 Upon arriving, naugurated her hot plate and utensils. An hour later, we ate Maggi noodles in new stainless steel bowls from which the stickers wouldn't come off. I slurped the noodles from my spoon. At one point, she removed a noodle from my chin. I wanted to spill noodles all over my face. We finished dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. At ten, I decided to leave. 'You will get an auto?' she said. 'I can walk to the bus stand,' I said.'There is a bus to Dumraon at eleven.' 'Maybe I'll come with you next week. Let me settle in.' 'You'll be okay alone?' I said. 'Yeah,' she said, her voice heavy, or perhaps just tired. 'Sure' I said. 'I look forward to being alone, Madhav,' she said. 'You sure your mother will be okay with me staying over?' 'Of course. It's a long way to go back the same day,' I said. We were riding in her company's Innova, which made the journey a lot faster than the bus I usually took. The roads of Bihar are, well, for the adventurous, to say the least. 'Ouch,' Riya said as her head bumped against the car roof. 'That bump is a sign we are close,' I said. I showed Riya the guestroom. 'These rooms are massive.You really are a prince.' 'Everything is falling apart,' I said. I took her to my room. She noticed the basketball posters on my wall. I sat on my bed, she took the chair opposite me. It reminded me of us in Rudra, years ago. 'You still play?' she said. I shook my head. 'Me neither,' she said. 'Want to? This evening?' 'Work first. You have to watch The Godfather on my laptop.' 'I did,' I said. 'You saw the first part. Now see part two with subtitles.' I made a face, which didn't impress her much. She wore a fitted white T-shirt and black tights. Although fully covered, the snug outfit highlighted her curves. I couldn't believe Riya was in my room in Dumraon. I wanted to kiss her. I thought about how mind-blowing that would be after so many years. 'What are you thinking? Like, now?' She snapped her fingers. Her question made me freeze. 'Huh? Nothing. Lunch. Should we have lunch?' 'Did you think of that in English or Hindi?' I tried to remember. Well, I had not thought about lunch at all. I |
