad and Ugly

"It may be spelled A-B-H-I-K, but its pronounced Obhik. That's how the Bengali pronunciation is", Abhik tried to explain for the thousandth time.

Mia's head shot up from where it had been buried in her hands from sheer confusion, eyes filled with terror.

"So my name is actually Progyoporomito?!", she shrieked.

Abhik roared with laughter at the innocent misconception, barely managing to not fall of the chair. 

With an angry huff, Mia folded her hands and glared at him, lips scrunched up in a cute pout. This only added to his hysterics. Shaking his head, Abhik ruffled her hair which was already messed up from being under the woolen hat.

"That isn't how it works. Not every A changes into an O. And as for your name it is actually Progyaparomita but for now Mia is pretty short and sweet.", he reassured.

She let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, feeling a cold wet sensation on her nose, Mia looked up to see flakes of snow falling down.

"Snowfall", she whispered softly

"Did you know no two snowflakes are alike?", Abhik commented with an equal amount of softness only to get a nudge in return.

"Way to ruin the mood, nerd", teased Mia.

Abhik tensed up a bit at the name. Realising this, Mia kept her hands on his shoulders and asked,

"Did I say something wrong?"

Melting a bit at the touch, Abhik gave her a small smile and looked straight ahead.

She slowly put her head on his shoulders, knowing well not to push further. Both of them watched as the cotton white snow left behind a sheet where the fallen leaves had made there place, not a word more spoken.

Maybe there was some comfort to silence, some music to it which only the two of them could hear.

Scratching another page of lyrics, Abhik ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Alex had been watching him like this for a while, as the bin near Abhik was steadily filling up with balls of paper.

"What's up mate?", he asked cautiously. 

Abhik looked around surprised, not having realised the presence of someone else.

"I don't know, seems to me that I am apparently a commendable lyricist", he replied, sarcasm lacing his words.

"Clearly.", Alex sassed back, "Now spill the beans."

Rubbing his palm against his face, Abhik said,

"Mia thinks I am a nerd."

"And?"

"And what? If I am not wrong, its a bad thing", he whined.

Chuckling, Alex put a hand on his shoulder.

"If you consider being smart as a bad thing then maybe."

Abhik looked at him with an irritated expression.

"You know what I mean! But it is not even the fact she called me that. Its just that, her thinking so of me does not sit well. I don't want her to think of me in the wrong light."

If you are wondering, yes Alex knows Mia. Of course he would, do you really think he would leave Abhik alone without knowing over whom his sleep was broken?

"She was most definitely joking. Honestly, the way reacted it is almost as if you like her or something.", he assured.

Trying not to blush, Abhik did his best to muster out a death stare. Raising his arms in surrender, Alex moved out of the room and Abhik went back to his work.

"Hai ma bolo", Abhik said as he picked up the phone.

(Yeah mom?)

"Ami kakima noi", a sweet voice came from the other side.

(I am not her.)

His face turned grave and he barely whispered out,

"Oindrila"

A sad scoff came.

"Full name huh? Since when?", she asked

"Ma er phone e kano phone korli?"

(Why did you call from mom's phone?)

"Karon tui o janis, amio jani, ami phone korle tui otathis na."

(Because we both know that if I called, you would not have picked up.)

Abhik said nothing, not being able to deny.

"Kamon achis?"

(How are you?)

"Bhalo", he gave a one word answer.

(Good)

"Ato obhiman?", she couldn't help tear up.

(So much pride?)

"Na re, eta obhiman na. Eta toke bholar chesta.", he replied honestly.

(No, this isn't pride. This is an attempt to forget you.)

A sharp intake of breath could be heard.

"Kokhono parle amae khoma kore dis. Amar shotti kichu korar chilo na."

(If you ever could, forgive me. I really had no choice.)

"Tui khushi achis to", his concern took over.

(You are happy right?)

"How can I be when you are not? We were best friends before anything else. So please, move on, for your own sake", she pleaded.

"Hum ek baar jeete hai, ek bar marte hai, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai...aur pyaar bhi ek baar hota hai."

(We live once, we die once, we marry once, and true love also happens just once.)

Mishti chuckled a bit at the Shah Rukh Khan dialogue as she replied with one as well,

"Mujhe darr toh bahut si cheezon se lagta hai....par sabse zyada darr tumhe kho dene ke khyal se lagta hai."

(I am scared of multiple things, but what I am most scared of is the though of losing you.)

And then the call was disconnected.

Keeping his phone aside, Abhik shut his eyes tightly, trying to clear his mind.

The phone rang again.

"What?", he snapped at the caller.

"Woah, calm down. Still mad about the morning?", Mia's voice came.

"N-no", he uttered with guilt.

"Then?"

"Nothing...just nothing."

"There is definitely something but you are not comfortable about sharing it with me. But if and when you are, I am always there."

"I trust you Mia, I really do. But some things are better off not delving deep into."

"And yet sometimes, doing the same reduces the weight you are carrying on your shoulders.

And with that this call was cut too.

Now there three people in the world, looking at the blank screen with the same kind of sadness, all wondering..

'What went wrong?'