“It’s haunted.” The heavy black clouds, which had sunk all the way down to the earth, had taken over the space behind and along the bottom edges of the bungalow, leaving it floating in their midst. The walls were grey with age and disuse, the windows were coated in a patina of dull brown and the once polished sheen of the bulky wooden front door had turned gritty. The land around the bungalow had been mangled by dried grass and weeds, grown knee high and twisted into intricate knots. They tumbled on to the pathway that led to the house, with the stones showing through in places. A large peepal tree stood near the bungalow, its branches bending low to brush its walls. Manu stood at the low stone wall that separated the plot from the road. The rusted iron gate was bolted shut. “Have you been inside?” he asked Nimi. She looked shocked. “Of course not.” “What do you think it’s like inside?” Manu asked, his eyes glowing. Nimi looked at him warily. “Come on, we should go.” She grabbed his arm, pulling him away. They picked up their satchels and bicycles from where they had dropped it at the side of the road and set off. Manu waved goodbye as he turned into the lane leading to his house. “I’ll see you at school on Monday.” Later that night, the thunder brought along with it the first rains of the season. * “The bungalow belonged to a British doctor,” Nimi told Manu. “His wife was going to have a baby. But they both died. It’s said that the doctor was so overwhelmed with grief that he locked himself inside the house and was never to be seen again.” There was pandemonium in the classroom. The teacher was absent and no substitute had been sent to take her place. Manu picked up a paper plane that had landed on his desk and threw it back in the direction it had come from. They were sitting on the last bench near the window with their backs up against the wall. “So his ghost haunts the bungalow now?” “Actually, people say he’s still alive. Nobody ever found his body, you see.” Manu was fascinated. * When Manu’s family moved to Jhansi from Indore, he had been devastated. Jhansi was in his mind the kind of slow, godforsaken place where nothing ever happened. And what would he do without his friends? After the move, he had mostly sulked but now Nimi had shown him the haunted bungalow. On his first day at school, when the teacher had pointed out a seat next to Nimi, he could barely hide his disappointment. For one, she was a girl. And two, she looked mouse-like. This suspicion was soon confirmed. She was very quiet and attempts at conversation were one- sided. Worse, he found out that they both took the same route home. He hadn’t known how to avoid her without seeming rude. But today, Manu was happy to ride back with her. Nimi suddenly noticed that Manu wasn’t beside her. She stopped and looked back. He was staring at the bungalow again. She got off her bicycle and pushed it back to where he was standing. “Do you want to go inside?” he asked. “No, you can’t do that,” she replied, aghast. “Why not?” he asked. “Well… uh… you know…,” she stammered. Manu raised his eyebrows in a question. “Nobody goes there,” she pleaded, “Ever. What if we run into the ghost?” “You said he wasn’t really a ghost.” “Yes, but…” “Well, I’m going in. Are you coming?” Nimi just stared at him. “Okay. I’ll go alone.” Manu had to grapple with the gate a little before it opened wide enough for him to pass through. The undergrowth squelched under his feet as he walked on the pathway at a slow, careful pace. He stopped at the steps of the verandah. He was conscious of Nimi’s eyes on him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his trousers. But before he could take a step forward, he heard Nimi’s feet flying down the path. She stopped beside him, panting hard, more from fear than exertion, and grabbed his arm tightly. She looked terrified. He grinned at her. A two feet high wall ran around the edges of the verandah. At the front was a six feet wide opening. Manu walked up to the rocking chair that was sitting in a corner and pushed its back gently with one finger. It swung slightly, striating the grime underneath its rockers as it creaked back and forth twice before coming to a stop. He then picked up the broken arm lying on the ground and paced across the rest of the verandah. There was a small three- legged stool near the rocking chair. The dirt hadn’t been able to completely erase the rings formed by condensation running down cold glasses. A high-backed slatted wooden chair was lying overturned at the other end. A rusted knitting needle showed through the debris of mainly leaves and twigs. Manu turned to look at Nimi. She had been standing still, her eyes following him around. Now, she stepped up to the rocking chair and ran one finger down the good arm, leaving a trail through the dirt. “This was the doctor’s favourite chair,” she declared. “Every evening after he had seen all his patients, he would sit here with his cigar and whisky, and watch the sky grow dark. He loved sunsets.” Manu looked bemused. “They’re better than sunrises. The world becomes all quiet and peaceful when the sun sets,” Nimi explained. “What else?” he asked. “His wife would sit here,” she said, pointing to the overturned chair, “and as she talked to him, she would knit.” “What would they talk about?” “Mostly about their day. Sometimes, they talked about their life back in England. And later they talked about their baby.” “Do you think there were a lot of foreigners living here?” Manu asked. “I don’t think so. He settled here because he wanted to help those less fortunate than him. There weren’t too many doctors here at that time. People couldn’t always find one when they were ill. Dr. Roberts was a godsend.” “He must’ve had some white friends. He would’ve been very lonely otherwise,” Manu reasoned. “You’re right,” Nimi agreed. “He did have a few friends. Sometimes, instead of his wife, a friend would sit here and talk with him till dinner was ready.” Manu, who had been sitting on the wall, jumped up and went to examine the door. He placed his palm on it as if to push it open. He threw Nimi a questioning glance. She smiled but Manu caught the tremble of her lower lip. He made a wry face and said, “We should be getting back.” Nimi’s smile turned grateful and they ran back to their bicycles. * Nimi lay in bed that night thinking about their adventure. She wondered about the doctor and what his life would’ve been like. Then she remembered that imposing front door. She tried to picture what lay behind it but could only conjure up images of unknown shadows in the frightening darkness. She knew Manu would want to go inside. She shivered under her blanket. She hoped to convince him not to go back there. Then she scrunched her eyes shut and forcefully thought about other things till she fell asleep. * The sound of the teacher’s hand on Manu’s face was sharp. The tears quivered at the edge of his lower eyelids but he willed them to not spill out on to his cheeks. Tears, however, flowed copiously down Nimi’s face. Manu kept his eyes averted as they both walked back to their desk and refused to look at her throughout the rest of the day. When the bell rang, he grabbed his satchel and stormed out. She caught up with him at the bicycle stand but before she could even unlock her bicycle, he took off. Rohan had always tormented her. She’d never done anything more than shrink back into her corner and try to hide her tears. If Rohan noticed her crying, it would only bring on another round of teasing. Today, Manu had told Rohan to shut his big, fat mouth. Soon they were exchanging blows. When the teacher hauled them apart, Rohan’s friends had sprung to his defence. “He started it,” they said, pointing at Manu. Manu had tried to explain the provocation but Nimi could only stare stricken at the teacher, mortified to be in such close quarters with one. The silent treatment was inflicted for the rest of the week. Manu was impervious to Nimi’ s constant stream of apologies. That Friday, while she lay in bed, she steeled herself to do what she knew it would take to win Manu’s forgiveness. On Monday when she reached class, Manu was already in his seat. She sat down beside him and took out the photograph from her satchel, placed it on the desk and pushed it towards him. Manu’s glance strayed briefly to the photograph, in readiness to look away at once and continue ignoring her. Then he gave a start and snatched up the photograph for a closer scrutiny. He turned towards her in wonder. “You…?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Yes,” she said. “I went there on Saturday evening. There’s a writing table underneath the window. The photo was sticking out from between a pile of books.” He examined the picture again. “He’s got a moustache as thick as my grandfather’s. And such funny clothes,” he chuckled. “I think he’s rather dashing. Look at his hair, it’s almost white,” she said. “What else did you see?” he asked her eagerly. “I didn’t really notice. I just grabbed this and ran,” she confessed. Manu gave her a broad smile. “Let’s go there after school.” * The odour of inertia was clammy but not unpleasant. The dust had assumed weight with time and settled down comfortably. It did not react to the two intruders. The single ray of the evening sun that had contrived its way in through the browned window was barely noticeable but gave a mild aura to the writing table. There were four hard-cover medical volumes on the table. Manu placed his thumb alongside each book. They were as thick as his thumb was long. A small triangle-shaped patch was cleaner than the rest of the table where Nimi had recently moved the books. She picked up the inkpot and peered inside. The coagulated ink was hard and smooth to the touch. Two drawers were attached to the underside of the table on the right. They yielded unwilling to the pressure of Manu’s hand. The top drawer was empty. The bottom one held a few sheets of blank paper, crisp brown with age and speckled with dark spots. On top of it lay a stethoscope and a book—pages loosely held inside a leather binding wrapped up with string. Manu closed the drawers and followed Nimi who was wandering around with an awed look on her face. The room was large. A dining table big enough to seat eight was placed at the far corner, near the window on that side. Facing one of its narrower sides was an alcove which held a large cabinet, with wooden doors at the bottom and glass doors at the top. There were some plates, teacups, saucers and even a teapot with the lid missing. They were patterned alike—blue floral borders on white. Some of them were broken. The vase on the windowsill was encrusted with clumps of mould. The rattan shades hung precariously on long nails that looked like they were about to give way any minute. There was a carpet under the dining table but you couldn’t make out the colours or pattern anymore. The centre of the room contained an armchair and a three seat sofa with the back shaped into three arcs. In the tall, slim bookcase behind the armchair, frequent gaps broke the lines of books on each shelf. A figurine of a shepherd and shepherdess was perched atop the three-legged round side table near the sofa. An old man and a woman in old-fashioned clothes looked down from two of the paintings on the wall. A third painting showed an English countryside where a young boy was grazing sheep. The other end of the room opened up into a dark passageway. Nimi gave it no more than a glance before she turned back. Manu had stopped near the bookcase. He pulled out a book— Robinson Crusoe. “I read this in school last year,” he said, turning the book around in his hand and then opening the front cover. “But it wasn’t as big as this. They gave us abridged versions to read. I always thought that was silly. Why would you want to read only half a story?” “Maybe you shouldn’t touch the books,” Nimi said. “What if he gets angry?” “Who? The doctor? I think he’ll be glad that someone’s reading his books.” A sound echoed from one of the inside rooms, like someone was pushing against something heavy. It stopped as suddenly as it had started. Then came a softer sound. “Footsteps,” Nimi whispered. For one moment, they were standing absolutely still. The next moment, they were racing out of the bungalow as fast as they could. They didn’t stop till they reached Manu’s house, where they fell off their bicycles, breathing raucously. When Manu’s breath had returned to normal, he asked Nimi, “We’re going to go back right?” “Of course,” she replied. * The teacher was reading out a lesson from the English textbook. Manu stared at the window, tracing with his eyes the numerous rivulets of rain running down the glass. It had been four days since Nimi had gone out of town to attend a family wedding. Manu picked up his pencil and began to doodle on his notebook. Time was passing very slowly indeed. As he passed the bungalow on his way home that day, he slowed down and eyed it longingly. Then he sighed and went on. * Nimi was back ten days later. Manu smiled brightly when he saw her. She kept him entertained through the day with stories about the wedding. When she’d exhausted her store of anecdotes, she asked Manu, “So what did you do these two weeks?” “Oh, classes were boring as usual,” he replied, “but I played cricket with the older boys after school.” “They let you?” Nimi asked sceptically. The older boys in the neighbourhood didn’t usually let the younger kids hang out with them, dismissing them as “chilar”, small change. “Yeah,” Manu said, “I’m really good with the bat.” “So, I know you must be dying to go back to the bungalow but can we go tomorrow? My mom needs me to help her out with something at home today,” she said. “Yeah, sure. No problem. I can always play another game of cricket.” Later that evening, Neeta aunty came visiting with her sullen-looking seventeen-year-old son Ganesh. As Nimi handed him a glass of water, she asked, “You’re not playing cricket today?” “No,” he replied. “I’m surprised you let Manu play with you.” “Who?” “Manu, he’s in my class.” “Why would we let him play with us? He’ll be what… as tall as the bat?” he scoffed. Nimi looked at him puzzled. * “So,” Nimi asked, smiling widely at Manu, “how was your game yesterday?” “It was great. I hit two sixes and three boundaries,” Manu replied. “Really? That’s nice,” she said. Then a fierce look came over her face and she punched his arm really hard. He yelped, “What was that for?” “For being a big, fat liar!” “What are you talking about?” But Nimi pulled open her book and kept her eyes firmly fixed on it as the teacher came in and asked everyone to settle down. Manu didn’t try to talk to her during the rest of the day though he glanced at her warily from time to time. When the last bell rang, he kept pace with her till they reached the bicycle stand. He stood watching her as she tried to attach her satchel to the back of her bicycle, fumbling in her fury. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out to hold the bicycle handles so that she could not ride away. Nimi, now astride her bicycle, stared determinedly at the ground. Manu hung his head down and shuffled his feet. Then he continued, mumbling, “I haven’t been playing with the other boys. I… uh… actually, I’ve… uh… been going to the bungalow.” Manu heard a sharp intake of breath. He looked up to see Nimi’s face crumple with hurt. “You went without me?” she asked in a small voice. Manu couldn’t think of anything to say. Nimi stared at him for a minute and then shrugged. “Okay. You have a nice time then,” she said and rode away. * The next day Manu was waiting for her outside school. He apologised as she walked past him. He kept apologising throughout the morning. Finally, Nimi turned to him in exasperation and asked him to shut up. “Only if you accept my apology.” “Why did you go without me? I thought this was our thing.” “I know. I’m really sorry. It was just really boring without you and things were bad at home. I had to get away.” Nimi considered the beseeching look on his face and decided to relent. * The clouds had gotten thicker and darker by the time they reached the bungalow. The swollen drops of rain fell slowly against a backdrop of rumbling thunder. They made it inside before the rain started falling in earnest. Nimi squinted her eyes to adjust to the darkness while Manu rummaged for his torch in his satchel. She noticed a book lying face down on the side table—Around the World in Eighty Days. Manu picked it up. “I finished Robinson Crusoe. It was good but this one’s even better. I think I’m going to be an explorer when I grow up.” Nimi grinned. Manu plonked himself in the armchair and immediately became engrossed in the book. Nimi wandered over to the writing table and pulled open the drawers. She picked up the book with the leather binding and unrolled the string. The gold embossed lettering had faded away leaving only the impressions of the letters in the leather binding. She opened it carefully. Inscribed on the first page in a flourishing style were the words: This is the diary of Doctor Charles Roberts, 1901. She turned the leaves gently, the paper crackling, giving warning of its fragility. In places, the ink had disappeared into the page and only a few words were legible. “I found his diary,” she said. Manu looked up, “What does it say?” “Let me see,” she replied. She walked up to the chair where he was sitting and flopped on to the floor, leaning her back against one of the legs. … blessed… I am going to be a father… so happy… …Caroline looks more beautiful everyday… God smiles on us… After a while, Manu looked up from his book. “The doctor liked adventure, didn’t he?” he said. “Look at the books he has. Treasure Island. Robinson Crusoe. Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. Around the World in Eighty Days. I’m sure when he was a kid, he did a lot of crazy things, get into trouble, break his bones.” Nimi laughed. “He was brave too,” he continued. “You have to be brave to leave your country and everything that you know and try to make a home in a strange place.” “Yes, it must have been hard,” she replied. “It was. But he soon made a lot of friends here and didn’t miss home so much. Do you think he made a lot of money?” “I don’t think so. People were really poor at the time. Many of them wouldn’t have been able to pay him. Mostly, he treated them for free.” “So how did he afford all these things?” Manu asked, his gaze taking in the entire room. Nimi mulled over the question and then stated, “Well, his uncle left him a big inheritance.” “That’s right,” Manu agreed enthusiastically, getting into the mood. “His uncle was a rich businessman. He made locomotives. There was a lot of money in trains at that time.” Nimi added, “The uncle died suddenly of a heart attack. He left his money to Dr. Roberts because he was his favourite nephew and he had no children of his own.” “Do you think his family was jealous when he got all that money?” “No, I think his parents were very happy. They were relieved that their son’s future was taken care of. His sister married a rich man, so she didn’t care.” “Sister?” “Yes, he mentions her in this diary.” Received a letter from Elizabeth today… Mother told her the news… thinks we should come back to England for the baby’s birth… but Caroline and I want to stay here… There was a sudden clap of thunder, making both of them jump. Lightning lit up the room through the window for a second. Nimi screamed. “What?” Manu asked. “I think I saw something. Someone.” Her voice trembled as she replied. “I think he likes us,” Manu stated with certainty. Nimi looked at him doubtfully. “Yes, he likes having us around,” he repeated with conviction. “Think about it. He’s been alone for nearly a hundred years now. He’s happy to have company.” “So why does he hide?” “Because he knows you’ll scream and run so fast even the wind wouldn’t be able to catch you.” Manu rolled around in his chair, guffawing, the sound echoing off the walls and filling up the room. Nimi scowled but Manu’s laugh was infectious and soon drew a reluctant smile from her. * They spent at least a couple of hours there everyday after school. They sat at the dining table, first finishing their homework. Nimi had insisted on that. Then, they would play or talk or Manu would sit down with a book while Nimi went through the doctor’s diary. The weather takes some getting used to… but I’ve come to love India… life feels more real here… They carefully examined everything in the room, painting vivid pictures of the doctor’s life. When it wasn’t raining, they played outside. The weeds and shrubs were as tangled and messy as always but now they were hued a deep, fresh green, giving the land a wild beauty. * One day, Nimi stood at the beginning of the passage leading to the other rooms and asked Manu, “Have you gone in here?” Manu shook his head. He watched as the hesitation in her eyes changed slowly into a firm resolve. Surprise flitted across his own face. She turned and walked through the passage. To the right was a wooden door. She pushed it open. The kitchen was dark and bare. A countertop ran along one side of the wall. The glass of the window was broken. On the floor, a layer of mud was mixed with an assortment of rotting foliage. Spiders scuttled along the floor and the walls where their webs swayed gently. The wind whistled through the broken glass and rain wet the floor beneath the window. She heard Manu running down the passageway and stopping just behind her. He stuck his head through the doorway to see the room. Then they walked to the end of the passageway, which turned right. There were three rooms that opened to the left. In the first room, there was a large four-poster wooden bed. A dirty muslin sheet hung limp from one of the posters. There was no mattress. The bed was a little lopsided—one foot was broken. A dressing table with a large mirror stood against one wall. A bare cupboard with its doors missing and shelves splintered took up space at the other end of the room. “This is a funny kind of earring,” Manu said, picking up a round metal object from the dresser. Nimi took a look at it. “That’s not an earring. It’s a cuff link. Men use it to button the sleeves of their shirts.” Manu rolled down his sleeve and fixed the cuff link to the buttonhole. “One part is missing,” he said. “I can see him, you know,” she said. Manu turned towards her. “Well, not exactly, but I can feel him. I know he’s here. He’s becoming clearer.” Manu sat on the bed. “What do you see?” “I think he’s finally starting to feel happy after so many years. He likes that there is somebody to remember him.” “Do you believe in an afterlife? That after people die here on earth, they go to a place where they live forever?” “I think people live as long as they are remembered.” “He’s like a friend,” Manu confessed. “I talk to him sometimes and he listens.” The room at the corner of the passage opened to another verandah at the side of the bungalow. “This must have been his dispensary,” Manu said. “He was a kind doctor. He never turned anyone away, whatever the time,” Nimi said. “How did the people understand him?” he asked. “He learned to speak Hindi of course,” she replied. “With a thick British accent, I’m sure.” Manu mimicked the voice, making Nimi laugh. “He liked to talk to his patients. He knew all of them by their names. He took an interest in their lives and their families. They would confide in him because they knew they could trust him.” * One Saturday afternoon when Nimi rode over to Manu’s house, she heard voices yelling at each other. She sighed and headed over to the bungalow. She found Manu, as she usually did at times like these, snuggled up in the armchair, reading one of the novels from the doctor’ s collection. Today, he was reading Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. Manu looked up when she came in and she threw him an understanding grimace. The first time she’d heard Manu’s parents fighting, she had waited outside for a while, unsure of what to do. She’d then gone to the side of the house to look in through the window of Manu’s room but the curtains were drawn. No one answered her tapping on the pane. She waited but there were no signs of the argument ending soon. Finally, she decided to go to the bungalow by herself. Manu was already there, in the same chair reading Treasure Island. She’ d given him an awkward wave of the hand and said, “Umm… I’d gone by your house…” “Uh, huh,” he had responded and continued to read his book. She’d gone and sat at the dining table with her sketch book and pencils. After a while, Manu had broken the silence. “They’ve been fighting for as long as I can remember.” “What do they fight about?” He had shrugged. “Everything.” “So, what are you reading?” “It’s about buried treasure, pirates and stuff.” “Describe the pirate to me.” Later, Manu had looked over her shoulder. “Hey, that’s good stuff. She’d sketched a sneering pirate with a wooden leg, an eye patch and a parrot on his shoulder standing next to an overflowing treasure chest. “Maybe, I’ll be a world famous artist when I grow up,” she said mockingly. “Why not?” Nimi had smiled at his seriousness. * The history teacher was asking questions on the lesson they’d been asked to read as homework. As usual, the kids on the front benches put up their hands eagerly, wanting to impress both the teacher and their classmates, while the ones at the back tried to make themselves a little bit more invisible. Nimi looked around the class and then put up her hand. “Nimi,” the teacher exclaimed, unable to keep the note of surprise out of her voice. All the other kids turned to look at Nimi. She blushed deeply but took a calming breath and gave her answer. “That’s very good.” The teacher nodded approvingly and moved on to the next question. Manu who had been scribbling in his notebook hadn’t looked up. After Nimi gave her answer, she looked at him expectantly and he smiled, continuing to doodle. She turned back to her book with a smile of her own. * The rains had passed in comfortable routine. The October sun was starting to make its presence felt. … cholera… hands full… more people die than I can save… feel helpless… have slept only a few hours this week… don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to carry on… Caroline is very ill… I have to save her… I must… She’s dead… baby… gone… nothing left… my fault… They were sitting on the four-poster bed. “How terrible to save so many lives but not be able to save your own family,” Nimi said. “When he locked himself away from the world, people began to forget him as the kind and skilled doctor. He became just a crazy, eccentric man.” “But we know better,” Manu said. * One day Manu didn’t show up at school. Nimi found him sitting on the verandah of the bungalow. He was in his uniform. “You bunked school?” He nodded. “What’s the matter?” “My dad got transferred again.” “You’re leaving?” Nimi asked in dismay. “When?” “In two months.” “Well… I guess we’d better make the most of our time then,” Nimi said, walking into the bungalow. Manu gave a twisted smile and followed her. * The ground smelled fresh after the short burst of unseasonal rain that had fallen during the night. The sun shone brighter and the trees had been washed clean. The smell of the rain clung to Nimi’s skin as she took out her bicycle. Manu was waiting at his gate. When he spotted her, he set off. They raced each other. Nimi was breathless when she caught up with him. “That wasn’t fair. You had too much of a head start,” she said. Manu wasn’t listening. He was staring straight ahead with a look of shock on his face. Nimi followed his gaze and then gasped. They hadn’t been to the bungalow for a couple of weeks. To avoid temptation during their exams, they had cut across a field avoiding the bungalow completely to get to school. There was a group of people in the compound scurrying around, some shouting out instructions to the others. In a corner, three men, two of them well dressed, were having a discussion, intermittently pointing to the bungalow and making sweeping gestures with their arms, taking in the expanse of the compound. And the bungalow stood there half-demolished while others were going over the rest of the building with huge hammers. The furniture was piled up outside on a large plastic sheet. Manu and Nimi watched for a while and then rode back to Manu’s place in silence. They sat on the back step of his house. After a while, they heard Manu’s father walk in and tell his mother, “The place where that Englishman lived, somebody’s bought it. They’re clearing it up. Building a cinema hall, I believe.” “But they say it’s haunted,” Manu’s mother said. His father scoffed, “Sensible people don’t believe in ghosts. It’s good land. It’s time somebody made use of it instead of letting it lie waste.” “We should go back,” said Nimi, “say goodbye.” Manu nodded. “Can you come out after dinner?” “Yes.” * The full moon lit up the surrounding clouds. They walked among the rubble. Only one wall and half of another were standing. Nimi found the stethoscope and the diary, which now had more pages missing. Manu picked up the cricket bat and Treasure Island. He then took out the cuff link from his pocket. “We’ll bury all of it next to the peepal tree,” he said. They both took a splinter of wood from the rubble and settled down to dig. Half an hour later, they had a hole big and deep enough. They wrapped all the things they had collected in a piece of cloth. Nimi pulled out a blank page from the diary, took a pen from her pocket and wrote on it, “We’ll miss you Dr. Roberts and will always remember you. We hope you’re happy wherever you are.” She put the page inside the cloth and placed it in the hole. They filled the hole with the damp earth and patted it down so that it wasn’t noticeable. Manu walked Nimi home. They had left their bicycles at home so that they wouldn’t get caught sneaking out. At the doorway, she said, “I’ll miss you too. And remember you always.” He smiled. “What’s the hurry? We still have another two weeks.” He turned and walked away, waving goodbye as Nimi smiled back into the darkness. © Leena Jayaraj All Rights Reserved millionstories.net |
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| The Bungalow Leena Jayaraj |