He didn't call me the next day or the next which happened to be Bhogi; the first day of Pongal, the festival of harvest.

This is the first time we didn't have a bonfire in front of our house in twelve years. Every year Vamsi and I collect old things, furniture and dry tree logs previous night so we can wake up early morning and light a fire.

I haven't sent him good morning messages two days in a row which never happened since the time we both got mobiles of our own.

Amma's side relatives will be coming in the evening while Nanna's mother is already home.

Nanna's sister lives in states while his brother lives in their native village in Srikakulam and almost never visits. Because he lives in village where every day they have to take care of their cattle and chickens, we visit them once a year during Summer holidays.

As most of Amma's relatives live around Vizag, it's mostly them we meet frequently. Sadly, even the thought of seeing them did nothing to my depressed mind.

I miss him.

Amma suggested last night to leave my pride aside and give him a call. But it's not easy when he's not the one asked to apologize; not to mention the words that cut deep in my heart.

When my mobile rang, I sprang up in excitement hoping it's him but got disappointed seeing Neha's caller id.

I barely said hello when I heard her stunned question "Is it true you and Vamsi are not talking to each other?"

"First of all, hello. How do you know this?"

"The whole college knows. I am probably the last to learn of it"

When I didn't answer, she added "That means it's a yes?"

"Yes"

"What happened?" she asked excitedly.

"You didn't hear that?"

"Well, there are different versions of it"

"Like?" I prompted.

"One, You pissed him by picking on a fight with some Rambo guy. Two, there was an argument between the teams and he didn't take your side. Three, you had a cat fight with Nisha over him"

I laughed "Is third version your creative imagination?"

"A girl can wish. So what is it?"

"Bit of both" I said dully, retaliating the whole story.

"Ouch" She said at the end "So, I take it you are not apologizing?"

I ground my teeth "For what?"

"For not finishing off Johnny" she replied coolly and I laughed.

"Do you think I did right?" I asked doubtfully.

"Of course, sister. I am always with you"

"Because I am your friend or because you think I am right?"

"Why can't it be both? You are my friend and I am always loyal to you but I also think you are right"

I sighed "That's good to hear. Considering my team abandoned me when I needed their support"

"Boys" she said, tutting in disappointment "Can't trust them"

"How did this get out?"

"Your team, of course. They are nothing but a bunch of gossiping old ladies. Also heard you are injured, how are you?"

"You sure have your priorities"

She laughed "Sorry about that"

I smiled hearing her being cheerful "I am alright"

"Good. So, you are not going to see each other until college reopens?"

"I have to go to his house later to see his parents. Hopefully, he won't be home"

"I wonder what's got his knickers in twist! It's not like it's the first time he saw you fight" she said as a matter of factly.

I didn't dare mention how I never hurt myself that much until that day and how much pain I endured; deciding it's better if she doesn't know.

"Well, he was condescending before we started our innings. Why, he was even happy seeing Nisha at the------"

"WHAATTT?"

Her yell stopped me from going further "Nisha was there?"

"Yes"

"You didn't tell me that"

"She's following him everywhere these days" I pointed out.

"But Nisha being there changes everything"

"Like?" I said impatiently, unable to understand what she's getting at.

"The fact that Vamsi's a boy and any boy will be offended at a girl fighting in his place in front of the girl he likes"

"That's bullshit"

"I wish it is, honey" she said dramatically, adding "But boys will be boys"

I sighed heavily "Not that I know them better than you do, but I know Vamsi----"

"Blah blah blah blah blah---" she intervened, mumbling nonsense.

"Fine" I said through clenched teeth "Let's say you are right!"

"Thanks for understanding" she said, sarcastically "If more drama ensues at Vamsi's house, you know how to reach me"

With that, she said bye and disconnected the call.

After much deliberation, I went To Vamsi's house. Just because I am angry with him doesn't mean I will let go of the opportunity of seeing his parents.

Auntie beamed as she opened the door, pulling me in for a hug "I thought you'd never come. Just five minutes ago, I was telling Vamsi to call you"

I smiled awkwardly "How are you? Where's uncle?"

"First you tell me, who did you beat up this time?" She asked, staring at my band-aid and the fading scars on my face with concern.

"Just an idiot!"

She smiled, an odd twinkle in her eyes "Is it relevant to why Vamsi is grumpy since we arrived?"

I opened my mouth to deny but nothing came out. "May be" I finally gave in.

"Thought so" she said, looking satisfied.

I walked in to the living where the family is watching TV.

"Anjali!" Uncle leapt out of the sofa seeing me to give me a hug "You are injured again?"

"No, that was just my make up to look pretty" I joked.

His answering grin looked so much like Vamsi's that my heart skipped a beat for a moment.

Why am I noticing these things suddenly? Of course they look similiar. They are father and son.

"Come, join us. Bahubali is on TV" he said, reclaiming his seat.

"I will. After I see ammamma" I replied, following auntie into the kitchen.

"What are you making?" I said as soon as I entered, blown away by the delicious smells in the room.

"Anju thalli!" She exclaimed, leaving her spot at the stove to embrace me.

"Thought I won't see you today" she added, letting me go.

"I can't miss the chance to see auntie and uncle" I said teasingly "What's today's special?"

"Your auntie made bobbatlu for you"

"Really?"

They both nodded and I grinned "Where are they?"

"No dessert for you now. Not until after lunch"

"I---um-- I won't be staying until then" Seeing their despairing faces made me add "My cousins are visiting us today. So, I have to go"

"What happened between you both?" Auntie asked curiously.

"You should ask him that" I said simply.

"We did" They both said at once.

"It's not a big deal" I said, attempting to smile.

"You always get caught when you lie" Auntie observed and I stayed mum.

"Let's get out of here" Ammamma announced irritably "I don't want to enter this room again until tomorrow"

Her grumpy voice made me laugh "It's not fair the men get to enjoy all the traditional dishes for festivals while women slave in kitchen"

"Well, you are going to change that" Ammamma said absentmindedly.

"What?"

The two ladies shared a look of amusement but said together "Nothing"

They are making fun of my lack of cooking skills, huh!

I settled on the ground, beside Ammamma's usual chair; five feet away from Vamsi.

Used to Vineet's hostility, I didn't say a word but it's Vamsi's silence that hurt me. He never ignored me for this long.

Since we are kind of ignoring each other, I don't think I can complain.

After an hour, I stood up to leave.

They compelled me to have lunch before leaving but I politely declined, accepting the box of bobbatlu.

After the fourth time I said 'No', Vamsi spoke "Leave it mom. You can't change those who don't care about anybody's feelings except their own"

The whole family including Vineet looked between us; particularly at me to see how I'll respond to his snide remark.

I turned away, not saying a word.

"What? Nothing to that?" Auntie goaded "You are going to let him have the last word?"

"Well, I can't speak for people who don't care about my feelings. Can I?" I said a little harshly, walking out of the house as I heard muffled laughter of aunty and Ammamma.

Few hours later, my mom's sister and brother arrived with their families. If I had any thoughts of forgetting my fight with Vamsi, it disappeared the moment my cousins entered the living.

"Where's Vamsi?" Nandu said first thing seeing me.

"At his house" I replied stiffly.

"I will call him to come. We can go to AU grounds and play cricket" he said enthusiastically.

His father who's my uncle snapped "You just came and you already want to go out?"

Ananya, the oldest of us said in a calmer tone "Uncle, he's twelve. Of course he wants to play"

"Why isn't Vamsi here?" Madhu interrupted, trying to deviate their attention.

"He has other things to do" I said calmly.

"Like?"

"Spending time with his parents"

"But they visit every pongal and he still comes here" She said, perplexed.

"Well his priorities changed now" I replied savagely.

I know it's not fair to behave like a bitch with a fifteen year old girl when she has no idea what happened but talking about him is getting on my nerves.

"What's going on?" Ananya narrowed her eyes between me and Madhu but it is Amma's voice that broke the silence.

"They had a fight"

"Who?" She said, looking startled.

Amma sighed "Vamsi and her "

"No way!!"

"Good thing that stupid boy isn't here now" Nannamma said in her usual tone of disapproval every time she speaks of Vamsi "Good riddance"

Unlike Vamsi's grandmother who loves me equally, mine doesn't like him one bit. It'd have been awkward during his visits but she doesn't like me either. So, it doesn't bother me or him.

"If you say another word about him------" I paused mid-sentence, surprised by my own outburst. First, nanna will not like it if I threaten to throw his mother out of his house. Second, in Vamsi's own words, he can take care of himself.

He doesn't need me to do anything. Not anymore.

"So you don't want to talk to him, yet you defend him" Amma said smugly "Interesting"

I swore under my breath.

"Is anyone going to tell me what happened or do I have to call Vamsi?" Ananya said after a moment of silence.

"Call him" I said, leaving the room.

I'm not going to explain myself another time again.

"He said he's busy" Ananya commented, while we are having dinner.

"Ok"

"Are you not going to ask what he told me?"

"No"

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to hear that I am being stubborn and egotistical"

She laughed "Aren't you?"

"I am those things but not where he is concerned"

"OK. Now that you both are not on talking terms, can I make a move on him?" she said sassily.

I choked on my food, falling into a fit of coughs. When I recovered almost a minute later, I said slowly "What?"

She has the gall to smile "You know what"

"You are older than him" I pointed out.

"So are you. Or did you forget that conveniently?"

That shut my mouth. It's true Vamsi is younger to me by five months which is easy to forget when he's always the mature one between the two of us.

"Should I ask him out for dinner?"

"Don't make me break my promise to nanna" I said irritably.

"Which is?"

"Not to hit girls"

She laughed "You'd hit me for him? Your sister?"

"I can fight dirty" I replied coolly, realizing she's only provoking to get a reaction out of me.

"Well I didn't know you are into him" she said smugly "Best friends. Isn't that what you always say?"

"I am not! We are just friends"

"Aww.. You always get jealous when someone wants to date your friends?"

"No, I don't." Realizing how that sounded like, I quickly amended "I mean, I am not jealous"

She laughed again "You are contradicting yourself, sister"

Damn! She's so clever and cunning.

We spent the day of Makar Sankranthi, the second day of Pongal playing housie, ludo, card games and watching new films on TV.

Everytime Madhu or Nandu talked of going to Vamsi's place, I deviated their attention by suggesting new games.

Ananya looked entertained watching me suffer, trying to provoke me into confessing something that I haven't yet come to terms with myself.

Yet another day passed with no word from Vamsi and I am agitated, having never spent so long not talking to him.

"Your bitchometer keeps accelerating" Ananya commented the next morning "If you spend another day like this, I am worried you'd start tearing your hair in madness"

She's gotten immune to my glares but that didn't stop me from doing so.

"We are planning to go to Araku today" She continued, ignoring me.

"Why?"

"Nandu is tired of sitting at home and my sister doesn't want to play another game of ludo"

"We go watch a movie" I suggested.

"Did you see book my show? All shows are sold out"

"Araku is far. It's like 100 kilometers away"

"120. I checked Google" she said triumphantly "Though what surprises me the most is that you never visited inspite of living in Vizag your whole life"

"That's what I have been telling Amma my whole life" I said defensively "But she doesn't trust me to go with friends nor will she take me herself"

"So you coming?" she asked, looking bored.

"Ten minutes" I said, rushing inside to take a bath.

But my bathroom is already occupied and I kept knocking until I heard an angry shout from Nannamma inside "Can't I even have peace here?"

"I have to bath. I am going out"

A minute later, she came out yelling at me"I have been telling you to bath since last one hour and you chose the time when I am right in the middle of doing my business"

"I am going out" I repeated.

"I got that message; loud and clear" she said, walking away with a scowl.

When I went out, in my new jeans and shirt, the three of them are already sitting in uncle's car waiting for me.

Seeing the driver's seat empty, I said "Who's taking us?"

All three of them looked guilty.

"What happened? Who is going to ta----"

I stopped myself realizing the answer.

Vamsi.

"You asked him to come with us?" I yelled angrily "You are my cousins"

"Anju, please understand" Ananya began calmly "This trip will help you resolve your issues"

"No" I shouted again "It's hard when we are not talking to each other. It will be harder when he's with us and I still can't talk to him"

"Anju, I know----"

"No, you don't" I said, walking away.

Taking dad's bike keys from the key stand, I took his bike out and ignited the engine. Ignoring Ananya's yells, I drove away from them before he can make an appearance.

I know what I am doing right now is nothing like me.

I never walk away from a fight. Never.

But I don't want to fight him if I can avoid that. I don't want to ignore him either but I can't let it go like everyone wants me to.

It's easy for them to call me stubborn; for not calling him when they don't know how much his words hurt me.

We have thirteen years of friendship between us.

There's no walking away from that.

And if I did, there's no surviving that.

Lost in thought, I ended up at the one place that holds innumerable memories of the person I am running away from.

Getting off my bike, I walked close to the edge of the hill overlooking the whole of Madhurawada.

Vamsi brought me here when we were eleven-twelve years old and this has been our place since then.

So much has changed in the last few years. So many apartments and arrival of IT-SEZ made it more populated and noisy when it was almost a jungle when Nanna bought a site to build a house.

Both of our birthdays are celebrated here. Just him and me. No friends. No family.

All our discussions and arguments happened here.

All our life changing decisions happened here.

How ironic it is that out of all places I could go, I come here to avoid a confrontation with him.

My thoughts abandoned me when I heard the roar of a bullet approaching.

Great. Just what I need. He chose this place to unwind too.

Since I came here first, he should leave but then I wouldn't have known this place if not for him. Knowing I should be reasonable and let him have his peace, I retreated back to my bike when he stopped his, right beside mine.

"Where are you going?" His words surprised me. He's talking?

"Home" I said, not meeting his eyes.

"Why?"

So you can deal with your own shit like I did mine.

"I am hungry" I lied.

"No, you are not" he stated disbelievingly.

"How do you know?" I said, raising my voice but not my head.

"Because when you are, you get extra jumpy"

"I still have to go home"

"Anju, look at me" he said softly.

"No"

I am not going to let him look into my eyes and psycho-analyze me. He knows too much already.

He took my hand into his and pulled me closer "Why are you so damn stubborn?"

"Because I only think of myself" I repeated his words back to him, adding "I am a selfish person"

He sighed heavily "I knew you were going to throw it back at me. Well, shit. What do I do? You make me crazy with worry all the time. How many more times do I have to see you hurt?"

"You don't have to because it doesn't concern you. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself" I said, repeating his words yet again.

He chuckled "Knew they were going to come back too"

When I didn't utter a word, he said "Anju, what do I do? I was hurt and then you have gotten yourself hurt because of me. Why would you do that?"

"You were my friend"

He stiffened "Were?"

Again I didn't say anything. There's no way I am letting our friendship go but that doesn't mean I can't fight dirty.

"Anju, look at me" he repeated and when I didn't, he lifted my chin forcefully to meet my eyes.

Staring at me, he muttered a surprised "Damn!"

"What?" I said, lowering my eyes.

"You are not angry with me. You are sad!" he said, pulling me into his arms.

How does he do that?

"You don't know that" I mumbled against his shoulder.

"Your eyes. They are sad"

"And you can't see that on my face?" I deadpanned.

"Tell me why you are sad? Or angry"

"You want the list?"

His tone is amusing as he said "You have a list?"

"Yes"

"Go on"

"One, you didn't trust me. Two, you didn't take my side. Three, you wanted me to say sorry when you know I was right. Four, you insulted our friendship. Five, you made me leave the team. Six, you made me walk back home. Seven, you didn't call if I reached home safely. Eight-----"

"I think that's enough" he said chuckling.

"It's not funny" I grumbled irritably.

"In my defense" he began in a serious tone "I was angry you didn't listen to me and resorted to fists. I was also angry it happened because of me. But----"

He paused and I added "But what?"

"I think I was more angry you fought on my behalf in front of Nisha. It pisses me off to admit this but my male ego took a hard beating that day"

The constant prick at my heart every time I hear her name returned with vengeance after absence of four days.

"None of my team members took my side. Not one" I said, remembering their silence.

"It's not that they don't trust you"

"They had a funny way of showing it" I said gravely.

"I am sorry, Anju" he said, at last.

"For what, exactly? There's----"

"The whole list" he snickered "Guilty of all charges"

"What should your punishment be?" I said, making a list of things I have to make him do in the project.

"How about I pay for the ice cream?" he said, pulling back.

We have a tradition of going to creme castle for ice cream after winning a match against BITM.

"We won" I said, with a smile "With how many overs left?"

"2.3"

"You have to pay for Ananya, Madhu and Nandu too. Did you bring enough money?"

"I have enough" he said with a smirk.

"Rick kids" I mumbled under my breath and he grinned.

"You start first, I will follow you"

I nodded getting on my bike before I realized something important.

"What is it?" he asked seeing me get down.

"I am sorry too" I said throwing my arms around his waist "For making you worry"

"Hmm" He sighed and I think I felt his lips touch my forehead.

------

Thank you for reading. Please vote, comment and share.

I almost didn't update today because my brother visited and I had to spend more time in kitchen. I had a busy day at office and I returned home late. I am exhausted after a long day. But this is my fav chapter in the book and I didn't want to delay the update. So, here I am.

Hope you had a productive week like I did. Have a happy weekend guys. See you on Wednesday.

 - JANAKI