CHAPTER 37
AARAV
Anika still hasn’t looked at me. She has been avoiding me mostly since yesterday, especially after the rain dance.
All the elders have gone to the nearby temple while everyone else is scattered in the living room playing games.
I was definitely against all that, but Anika was participating so enthusiastically I had to do it too.
She’s standing near the swing set, hands wrapped around a juice box like it’s her emotional support. I can hear Aaryan argue about whether Siddhant's clue of “It’s yellow and sour and also an emotion” should’ve been allowed for the word lemon. (It shouldn’t have. But I’m not getting involved.)
I take a step closer to her. The air between us feels quieter out here. Heavier too.
“You’re still sulking about the game?” I ask, my voice low.
She doesn’t turn, just stares ahead. “I’m not sulking. I’m processing.”
“Processing?” I echo, amused. “You lost one round, not a war.”
She finally looks at me. Her eyes have that look—one part irritation, two parts defense mechanism. “You were distracting me." She huffs and folds her hands against her chest.
I laugh softly. “That sounds like a ‘ you’ problem.”
She looks at me; her mouth opens wide, but nothing comes out of her mouth.
I chuckle. Silence falls between us. I reach out in my pocket, taking out the Kinder Joy I bought while Maa sent me to buy groceries.
Reason: because Anika loved it in childhood.
I am not sure about now, but I am going to still give it to her.
“I have something for you.” She looks at me expectantly as I forward my hand. This is so childish. We are not children anymore, dude. Yet, my heart blooms with warmth as her eyes shine. Anika gasps beside me.
“Kinder Joy,” she exclaims, her eyes lighting up like Diwali sparklers. That smile—wide, genuine, and so unapologetically her—hits me like a punch to the chest.
“How, when…?” She trails off, then quickly snatches it from my hand like she’s afraid it’ll vanish. I let her. I always let her.
She turns the egg-shaped plastic in her palm like it’s treasure. And to her, maybe it is.
“Why did you buy this?” she asks, eyebrows raised as she peels the seal.
“You used to like it,” I reply simply, with a shrug.
She pauses, halfway through tearing the foil. “You remember that?”
I don’t even blink. “I remember everything about you, Anu.” My voice comes out lower than I intended. Quieter. Slower. Like, I mean, every syllable. Because I do.
She looks at me—soft, searching—and for a second, the past doesn't feel so far away.
Her lips lift in the gentlest smile as she cracks it open. She eats one of the two chocolate balls, then offers me the little spoon.
I blink and raise an eyebrow at her. “Half-half,” she says, nudging it toward me again. “Like always.”
I laugh under my breath. “You know I hated chocolate, right?”
She shrugs. “You still ate it when I gave it to you.”
And she’s right. I did, but back then it was because she said only psychopaths don’t like chocolates; now I am going to eat it to see her smile. Without another word, I take the spoon from her and eat the second one, ignoring how overly sweet it is. She watches me, hiding a smile behind her hand.
Kajal’s voice breaks the moment. “Aarav, Anika—the game’s starting! You’re up next.”
Anika sighs. “Duty calls.”
We walk back, shoulders brushing once, accidentally-on-purpose. I notice the way she shudders against me.
“The next round is one-word clues,” Aaryan announces as we walk in. “You say one word. Your partner has to guess. No gestures. No drama. Just vibes.”
“Basically, trust,” Kajal adds, as Aditi feeds a chip to her. Kajal is Aditi’s best friend; I have known her since college, and I can see how they are friends because they are mostly the same person in different fonts.
I sit on the floor, stretching my legs. Anika takes the spot beside me. Not too close. Not too far. Just… right.
“We’re starting with Aarav and Anika,” Aaryan declares with a mischievous grin. “Obviously.”
Siddhant snorts. “Yeah, they’re scarily good at this.”
Kajal nods toward us. “Are you ready?”
Anika leans toward me a little, lowering her voice just enough so no one else can hear. “Don’t cheat.”
“Would I do that?” I murmur, amused.
“You always do,” she mumbles back, smiling without looking at me.
The timer starts. She’s first. She looks at me for half a second, then says, “Sandwich.”
I grin. “Triangle.”
Kajal blinks. “What?”
“Maa used to cut them in triangle shapes for lunch,” Anika explains like it’s the most obvious thing ever.
“She’s the only one who noticed,” I say, not bothering to look away from her.
Next word. My turn. “Swing,” I say.
Anika doesn’t hesitate. “Backyard.”
Everyone stares at us dumbfounded.
“There was a broken swing in my backyard,” she shrugs. “We used to sit on it and read detective stories.” Well, mostly her; she read the stories, and I just accompanied her.
Aaryan leans forward, perplexed by our chemistry. “Okay, what?”
“Next one!” Aditi says, a bit too excited now.
Anika smiles faintly, tucking a hair behind her ear. “Monday.”
I blink once. “Library.”
Anika’s grin widens, amused.
“What even…” I hear Siddhant mutter.
“Every Monday, we used to sneak into the school library during recess and hide behind the Hindi section because it had the least traffic and we wanted to read comics,” she says, her eyes on mine as if she is reliving those memories with me.
“You two are insane,” Aaryan laughs.
Samarth throws his hands up. “They’re childhood soulmates. This is cheating!”
Anika visibly tenses and inhales deeply, clearly trying to shake off whatever feeling Samarth's words triggered. Her eyes dart around briefly before she settles on me, and with a forced chuckle, she says, “Okay, your turn,” her voice a little sharper than usual. It’s as if she’s pretending not to care about the “S word” that just slipped out of his mouth, but the faint blush creeping up her neck says otherwise.
I can’t help but let a small smile play at the corners of my lips. “Okay,” I rub my hands together, my voice low but playful, “let’s nail this shit, wifey.”
The gasp that escapes Anika’s lips is almost too cute, and I watch in delight as her cheeks turn a soft shade of red. Before she can shoot me a scowl, Kajal nudges her from the side, her grin wide.
I smirk, enjoying the moment more than I should. It’s funny how easily I can still make her flustered, even after everything we’ve been through.
Anika huffs and looks away, still pretending to focus on the game. But I’m not going to let her escape this easily. I look straight into her eyes and say, “Post-it.”
Her lips part as she takes a second, possibly wondering why this feels so easy between us. Maybe she’s starting to realize that, despite everything, nothing has really changed. Maybe, just maybe, it’s still us.
“Tiffin,” she answers, though her voice is quiet, a little uncertain.
She quickly turns to the others, her face flushed but her eyes not quite meeting mine. “He used to leave me the dumbest post-it notes in my tiffin box,” she continues, her voice betraying a slight fondness, “things like ‘Don’t eat too fast, you’ll choke and die. Bye.’”
I chuckle, defending myself. “It was practical advice.”
I know she hates it when I mention this, but it’s true. No one eats as fast as Anika used to. She’d wolf down everything in seconds, leaving me to worry about her choking. It’s better now, I’m glad to admit. But I still remember those days—rushing to finish my food while keeping an eye on her.
“Okay, I agree.” Siddhant pats Samarth on the back. “Soulmates.” They both give us knowing smirks. Anika tenses again, her hands fidgeting in her lap. She doesn’t want to accept it, not yet, but her body language says it all. She’s just not ready to confront it, to say it out loud.
But I’m ready to. I know it, and I know she feels it too.
Anika’s eyes flicker to the others, but she doesn’t meet mine. She tries to brush off the words, pretending they didn’t affect her, but the way her shoulders are tight, the way she inhales a little too deeply—she’s holding on to something.
I’m not going to let her off the hook that easily.
I don’t need her to say it. I already know. We’ve been through too much, been pulled apart by forces neither of us could control, only to find our way back to each other. We’ve fought too hard, both against each other and ourselves, to admit what’s real between us.
But here we are.
Soulmates.
She may not be ready to acknowledge it just yet, but deep down, she knows. And I know that too.
Because why else would fate, destiny, or whatever you want to call it, put us through so much just to bring us back into each other's lives?