eFiction India eFiction India Vol.02 Issue.09 | Page 74

73

STORIES

what was he doing here, at the bus stop?
Where was his bike?

“What happened? Anything serious?” he
asked.

“Nikhil,” she called out. He did not
respond. He was standing with his back
towards her. “Nikhil,” she again called out.
He did not respond. Nonplussed by his
behavior, Niharika went and tapped his
shoulder. He turned around, stunned by
her gesture and stared at her blankly.

“What happened yesterday?” Niharika
demanded.

“Where were you today? And why aren’t
you responding? I have been calling your
name…”
“Who are you?” he asked, distancing
himself from her.
“What?” Niharika could not believe herself.
“Who are you?” he repeated. He was
serious, this was no joke.
“What’s come over you, Nikhil?” she asked,
bewildered at his odd behavior.
“I am not Nikhil,” he said. He then turned
away abruptly and began walking.
Niharika stood there in shock, too stunned
to react.
She couldn’t sleep a wink that night. What
had happened to him? Why was he behaving so weirdly? She decided to confront him
the next day.
Next day, Niharika narrated what had happened to Riya.

“Oh, did you miss me?,” he laughed like
his usual self, “It was nothing, I had a bit
of stomach upset, that’s all.”
“I mean, at the bus stop,” she said.
“Which bus stop? What happened?” he
asked genuinely.
“Yesterday when I came to speak to you at
the bus stop, you refused to recognize me,
you even denied that you were Nikhil…
what was that?” she demanded.

“Sure,” he replied.
Days passed, and Niharika and Nikhil’s
friendship thickened. The friendship gradually blossomed into love. They started
spending most of the time together. They
would go for movies, they would go for
dinners, or they would go and sit along
the beach, watching th H