Chapter 11: chapter 11

Chapter ElevenMaya stared at the large picture of Vikram in the center of the hall. Her friend looked strange, nothing like the boy she’d known. Stuffed into a tuxedo, his hair gelled back from his forehead, he stared out at them without even a hint of a smile. “He looks constipated in that picture,” Kanak murmured from next to her. Maya smiled, sadly. “He should be here with us, telling terrible jokes. Not staring at us from a picture.” Someone cleared their throat behind them. They turned as one to see Aakash standing there, grief and anger battling for supremacy in the gaze he turned on them. Maya braced herself for whatever insults he was going to hurl their way but all he said was, “It’s time.”He walked past them and sat down on the ground right in front of the picture. His mother and sister came to sit to his right. Maya and Kanak were just taking their seats at the back when a stunningly pretty young lady walked in. She looked like a princess who’d stepped out of a fairy tale book in her pastel pink salwar kameez, her silver jewelry and her long, waist length sheath of silky hair. Her subtle make up only enhanced her almost ethereal beauty. She walked right up to the front and sat down beside Aakash. As they watched, the StoneMan turned to smile at her gently. She reached up to kiss his cheek and then rest her head on his shoulder. “Wow,” Maya said. “His girlfriend is gorgeous.”“Fiancée,” Kanak said, grimly. “Shikha Sachdev, heiress and startup founder. Twenty six years old, Harvard MBA and only child and heir to her father’s jewelry business.” Maya slanted a look at her. “How do you know all that?” Kanak shrugged, not answering her. Ved and Karam sat down on Maya’s other side and almost on cue, all conversation ceased as the pandit in the front of the room started to chant. From behind the platform where the havan was happening, a slideshow of pictures began on the large projector against the wall. Tears blurred Maya’s vision as she watched baby pictures of Vikram flash past, including ones with his family and his late father. Beside her, Kanak released a shuddering breath. Ved slipped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side as the tears spilled on to her cheeks. Grief slammed through her as a picture of the five of them sprawled on their campus lawns came into view. She ached for the people they’d been, for the friend they’d lost, for the future they’d destroyed. She was crying openly now, not bothering to hide her tears as she leaned into Ved’s comforting embrace. The grief felt cleansing, cathartic and like a strange sense of closure. The pooja went on for a while, the chanting starting to lull her into an almost meditative state. Her leg was starting to ache from being bent under her as she sat on the floor. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she whispered to Ved and slowly got to her feet. Her good leg had gone to sleep as she sat and she stumbled a little as the pins and needles sensation started in it. She braced herself on the wall behind them before limping out of the hall. She made her way slowly and painfully to the verandah attached to the dining area. A low, wooden swing in the corner looked like it would afford her the privacy she craved. She sank down on the swing, eased her feet out of her slippers and massaged the aching muscles. Sighing, Maya closed her burning, tear ravaged eyes and let the tension seep out of her body.A hand touched her foot and she jerked back, her eyes flying open. Yash took her foot and started to slowly massage her sole. A moan escaped her before she could stop herself. Her gaze flew to his own dark, intent one. “What are you doing here?” she asked hoarsely, acutely conscious of his fingers soothing the pain in her foot. “Followed you,” he replied simply, dropping his gaze to her foot. She knew he couldn’t see anything, her chudidar covered all the scarred, mutilated parts. And still she flinched, her leg tensing in his grasp. Yash didn’t say anything more, just continued to massage her foot, the pain slowly easing up enough for her to be able to put pressure on her foot again.“Why?” she asked, leaving her leg in his magic hands longer than necessary. He didn’t respond but his hands fell away leaving her feeling strangely bereft. Maya straightened on the swing, moving to the side so they weren’t touching anymore.“Why, Yash?” she asked again, her eyes on his stern profile, the glasses he wore on occasion slipping forward on his nose. He pushed it back with a finger, his middle finger. Maya wanted to laugh out loud. If that wasn’t fitting for this situation, she didn’t know what was.“You looked like you were in pain,” he said, staring straight ahead. “And what is that to you?” The quiet words were both question and challenge. Yash stiffened, his gaze still on some vague spot in the distance.“Humanity, compassion, common decency,” he drawled, slowly turning to look at her. “Ever heard of them, Maya?” “Sure.” She forced her body to stay loose and relaxed even as his barbs stung like poisoned arrows. “Just didn’t know you were aware of them.”“Says the witch who dumped me with a text message.” “Dumped you?” Outrage made her voice shrill. “I dumped you?”“I still have the message if you need a reminder,” he said, caustically. Maya’s mouth dropped open. “You asshole! After everything, you have the audacity to act like you’re the wounded party.” Yash laughed. “Wounded party? Don’t flatter yourself sweetheart. It was an arranged match not the millennium’s greatest romance.” Maya pushed herself to her feet, slipping on her slippers. “You’re right. Which is why I’d rather you kept your hands and lips to yourself going forward. Your fiancée might not like where they’ve been.” “I’ll make it a point to sanitise myself before I touch her.” Maya wanted to slap him. She curled her hands into fists to control the urge. “Why did you really follow me out here, Yash?” Something that looked an awful lot like pain flashed across his face. He looked at her and in that brief moment, the mask dropped. He stepped closer, backing her up against the wall. Maya braced herself, refusing to look away from the blazing intensity of his eyes. “I followed you because I knew you were in pain. And for some strange, fucked up reason, when you hurt, I hurt. And I hate it,” he said, savagely. “I fucking hate it.”  “Then walk away,” she said, huskily. “Just walk away.” “You don’t think I want to? You don’t think I’ve been trying?” His voice dropped an octave, the rough timbre of it making her shiver.“I hated you five years ago for what you did to me. I hate you even more now for what you make me feel despite that. I. Hate. You.”Â