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It was dark.
The inherent calm of the misty night air was turned restless by the buzzing sound of crickets.
Festive lights had been switched off, so had the lamps in every room of the Tripathi household. Hardly anyone, however, had been able to fall asleep. Only one tiny bulb shone downstairs, in the guest room, where two police officers clad in uniform sat upright in a chair and on the bed, cautiously sipping water from clean glasses, which had been supplied to them by Rajni Tripathi. She presently stood with a tray in her hand, waiting for the men to return her their tumblers.
"Thank you", they said unanimously while placing their glasses on the tray.
"Thank you my foot", Rajni mumbled under her breath on her way out of the room.
Kitchen was a few steps across the courtyard. Hurriedly covering the distance, Rajni entered, and placed the utensils in the sink. She was about to make a move to exit, when the vague figure of a person sitting in the distance made her stop and take notice.
It was Kusum, hunched over a raised rocky platform in the other corner of the yard. Her midnight blue salwar and chunni, laced delicately with sequins, were close enough in shade to blend with the light and dark play of the crescent moon casting it's glow in the nighttime fog. Her dark hair was spread open over her back and two shoulders. She sat exceedingly still, a nonchalant expression on her partly visible face.
The picture of serenity.
Rajni found that quite odd. How could a bubbly girl like her, who spent most days skipping around and speaking in a squeaky soprano range, exude an aura of such calmness, that too at a time when everyone else in the household was losing their heads? If she was internally exploding, she certainly didn't show it. And Rajni as well wanted some of that composure, be it feigned or real. So she approached her.
"One more phera, and my brother would have been married, if it wouldn't have been for you ratting the couple out to the police."
"Oh, Goggle!"
A hint of recognition, perhaps the slightest flicker of something close to happiness passed through Kusum's features, as she turned around on hearing Rajni direct a comment at her. Immediately, her expression was schooled back to impassive.
Unlike every other time when someone called her Goggle, for once Rajni didn't feel the need to correct the speaker. For some strange reason, she let it slide.
"I'm sorry", Kusum said. "I was alone at a bus stand, late at night, with a sack of valuables in my hand. Who wouldn't suspect! They tortured me until I told the truth."
"Who? The police? You're not hurt, are you?"
Kusum eyed her suspiciously.
"Woah, that's a lot of questions. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are concerned."
"Shut up", Rajni snapped. "Police brutality is a crime."
A mischievous smirk gradually spread across Kusum's face. Rajni too felt her cheeks flush a little. Neither could see the other person clearly, yet they knew exactly what was going on. They both knew Kusum had won this round.
Saving Rajni from further embarrassment, Kusum patted a spot beside her and extended an invitation.
"Come, sit."
"What makes you think I would want to have a chat, alone and unarmed in the courtyard, with a thief who stole my mother's jewelry and broke my brother's marriage?"
"Well… your own marriage had been broken a few days ago, and as of today, so has my heart. Might as well keep each other company."
"Good point", Rajni said with a sour chortle, before settling down. "So this Rakesh guy didn't show up, am I right?"
"Yes, you are."
Rajni waited for her to go on, but nothing came.
She didn't know why she wanted this conversation to continue, after all that had happened between Kusum and her family.
But something weirdly told her, that a snarky heart-to-heart with Kusum is exactly what she would need to heal from the madness of the last few days.
"Can I be honest with you?" Rajni asked again. "I had kinda guessed the part where he wouldn't show up, so when I spotted you here, I almost thought you'd be shivering and crying, bordering on a breakdown. But look at you, silently staring into the dark."
"Yeah", Kusum acknowledged with a smile. "I myself thought I'd bawl too. But now that Rakesh didn't actually show up, I'm wondering if I had planned to flee because I cared more about him, or your mom's jewelry."
A brief laugh broke out, which was shared, this time.
"I thought I was being sly, smart. Gosh, I was so stupid! Like seriously, Rakesh?"
"Relax", came Rajni's whispered reassurance. "You wouldn't be the first one to do something utterly stupid for what you thought was love."
"Now wouldn't I?" Kusum enquired, intrigued. "Who else do you think fits the description?"
"Aman, duh! Like he legit wants to marry Kartik."
Kusum almost choked on air at that.
"Please!" She protested in between giggles. "Don't even think of comparing Kartik to Rakesh."
"Don't worry, I won't. I'm stupid, but not that stupid."
Rajni glanced at Kusum softly.
"Kartik is more or less alright, except when he's a complete idiot sometimes… like you."
Kusum was already formulating a comeback in her head, but something about the tone in which that sentence was uttered, especially the last two words, told her it was not the time. She looked at Rajni, to find her already gazing her way, and she couldn't help the barely audible gasp that escaped her throat.
Looking away, contemplating for a bit, while absently grazing her eyes over the outlines of the moon, she tried to find Rajni's eyes back, through her glasses, and asked, "Goggle, have you ever been stupid in love?"
"Always", Rajni answered. "Up until last week, when I was desperate to marry a senior citizen for some reason."
Both girls chuckled again. Kusum, pleasantly; Rajni, humourlessly.
"Who am I even kidding!" Rajni said, taking off her sunglasses. "One of my eyes wouldn't be looking like a damned marble ball today, if it wouldn't be for me being stupid in love."
Warmth returned to Rajni's laughter, ringing through the void of the empty courtyard, while Kusum's laugh faded away. For the first time in her life, she stared, awestruck, unfazed into the eyes of her partner in conversation, without the barrier of black lens covering the spark in her orbs.
"So you see, you're not alone", Rajni spoke again. "We've both been there, done that."
"I see... Join the club then", Kusum offered, transfixed. "Maybe we could be stupid in love together?"
The question escaped her effortlessly, like it was the most natural follow up possible to Rajni's statement. Only after she had some time to think on the implications, did the true meaning dawn on her, and she noticed Rajni gaping at her with wide eyes.
"Oh my gosh! No I… I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean it that–"
"Kusum."
Rajni's right hand came up to rest on the back of Kusum's left palm, putting an end to her frightened blabbering. Their eyes locked in a silent conversation – both paying rapt attention to every twitch of the lip and quirk of the eyebrow on each other, as if trying to form a wordless agreement of the heart, devoid of pen and paper.
Moments stretched into several minutes of a quiet comfortable back and forth. Sometime later, Kusum upturned her hand to interweave Rajni's fingers through hers, and the two most tentative but precious smiles took over each of their faces.
While reveling in the peace of their mutual understanding, a certain thought made Rajni grow serious.
"The hearing is tomorrow, right?", she enquired.
Swallowing hard, Kusum nodded back firmly, gripping her hand a bit tighter.
"That's right, the hearing is tomorrow."