The Summer Of Love

MY HOME

My mind is so focused on what happened today, that I'm not able to sleep.

Tears fall everytime I think about her so I try to distract myself by reading something on my phone but that doesn't seem to help and my mind slips back to thinking about her. I repeat the cycle for one hour, when I get a text from an unkown number.

You up?

I contemplate blocking the number when I get another message.

Akshat here. Forgot to mention that :)

Oh. How the hell did he get hold of my number?

Which traitor gave you my number? I replied.

Don't insult me by saying that! I stole it from Muski's phone. And don't ask me how I knew her password.

Another message-

Come out in the common balcony.

And I did. Like the fool I am. Because I had no one I could talk to now. Without faking my smile atleast.

So I slowly got out of bed. Suddenly, I heard Sonali groan, which stopped me in my tracks. I turned to her to see her asleep, peacefully. I sneaked out of the room and shut the door as silently. I had been once to the balcony, when Muskaan was showing us the palace. There was a small one in every room but also the common one on every floor. I slipped through the corridor covered with plush maroon carpets. It was as if I was walking on soft grass.

I reached the wide and spacious balcony overlooking the beautiful night sky and the lake with small shrubs of flowers along it's shore. He was leaning against the parapet, looking at the moon, wearing a white and blue silk night suit. So that's what royals wear to bed I thought.

I definitely needed this. This free space, cool air hovering over my face, and the sky. Sky. One wouldn't find this view in cities and though we're in Jaipur, it was marvelous. Stars shining like diamonds studded in the blanket of night with their ethereal glow. The moon- it was full tonight. A shiny light yellow, it's light making a cage around it, and stars scattered across. So bright and clear. I slowed walked to the parapet, but at a considerable distance away from him.

I hadn't realized how calm I felt looking at it. The breeze taking off all of my thoughts with it, singing a beautiful lullaby. He looked at me as I put my hands on the parapet. Suddenly, it crossed my mind- how little my skin was covered.

"Why did you call me?" I asked without looking at him. Today, I gave all of my attention to the ethereal view.

"I was feeling lonely." Lie. A clear lie. Because I saw the first aid box just below his arm. He was worried. "Come here," his voice gentle as ever. I knew what he was about to do. When I stood right next to him, he opened the box and took out an ointment, a piece of cotton and another small bottle of some liquid. Thanks to the moon light, everything was visible. I looked down at other things in the box when he brushed my hair behind my right ear.

The breeze blew through the hem of my top and my hair. I looked up to him as he put a few drops of the liquid on the cotton and dapped the wet piece below my jaw, just where the knife had gazed my skin. My skin tingled on the contact and he took out the ointment to apply it on the same area, so very gently. While he did so, I just looked at his face, brightly shone by the moon light, all the features subtle now. My heart beating faster every moment. I wouldn't mind the breath-taking view for the rest of the night but this view somehow couldn't compare. A distant voice in my mind, squeaks how I shouldn't look at him like that. When he's done, my eyes catch the bruise on the back of his right hand. I never saw that.. not in the car and not at that place.