Up In The Air |✅|

A "Peaceful" Day

Akanksha Thakur was impressed.

And quite intrigued.
Her heart beat faster as she read the four lines again and again and again. She loved it. She loved Karan's writing.
She wanted to meet him and talk about it. Right then. Even though it was almost midnight.
She wanted to ask...

What the heck did he mean when he wrote those lines?

She wanted to know. She wanted to know really badly.
Because she was starting to get annoyed again. Karan was mysterious and misleading.

But the worst part was that she couldn't meet him again until Monday.
Unless... he came by on his bike again. Or something like that.

With that thought in mind, Akanksha woke up early the next morning. The first thing she did after getting out of bed was look out the window. Empty street. Just a few random people going to the bazaar.
She brushed her teeth and ate a banana and then looked out the window. Empty street. Just a few random kids going to play in the park.

She walked out of the house and waited in her yard at the exact time she had done so the week before. But no Karan came by.
She could go all the way to his house but she didn't want to. She grabbed her shoes and walked towards the Sagar railing instead.
The breeze was disappearing. Summer was zipping in and out. Soon May would come to an end and June would arrive bringing in the rains.
May would come to an end.

'Oh.' Akanksha stopped, 'Karan's birthday...' She thought as she resumed walking. And there. Right in front of her was Karan, hands on the railing... with somebody else. Side by side. They were laughing and talking.

'Seriously?' Karan said through his chuckles.
'Yeah. But that was a long time ago.' Shweta replied. None of them turned back. If they had, they would've spotted her. She was behind them. Though at least a few meters away. But near enough to hear their every word.
'No but really, you like her, don't you?' Shweta said suddenly and Karan's smile was wiped off his face, 'I'm asking because she's my friend. Not because you rejected me.'
Akanksha couldn't decide if she should've run away from there or continued listening because Shweta was being purely genuine, or cursed or thanked the epic timing. The minutes ticked fast.
And yet Akanksha couldn't help but wait.

Karan took a deep breath and held his tongue. As if he was thinking. His brain was processing the thoughts, twisted or not, inside it and preparing an appropriate answer which would suit the mood, the supposed two minds present there and the weather.
'So?' Shweta urged.

There it was again. An incessant pounding in the chest.
Moreover, Akanksha was standing at a place where the victims could see her pretty easily if they just moved an inch.

'If you really want to know then,' Karan began and Akanksha's heart was in her throat as there was no way Karan would lie to Shweta. Because... why would he?
'I admire her. She's the only person who has influenced me so much. And I really, really like her.' Karan paused for a stupid split second while Akanksha tumbled down twenty hundred feet in a roller coaster, 'As a friend.'

Okay... what?

'What?' Shweta blurted. Even if Akanksha wasn't looking at her face, she could guess what expression she was wearing. Because it obviously wouldn't match her own.
'Seriously?' Shweta was skeptical.
Karan nodded once, smiling at the sea.
'Quit smiling at the sea, you idiot.' Akanksha whispered to herself.
'Woah, I thought that you definitely...' Shweta said but stopped.
Karan said nothing more.

On the other hand, Akanksha felt idiotic. Those words on the envelope had meant nothing. Those lines had meant nothing! The stupid pen with the blue light and the stupid letter... everything meant nothing!