Page 105 of The Circle of Exile
Some things not.
But all of it — gone.
Nothing stayed.
Not the rain. Not the fire.
Not the soft laughter in the dark.
Not the breaking.
Not the bloom.
But we stayed through the gloom.
I held your hand.
You let go.
Then held it again.
That was enough.
And then some more.
Because whatever came, we let it come.
And then watched it go.
“Stop,” Atharva ordered.
“Inside,” Altaf added, and had the car turn into the gates along with their convoy. Atharva got off and strode back to the edge of his house’s gate. The old man wasn’t budging. Weeks had passed, and he still came and stood here at this time of his homecoming.
“What time did you come?”
“Six o’clock.”
“Iram is inside. Nobody has stopped you from going and seeing her.”
“I want to meet you.”
“Sir?” Altaf whispered in his ear. “We cannot have you stand here without cover.”
He nodded.
“Come with me.”
Atharva turned on his heel and strode inside his estate, the winding way lined with his convoy on one side.
“Take the cars and dismiss everyone. I will walk with him.”
“I’ll be here with you,” Altaf nodded and went to execute his orders.
“Yes, Rahim miyan, I am listening,” Atharva began walking. The old man kept pace, wheezing in the cold. Atharva could not find in his heart to sympathise. That he was letting this man walk with him was the limit of his control.
“Iram baby was not good when she came to me,” he panted. “She was…”
“We have moved on from that. If you came here to talk about those days, then you can turn right back.”
