Bus#126W - Chapter 23

There was more, but I couldn’t get myself to read. It seemed far too intimate and personal for me to pry. I folded it back and put it in an envelope. I wondered who it was for and who had written it or even how old it was.

I tapped my fingers on the envelope, ask or ignore? I knew I had to ask. It was driving me crazy. I called Arpit and told him about the letter.

“Naina, do you know what time it is?” I could hear him stifling a yawn.

“Its 1, so what do you think?” I didn’t care if it was way past our bed times, this wasn’t the first time we had spoken so late.

“Some girl gave it to him, since he kept it, they got back, end of story. Good night.” I heard a click on the other side. Arpit had hung up. I put the receiver down slowly and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. The letter was resting in its envelope on my side table. I touched it reverently and turned it around a couple of times as though that would get me some answers.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but when I got up, I was still clutching the envelope tightly in my hand.

I told Pooja about the letter and about what Arpit had asked me to do.

“Noooooooooooooo!” Pooja exclaimed in a low voice. “Just tell him Dhruv refused. As if he’ll ever know the truth.”

“That’s what I thought I’ll do. But I’ll feel awful lying to him. It’s difficult. I’m hoping Dhruv actually says no.” I said, winking at her.

“Yeah, and it’ll mean that he wants to spend more time with you.. Just you.” She remarked.

I had to admit, Pooja sometimes stole the words straight from my mind.

Arpit and Sneha were waiting outside class for me.

“I’ll talk to him.” I reassured Arpit as I walked past them.

“Hey Naina!” Sneha greeted me. I stopped, took steps back and then looked at Sneha who guiltily looked at Arpit. A sort of crooked smile appeared on my face.

It looked as though Sneha was getting doses regarding me, just as I was getting regarding her. Maybe they were arguing? Was I one of the topics? I couldn’t tell.

“Hey Sneha!” I forced chirpiness into my voice and greeted her and realized that I had automatically turned towards Arpit, probably with the same look, on my face.