Half Girlfriend (22 page)

I leaned forward, my lips an inch from hers.

‘No, Madhav, no,’ she said and gently placed her hand on my

chest. However, she didn’t push me away Her fingers were directly

over my heart, I leaned back a bit.

‘Why not?’ I said,

‘We agreed to be just friends, No more.’

'Why not?’

‘Don’t ask the same question twice.’

‘I can try twice.’

I leaned over again. This time, she pushed me back.

’Don’t do this. Please,’

Her eyes were wet. I withdrew.

’Can we at lease talk?’ I said, Losers get words from girls; winners

get kisses, ‘We are talking.’

‘Are you worried about your dad?’

‘Among other things,’

‘Which you won’t share with me,’

‘Madhav, you are a nice guy. An amazing guy, okay?’

‘If you say so,’ I said,

‘But,’

‘There’s always a “but"'

‘Can we please not do all this other stuff?’

‘Not now,’ I agreed,‘But maybe later?’

‘Madhav,’ she said, I don’t want to get your hopes up. So no

"maybe later",’

‘Why? Because of what I did in college?’

‘Are you crazy? Do you really think I will hold on to something

from years ago?’

‘So what is it? I’m not good enough for you?' I said.

She smiled at me.

‘What?’ I said.

‘I just said you are an amazing guy.’

‘Give us a shot, Riya,’ I said.

‘A shot? Wow. Someone knows English slang.’

‘A chance. Whatever. Anyway, let it be. Okay, fine, friends.’

I realized I had blown my moment. A failed attempt at kissing has

to be aborted, not converted into an argument.

We stayed silent for a minute.

‘My father is dying,’ she said. ‘And I don’t know what to feel.’

‘He is your father.’

‘Yes. I hope he makes it.’

‘I can’t live without you, Riya,’ I said, or rather, blurted out, She

turned to me.

‘Not again.’

‘Sorry,’ I said.

I turned the other way. Girls have no idea how much it hurts when

our love is rejected. Yet, men are expected to keep trying and take hits

all the time.

She held my hand. I pulled it away. Be a man, they say. Well, it

sucks to be a man sometimes.

‘Stop sulking,Your Majesty,’ she said.

‘One kiss,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘Just one kiss. After that I promise we will be friends. Just friends.'

‘How does that work?’

‘I don’t know. I can’t get that one kiss out of my head. I need to

know I mean something to you. I understand your situation—the

divorce, your dad and your job. I won't expect anything. I will let you

be. I will be a friend and value you as one. But just one kiss.'

She applauded.

‘What?’

‘You said that entire thing in English. Oh my God, Madhav.’

For a moment I forgot about the kiss. I reflected upon my

achievement.

‘I really did,’ I said, surprised.

‘Awesome,’ she said.

I returned to reality.

‘So, yes, one kiss.’

‘But...’

‘Shh...’ I said and kept my hand on her mouth. I came forward and

kissed my fingers placed on her lips. Her eyes blinked in surprise.

I removed my fingers. My lips landed on hers. We had kissed

exactly three years, four months and eleven days ago. She put her arms

around me as if to keep her balance.The kiss was light at first, and

then picked up intensity. Frogs croaked, crickets chirped and the

breeze soared as Dumraon’s night sky witnessed Bihar’s, if not the

world’s, best kiss ever.

She buried her face in my shoulder. More than kisses, I could tell

she wanted to be held, as if she had not hugged anyone in a really long

time.

I held her tighter, landing kisses wherever I could, on her face,

neck, lips. After a minute, or maybe an hour, she stirred.

‘That lasted a while,’ she said.

‘Still counts as one kiss. Was it nice?’ I said.

‘Madhav.’

'What?'

‘You said one kiss. Not one kiss, then an in-depth discussion on

the quality of the kiss, or what did the kiss mean, or can we do this

again or let’s get carried away. I did it for you. So you know you mean

something. But please don’t discuss mention or bring this up ever

again.’

I looked at her, shocked. How can you brush aside the most

incredible kiss in the state, possibly the world, without even a basic

review? But I said,‘Fine,’

‘Sit up,’ she said. She sat cross-legged on the charpoy. I faced her,

but I moved far enough so she wouldn’t feel I could strike again.

She smiled at me.

‘What?’

‘It was nice,’ she said.

‘What was?’

‘What we just did.’

‘We sat up cross-legged. That was nice?’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said and laughed. ‘It was wonderful how we sat up.

Wow. You sit pretty well.’

‘We have sat before.’

‘This was a different league. Guess maturity makes a man better,’

she said, ‘at.. .sitting.’

We laughed. I wanted to touch her, if only to touch my fingertips to

hers, but didn’t. I couldn’t believe we had kissed again. We chatted

about old classmates of ours. We had lost touch with most of them, but

tried to update each other with our limited information, Twenty

minutes later, she coughed. Once, twice and then five more times.

'You okay?’

‘Yeah, it is a little cold,' she said and went into a coughing fit.

‘I’ll get water.’

I ran downstairs to my room. I came back with a bottle of water.

She lay down on the charpoy, right hand on her forehead.

‘You’re not well, Riya?' I said.

She coughed again, sat up and had some water.

I touched her forehead.

'You don't have fever,' I said,

'I'm exhausted, l guess.'

‘Did I stress you out?’ I said. I felt guilty about kissing her.

‘No. I should just go rest.'

She had a coughing fit again, this time more violent.

I helped her stand up and escorted her to the guestroom, ‘Will you

be okay? You want someone here?' I said, She smiled, ‘Nice try, sir.

But I will be just fine,' she said, ‘I didn't mean that. I could wake up

Ma,'

‘No, no, please. I need sleep, that's all. We are going to the school

tomorrow, right?'

'If you’re feeling better.’

‘I’ll be okay. Goodnight, Madhav,’ she said.

‘Goodnight, Riya,’ I said, not wanting to leave.

'Thanks for taking care of me,’ she said, her voice sleepy.

She shut the door. I came back to my room. As I lay in my bed, I

touched my lips. I thought about our magnificent lip-lock under the

stars.

'I love you, Riya Somani,’ I whispered before I drifted off to sleep.

29

'So this is the famous Dumraon Royal School,’ Riya said, her eyes

widening at the sight of hundreds of kids buzzing around like bees.

‘Nothing royal about it,’ I said.

‘Well, I hear a prince runs it,’ she said.

She smiled at me. I gave her an all-knowing, what-happened-last-

night look. Of course, not much had happened. But a kiss is a kiss is a

kiss.

‘We decided never to talk about it,’ she said.

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘Tell your eyes to be quiet then.They talk too much.’

I laughed. ‘How’s your cough?’

‘Better,’ she said.

We reached school at nine, two hours after Ma. Riya had slept in.

Since she did not know the way, I had to wait for her. She, had

donned a skirt and top first, but I had asked her to change into a

salwar-kameez instead. Not that the kids would care but the principal,

or Rani Sahiba, would. She had to approve of the dress code. So Riya

switched to a plain white chikan salwar-kameez.

We entered the staffroom.

‘You finally made it. Welcome,’ my mother said. I ignored her

sarcasm. Riya and I greeted her, but Ma only nodded, without looking

up from her notebooks.

I introduced Riya to the staff.

Tarachand ji duly rang the bell. My mother stood up.

‘Where are you going, Ma? It is my period.’

‘Are you working today?’ she said.

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Good, because I have a hundred books to correct.’

She sat down again.

‘Is it okay if Riya waits here?’ I said.

‘Oh, I could walk around,’ Riya said.

‘It’s fine,’ my mother said.

‘Or I could help with the books?’ Riya said.

My mother looked up and lowered her reading glasses.

'Help?’

'I can correct some notebooks. Should I take a pile?’

In a slow movement, Ma pushed a pile towards her.

I smiled. Rani Sahiba’s heart could melt. I imagined the three of us

at school every day, after it had received the Gates grant. If you are

imagining it, might as well dream of the perfect scenario, so I thought .

Of Riya, my mother and me, laughing and correcting notebooks. I

thought of Riya and me teaching the school kids basketball.

‘Madhav?’ my mother interrupted my daydream.

‘Huh?’

‘Class?’

'I was just leaving,’ I said.

*

'Who is that didi?' a little girl in class III asked me.

I taught classes III, IV and V simultaneously. Since we didn’t have

enough teachers or classrooms, we had come up with a new system. I

divided the blackboard into three parts.

Each class had a third of the blackboard. I would teach a concept

in one class and give them a problem.While they solved it, I moved on

to the next class. It wasn’t the best way to teach, but the kids adapted

to it.

‘She’s my classmate from Delhi. Same as you have classmates

here,’ I said.

‘She’s so pretty,’ another class III girl called Shabnam said. ‘Are all

Delhi girls so pretty?’

I smiled.

‘Just like all Dumraon girls are pretty.’

‘Are all Delhi girls so tall?’ Shabnam said.

‘No. Only those who can write the nine-times table.’ The girls

giggled and got on with their ciasswork.

I moved to class IV and then to class V. Forty minutes into the

class, I sat down for a break. I had finally managed to keep all three

classes busy with their respective work.

‘Madhav sir,’ a ponytailed girl next to Shabnam said.

‘What?’

‘Bring your friend to class.’

‘Why?’

‘Please.’

‘No. This is study time.’

A couple of other girls followed and started the ‘please’ routine

Soon, the whole class chanted ‘please, please, please’ to me. I had

taught them about manners just the previous week. Now they were

using them against me.

‘Fine, I will get her,’ I said, ‘provided you stay absolutely quiet and

work.’

Everyone nodded and placed their fingers on their lips. I left the

classroom. The class burst into noise as soon as I stepped out.

My mother and Riya sat in silence, each busy with their stack of

notebooks.

‘Riya, the students want to meet you.’

‘Me? Why?’ Riya looked up, surprised.

‘Just curious, I guess.’

Riya looked at my mother. Ma didn’t react. I pulled Riya s arm.

‘Come, no,’ I said.

Riya and I stepped out of the staffroom.

‘How is it going with Ma?’ I said.

‘Why do you ask?’

‘She is sweet, no? Comes across as strict, but is a big softie.’

‘Why are you telling me this, Madhav?’ R iya said.

‘Just.’

We reached the class. The students broke into applause.

‘Hi, I am Riya,' she said. She knelt down to be on their level. ‘You

are so pretty,’ Shabnam said shyly.

Riya tweaked Shabnam's nose. ‘So are you,’ she said.

Shabnam blushed.

Riya spoke to the girl next to Shabnam.‘What do you want to be

when you grow up?’

The girl buried her face in Shabnam’s lap.

Riya laughed. She repeated the question to another girl.

'Mother. I want to be a mother,’ the girl responded.

‘And?’ Riya said.

And what?’ the girl said.

'Doctor? Engineer? Dancer?’

The little girl thought for a while.

'Teacher,’ she said.

'Nice,' Riya said and patted her back.

Riya and I came back to the staffroom. My mother and the other

teachers had class. Only Riya and I remained in the staffroom. We sat

the long table. She coughed again.

I said, ‘You really don’t sound okay.’

‘I was fine. I don’t know,’ Riya said. She went into another

toughing fit.

‘Let’s find a doctor,’ I said.

‘I’ll see a doctor in Patna.’

Riya excused herself and stepped outside. She looked around.

'There’s no toilet. Kids go in the corner there. Or in the fields

outside,’ I said, coming up behind her.

Riya walked out to the fields, still coughing. I saw her body shake

from a distance. I ran up to her. She turned and smiled at me.

‘I’m fine. I just need to properly cough it out.’

‘Spit out the phlegm.’

‘Sorry, I’m being gross.’

‘As if,’ I scoffed.

‘I should head back,’ she said.

‘Alone? Let me come and drop you.’

Riya laughed. She patted my shoulder.

‘You are so sweet. There is no need. It’s just an allergy.’

‘I should come with you,’ I said.

She held my shoulders and flipped me around.

‘You have classes. Now go back in, mister, before all your little

girls come looking for you.’

30

'Louder, Madhav. You’re speaking like a mouse,’ Riya shouted, in

contrast to my meek voice.

She was grouchy, perhaps because I had made six mistakes in my