"Huffff." Ankita exhaled putting down the headphones. Koushik also put his down. He looked happy and refreshed. "I don't remember the last time I enjoyed gaming so much. And we also played for so long! I didn't even notice. Usually, I keep track of the time of what I'm doing, when and for how long. We prepare a mental schedule for ourselves too. But today I did not even think about looking at the time for once!" He said and looked at Ankita. The light from the hologram illuminated half of his face and his black pupils shone brightly.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was in a bad mood too. Some came up at work and my brother had to attend it. Our whole plan for the day was cancelled. But now I'm happy. Thank you." She grinned at him. Koushik stared at her face and looked at the light of the hologram reflecting on her eyes. He felt like he could see the word "victory" revolving on the screen in her eyes. For a while, both of them stared at each other in silence. Suddenly they were woken up by the mechanical voice from the Board "Auto shutdown. Unused for fifteen minutes. Shutting down." Ankita and Koushik jumped up startled. Then broke into laughter. "Stupid Board. Scared the life out of me. Phew!" She sat up straight and gave the device a light punch.
Koushik stared at Ankita for a while. His lips unconsciously curled up in a beautiful arc. Ankita was blabbering something but his mind was filled with something else. Suddenly maybe impulsively he called "Ankita..." "Hm?" She turned around with raised eyebrows. "I've something to say to you." "Ah, that reminds me I have something important to say to you too," Ankita said. "Then you go first," Koushik said. "Nah, it's okay. You said it first so you go ahead." "No, you." Koushik denied. Ankita did not his fist clenching the edge of his shirt in the back and the nervousness and expectancy in his eyes. "Nope. You." She stubbornly shook her head and said. "Let's go alphabetically. Your name starts with 'A' so you. No more debate." Koushik stated adamantly.
Ankita pouted and said "Tsk. Alright. But this is a serious matter. Why won't you go first I don't want to ruin our mood." "Just say it," Koushik said. He changed his pose from a casual one and sat with his legs crossed. Ankita started speaking after a moment of silence. "I'll be leaving this school." Koushik did not speak. He felt like his mind went blank. His ears were ringing. He suddenly remembered a long-forgotten memory. That day when he was eavesdropping on Rai and Ankita's conversation in the park he heard about this. He knew what she was saying. But with all the recent excitement he forgot about that.
Ankita continued "Actually mother got a partnership from a big company and she'll move to Chennai. But it'll be for a year only so they'll enroll me in a good school where there are dormitories. I don't know the name yet. I only heard it's in the north. Father will go and stay with mother for the time. After that, the construction of mother's new company will be over and I think it's somewhere near my future school. At first, they were saying they'll take me to Chennai with them but then mother said that since she'll be moving back after one year it's not good to make me move so many places unnecessarily. The headquarters of the firm my brother is in is near. So he'll check up on me from time to time." Ankita sighed and stared at the floor.
She could not hear anything from Koushik so she peeked from under her eyebrows and saw that he was staring out of the window. It was dusk and the sky was gradually turning pink from a shade of orange as it was in the afternoon. The birds were flying to their nests in a row and looked like black lines in the sky. The cawing of crow's chirping of sparrows and the flapping sounds of the dove's wings could be heard faintly.
Ankita saw Koushik's side profile which was touched by the gentle light from outside. His long eyelashes followed by his nose bridge then his slightly opened lips extending to his sharp jawline then flowing down to his throat with the Adams apple as a little bump and merging to his shoulder which was slightly bent backwards as he rested upon his hand. It was a lovely picture. One could stare at it for hours without getting bored. Ankita was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Koushik averted his eyes and looked at her.
She woke up from her reverie hearing his voice. "Well, it can't be helped right?" He said. "Hm?" Ankita asked with a confused gaze. "It's good news that Aunty is getting a better opportunity in her career. We need to sacrifice something smaller to achieve something bigger. Isn't that what people say? Maybe it's like that? Anyways I don't think you have that many attachments to VN HIGH. Yes, except Rai and Rishav, your best friends of course." He said. He paused a little after 'except'. "That's true," Ankita said nodding. She was looking at the floor and missed the light scoff from Koushik.
She also did not see the bitter smile that hung on his lips.
Koushik was about to get up when Ankita softly said "But..."