Black Suits You
Page 19
‘Remember I asked you the same thing some time last year? How to see the world as if the past never happened to us? Never touched or affected us? And remember what you told me? How to live without being the person you were in the past?’
Anaysha wiped her tears, feeling a little conscious, looked at her and said, ‘It happens because we can’t accept that weak, stupid, myopic version of us we were in the past. Deep within us, it makes us feel we can never grow and never deserve anything better than our past. But it’s a fallacy.’
‘Indeed a fallacy. We are way stronger than what our experiences show us. And I know you know all this and are still complaining,’ the birthday girl said.
‘I won’t again. I promise. It was just . . .’
‘Don’t explain. I know you won’t.’
‘Thanks a lot, dear. I know I have told you this infinite times, but what you did for me, nobody ever does for anyone.’
‘I’m your fan, dear. And never underestimate the dedication of a fan. Moreover, you pulled me out of a shitstorm too. Don’t forget that.’
‘Still . . . Nobody would go to the extent you did to help me.’
‘Fuck those nobodies. And anyway, I agree Kiyan was an asshole, but he was a hot asshole. I enjoyed fucking him,’ the birthday girl said and winked at Anaysha.
‘Shut up!’ Anaysha blurted out, ‘All three of us fucked him.’ They laughed.
‘Tell me, when are you leaving for the UK?’ Anaysha asked.
‘I finally got the visa last week. I’m flying out the day after. I’m looking forward to studying literature at Oxford.’
‘Great.’
‘How is Tina?’
‘She is well. She will be there at the Delhi launch next weekend.’
‘I shall so miss the two of you. So, what next for you?’
Anaysha thought for a second and said, ‘I will try to live another story.’
The two girls looked at each other, trying to read the other’s mind and then burst out laughing.
Acknowledgments
The way a story isn’t complete without characters, a book isn’t complete without a team. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the entire PRH team, especially Milee Ashwarya— for showing faith in the story and my storytelling abilities—Roshini, Shruti (can’t thank you enough) and the entire sales team for working hard and helping my vision reach the readers.
Much gratitude to my family for their continual support, which gives me scope to enrich myself every day.
Arindam, Anmol, Bhawna, Rachit, Reetika, Arpit, Pallavi, Ranisa, Lavisha, Aditi, Paullomy and Sharanya: thank you guys for all your help, support and unintentional inputs.
R: be there. I need you, okay?
Finally, thank you to all my readers for accepting my crazy stories and even crazier characters for what they are and caring enough to find yourself in them. A big hug to you all.
THE BEGINNING
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EBURY PRESS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection published 2016
Copyright © Novoneel Chakraborty 2016
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-8-184-00790-9
This digital edition published in 2016.
e-ISBN: 978-9-385-99042-7
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.