Half Girlfriend

more dignity than I thought I had. ‘Go fuck yourself’ would have been
a more natural response.
‘Please do come,’ she said.
‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’ I managed to say one
more time.
‘I’m following my heart. That’s usually doing the right thing,
right?’
‘I don’t know. Sometimes following your heart leads you
nowhere.’
I looked at her to see if she understood my sly comment. She did,
and gave a wry smile.
‘I am sorry, Madhav, if I hurt you.'
I nodded to reassure her that hurting me was no big deal. Pretty
girls have the right to hurt men. I found it hard to breathe. I switched
off the reading light. That way, in case I started crying, my tears would
not be visible.
I heard a knock on the car’s door.The driver was back.
‘Here, madam,’ the driver said. He handed her four packets of
Parle-G.
She passed the biscuits to me. ‘Please take them for Rudra. I’m
addicted to these. If I keep them in the car I’ll eat them all.’
‘You asked him to get it.’
‘Only so he would leave us alone.’
I kept the packets, my consolation prize. Rohan gets Riya. Madhav
gets biscuits.
I opened the car door and stepped out.
She stepped out from her side and walked up to me.
‘Bye,’ she said.
‘Bye, Riya,’ I said. It was hard to hold back my tears forever. I
wanted her to leave.
‘Hey, you forgot something,’ she said.
‘What?’ I said.
‘Your card.’