When Ankita could not hear Koushik's footsteps any more she hugged a pillow and burst into tears. But it still could not muffle the sound of her wailings. Rai and Rishav burst into the room. They both shouted her name in panic, seeing her in such a state and rushed to her. Rai was the first to reach her and she immediately pulled her friend into a tight hug.
Then, she whispered softly while caressing her hair in an ever gentle motion, "Anu, why are you crying? What happened?"
Ankita did not answer, instead just clung to Rai and cried bitter tears. Rai did not ask anymore questions and just hugged her firmly while continuing to caress her head. She swayed in a gentle swing and whispered soothing words in her ear, reassuring her that she would be there until she felt better. That she could cry her heart out and let all the pain out.
After a long time, Rai's words probably took their effects as Ankita slowly calmed down, and her cries gradually reduced to sobs and then to sniffles. Seeing her calm down, Rai carefully and softly wiped away her tears. Rishav, who had been sitting silently beside Ankita all this time, pulled her in his embrace. She felt the warmth emanating from her best friend's hug, and sniffled quietly. Ankita closed her eyes and hugged him tightly. Rishav also kept his hold around her firm so that she could feel the sense of security. But it was also not tight enough to suffocate or make her feel uncomfortable. His steady breathing and heartbeat finally made Ankita quiet and she stopped trembling.
Rishav felt that Ankita had composed herself but he did not release her, and waited for her to break free from his brace. In the meantime he nodded at Rai, telling her that Ankita was alright now. The latter heaved a sigh of relief but then they both exchanged a puzzled and worried glance.
They met Koushik at the gate. But he did not even look at them and just trudged towards his house, looking glum. At that time, they were just confused because if Koushik was here then it most probably had something to do with Ankita, but given their relationship he should not be coming out with that kind of face. He looked downright heartbroken. But they had just brushed it off, as their main priority was to see how Ankita was doing after what happened at school. But as they came nearer to her room they heard crying noises and instantly became alarmed. They dashed towards her room only to find her lying on the bed and crying, hugging her knees.
Maybe it was from all the crying that made Ankita tired or she simply did not want to speak about anything, but she fell asleep while hugging Rishav. He did not move and let her sleep, and rest her mind. Rai on the other hand, quietly moved out of the room and went downstairs to inform her father about everything and requested him to let them take care of Ankita. Mr Chakraborty also felt that it would be better to resolve problems between friends among themselves, rather than getting an adult involved. But he also reminded Rai to keep him informed about Ankita's situation.
He had felt something fishy about the school incident and that day's incident, and his intuition told him there was a connection between them. But for the time being he only wanted to focus on Ankita's health. And his main concern was getting Ankita a check up at the hospital to make sure there was nothing serious. He decided to speak to his wife about this at night when she returned from her work.
Ankita slept for about two hours and it was already noon by the time she woke up. She squinted slightly as the bright rays of the sun assaulted her eyes. Rishav got up and drew the curtains. The thick fabric made the room considerably darker. Rai and Rishav did not bring up anything regarding the morning incident and just joked around, and gossiped like any other day.
Ankita also felt glad that they did not bring up any questions but tried to distract her. She gave them a small smile, full of gratitude. Rishav and Rai also smiled back.
"Hey, what's in this box? It looks quite fancy and expensive." Rishav spotted the box lying on the bedside table and exclaimed.
It was very small, about the size of the palm, but it was exquisitely designed. It was made of ivory and had a sculpture of an elephant's face on top.
Seeing the box Ankita averted her eyes.
"Koushik gave it." She said in a low voice.
"Oh?" Rishav exclaimed in surprise.
Although their families were well off, that box was not something any of them would buy on a whim. It would probably be given as an exquisite gift. But what surprised both of them more was her emotionless voice. Previously, every time Ankita said anything remotely related to Koushik, she would be like an inflated balloon. Flying high with happiness. But this time, it felt like just saying his name made her uncomfortable.
Rishav and Rai perfectly understood that something had happened between them but tactfully stayed silent. If she wanted to share, she would do so willingly. They would not force her to reveal anything. When it was lunch time, Mr Chakraborty called them downstairs.
In the morning, he had asked Koushik to stay for lunch but the latter rejected him saying he had an appointment already. Mr Chakraborty liked Koushik. He was polite, not arrogant for being a celebrity, respectful, gentle and very beautiful. So Mr Chakraborty wanted to spend more time with him, but became a little sad after being rejected. However, he did not forget to remind him to come over often to try out his new dishes. Koushik agreed to his request before leaving. But now, he felt that it was better that Koushik was not there. Otherwise the atmosphere would have become really uncomfortable. He just prayed that whatever issue Ankita and Koushik had gets resolved soon. He hated seeing Ankita's gloomy face.
Monday morning, at school.
Every Monday, Tuesday and Friday, the students had to assemble on the ground for the morning prayer. There were three sections for each class from ten to twelve – A, B and C. Everyone stood in a line according to their class, section and roll number. Since Ankita was in X-B, she stood in the second row. And her surname being Dey, her roll number was much ahead of Rai, whose surname was Sarkar. Thus, Rishav was roll number three and Ankita, seven. Poor Rai, who was roll number thirty-nine, had to stand far away from her friends.
Once the students were back in class, the class teacher came in and started taking attendance. After everyone logged in their Board, Ankita raised her hand to get Miss Dutta's attention.
"Miss, please allow me to change my seat."