CHAPTER 9

ARYA

I didn’t know why but tears kept pouring down my cheeks today. Sri, who had given me an earful for my incandescent behavior, had left for the evening. She was going to spend the night at Ajit’s, her long term boyfriend and fiancé. Raghu too was out with his friends and I was all alone.

Two months were still left in my term, and after that I was supposed to go back to India forever. But today, I wanted to go back immediately. Not because I didn’t want to be with Nathan. Oh, I desperately wanted to be with him, but I knew that it was neither possible nor plausible. So, to silence that desperation, I wanted to put an end to any possibility. And the best way was to get a one-way ticket to India. I knew if – no when – when I will go back home next, it would be the last time. And I would never see Cape Town ever again.

So, to make this sad thing possible, I had called my professor and begged him to let me go early. Hearing my tearful plea, he agreed to let me go after I had submitted t