Kissmet

Reunion

"What will you do if life takes us on different paths and we completely lose touch," Sophia asks me kicking her legs in the pool.

I surface from my lap. "When, not if" and submerge in water.

"What?"

I emerge again swimming near her, "You said if, like it may or may not happen. But I am saying it will happen. Our journey is not woven together, we have different visions for life, and it's gonna take us to those places."

She gives a half angry half irritated look and I continue, "But, we will meet again. Somehow our paths will collide."

"Really?" she says with a sarcastic tilt, "Says the Magician Malini." She splashes water on me.

I chuckle wiping my face. "Not magic. I believe in kismet."

And here she is. Pixie cut, black sweatshirt and ripped jeans, wide eyes in a diamond-shaped face staring back at me. After all the years it is now that we ran into each other and I have to believe its fate and nothing else.

The next thing I know we are hugging each other, tears welling in our eyes.

"OMG Soph, how are you? What are you doing here?" I keep blabbering in shock. "Are you well?" I pat both her arms like she is in bandages or something.

She laughs and grabs me by the shoulders steadying me from my hysterics. "Lini, calm down. I am great." Tears shine in her eyes as she holds my arms and just looks at how much we have changed, and grown. Eight years. Eight long years.

I take a deep breath and then the incident hits me, "Oh god so sorry Soph, I -I couldn't do anything, I tried searching for you but -"

"Ada paithiyame" she shakes my shoulders again, "I said I am alright. Everything else is ancient history." She speaks.

Somehow hearing her address me as an idiot, grounds me. When cursing starts between friends you know things are good.

After a moment or two when we both come down from the high emotions she asks, "How are you?"

"I am great. I am a lawyer now." I tell her with a smile.

"That's awesome, Lini. You made it," she says with pride evident in her voice.

"Arey, you made it! MAPHIA academy, huh?"

"Yeah. Just like we discussed." Sophia smiles.

I don't want to break this happy note but I really had to know. I think she guesses my change in expression and the oncoming question. "So what happened Soph, after you know ..."

"After my dad nearly killed me." a sardonic smile graces her and I squeeze her hands.

She takes a huge breath as if preparing herself. "I ran away, as you know." She looks at me and I nod.

"I went to the nearest bus station, I didn't even know where I was going, I just told the conductor to give me a ticket to go to a faraway place. I wish he would have thought I was insane but all I saw in his face was pity. And the bus stopped here, in Kodai, I wandered the streets for two days. The night was the hardest, more than the cold, I had to protect myself from drunken men." A shaky breath leaves her.

"I slept under parked vehicles, wishing for the least bit of warmth. Just when I thought I escaped from one monster another surfaced... hunger. I tried stealing out of desperation but got caught, and beaten up on the streets. At one point I thought I was going to die." My heart broke for her.

She lets out a heavy breath and gives a hollow laugh, "Let's not go into the sordid details anymore. Long story short. After that, Akshuma, a native here, who was selling crochets, saw me one day and took me in. For her, I am the daughter she never had, and for me, she is my guardian angel. It had to be some kind of divine intervention that I got to meet her."

"She sounds wonderful. I would love to meet her." I tell her.

"She passed away last year." And my face falls. "She would have loved you," she tells me, and knowing that someone was there for her in her hard times, soothes my heart.

She smiles, "And then since I had good language efficiency, I worked as a tour guide for a few years, saved money, and started the academy."

She continues, "I am sorry for not contacting you sooner. I just couldn't go back."

Not back to Chennai, but to her past.

Before I could tell her that I understood she needed a fresh start, "Ah there you are, I have been looking for you all over the place." A soft voice interrupts us.

A huge grin splits Sophia's face, "Malini, meet my beautiful wife Kathrine and our son Micheal."

"What!?" A pleasant surprise rolls through me. One she is married and two I just met her wife and son.

"Oh my god, you are Malini Kumar! How did I not realize this." Exclaims Kathrine hugging me and squashing Mike in the middle. "She has told me so much about you. I couldn't thank you enough for taking care of her."

"Oh, Kathrine I should be the one thanking you."

"What nonsense. Call me Kat." She says smiling.

I laugh and look at Mike not as the little guy who shushed me, but as Sophia's son and a fresh batch of happy tears welled in my eyes. "I am so happy for you Soph."

She smiles and I ask her, "So how did you guys meet?"

"Well, I told you I worked as a tourist guide, and that's when I met her. It was love at first sight." Soph says looking at Kat throwing an arm over her shoulder.

Kat speaks, "Yep. And after the tour, I went back to London, packed up my life there, came here, and - "

"- swept me right off my feet. And life has been wonderful ever since." Soph finishes.

"I suppose you weren't talking about the city when you said you fell hard?" I ask Kat recalling our earlier conversation.

Kathrine chuckles. "I do love the city but not more than her," she says looking at Sophia.

Sophia gives her a peck on the cheek and Mike in the middle physically separates them with a palm on each of their cheeks making them guffaw. God, they are so much in love which even makes me yearn to experience it.

"You should come home, Kat makes the most delicious banana bread," Soph says.

Before I answer, "Honey, unlike some of us she is busy" Kat says saving me.

I chuckle "Yeah some other time for sure."

A slender arm is thrown over my shoulder, "Shall we go?" asks my best friend who fled from the church.

"Yeah, before we go, do you remember Sophia? This is her family, Kathrine and Micheal" and for Katherine's sake, "This is my best friend Ni-"

"Nila Krishnan?" Kat asks and I look at her in surprise. "Do you know her?"

All the while Sophia stood there frozen, her skin as pale as paper. "Nila I am so-" she starts.

"We should go." And Nila just walks away.

What is happening!?

I don't have enough time to comprehend, as Nila marches away like a soldier, and Sophia suddenly becomes a statue.

"I apologize, I don't know what has gotten into her, I'll get in touch," I tell Kat and exchange numbers with her and she is just as confused as I am.

I give her a quick hug and pinch the little guy's chubby cheek while he happily babbles without a care in the world, and rush behind Nila. What a boon to be a kid.

Just as she was starting the bike, I caught up with her. After I was seated, I tapped her shoulder, "Good to go."

And she speeds the bike without a word and I wave to a now-normal Sophia.

Then again, I get the same prickling awareness as earlier that something is off and I can't brush away the feeling that we are being watched.