After they left, I helped Dhruv clean up a little before he tended to Kippie. He rummaged through the bag he had brought and got out a worn pink-and-purple vest harness. Once he got her in and clipped the leash on top, he stood up. He turned to me just as I tore my eyes away. I hadn't expected him to look at me and I could feel my neck burning. I put the wet paper towel into the bin and washed my hands.
"Want to walk Kippie with me?"
"Yes, of course!"
"Any particular place you want to go?" he asked as we began our walk down the street. It wasn't a Main Street where there were shops and auto rickshaws and people all littered everywhere; the neighbouring houses were all quiet, the only sign of life being from the dim, yellow light that flooded through their windows and the occasional beeps and rumbles of the pavement from auto rickshaws heading past us.
"Not really," I said, trying to pretend I knew the neighbourhood well. I hadn't even explored. All I did was go to work and come back home. "You?"
As Kippie sniffed the ground and trotted alongside us, he said, "Yeah, actually. There's a lake around here, nearby the park we used to have picnics at." I made a noise that I hoped expressed an 'oh yes, I remember!'. We headed in that direction, a comfortable silence settling in between us before he handed me the leash. I looked up at him in question but he only shook the leash.
"Kippie's waiting," he said, softly. I giggled and took it from him, and as if she knew that I would be more lenient, yanked on the leash, pulling me along the narrow pebble path. The park was closer than I had expected. To the left was the lake Dhruv mentioned but it extended from where we began to all the way onto the other side.
To the right, there was a large oval leading up to a hill where the park was. I could see the image of Rani and Dhruv having a picnic back when they were on good terms. Once we got to the top, whereby I was panting heavily, the park that looked tiny was much bigger. It had swing sets and two different types of slides arranged back to back. Since it was dark, there wasn't anyone there making it look quite eerieâa place for predators, almost. I shuddered; the trees that bordered us were dark and tall, towering over like guardians.
There was a bench overlooking the lake and we stopped to sit. "Do you remember?" he asked, voice husky.
I turned. He was staring out at the water, the moonlight shimmering across the top like shiny stars. I could see the vague shadows of the ducks swimming idly by. The awe I felt dissipated when he shifted his body so that he was facing me. The moonlight casted half of his face in shadow and the other glowed. I hadn't answered his question and in an instant, panic hit me in the form of cold sweat.
"Umâ"
"It's okay," he said. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
"No, please don't apologise. Whatever's happened between us, I..." I trailed off. I hadn't mentioned the issue at all. Neither of us had, and now it buzzed between us in endless static.
"Then you won't mind if I say I hated even coming to this place for a while."
"Why?" I added just in case, "I still don't fully remember things."
He didn't answer for a long time. Only had a blank expression on his face, gaze a little dazed. Then he said in a low rumble, "I proposed to you here."
Whether it was the cold of the weather in that moment or the recognition of the wind slithering its way through my hair and my body that made me shiver, I didn't know. But those words caused a ripple of shame to settle within me. I didn't know the extent of their love or their hatred and here I was, meddling in it. "But coming here with you now makes me feel like things are changing."
That was all it took for the guilt to cut through me. Kippie was laying on the floor, her head tucked between her two front legs so it wasn't as if I could use her as an excuse to leave. It was getting too much for me. I wanted nothing more than to see him happy for whatever it was that was causing them problems.
As I sat there contemplating what to say and what to do, a duck got out of the water, shaking its feathers and the tame Kippie shot up from the floor. The leash slipped from my hand as she broke free and charged for the unassuming duck. It squawked fearfully, the wings fluttering in the air for a few moments as both Dhruv and I jumped up.
"Kippie," I yelled, rushing after her. Dhruv leaped forward, hands outstretched and grabbed her before she could do any harm to the duck. But unfortunately, his heroic move turned into something comical instead. Not being able to keep his balance, he lost footing at the very edge and tumbled into the water with Kippie pressed against him.
The force caused the water to surge high and I made sure to move out of the way to not get attacked before hurrying forward. I squatted down by the edge as he popped up, Kippie wading the water with her cute paws, desperately keeping afloat.
She was heading in the wrong direction so I made sure I had a good grip on her before putting her on the ground beside me. She shook off the water, getting me wet in the process and I screamed.
"You're just going to leave me here?" Dhruv joked, whipping his head to the side to flick away the damp hair in his eyes. I laughed and made a show of shuffling backward.
"I think you can handle yourself, Mister Hero."
"And here I thought we were having a moment."
"Okay, okay. Don't be such a baby." I outstretched my hand for him to grab, not recognising the light in his eyes as mischief rather than relief. Before I could pull my hand back, it was too late. He had tugged me forward and I surged forward into the water, the loud splash reverberating around me. I can't swim, I told myself. I cannot swim! But surprisingly, I was afloat, my body automatically knowing what to do.
Maybe Rani could swim, and for once, I was grateful that she was better in a lot of ways. The water rushed into my nose and my mouth and it wasn't until I pushed myself up and blinked through my burning eyes that I saw Dhruv. He was leaning against the edge, laughing with his head thrown back.
Without him knowing, I swam slowly toward him and when he opened his eyes to look for me, I splashed him with water, hitting Kippie in the process. She barked at me in protest and I shot her an apologetic smile only for my vision to once again be blurry as I got hit by a tsunami of water.
"You're messing with the wrong person," warned Dhruv.
"I think you underestimate me."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really." I pointed behind him and gasped in exaggeration.
He looked at me blankly. "That's not going to woâ"
"Is that Sandra and Veer?!"
"Wait what?" He actually did turn to look and I leaped on him. He probably didn't expect this because a noise of surprise shook his body and he fell backward, the both of us splashing into the water at once. As we rose up through the water, Dhruv ran a hand down his face to get rid of excess water, flashing his white teeth at me the entire time.
Despite being grown adults with our own problems, that moment I would forever remember even when I was changed back to being Mouna.
Because it wasn't just Dhruv or Rani. It was two people who hadn't let go like this in a long time and it was all thanks to him. But then his smile dimmed in the iridescent light, his features softening.
His arms that were loosely wrapped around my hips, tightened and a soft breath left me. Uh oh. I pushed myself away and went to the edge.
"We should probably head back," I said.
"Yeah. We should." We got out, shivering. Kippie was also damp and the cold wind attacking us didn't help. Dhruv handed me the jacket he was wearing despite my many refusals, zipping me up and even putting the hood over me. It was ten times bigger, the sleeves going over my hands and the length of it sitting mid thigh. It smelt like him, too, a mix of pine and orange.
But it was comfortable and Dhruv made no noise or word of complaint at being cold himself, although I could see that he was. If his teeth chattering were any indication.
"You can have the jacket, Dhruv," I said. "I'm warm now."
"You're more prone to colds. I'd rather you have the jacket." He spread his arm out. "Besides, I'm starting to get used to the weather." I heard a chime of a phone and watched as he fished it out of the jacket I was wearing. "Thank God I wasn't holding onto this, huh?"
It was true. It would have been dead! His eyes scanned whatever text he had gotten, eyebrows scrunching up. "What's wrong?" I found myself saying. I had no filter these days. Being Rani really had gotten to me.
"Have my parents called you?"
His parents? "No, why? Are they supposed to?"
"They're not but I got a text from my mom saying she tried to call you." I opened my mouth when he beat me to it, "Just ignore it. I'll call her tonight and let her know."
"Let her know what?"
"That you're not interested. My dad called me a few weeks ago to ask about us visiting them. I think that's what they're following up on."
Why wouldn't Rani be interested? Unless...there was problems regarding family. I bit down on my lower lip. I couldn't stop while I was here. I was already in extremely deep. This also seemed like a great time to get a picture of Dhruv's parents. I had only been seeing a selective amount of people, after all.
"I would love to visit them, Dhruv. Your parents are my parents." I walked ahead with Kippie by my side, trying to ignore the gaze cutting through the back of my head.