The Leaves of November | Complete✔

Chapter 4

Time has weird way of working. It seems to shape itself according to how we feel, that's why good time just flows by like a breeze while bad ones last longer than we can think of.

The first half of the year went by at the blink of an eye. Those days, Shayan and Geeta's friendship evolved into something much more than just two neighbors casually meeting now and then. They found a confidant in each other and never shied away from sharing things, raw and unfiltered. Between them, there were no barriers of judgement or mistrust. It was what made their camaraderie unique.

Shayan was not much a talker, but Geetanjali brought out that quality in him that he never knew he had. Her maturity and understanding nature gave him the confidence to share things he wouldn't have otherwise. She on the other hand, had always been an open book, however, if given the choice between spending the day reading her favorite novels and talking to Shayan, she would happily choose the latter. It was something she enjoyed and found precious, to have a friend who understood her the way she wanted. He was also very active in helping her and her family settle down. Whether it was helping her familiarize with the city, or unpacking and placing the furniture in their house, Shayan was always there. Although his mother had a small role to play in that too, he did it mostly out of free will, or at the will of his heart.

Brinda had grown quite fond of him as well. She would always give him a call whenever she needed something to be done or Geeta was not around, and he wouldn't think twice before coming to their door, at her service. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Shayan had actually enjoyed running errands for her. He would do it for his mother anyway, so why not her?

Naveen Thakur, Geeta's father, was a somewhat different story. He spent most of his days sitting in the living room or courtyard immersed into the newspaper or some book of political background. That was possibly where Geeta got her love for books from, except she loved fiction and poetry unlike her father, who was more interested in facts. Shayan rarely had any interaction with him apart from some formalities and necessary conversation, and he was happy to keep it limited to that anyways. He had enough experience with his own father to know better than to bother him with casual chitchat. Maybe that's how father's were, stern and serious. It sort of worried him, thinking that someday he might become the same kind of father too. But there was still a long way to go to that. First, he needed to find a girl.

*****

"How long have you been waiting?"

Shayan glanced at his watch.

"Not much, around an hour."

Geeta smiled guiltily. They had made plans to go to Princep Ghat in the evening after she was done with her classes for the day. Almost every week for the past few months, there had been evenings like these when the two went out exploring the vast beauties of the old city. So much so that if they didn't do it, the entire week felt incomplete.

"I'm so sorry, the professor took a lot of time to finish the lecture."

Her apologetic, dark solemn eyes etched a smile on his face.

"It's fine, really. Now before we miss the sunset, can we go?"

*****

In a time where there we no cell phones, texts and Facebook, one could always rely on face to face communication, which was special in it's own way. Sharing a chat on your way back from work, bumping into old friends at local grocery stores, or even shouting from the balcony of one house to another. Each had it's own fun. But at times, when all of those were not possible, there were letters.