Page 40 - Till the Last Breath . . .

Kajal hesitated and he took the seat before she could respond to the

question. Rude, she thought. She liked that.
‘I have read that book,’ he said. ‘It’s just like the last one. The girl dies
and everyone cries. All his books are the same book. I don’t know why girls

still like him. They’re so predictable.’
‘I didn’t need to know that,’ Kajal retorted. She started reading,

mindlessly. She forgot which paragraph she was on. It didn’t matter. A little
later, she said, ‘Even if it’s the same book, the people are different and so

are the emotions. It’s an entirely new experience every time. You wouldn’t
understand. I don’t expect you to.’

‘As a matter of fact, I do. That is why I read all of them. Well, initially I
just read one because I saw you reading it and thought we would have
something to talk about. I ended up reading all of them,’ he claimed.

‘You’re such a girl!’ she giggled.
He nodded approvingly. She wouldn’t have guessed that the guy who sat

next to her shared the same taste for books as hers. She would learn later
that he didn’t. Dushyant had always been more interested in books that took

him beyond the realm of the obvious. He read books people hadn’t heard
about. A memoir of a serial killer. An out-of-print trilogy about a deranged

doctor. And more.
Her eyes roved around nervously as an uneasy silence hung between
them. He looked sturdy, the veins in his forearms were consistently thick

and they disappeared inside his T-shirt, which fit him snuggly. He was
undeniably muscular. He smelled very strongly of cologne, as if he had

tried to look presentable at the last moment. He could have shaved, at least!
‘Dushyant,’ he said and stuck his hand out.

‘Kajal,’ she said and left his hand hanging mid-air. He retracted it,
blushing. He didn’t meet her eye. She could tell he was nervous. His legs

shook. Kajal started reading again. The same paragraph, over and over.
Dushyant sat there looking at her, and at his palms, rubbing them together,
looking here and there, shifting his feet and fidgeting with his phone.

‘I have been following you,’ he said, finally.
‘I have been told that,’ Kajal responded.