Tug of Fate | When Stars Align Book one

The Reading

Ananya

Gurgaon, September 2017

I wake up to Smarajit's email informing me that Becca, I and one more team member get to go to Australia next month to shadow the event there. And just like that, Becs and I have light in our eyes again. Whatever happened to me, I know it has affected Becs as much as if not more than, it has affected me.

We've taken today off as well. Rishi's been blowing up my phone constantly. So much that I turned it off. Cue eye roll here. I mean, if a girl ran away from you, then irritating the hell out of her by calling her so much that she is forced to turn her phone off, is not going to win you any brownie points, you know?

It's like a switch's been flipped in me. I shudder every time I think back to how I was treated, how I was suppressed, abused. If it wasn't for Becs' light, I wouldn't have made it this far. Becca is right. I lived all these years thinking and believing that I had no choice. That I had to settle. So I made my peace with it. But I was so wrong. Any place where my heart and soul and body aren't happy, isn't a place I wanna be. And so I say a prayer again.

I am not a religious person. But I am a believer. It has to do with my culture and upbringing I suppose. And I believe that with the right intention, prayers are more powerful than any powers. So I say this prayer with the purest of intentions.. Please let me live each day, find my courage and light. Please bless me with the courage to walk away if my being somewhere stops making sense. Please give me the blessing of looking forward to the next day, always, every night. Thank you.

Right then Becca comes in holding her deck of tarot cards.

"Come on Chica. We gotta ask for answers from the divine. Let's see what the future has in store for us."

That has me smiling. I have always loved tarot and magic and everything the mundane doesn't understand. I mean, think about it. We have a nasty habit of finding explanations for everything that doesn't make sense to us. Even for tarot, I have heard people turn around and say yes you wanted to hear this so she told you this. Not for once will they think at how someone was able to tell them what they needed to hear. We kill the magic every day with our useless reasonings, our need to demystify the things that happen to us.

Anyhow, Becca is beckoning me to the balcony with a smile, and I cannot help but smile as well.

I follow her outside and I see that she's already set the table with two mugs of coffee, and her Bluetooth speaker with Shooglenifty playing. Did I mention I love folk rock? It transports me to another realm and I LOVE that feeling. But it was frowned upon. By who, you say? Rishi, of course. Folk rock isn't as sophisticated as classical, jazz and ghazals. Umm... probably a good idea to stop mentioning that every dream or hobby of mine is messed up because of Rishi. Yeah?

So Becs and I get settled and start giggling like kids. This is so freeing. I mean... to just sit with my bestie and chill for a day with her, without worrying about my GPS, or about excuses and about what to tell my husband, what I had for lunch, or how to sneak and have a packet of crisps if I want.. Okay. I am gonna stop right here.

Becca suddenly transforms into this sage, closes her eyes and takes a calming breath. I know it is calming because her whole face is transformed. It's like watching a magician at play. She opens her eyes and smiles. She looks at me then starts shuffling her cards. One by one cards start popping out. She stops after the third card.