Eklavya #Book I

Chapter LVIII

Encasing his wrist in her small hand, Anamika dragged him towards the small couch and made him sit. Although reluctant, the boy wordlessly followed her every command.

The dismal atmosphere loomed over the young couple like heavy clouds. But Anamika was having none of it. This conversation was long overdue and could not be procrastinated anymore.

Sitting beside him, Anamika looked at his indisposed features. An uncharacteristic hesitance bridled in his dark, consuming eyes before he exclaimed, "Why are we even having this conversation?"

"One. Because it's important. And second. Because I think it's high time you face some harsh realities of your rich and weird life." Replied Anamika without batting an eyelash and Eklavya pursed his mouth in distaste at that.

"My life has been like this only for the last four years. What realities do you want me to face now?" Eklavya adjoined sardonically,

"Don't use that tone with me," Anamika warned as she narrowed her shrewd eyes at him and he immediately schooled his features.

"You remember the night when we were on a call? That was the first time I heard you cry." Eklavya looked away in discomfort at being reminded of the night when he was his most vulnerable self.

Anamika continued, "I couldn't understand what to do except to let you cry away your deepest woes that you've harbored for years. That day I hopelessly wished that I could fly and come to you. Wipe the tears running down your face and say, ' Everything is going to be okay!' but we rarely get what we wish for," she laughed at the end as Eklavya listened to her with his head hanging low.

He knew that feeling all too well. How could he not when he feels the same way whenever a tear even dares slip down her eye?

"I dared not breach the topic when you returned. Afraid of how you would react I purposely dallied bringing it up. I pondered day and night how to get you –

"Get me in a corner and make me listen to your long and boring lectures," he quipped gruffly making her pass him a small smile.

"Now that you know the plan, why don't you just resign to your fate and listen to me without making use of your smart mouth for once," Anamika said giving him a tight-lipped smile.

Making a gesture of sealing his lips, Eklavya tossed the imaginary key in her lap and she nodded her head at him in content.

"I've known you for about a year now. A lot has changed since we first met. The girl you could not tolerate is now your girlfriend and the boy I labeled insufferable is now sitting glumly beside me." Taking a brief pause Anamika looked at his sullen face, her slim fingers brushing back his luxurious mane.

Making him look at her with a look so vulnerable and filled with misery that Anamika felt a thousand needles piercing her heart all at once.

"Truthfully speaking... I can never understand the true depth of your loss. I cannot even dare think about it. All I know is that my life would become a literal hell in the blink of an eye without maa and papa. But you... you've been living and burning in that hell for years now. And I feel it's high time that you finally let go and move ahead in life,"

"I'm not going to ask you about anything. I won't ask why you share such a strong enmity with your Bua—not going to ask why things are so weird in your home. I'll never peek into your past until you give me the right yourself. But please Eklavya..."

Burning tears filled with a harrowing sense of loss pooled in his eyes as his lower lip wobbled slightly. Cupping his cold face in her soft, warm hands a teary-eyed Anamika said,