She sat in the Starbucks cafe, sipping her coffee and staring out of the window. The blood stained knife lay next to her handbag, covered with her blue silk scarf. The coffee spread the bitterness in her mouth and for some strange reason, it warmed her heart.
She looked out through the window again. The sky has turned a deep blue and the air-conditioned place seemed a little cooler than before. Rain had started coming in drops from the sky. The dry leaves in a nearby tree started turning lush green with the raindrops.
The pour was beginning to thicken and she noticed two figures standing across the road. It was an old man and an old woman. The old man looked so fragile and his spine was bent and in his one hand he was holding the even more fragile hand of the old woman. The old couple started crossing the road hand in hand, with the old gentleman guiding his queen.
A gentle smile formed at the corner of her lips and tiny droplets formed at the corner of her eyes. The tears fell down smoothly and she looked away from the retreating couple to stare at her blue scarf. She gently traced the smoothness of silk and she stopped at the point where the blood has soaked through the material. She remembered the day she had first laid her eyes on the scarf. It seemed a distant memory, but a happier on
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The sun was shining brightly and that day seemed to be competing for the hottest day ever. Rati entered the mall and the air conditioned place hit her like a snowstorm. She searched for her friend through the Saturday crowd at the mall. It was easy to find her friend than most people because her friend, Shalini Nair was nearly 6 feet.
Shalini was standing at a distance with her full concentration on the phone. With the horizontal position of her new phone, she could see that her friend was busily playing a game. Rati went near her and slapped her shoulders.
“Shall we go?”
Shalini looked up from her phone, and with a childlike pout, she said, “I am hungry!”
“Let us grab a snack!”
“I want lunch and not a snack!” Shalini squealed.
Rati grabbed her friend’s hand and both of them made their way towards the food court. The time sped by and the two friends remained chatting and it was nearly 3 pm when Rati looked at her watch.
It was a Saturday and the two of them had planned to spend their time roaming around the city. Their first stop was the mall and by 4 pm, after window shopping for an hour, they decided to go to the beach.
On their way out, Shalini spotted a shop and urged Rati to enter it. They both went through the whole shop, before Shalini decided to try out two tops and a pant.
Rati was waiting in a chair outside, when her gaze fell on a blue coloured silk scarf that was hanging from the display. She went near it and admired the richness of the colour. It would be perfect because blue happened to be her favourite colour.
The pair of friends exited the shop with their favourite choices safe in their bags and with the weekend happiness rolled up in their sleeves.
Before they could go to their destination, Rati’s eyes fell on another blue colour. But that happened to be a person, a man.
He was nearly tall as her friend and he seemed to be the type of person who loves going to gym. He happened to be..
“Hi Aaditya!”
“Oh hi Rati! Hi Shalini! Weekend outing?
Enjoy!”
And before they could reciprocate, he was gone. Gone in a flash.
Rati and shalini looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and went their way.
Only if the two souls going in opposite directions remained that way. Only if Rati hadn’t tried to steal a glance at the blue shirt once again.
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