After passing through the Hollow (created by the Seamstress's incantations) in the Fabric that separated all worlds, Shivam and Aparajita found themselves standing in a rain-soaked street beside a lake. The very place where Aparajita had turned into a dragon, all that time ago.
Aparajita took a look around. Night had fallen on this side of the Fabric. No other human being was in sight. A cold wind brushed past them, like spirits of dead people. The moonlight flickered as shreds of clouds rushed ahead in the sky.
"It had happened here. Hadn't it?" Aparajita asked.
Shivam nodded slowly. Their lives had changed here, forever. Yes, they were now back where magic was only a myth, but that wouldn't wipe the memories from his mind. The memories of dragons and Infernos and magic spears. The memory of a bewitching woman.
"What do we do now? For how many days have we been gone from our homes?" Aparajita asked.
"It doesn't matter. The Seamstress said we would find that time cheats once we were back here. I guess time runs differently across the Fabric. I bet it is the same night...the night when you...you..." Shivam didn't finish the sentence.
Aparajita came closer, and hugged him. "You crazy man. You walked across worlds and manipulated time for the sake of me? Most men would have just gone home crying."
Shivam became stiff, and returned the hug very tentatively. "Most men would have just gone nuts. I wonder sometimes why I didn't."
"My brave Shibu," Aparajita said, and brought her lips close to his.
Shivam pushed her away. Surprised, she asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'm tired, that's all."
"Tired...even for a kiss...? Shivam, you have never..."
"Aparajita, we have been through a lot, okay? Can we just not romance now?"
"I don't understa...," Aparajita began, and then her eyes widened. "There's another girl, right? You met someone there. While looking for me you..."
"Aparajita, Aparajita," Shivam cut in. "It's nothing like that. Although..."
"Although what?" Aparajita asked, tears slipping from her eyes. Just a moment ago, Shivam had seemed to be the bravest man in the world, to her, at least. But now he just seemed to be a cowardly cheater.
"I kissed Tiyasha," Shivam blurted out.
Aparajita placed a hand across her open mouth. Shivam had told her about Tiyasha, of course, but had omitted this part. After a few seconds of unbearable silence, she asked, "Why?"
'I was horny,' was the thought that came to Shivam's tongue, but he said instead, "Because of The Unseen Price I told you about...? My memory used to fluctuate a lot. I temporarily forgot about you..."
"But you told me earlier these memory lapses never lasted too long!"
"It didn't. Your memory was absent, say, for fifteen minutes or something like that?"
"And it just took you fifteen minutes to kiss another girl?" Aparajita's tone conveyed her disbelief. "Wow," she added.
"Look, Aparajita. There's no point arguing over this. Not right now. It wasn't my fault..." Shivam said. But he didn't sound confident at all.
"That's...I don't know. I'm going back home. Talk to you later." Aparajita turned, and trotted away from Shivam.
The cold wind rose again.
***
A few days passed; and as they did, Shivam and Aparajita felt themselves growing more and more distant. They talked over their phones and chatted on the internet, but avoided meeting prospects.
One evening, as Shivam was lying down on his bed and looking at a fly caught in a cobweb on the ceiling, his phone rang. Without looking at the screen, he answered: "Hello, Aparajita."
"We need to talk," Aparajita said across a distance that satellite networks merged. Yet the merging was an illusion, and the distance seemed to be very real to both of them.
"I am listening," Shivam said. Where was the spider, he wondered. The fly had stopped struggling to escape from the trap.
"Not like this...I want to meet you," Aparajita said.
"Where and when?"
"Tomorrow? At our cafe?"
"Okay, then. Let's meet tomorrow," Shivam said.
The spider refused to come to take his fly.
***
Shivam sat in front of Aparajita across a cafe table, looking at her eyes. She seemed uncertain about how to begin: of course, they both knew that they couldn't just jump into the problem; so each began with small talk.
"You decided which subject you do your Honours in?" Shivam asked, just as Aparajita said, "Terrible weather, isn't it?"
It had been raining for the past two days. The alleys and streets were all muddied and waterlogged. Goo floated from the open drains across the streets, and people splashing through them pretended not to notice.
Or maybe it wasn't a pretension. Maybe they really didn't notice.
"I'm going for Theology," Aparajita said.
"Theology!" Shivam's surprise was evident. The subject certainly had limited career prospects.
"Yeah...something wrong with it?"
"No...but...why?"
"I'm going to look for clues about these parallel worlds and Seamstresses and stuff in ancient books. You know? There's gotta be some clues. I need to find evidence before we can go public on this," Aparajita said, excitement oozing from her tone.
"Aparajita, we'll never say a word about what happened to us in public. You seriously want to tell everyone you were a dragon?"
"Why the hell not? If we can find some evidence..." But she quietened as Shivam looked at her, contemptuous.
"Things have changed, haven't they," Shivam said.
Aparajita remained silent for a while, and it seemed to Shivam she regretted being there...or regretted the abrupt change of topic. But they had to discuss it, had to sort it out. Sooner better than later.
"I cannot forget it," Aparajita said, looking at the hard wall of rain outside the cafe window. "You kissed someone else behind my back. I can't forget it, Shivam."
Shivam continued looking at her, eyes narrowed, unblinking. "It wasn't my fault."
"How could you allow her to fall in love with you? You must have..."
"Hang on. How do I control who fall in love with..."
"You must have flirted, Shivam. I've seen you. You're rather smooth with girls..."
"Flirted! I had never..." But could he be sure? Hadn't he cracked a joke about marrying Tiyasha, once or twice? What kind of efdect such joking might have had on a woman who had just lost her family?
"You know why I fell in love with you, Shivam? Not because you can be charming, but because I thought you can reserve, the best of your charms, only for me."
"I murdered a king for you. Isn't it enough?"
Aparajita turned her head, bringing her eyes from the downpour to Shivam. "It should be, I know. But it isn't. Something has changed between us, Shivam. Ever since you told me about the kiss. I no longer feel anything when I look at you."
Shivam remained stunned in silence. Was this really happening? He looked for tears in her eyes, but there wasn't. But her eyes had a reddish tinge to them. She had cried herself dry. He knew it instinctively.
"I hope we can still be friends," Aparajita said, getting up from her seat. Then she walked away, walked out. The cafe door closed gently behind her.