“No.”
“Don’t lie to me. I may not be spending as much time in Srinagar as I do in Jammu and Himachal, but I will find out.”
“No.” She asserted. “Nothing like that has happened. And don’t you get between this as the KDP President. Just listen to me like you.”
“Like me?”
“Like my boyfriend.”
“If I wasn’t the KDP President, I would react even worser.”
“Samar.”
“Amaal.” He pinned her with his eyes. Then sighed. “Ok, say.”
“I just don’t enjoy working with him like I used to with Atharva. I don’t agree with a lot of the things… ok, most of the things that he is doing. It’s not the Kashmir Atharva dreamed about. It’s safe, but religious intolerance is creeping back, policies are being roadblocked from being executed… You know about these things better than I do.”
“Hmm.”
“And… did I tell you I am scouting properties?”
“You said something about looking at photos but not going for the property tours yet.”
“Well, the end date is coming closer,” she quipped. “And I am thinking of going back to KDP… if the KDP President will have me again.”
“You are thinking this or you have decided?” His brows shot up. “Because don’t give me false hope.”
“False hope? You will pull all your hair out in the first week itself. Don’t you remember how we fought all the time?”
“No.”
“I made Atharva’s life hell and he made my life hell in turn. When you and me were in Jammu for the JMC elections, we made each other’s lives hell!”
“I don’t remember it being hell,” he smirked. “I remember you winning us seats and dancing to me and then losing to me in a video game and getting drunk.”
She grinned, her eyes pricking. “What a time that was.”
His smile widened.
“As I said,” Amaal took a deep breath. “I am thinking. Suddenly, the last ten years look like they passed in a blur and I am just waking up.”
“Take your time. Jammu-Kashmir elections are still a good eight months away. You can leave Qureshi’s government then without having to serve any notice period or answer any questions. It will also keep your credentials clean.”
“Hmm.”
His brow cocked.
“Hmmmmm…” she made a loud hum and picked up her soup spoon.
————————————————————
Her father was shifted out of the ICU that evening because, apparently, his pupils were reactive and he was alert. That was when Amaal got to see him awake and in his full senses.
“Dad,” she went to his bedside. “Way to go with your attention problem.”
“Ut workd…” he slurred, his mouth at an odd angle to the right. His right eye was squinted. But Samar, her mother, as well as the doctors had reassured her again and again that it was temporary.
“Look who is here.” Her mother entered behind her, Samar in tow.
