58. Smile

"Huffff." Ankita exhaled, putting down the headphones.

Koushik also put his down looking happy and refreshed.

"I don't remember the last time I enjoyed gaming so much. And we also played for so long! I didn't even notice. Usually, I keep track of the time of what I'm doing, when and for how long. We prepare a mental schedule for ourselves too. But today I did not even think about looking at the clock for once!" He looked at Ankita.

The light from the hologram illuminated half of his face and his black pupils shone brightly.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was in a bad mood too. Something came up at work so my brother had to go in the middle of our outing and thus our whole plan for the day was cancelled. But now I'm happy, thanks to you." She grinned at him.

Koushik stared at her face and looked at the light of the hologram reflecting on her eyes. He felt like he could see the reflection of victory revolving on the screen in her eyes. For a while, both of them stared at each other in silence. Suddenly, they were jolted awake by a mechanical voice from the Board —Shutdown generating. Device unused for fifteen minutes. Ankita and Koushik jumped up, startled and then broke into laughter.

"Stupid Board. Scared the life out of me. Phew !" She sat up right and gave the device a light punch.

Koushik unconsciously started smiling while watching Ankita. The latter was blabbering something but his mind was somewhere else.

All of a sudden, maybe impulsively, he called, "Ankita..."

"Hm?" She turned around, raising her eyebrows.

"I have something to say to you."

"Ah, that reminds me, I have something important to say to you too," Ankita snapped her fingers.

"Then, you go first," Koushik said.

"Nah, it's okay. You said it first, so you go ahead."

"No, you." Koushik shook his head.

Ankita did not notice his fist clenching the edge of his shirt nor the nervousness and expectancy in his eyes.

"Nope. You." She stubbornly shook her head and said.

"Let's go alphabetically. Your name starts with A so you go first. No more debate." Koushik stated adamantly.

Ankita pouted and said, "Tsk. Alright. But this is a serious matter. Why won't you go first? I don't want to ruin our mood."

"Just say it," Koushik said.

He changed his casual posture and sat with his legs crossed. Ankita started speaking after a moment of silence.

"I'll be leaving this school."

Koushik did not speak. He felt his mind go blank and his ears start ringing. He suddenly remembered a long-forgotten memory — the day when he was eavesdropping on Rai and Ankita's conversation in the park, he had heard about this. He knew what she was talking about but due to all the recent excitement, he had completely forgotten about it.

Ankita continued, "Actually, Maa got a partnership offer from a big company, so she'll have to move to Chennai and stay there for a year. Baba will go with her. I'll be enrolled me in a school up north. I don't know its name yet. I'll be staying in the dormitories. The headquarters of the firm Dada works in is situated near that school. He lives and works from there. He'll check up on me from time to time." Ankita sighed and stared at the floor.

Not hear a sound from Koushik, she sneaked a peek at him and saw that he was staring out of the window. It was dusk and the sky was gradually turning pink and purple from a mesmerizing shade of orange. The birds flying back to their nests, flocked in rows, looked like numerous black dotted lines in the sky. The cawing of crows, chirping of sparrows and flapping of the wings of doves echoed from the nearby trees.

Ankita observed Koushik's side profile, illuminated by a gentle glow from outside. His long eyelashes followed by his nose bridge, his slightly opened lips, then his prominent jawline merging down to his throat with the Adams apple as a little bump and his relaxed shoulders slightly bent backwards as he rested upon his hand — it was a lovely view. One could stare at it for hours without getting bored. And Ankita was no exception to it. She was so lost in admiring his beauty that she did not notice when Koushik moved his eyes from the view outside the window and looked at her.

She only woke up from her reverie after hearing his voice.

"Well, it can't be helped right?" He said with a strained smile.

"Hm?" Ankita asked with a confused gaze.

"It's good news that Aunty is getting a better opportunity in her career. We need to sacrifice something smaller to achieve something bigger. Isn't that what people say? Maybe it's like that? Anyways, I don't think it'll be a problem since you don't have that many attachments to VN HIGH. Except Rai and Rishav, your best friends, of course. Right?"

After saying that, especially the last sentence, he earnestly looked at Ankita, as if searching for something. He knew that it was true. In VN HIGH nobody was closer to her than her two best friends. So if she were to miss anyone after changing school, it would obviously be them. There was no doubt about it. Still, he said it, with a secret hope that maybe, maybe she would correct him and say that he missed a name — his name.

But Ankita was Ankita. One moment ultra sensitive and attentive then another moment utterly oblivious and distracted.

She answered him while counting the number of patterns on the floor, "That's true,"

Koushik felt like air got stuck in his lungs for a few seconds. He took a deep breathe and exhaled slowly with a bitter smile.

Ankita did not see that. She was still busy with her calculation. Seeing that she had nothing else to say, Koushik gave a faint scoff and prepared to leave.

"But..."

He turned around feeling like Ankita was saying something but all he could hear was some incoherent sounds.