UNTIL THEN

“Should you leave today?” Anwesha asked, looking at her drink.

“I have to,” Mallik replied. “You know I have to.”

“How much time have we got?” She asked, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Twenty minutes, till the taxi comes,” he answered, pushing the drink down his throat. “Before today, how long has it been since we have even said a hello, An?”

“Three years,” she smiled. “Three long years. But I don’t blame you. We had to part ways, didn’t we?”

“That question itself makes me feel guilty. But I had to go. I had a job waiting for me on the clock, that’s why I never said a goodbye. I had to go.”

“Like today,” she replied casually. “And I waited, for days and months for you to call. A single message could’ve saved me. I was willing to wait for you; but you didn’t.”

“Should we part ways like this today?” he asked, looking at her. The light of the bar lamp made her even more beautiful.

“Well, it’s better than the last time,” she said, finally meeting his gaze. Grey and cold, like a stone. “Let’s change the subject.”

“How is your husband?” he asked.

“Rich, and on tour all the time. But this time, I have a gift for him. A divorce notice.”

“You have to do what is right,” he stopped trying to find the right word.

“Remember the time we painted the walls of the stadium with our modern art? God we were wild,” she spoke up, changing the topic.

“I went to see it the other day. It’s still there,” he said, thinking of the good old days. “And the time when we bunked classes to go for a movie.”

“Each and every release. It was important to see the first show on the first day.”

“And the time when Jay and the team and we went that forest in the outskirts...” he stopped abruptly. He remember, how his friend called out for him, being forced down on the river by the forces of nature.

“Could anyone forget that?” 

Mallik noticed his taxi pull over.

“Call me when you get there,” Anwesha told him, ordering another drink.

“I will. Isn’t it too early for a beer?”

“It’s never too early. Goodbye Mallik.”

He waved his hands as he pulled away from her hands. The drink had started to taste different for her. A bit salty perhaps. Every time she saw his stone cold eyes, she got petrified. Jay had the same eyes too. Jay, the man who held her when Mallik left her under the mistletoe. Jay, her loving only brother.

“Madam, are you okay?” The bartender asked the woman in grey hair.

“I’m fine,” Anwesha replied. “Why do you ask?”

“You were talking to yourself minutes ago, and now...”

“Get back to your business,” she said with a bittersweet smile. 
Staring at the drink, she started to conversation with Mallik; the man she let go off her hands twenty eight years ago.