“Listen.”
“Hmm?”
“I am seeing you after three months,” he whispered. “Just give me a day of looking at you and not thinking about anything bad.”
She sighed, clawing her fingers through her hair. Blue eyes went away from him, to the glass window bringing the garden into her hall. All greens and sun and bird song. All Amaal. Her eyes came back, and they were calmer.
She smiled. “Did you miss me?”
“Are we teenagers?”
Her smile widened.
“Hmm.” He answered.
“How much?”
“I don’t have anyone to play knife fight with in the morning, otherwise everything is fine.”
Amaal burst out laughing. Samar set his elbow on the back of her sofa and rested his head on it, just looking at her.
“Come here and let me kiss you.”
“Stocking up for six months?” She raised her brows.
“Come here, Amaal.”
Her laughter died, and she instantly crawled across the sofa for his mouth to capture hers.
————————————————————
“There’s Adil’s convoy.” Amaal pointed as he turned into the lane leading to the CM’s residence.
“These cartoons bring their full convoys to a dinner in Jammu?” Samar squinted. “This is the safest part of the state.”
“Adil used to send his convoy empty and then drive in some random car earlier and Atharva got so angry at him. His logic is that if they give their securities a slip or try to buy them off then what’s stopping the security from taking money from elsewhere next time?”
Samar chuckled. “Atharva is a hypocrite.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” He flicked the indicator and turned into the gates leading to the bungalow that was assigned to the CM when he was in Jammu. He had never been here before. The bungalow was just as massive as the gates, four times the size of Amaal’s. And Amaal’s was massive in itself, being the assigned accommodation for the Speaker.
“Even Qureshi and family are on time.” Samar parked behind their convoys, surprised that they all fit into the driveway. Amaal got down — “Get the chocolate barfi boxes from the back.” She ordered him like the old days, and he preened. Samar smirked, turning off the headlights and the car, slowly getting down. The dusk was mild but the sounds from the house were loud. He could already hear Daniyal and Adil. He saw Maha run to the verandah, Amaal behind her.
It was after ages that he would sit down with his founding partners in a place where bad blood would not flow. There was reticence about the decision he and Amaal had taken this afternoon, but he knew he had to forge his path ahead with tough decisions. It was not fair to Amaal, and not fair to him. And this would be his motivation — her, at the end of this battle.
He knew he would fight this battle with three weapons: reclaiming his work, solving the unresolved parts of his past, and bringing his body back to life. The how, was still not answered. But tomorrow would be a start. Himachal would be a start. He was looking forward to throwing himself into a party that had been stalled because he had been AWOL for ten months. It would be an uphill task, but he was up for it. He was up for it all, to become worthy to belong to this group again. To become worthy of Amaal again.
Samar opened the back door and picked up the boxes of chocolate barfi that Amaal had made him stop for. He walked through the garden and found that they were all crowding the verandah. Samar craned his neck, until he saw it. Atharva’s son was walking. He fell down on his knees and Atharva instantly picked him up and threw him in the air. The entire gang was cheering so loudly, Samar couldn’t hear what he said before turning and running with his son into the garden behind. Everybody followed him — Daniyal, Maha, Adil, Sarah. Even Qureshi.
Samar turned to the entrance of the house, seeing bright lights offsetting the dark outside. And there stood Amaal, with Iram, turned away from him. He strode inside.
“…been a while since I thought about her in one of Arth’s milestones. I used to, in the beginning, then consciously gave up, telling myself that I would be unjust to Arth if I drowned myself in sorrow for every happy moment of his life. I just couldn't help it today.”
“It’s alright,” Amaal said to her. “You don’t have to feel guilty about it.”
“Oh, I am not feeling guilty. I am just happy to discover that I could dip into the thought of my daughter and come back to my son without getting lost. That’s a big win for me today.”
