The moment Maya lost balance, she closed her eyes, anticipating the hit but a hand wrapped around her waist and her eyes bulge open at the contact. She was caught by a man with wavy hair reaching under his ears, scruff covering the south part of his face and a surprised smile on his face. He was dressed in a beige-coloured kurta and Maya thinks that he look familiar, but she pushes the thought aside. She didn't meet many people after coming here, so there is no way that they could've met and she doesn't remember. The sound of the small bells ringing above the main bell pulls Maya out of her thoughts and the flowers used to decorate those small bells come off with collision and fall on them. At that moment, time stands still as the petals shower over them creating a Bollywood level cliché scene right there. As the moment passes, the man pulls her up and Maya thanks him.
"It's fine. I should've been careful too." He pulls out a handkerchief and dabs on her hand with a gentleness unexpected from a stranger. Only then does she realize that the oil from the diya has spilt onto her palm and she hesitantly takes the handkerchief from him to clean herself. She gives an awkward smile and puts the diya down. She hands over the kerchief but he refuses to take it.
"It's fine. You can keep it. You may need it again."
"Thank you. Ah- I need to go and..."
"Yeah, sure." Maya turns around with a heavy heart and walks away, feeling his gaze follow her. She reaches the room where they keep the essentials for pooja. Yesterday, when she came to the temple, the priest was kind enough to let her store the diyas in the room and gave her the key to use.
Suddenly she feels the need to talk to Akshay. She never understood the pull she felt for Akshay. It almost felt involuntary, like an external force pushed them together. He had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. He has always been there for and she knew it was beyond what one would do for friendship. She knows how he feels for her, but she also knows neither of them can approach such a relationship, not with her high emotional barriers. Maya knows that behind all those barriers is something she can't name, something that reminds her of his eyes that follow her everywhere silently, that lets them be each other's support system.
She pulls out her phone, her finger ceases at Akshay's contact. Why? She wonders. Before her mind even replies, the pitter-patter of the rain captures her attention and without much thought, she runs out into the rain. Leaving behind a question that she won't be able to answer, a question she must find an answer to.
***
What was that? Ranav takes a deep breath after holding it in for a moment there. Ranav never felt anything like this. From the moment the red dupatta fell into his hands in the pond, he was pulled to go after her. Looking at her from a distance as she lit the diyas, he wondered why this felt so familiar. As he tried to approach her and ask if they had met before, she fell into his arms and he stopped breathing. And then this strange sensation started building in him that he can't quite define.
The splashing water drops remind him that he needs to go back before docman comes. He runs fast in the rain to reach his car in time. He pulls away from the temple as a sedan car pulls over. A man gets out of the car in a black jacket matched with a white shirt and a pair of jeans. He walks over to the entrance of the temple with sure steps. Maya runs into the main temple with a searching gaze but finds no one there. Pushing away the not-so-there disappointment, She walks over to the diyas placed on the edges of the main dias and moves them to the inside, thus avoiding the rain. As soon as she finishes doing so on all the edges, she walks to the middle facing the idol and rings the bell. The sound resonates around the temple as the man approaches her and covers her eyes with his hands.
"Guess who?" Even with the sound of rain all around them and her clouded head, she could recognize that voice.
"Akshay?" A smile formed on Akshay's face on hearing his name. Maya turns around with a smile of her own. Even though his hands no longer cover her eyes, she feels blinded.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Maya didn't expect to meet him at all let alone in this temple at this time.
"I followed you here."
"What? Are you crazy? How do you even know I was here?" Maya's mind goes blank at the sight of him standing right in front of her and she has no idea how they got to this point.
"Hello? You told me you were going to this temple when we chatted. Did you forget?" He takes out his phone and shows her the conversation that they had yesterday night and only then does Maya remember chatting with him. She had been so tired after returning and then going around the city to find a convenient temple for today that she was half asleep when she reached home and barely dragged herself to bed.
"Yeah, I was pretty tired yesterday, I totally forgot about it. But you didn't tell me you were coming."
"It's a surprise, Mayu. How come you became so boring after coming here? You used to pull worse pranks in the UK."
"That was before I had to work 24 hours a day and barely get a wink of sleep." She says with a smile but what Akshay said did make sense. When did she become so dull?
"Trust me, you used to work like a robot and still used to find time for fun."
"Forget about it. Tell me, why are you here exactly?" Changing the topic seemed like the best way to push away the questions that would follow if she replied to that.
"Our dads wanted me to stay with you and get some experience here in the Indian branch which is just an excuse to send me here to look after you. And I was more than willing to spend some time with my beloved."
"Shut up." Maya laughs it off but she knows the underlying meaning of his words. Maya, at the time, was not conscious of the fact that at the back of her mind, a window has been opened. That window which despite being knocked upon with great desperation, remained closed has finally opened with a simple act of gentleness. Upon opening, a man with wavy hair peeked inside the window, his eyes shining with an unknown emotion. Somewhere else in the world, people might still be in search of their other half but what If there are two such other halves and only one you? These three counterparts had found each other again but will history repeat itself or will fate take a different turn?
***