Dil Jaanta Hai | ✔

sixty one

He stopped tapping the hand rest, and pulled the hood of his jacket in a surprised manner. "Arvika Deewan... The hell are you doing here?"

So he wasn't exactly stalking me. "You were right. We never thought about the wolf's family. Because we were blinded by ourselves."

Two air hostesses were pushing a trolley for retailing items and water. "Excuse me," Mickey called out. "Water, please?"

I watched him gulp down the Styrofoam cup filled with water. "Is my presence spooking you, Mikesh?"

"Firstly," he crumpled the glass, "you just caught me off-guard. I was not expecting you to be my flight mate. And secondly, don't call me that. Coming from you, it sounds chilly. Just stick to Mickey."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." I shrugged. "And here I thought you followed me here."

"Nalle hai, velle nahi," he snorted. "Why are you going to Himachal anyway?"

"To haul a cab to Shimla. What about you?"

"Definitely not stalking you," he joked.

"You used to creep me out. Until you told me about the wolf."

It was the first time I saw Mickey give a genuine smile.

"Are you the wolf too, Mickey? Is no one listening to your side of the story?"

He folded his hands and pulled the hood on his face again. I put my headphones back on. This was not going to be a long ride.

¿¤?

"They found them under my stack of clothes in the closet."

Somehow, I had relaxed in the notion of Mickey coincidentally joining me at the camp. I had figured he was going to be there with me when I saw him get out of the cab outside the gates a minute after I did. No matter how hard we tried to hide this small secret, it was funny to find that we were in this together. So, that night, after dinner, we found ourselves a spot by the trees outside the dining area, him smoking another cigarette, and me listening to his sob story.

"So it is your stupidity that has brought you here?"

"Hey," he flicked his white roll, "no one had informed me that they were scheduling a spring cleaning. No one's actually ever checked my room before."

"I'd repeat my statement again," I shrugged.

"Okay," he gave in, "I wasn't careful this time. But why this camp dude? I have my board exams in a few months, they shouldn't be letting me go on a vacation."

"Your sense of humour is classier than you," I chuckled. "Please don't ever try that joke again. Teri bachi hui izzad ka faluda ban jayega."

He mocked a smile. "I really don't want to spend another goddamn year in that wretched place. There's a reason why I should be worried about not failing."

He hadn't realised yet that he had given me a clue. I nodded to show my agreement.

It was getting colder, we could see the air we breathed out. "So... when did you start taking drugs?"

"Before we could even understand the difference between what was wrong and what wasn't right."

I didn't enquire further. I was content with gazing at the stars above us, some twinkling brighter than the others. Daadi wasn't any one of them. I refused to regard her as a celestial body, because her dynamics was brighter than any celestial body.

"I heard about your Grandmother. You were really close to her, weren't you?"

I nodded. At least he wasn't sorry for my loss.