" Come. " , Shaahid held his hand forward to Sakina.

The rain was in full swings now, and they both looked like wet crows.

She kept sitting and fluttering her eyelids.
" Go away. This feels good. " , she grinned.

Shaahid chuckled and stepped back.

And looked up at the sky....shouting to himself..

" Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; "

Sakina stared at him, squeezing her brows.

He turned to her, and like a pro, recited,

"Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same, "

Sakina now slowly got up herself. Her ankle didn't hurt much, surprisingly.

She walked towards him.
He shook off the water constantly pouring on his wavy hair.

And went on, stepping from one puddle to the next.

"And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back."

He jumped in a puddle, splashing water onto Sakina standing in front.

She guarded with her hands.

And then took over, herself....

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I..

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. "
, she ended, thoughtfully.

A smile crept on his lips.
She did not smile though. Rather she concentrated on following the puddle trails, and getting dirty and dirtier.

He watched the child in her return, silently.

Until she spoke,
" The Road Not Taken.... by Robert Frost was one of my most favorite poems in school. "

" Yeah, mine as well.

But did you get the meaning it conveys? "

She stopped, and stared at him.

He smiled wider.

" The path that we choose, decides our future, our destination. And if we make a wrong choice once in life, there's no going back.

Hence, choose wisely.
Think a thousand times before letting go of your previous choices as well. Think a million times before accepting newer ones, because you might want to return to your old self one day, but there won't be any getting back. "

Sakina stared at him, with wide eyes.
Her mahogany hair stuck to her face. Her nosepin shimmered in the rains.

Shaahid looked away.
And turned to go.

Level One cleared.

____

Sophia stood with a fuming cup of tea before Shaahid's bed, while he wiped his head with a towel. Once ended, his hair stuck up to the sky like robotic antennas.

He watched himself in the mirror.

" See, I got terribly sticking in the air braids like you. " , Shaahid looked at Sophia.

With a thump, she placed the cup on the table.

" Of course, my hair is terrible.
And Rubina's unkempt tangled lice inflicted hair is beautiful,
right? "

Shaahid combed his hair well and went to sit on the bed.

" How come you are here with tea? Kitchen isn't your duty right? " , he said, ignoring the former statement.

" I can be anywhere anytime. " , she folded her arms across her chest.

" Are you God? " , he grinned and took up the cup of tea.

" Nay.. I'm the goddess of sensuality. " , she cat walked upto Shaahid and bit her lips.

Shaahid batted his eyelashes and looked into her eyes.

She spoke in a husky voice,
" Why do you keep testing my patience so much? I'm trying to be patient for so long but... "

" But what?
You are already a mental patient.
She escaped from the asylum six years back. "
Rubina walked in with another fuming cup of tea and came to stand straight beside Sophia.

Shaahid grinned. He could see hot air escaping Sophia's ears as she emitted fire from her eyes.

" And what about you? Shall I tell how you were a drug addict ten years back? " , Sophia hissed at Rubina.

" If that's so, then I should also tell him how you were at the remand home when you were 3, for pushing an old man into the river. " , Rubina thumped down the cup of tea on the bed before Shaahid.

Shaahid looked at them one by one. And placed both the cups of tea side by side. With his jaw dropped.

Sophia tied her braids together, and placed arms across her waist.
" Oh really?
Then I should also tell, how you were caught from a hotel in the night seven years back at Gulaabganj. "

Rubina was now flaring her nostrils.
Shaahid was holding his head and staring at them.

" If you can cross your limits, then I shall also finally tell, how you were  caught by the police nine years back for being a part of a bank robbery. "

" STOPPPPP!!!! " , Shaahid shouted.

They were now staring at him.

" GET LOST!!!!!!!! "

They walked out of the room hand in hand. Immediately, the cook of the house got in, with the final cup of fuming tea, picked up the other two cups from the bed, and rolled out of the room like a ball.

Shaahid now sipped tea, in relief.

____

At around nine, someone knocked on Shaahid's door.

He opened it to see Saajid stand, with a stroller, and dressed well.

" Shaahid bhai, I will not be home for a week. Going to Dhaka for business works.
Take care of my sister if you can. "

Shaahid nodded and wished him a happy journey.

____

' I know it's useless saying, come back to Nawaabganj. You ain't making millions in Fareedpur. What's wrong with your birthplace then?

I know you are still angry with your parents for dying when you were only twenty.
I know you are angry with the pilot who had crashed that plane but himself escaped in a parachute.

I know Nawaabganj will remind you of all of these. But aren't fifteen years enough to forgive?

By the way, I forgot to tell you. My best friend is reading Nikah next month.
I'm happy, very happy. Though I hardly know if I'll attend it finally, after returning from Shimla. Tiredness won't be the reason though, if I don't.

You had told me to practice at least one tune on the piano everyday. I do. Even if I return late from work, I don't miss playing a song.
The latest I played is,

'I hate you I love you
I hate that I love you
Don't want to, but I can't put
Nobody else above you!'

Hehe. I know you are smiling. I can see that cringe on your forehead appearing when you smile.

I play Candy Crush a lot these days. The sounds of the candies getting crushed are extremely satisfying. I also watch satisfying ASMR food videos on YouTube. Satisfaction with life is so less, that I search for artificial satisfaction everywhere..

I am growing weird. I think I should marry now. Otherwise, my increasing weirdness will not let me do that in the coming years.

What do you say?

Will you come to attend my wedding? 
You won't. I know.

But I promise I will attend your wedding one day. Without a cringe on my face.

Because, the last tune I took up on the piano is,

'I hate you I love you
I hate that I love you
Don't want to, but I can't put
Nobody else above you!!'

You're giggling, I know.
And I know as well, you are feeling sleepy.
Perhaps by the time you read this letter, I too will be feeling sleepy in my snow studded cottage in Shimla,

thinking about the fact,

how empty a city could be, even when it's just one person who has left.

Forever yours(?),

Alvira '

Shaahid folded the letter, placed it carefully under the pillow, and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Sleep seemed to be partying somewhere, would be late to come home.