‘Give me a moment,’ Noor said and disappeared behind a door to wash her face.
As Onni looked at Swati finally, she gave him a forced smile. It was far from the smiles she used to give him when she was setting him up for appointments with her clients, but Onni did not mind. He understood.
She quickly reached for her bag and drew out an envelope.
‘I found this in Kumar’s drawer. I saw the name on it and wondered. Haah! I understood my husband only after our wedding... I was surely not the one he loved. So slowly, we drifted apart. I didn’t want Noor or me to have anything to do with him. And I also don’t want to know what happened between the two of you. I can only guess knowing his likes and your business. Well, this is his way of bidding farewell,’ she said.
Looking at the envelope, she continued. ‘I knew it would be you because of your name on it, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that my daughter, Noor, would be the one to bring you here,’ she finished softly.
Holding the envelope out to Onni, she nodded. Onni was too numb to be hurt any more. Silently, he took it.
The envelope had Onni written on it in KK’s handwriting. Onni could recognise it now. He had read KK’s earlier letter countless times in solitude.
This time, what his fingers pulled out from inside the envelope was a cheque. It was for Onniruddh Ray. It was an amount ending in many zeros. It was signed by Kumaran Kamath.
As he looked up, through a big window across he could see a sky-full of birds.
Swati asked him with a vacant smile ‘What will you do now, Onni?’
Three
‘W hat will you do now, Onni? What will you do now?’ the question spiralled in the little boy’s head.
The finch was just lying there in front of him, ice cold.
Onni’s heart was racing.
‘Did I kill the bird?’
‘But I held it softly...’
‘Why did it die?’
He looked at the bird closely. Suddenly a bolt of hope ran through him. He saw something move.
‘Oh... Only a feather!’
A feather was sticking out from the rest on the finch’s body. It was shaking in the wind.
All the other birds were chirping, creating a complete ruckus. Onni checked the cage and quickly bolted it. He left the little dead bird inside.
He wiped his hand on his shirt.
‘Is it clean?’ he thought looking at his fingers. He wiped his hand again.
Before anyone discovered him, he quietly left. He did not want to wait for Ankit and Arpit to come back from the market.
He ran down the steps and into the private garden behind. He didn’t answer anybody calling out to him.
The little boy walked fast. And then faster. He started running on the grass. All he wanted to do was run. From the voices, from the bird, from what had just happened.
Onniruddh’s tired legs could hardly carry him further. Heaving, he still continued.
The breeze felt cold on his cheeks. He could feel his tears as they dried.
Onni stopped, his soul bared, undone, uncovered. As he looked up through his tears, he saw many, many birds flying free in the sky.
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