Episode 4

Crowded hallways, cramped spaces, chasing him. This is such a cliché.

"Ranbir!" Her voice carries through the still air, but unlike the portrayal of screenplays, he doesn't whirl around to match her gaze.

Yet his ears perk at the sound, and his feet firmly plant into the ground, a game of statue, he will not, can not turn around. But Riya was never one for rules.

She comes crashing into him, just as he turns- both of them toppling to the ground, she landing on top of him. "Heels mein bhagna kitna mushkil hai tumko pata bhi hai!? Hamesha apne peeche bhagate rahte ho, kahan ja rahe ho!?

He looked at her bewildered, before responding in equal anger. "Dur! Yahan se dur, tumse dur!"

"Kyun?!" She grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Tumhe kya? Tumhare paas toh woh Roy hai na, tumko meri kya zaroorat?" He pouted.

"Tumne toh kaha tha ke Roy tum ho, Girgit kahin ke-." She got in his face, noses touching, still very much on top of him.

"Aur tumne kaha tha ke tum mujhe dekhte hi pehchan jaogi, naam badalne se kya farak-."

"Us waqt mujhe kya pata tha ke tum meri agnipariksha lo gaye-."

"Agni- Agnipariksha!?"

"Aur nahi toh kya tha woh?"

"Test! Friendship test jo tum fail ho gayi!" He propped himself up on his elbows, and she got off of him in turn.

She stood and folded her arms. "Friends ek dusre se jhooth nahi bolte."

He mirrored her stance."Haan bola maine jhooth, kyun ke mujhe laga tum mint mein pakar logi par tumhe toh itni der lagi mujhe pehchane mein-."

"Der nahi lagi, pata tha, bahut pehle se pata tha ke tum, tum hi ho- bas jaana chahti thi tum kitni der mujhse jhooth bol sakte ho."

His jaw fell slightly open, he could see in her eyes that she wasn't lying to save face, she knew all along and said nothing because she was waiting for him to come clean.

"Tum- tumko- tumko pata tha- kab se?"

"College camping trip, jab se."

"Toh mere ko ainvayi sataya?!"

"Tumne bhi toh yahi kiya."

He huffed, picking up his bags from the floor in exaggerated movements, muttering to himself. "Main jaara hoon, mujhe nahi rehna yahan-."

"Itne bhi dramatic na banno, maine woh hi kiya jo tumne kiya, tit for tat." He didn't respond, slinging his carry-on bag over his shoulder. She sighed behind him, he could feel her eye roll. "Aye Girgit-" That got him to snap around, she knew that nickname annoyed him to no end. She was on one knee, holding out the ring he had given her for safekeeping. "Phir se mere Bhalu banoge?"

A watery chuckle escaped him. She still had it. He thought she had discarded it, that it was collecting dust in some old drawer, forgotten. But no. The ring was on a chain, a chain she always wore around her neck. She kept it. All this time. Close to her heart.

He slid to both of his knees in front of her, for the theatrics. "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes, Chidiya!"

The crowd that had gathered around them, erupted in applause.

* * *

The applause faded into a faint ringing in her ears as she was yanked back into consciousness, her head lolling against a hard surface, which was not the plane's window but rather someone's chest, not his, she was in someone's arms, not his.

She fought against the grip on instinct with the little strength she had left. Why did her body feel like it was made of lead?

"Ek second- ruko toh."

She was deposited onto a chair, and a man's face came into her eyeline, crouching in front of her, the same one from the plane, the one who was carrying her just now, she shifted her body away from him.

"Tum- tum kya- dur raho mujhse." She squeezed her eyes shut against the bright lights of the airport. Her head was pounding. Why did she feel like she had a hangover? She only had one glass of wine-

"Oh, main tumhare paas aane ki koshish nahi kar raha, bas help karne ke koshish kar raha hoon, bhalai ka koi zamana nahi raha. Plane kab ka land ho gaya, aapko hosh hi nahi aa raha tha, maine flight attendant ko bhi bulaya, par usne kuch help nahi ki, bas kaha ke plane land ho chuka hai, aur humein deboard karna padega, maine samjhane ki koshish ke hum ek dusre ko nahi jaante par usne meri ek nahi suni toh main kya karta?" Trying to get the world to stop spinning, Riya understood about half of that. "Ab nasha utar gaya ho toh at least mujhe apana naam to bata do-."

"Nasha? Kaun sa nasha?" She asked weakly.

"Kaun sa nasha!?" The man yelled, hands on his hips, making her wince at the volume. Considerably lowering his voice after. "Plane mein jo pills li thi, kaunsi pills thi?"

"...Sleeping pills." She hated flying, and always took them before a flight every time there was no Bhalu to hold her hand and tell her they wouldn't fall out of the sky. When he said it she always believed it. When he was next to her, her fear ran away. Today, he wasn't there to hold her, he would never be there to hold her ever again, so she took the pills with wine-.

Oh. They came to the same conclusion at the same time.

"Alcohol ke saath sleeping pills kaun leta hai?! Kitna dangerous hai aapko pata bhi hai? Jeena chahti ho ya nahi?"

Nahi. It's the first word that comes to mind, unbidden. Not without her Ranbir.

But she didn't do it on purpose, honest to God. She was just distracted. She wouldn't do that to her father, who already looks at her like she's seconds away from ending it all. Or to her brother who raised her like a father, when their father was too busy to. Or to her GG Maa who has been waiting for her to come home. Or even to Ranbir, because if there is an afterlife, she knows her Bhalu would never forgive her for it- for killing herself just to be with him. For them, she has to live. She has to live, even when it hurts to.

Sleep pulls at her, eyes growing heavy, the effects of her accidental pill-wine cocktail are far from over, she lets it drag her under again, sleep she thinks is like the peacefulness of death, here nothing hurts.

Vihaan barely manages to stop her from slumping over. She vaguely registers that she's being picked up again, before she fades completely.

Her ring, his ring, already loose from her anxious fiddling on the flight over, slips off her finger when her hand falls limply, rolls across the marble floor, and clatters at his feet.

He bends down to pick it up, why does it look so achingly familiar?

"Yeh mere liya hai, RK?" He looks up and Prachi is standing over him, smiling.

He should say yes. Should use the opportunity to flirt but instead he curls his fingers around it, a long forgotten part of him unwilling to give it to anyone else.

"Nahi. Yeh kisi aur ke pyar ki amanat hai jo galti se mere paas aayi."

A promise kept.

* * *

So what will happen next, any ideas?

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Take care.

Sincerely,

Mahi