Page 71 of Since You Came Along

‘Because you weren’t listening to me,’ Meera replied. ‘Speak one at a time, or I’m hanging up again.’

The threat worked. After a moment of silence, Swayam said, ‘I miss you, Mihu. Don’t ever scare us like that again.’

‘Oh, Swayam,’ Meera said, her own eyes stinging with unshed tears. ‘Don’t cry, please. I’m fine.’

‘I didn’t even know what happened until later. Abhay called to tell me what happened just before Raghav landed. I don’t know how the others coped for hours without losing their minds.’

‘I didn’t cope,’ Siya interjected. ‘I imagined the worst plausible scenarios. Let’s all take this as a lesson. Please, always keep your phones close.’

‘I miss all of you, and I love that you care so much about me. But you do realise it wasn’t me who scared you, right?’ Meera asked, trying to calm them.

‘Doesn’t matter! You’d better be safe and cautious from now on!’ Swayam warned her. She knew all of them well enough to understand that last night had shaken them. She made a mental note to call Abhay and the others later to check on them too.

The conversation shifted to her car, and the group launched into a lively debate about how to get rid of it without invoking her wrath. She protested, reasoning that it wasn’t the car’s fault, but they brushed her off and kept talking among themselves.

By the end of the call, she had assured them all as best she could, and when she hung up, her chest felt a little lighter. The knowledge that she was loved filled her with gratitude.

She spent the next hour talking to Abhay and Luv. Both of them had been terrified, and Abhay could barely hold it together when he talked to her. He explained how he’d wrapped up work and was on his way to the airport when Raghav called to say he’d found her safe at home.

He didn’t elaborate, but Meera could hear the unspoken strain in his voice. Luv had never sounded so grim. Both men made her promise to replace her phone and to take better care of herself.

Just as she was about to put her phone down, it buzzed again. The name on the screen surprised her. Kusha. She’d never called before.

‘How are you?’ Kusha asked so softly that Meera had to strain to hear her.

‘Hey. I’m fine. How are you? Yesterday couldn’t have been easy for you,’ Meera replied.

‘No, it wasn’t,’ Kusha admitted with a sigh.

‘I can’t imagine how you handled the guys. I’m struggling to convince them I’m okay, and I wasn’t even there for the worst of it. You had to deal with them in full panic mode.’

The silence stretched on the call for a moment before Kusha said, ‘Meera, yesterday wasn’t hard because of the guys. It was hard because I thought we’d lost you.’

‘I get that. It would’ve been unbearable for everyone. Raghav looked like he hadn’t slept in days. I can’t even imagine what the others went through.’

‘Meera...’ Kusha trailed off. Something in her voice stopped Meera in her tracks.

‘Yeah?’ she prompted.

Kusha confessed, ‘I was scared as well.’

Meera blinked in surprise. ‘You were?’ she asked, unable to keep the shock out of her tone.

Kusha sighed, and asked, ‘Have I messed up so badly that you can’t believe that? I was terrified of losing you, Meera. I…’

Meera held her breath, waiting for her to continue and when she did, Meera wanted to weep with happiness.

When Kusha continued, her voice broke. ‘I don’t want to lose another friend.’

Meera smiled through tears and promised, ‘You won’t.’

They talked for a few more minutes and Kusha told Meera to keep chocolate chip cookies ready for her when she came back home.

As the call ended, Meera leaned against the wall, her mind drifting to Raghav again. He’d been a constant presence in her thoughts all morning.Where had he gone? Did he go to work? Was he okay?

It was two in the afternoon when Raghav called her. Startled, she jumped up from the bed where she’d been reading and answered. ‘Hello.’

‘Hi. How are you now?’

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