Half Girlfriend

Police guards tell you to stop and turn around. She continued to tell
me about her New York trip.
‘In fact, I took up basketball because I saw an NBA game live at
Madison Square Garden in New York.’
‘You’ve seen an NBA game live?’ I said.
‘Yeah.The atmosphere.. .it’s electric.You should see one sometime,
Madhav.’
I shrugged. ‘Anyway, I like your dream, Riya,’ I said. ‘It’s doable,
not unreal.’
‘Unreal, like?’ she said.
‘Like becoming a top actress or the prime minister. You just want
something simple.’
She smiled. ‘Nothing is simple for a girl in a family like mine,’ she
said.
We walked in silence for a few minutes.
‘I feel better,’ she said after a while. '
‘What?’
She looked at me. The last of the daylight tinted her face orange,
making her look ethereal. I wanted to give her a hug.
‘I feel better after talking to you.Thanks,’ she smiled.
The sun vanished and the road became dark. Her skin glowed in
the amber lights of Rajpath, I took a chance and held her hand.
‘Another accident?’ she said, but did not pull her hand away.
We laughed together. She spoke again. ‘Even my uncles are the
same. Everyone sides with my parents.’
She continued to talk and I continued to listen, even though my
entire attention was on how lovely her hand felt in mine.