Half Girlfriend

‘Nestle. I am in sales, for their yogurt brand.’
‘Ah,’ I said.
‘What?’ she said.
‘Nothing.’
‘In case you’re wondering what the hell I’m doing selling yogurt in
Patna, well, it’s hard for a college dropout to find a job, isn’t it?
Especially when the dropout wants to work on her own and not with
her rich dad?’
‘I wasn’t wondering about that at all,’ I said. I really didn’t care
why she was in Patna; I was only delirious with joy she was in Patna.
‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘when do you go back to Dumraon?’
‘You remember Dumraon?’ I said smilingly.
‘How can I forget the only prince I have ever known and his
kingdom?’
She picked up a spoon and took a bite of my kulfi. I thought she
didn’t want anything sweet.
Why do girls always do the opposite of what they say they want to
do? She took more bites of the kulfi and ended up eating more of it
than me.
‘Do you remember anything else, Riya?’
‘Like what?’
‘Us?’
She looked at me.
‘Madhav...’
‘Yes?’
‘I’ve changed, Madhav,’ she said. ‘In college I was an immature,
over-protected, idiotic eighteen-year-old with no clue about life.’
‘We were all young back then,’ I said, jumping to her defence.
‘I am sorry, because I know I hurt you. The last two years have
taught me a lot.’
Her unexpected apology startled me. I realized that I could be in
love with this Riya even more than the previous one.‘What actually
happened?’