Chapter 8
When Sharon woke up to pitch blackness, for a second she was completely disoriented. She lousily got up and stretched herself, shaking her head to get rid of the drowsiness. In the darkness, she fumbled for her phone and found it beneath her pillow. Unlocking it, she scrunched her eyes to narrow slits and finally made out the numbers. 4:30 pm.
Sharon got out of her bed and using the flashlights made it to the windows, where the curtains had been drawn, and pulled them apart with a proper screeching sound. The first thing that caught her attention was the group of boys playing basketball in the lawn of guest house. From about five metres distance she could make out the forms of Rey and Swayam among the group. They had been using a particularly bowed branch of a willow tree as their basket. Occasionally she saw the boys stumble due to the variation of ground level but that didn't deter them from continuing forward.
Sharon got out of the room and started her way downstairs, towards the lawn. She was met by Tani, Fatima aunty and some other girl in the entrance of building, sipping coffee. The huge glass doors were drawn shut to keep the cold air out but at the same time, gave a clear view of the lawn and boys. She greeted everyone and was introduced to the other girl; "Sharon, this is Sameera. Bhai's colleague," Tani said. Sameera shook hands with her, "Nice to meet you, Sharon," she said with a sweet smile. Sameera was a petite girl with short shoulder-length hair, curled back from her face, huge eyes and a dimpled smile. Sharon was sure some would find her attractive.
Sharon sat down with them and Fatima poured her some coffee which she accepted with a Thank you'. The rest of them started to chatter away while Sharon's eyes were drawn to the lawn. Rey had always said that Swayam was a good player and it was sad that he had to leave the basketball team. She could see Swayam dribble the ball and cut others' paths effortlessly. She saw him run a finger over the collar of his T-shirt and pull at his sweater. After a while, he ran out of the group and pulled the sweater off his body. Sharon felt something hot pulse in her stomach... and that was ridiculous. He had a T-shirt inside, it made no sense to feel... she looked away at the other people. Stupid Sharon, bloody stupid. She realised she hadn't noticed a man twice their age playing with them. If the drenched shirts of others (that too in the bloody temperature of fifteen degree Celsius in Ladakh) was anything to judge by, she could say he had a lot of stamina. He seemed to be competing with them, quite properly.
"Sharon. Sharon?"
"Huh," Sharon started at Tani's inquiry and tore her gaze away.
"You're not saying anything."
"Er... actually I was watching the boys play," she admitted, "Aunty, is he your husband? That man in blue tracksuit?" she asked Fatima.
"Oh, yes," Fatima grinned, her small eyes almost disappearing with the way they crinkled, "that is my husband."
"What's his name?" Sharon asked.
"Yousuf."
"I must say auntie, Yousuf uncle is really fit for his age. Look at the way he is beating the others." Fatima chuckled at that.
"Yes, he is very fit. He was local champion of ice-hockey in his early days," she said with a proud smile. "You see the trophies," Fatima pointed towards the wall behind her back; Sharon looked up at the racks in glass encasement, "they are all his. He is very proud of them."
"He should be, aunty," Sameera chirped in.
"And there's my two sons as well," Fatima said, pointing at the lawn, "you see the one in green? That's my elder son Javed and the one in yellow is my younger son, Salim."
"Javed and Salim!" Tani mused loud, "Couldn't be coincidence."
Fatima laughed, "Well, two boys was coincidence, the rest wasn't. My husband is a huge fan of their movies so he named our kids after them."
Fatima got into her family stories and they asked questions about Leh and its weather. In the meantime, the sun went down and it became impossible for the boys to play any further so they made their way inside.
She heard Yousuf uncle tell one of the boys, "Yes, you need to keep active to be as fit as me in your old-age. So, work on this," he jokingly poked at the boy's stomach which was already showing signs of a paunch. The boy immediately crossed his arms around his torso in reflex.
"I have some work to do," Fatima said and got up, pulling Yousuf uncle with her out of the building. Her sons had already made their way back to the other wing of the building which was their residence. Sharon heard her murmur something fast in his ear in a scorning way as they left.
The boys all slouched over the couches in entrance, after the last one closed the door behind him. Rey made his way over to Sharon's side, to which Sharon shuffled away. When Rey threw her a quizzical expression, she crinkled her nose mouthing, "You smell". Rey's smile immediately turned elfish as he literally sang, "Someone needs a hug," and tackled her into a bear hug.
"Ew," Sharon quite literally squealed, which she would find time to be embarrassed of later. She flapped her hands trying to get rid of him. "Get this thing off me," Sharon shouted. Rey laughed loudly and released her, leaning back into the arm of the couch. "Ew," Sharon groaned again.
"So this is your beautiful wife," one of the boys remarked, followed by wolf-whistles and ooh'. Sharon felt herself turn red. "Guys," she heard Swayam's voice, stern and stiff. He didn't look the least bit amused. The others started chuckling, "Relax, dude. No harm intended!" one said, simultaneously as Rey clarified, "fiance".
"Yeah, Swayam," Sameera smiled up at him, rubbing his arm. "They are just having some fun," Sameera told him. Sharon couldn't help but feel the discomfort brewing in the pit of her stomach, and when Swayam shot a small smile back at her, it didn't really help her calm down.
"By the way," Sameera turned towards them, "you two make a really nice couple."
Sharon tried to make her facial features resemble a smile, which was a surprisingly difficult task. She didn't bother glancing at Rey because she knew he would be equally awkward. For a split moment, no one talked, as if no one knew how to.
"Oh, Sharon," Tani broke the silence, "you haven't been introduced to the boys right?" She pointed at the boys and introduced her to them from the last to one closest to her, She pointed at the last one who seemed to be the most in his senses, tall, stout and incredibly... gorgeous'... that's what he was..."That's Shikhar," who replied with a Hi' and a nice chivalrous smile, revealing perfect white teeth, "Raghav," who barely managed to raise a hand to wave, looking close to passing out from exhaustion, "and Govind," who beamed and responded with a Hey gorgeous', "the flirt," Tani completed dryly but still with an adoration. "Stay away from Govind, he can't keep his words to himself."
"I appreciate beauty," Govind defended himself. Raghav and Govind were twins; though their features were the same there was something about them that differentiated each from other. While Raghav looked like a sober decent gentleman, Govind looked mischievous and... he had an infectious smile.
Sharon felt she could like this little group.
***
When Sharon woke up the next morning, it was still pitch black, Rey's foot was on her neck and he was snoring like a bike without a silencer. Sharon shoved his foot away from her making him snort in his sleep. Now as her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, she could see Rey rub his nose and fall back to sleep, starting to snore in a matter of seconds.
Sharon, realising she was not going to get any sleep, got up and shuffled off the bed. She made her way to where she thought the bathroom was and in the process managed to stub her toe. Groaning in annoyance, Sharon bent down and felt her way to the bathroom.
An hour later, Sharon wrapped a shawl around her body and stepped out to the lawn. The world in front of her was bathed in blue; the mountains, trees, everything. Sharon felt the peace she hadn't felt in a long time when alone. In college, she had always been the girl everyone wanted to be with and yet was intimidated by; in law college, she was the girl everyone would keep their distance from. In office she was the one who kept her distance from everyone. In all this, she could never find peace in herself, never be happy on her own. Either she had to be neck deep in work or be with people, (lately people had started to mean Rey) all the time; they were the only ways to keep her insecurities at bay. But out with an open sky in front of her, she felt the happiest she had in a while, which was surprising because nothing had happened to make her feel so.
"Sharon?" She started, almost jumping as she turned around to see Swayam standing behind her. He shuffled on his feet, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"No, that's fine. I was in... my own thoughts," Sharon said muttering the last part.
"Um..., here," Swayam stretched his hand to reveal a navy blue jacket, "it's quite cold outside. I don't think the shawl is sufficient."
Sharon had indeed misjudged the cold, she could feel the pinpricks on her skin even beneath the shawl. She stared at the jacket, wondering if she should take it or not. Either she would take the jacket and continue as if he hadn't been cold to her in the past whole week or she could refuse and make things awkward. Or, she could also simply get inside the building, back in the comfortable warmth. "I... thanks, but I think I'll head in."
She walked over to the lawn, frowning to herself. Swayam's behaviour was getting her thoughts in tangles. She didn't know what to think of it. Of his distant behaviour, of Sameera, she didn't know what was going on between them and now this. Maybe, she was just overthinking. Maybe, he was just being nice and she just acted like a jerk by refusing his chivalrous' act.
Sharon turned around to see Swayam staring at her. "Coming in?" she asked, deciding to make it up to him. Swayam shook his head. "I'll go for a walk."
"Is it safe for you to go off on your own?" Sharon asked. "Wait for someone to get up, you can go with them."
Swayam blinked, "Sharon, I'm an adult. I can take care of myself."
Sharon rolled her eyes, pacing towards him. "Yes, I know you are all macho. Let's go."
Swayam frowned at her startled. "What?"
"Let's go for a walk," she repeated looking at him expectantly. On receiving silence and a blank stare, she said, "Yes, I know you didn't invite me but-"
"You know that is not an issue-"
"-I am going with you anyway," Sharon completed her sentence. "No one's awake and I'm not letting you go anywhere on your own."
"You don't have to be my mother," Swayam humphed defiantly.
"I am being your mother the same you tried to be my dad, bringing a jacket for me," she retorted.
"Which you will be wearing if you want to come with me," he stretched his hand again. Sharon sighed and accepted the jacket. She took off the shawl and handed it to Swayam while donning the jacket. In the few seconds that her skin was in contact with air, she felt the hair at the back of her neck rise up at the shock of contact. Once wearing the jacket she took the shawl back, tied it on her waist and tugged the jacket low to cover it up. The jacket was a little big on her and she rolled the sleeves twice so that her hands poked out of it.
"Sorry about that," Swayam apologized as they headed out. "I thought of bringing Tani's jacket, it would fit you better. But then I thought she would feel cold in case she wishes to go out or something."
Sharon hummed in response. "Do you always wake up so early?" she asked.
"Yeah," Swayam nodded, "What about you?"
She clicked her tongue, "Nah, it's just that I slept a lot. Couldn't sleep more if I wanted."
Swayam chuckled in response. They walked in silence for a while and Sharon realised she was terribly out of shape as they climbed uphill for about half an hour. She was silent mostly because she couldn't spare any breath for talking. She felt annoyed with herself. The girl who had the strength to keep dancing for as long as she wanted, had difficulty climbing up a hill. Ridiculous!
"Where are we going?" Sharon literally gasped out, not being able to take it anymore.
"Do you want to rest?" Swayam asked and to Sharon's satisfaction, even he sounded out of breath. They stood there, catching their breaths.
"No, no," Sharon shook her head. "Just curious, nothing else."
"You see there?" he pointed a little ahead. Her eyes roamed in that direction, trying to see what caught Swayam's attention. "Um..." she hummed, confused.
Swayam shook his head and position himself behind her. "Look there," he pointed slightly sideways from the road. Sharon followed his arm and found what he was talking about.
"Let's go," she replied and started pacing up. She heard the boy chuckle, "Easy there, tigress. You don't want to collapse with exhaustion, right?"
Collapse. Sharon felt rooted to the spot. Shit. She made such a long journey uphill without her inhaler. How could she be so stupid?
"What? Let's go," Swayam tugged at her hand. When she still didn't budge, he started looking concerned. "Sharon, are you okay?"
It was then she came out of her thoughts. Oh well, she hadn't had an attack yet so she guessed there was no need to panic. Plus, it had been a long time since she had actually had asthma attack.
Sharon smiled and shook her head, Swayam tugged her forward and Sharon followed, reminding herself to not exert herself, to breath. In, out, in, out.
They reached the place, where there was a huge prayer wheel enclosed within a roof supported by four pillars. As they went in, Sharon looked past the prayer wheel to the view of mountains. Sun was just about to rise, colouring everything in the vicinity in an orange colour.
"Tea?" Sharon turned around to see Swayam hold out two plastic cups of tea. She accepted one and turned back to the scene. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she mused aloud. "Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it," Sharon turned to Swayam just in time to see him turn his head forward. She chuckled, "That was poetic."
"But true," he immediately responded. Sharon studied Swayam in the light, somehow, the way the rays fell on him made it seem like he was glowing, it brought out the brown of his iris and Sharon felt herself mutter, "true".
"What?"
"Er...," Sharon blinked, shaking herself out of trance. "More tea, please?"
"Sure," he replied as he took her cup and crossed the road to the small tea stall. Sharon watched him go and prayed for this moment to freeze here.
She looked at the prayer wheel. She knew it was said that if you make a wish while turning the prayer wheel, the wish comes true. Sharon pressed her hands on the wheel and tried to drag it to her left. After a good amount of force, the wheel moved. And as it moved, it hit a small bell on top and rang with each hit.
"What did you pray for?" Swayam asked handing her tea.
"A dream," she replied.
comment:
p_commentcount