I had to go back and check something in one of the earliest chapters of this book, and holy shit, in the span of all these years I've forgotten how I had described Yash first and how different is my present idea of him from back then.

Anyway, going by my current idea of his appearance at least, let me clarify that he's not small and tiny (I'll edit that part). Both of them are of average height and similar stature. I consider Tuhin and Rakesh to be the tallest ones in the group and Divya and Afzal to be among the shortest.

***

The day of the fest was a Saturday. I was excited but since I had to let Zara's mother in on the plan, I was also anxious to get this over with. She had arranged my three hours of unquestioned custody of Zara when I had asked for her permission to let my sister visit my art school.

The woman had looked at me expectantly when I said that I wanted to take Zara to see the exhibitions.

I felt guilty under her gaze. She was expecting me to invite her too. But I couldn't. I wanted to trust her but however much I tried, I couldn't.

Not yet.

It was because Divya was also going to  be there. We were supposed to meet up in front of the college gates. I knew Zara was missing her but I wasn't sure mother would let my sister meet Divya after I had accidentally outed my friend in a moment of passion.

Divya waved and grinned like an idiot the moment she saw us turning the corner.

"Divya Didiiii!" Zara squealed and ran along the sidewalk. Seeing how there was less traffic on the road at this time of the day, I let her.

"That's my friend I was telling you about. His sister is my best friend," I heard Divya say as I caught up to them.

No wonder the crackhead had already been talking to Chacha Ji about us.

Chacha Ji bent down to greet my sister, "Hello beta, what's your name?"

"Zara Gupta," she replied. "What is your name, uncle?"

The older man kept a hand on her head. "You can call me Chacha Ji. Everyone calls me Chacha Ji here. Have fun, you kids."

Once we were inside the gates, Divya gave me a side hug and picked up Zara in her arms. "God knows  how I missed you guys."

"I missed you too," my sister sniffed her neck and sighed happily.

Divya kissed the top of her head. She turned to me. "So, Riyaaz Gupta? These exhibits that we're going to see – how many of them are by you?"

"Absolutely none."

My sister and my friend looked at me with the same curious expression on their faces.

Woah, hol' up right there, why do you two look like sisters and I'm suddenly the odd one out here?

"What do you mean by absolutely none?" Divya barked. "Why are we here then?"

"Because, I'm about to take you to an extremely whitewashed colonial paradise."

I led them inside the building and the moment they saw the walls of the corridors, their jaws went slack.

A smile of wonder graced Divya's features.

"Can I touch it?"

"Go ahead. This isn't a museum. No one will mind you."

Divya took Zara's hand in hers and together they touched the recreated walls of the Sistine Chapel. I watched as they traced each undulation of the surface they could reach, clumps of dried paint morphing into the plain plastered wall, confused between staying put and trying to escape its clutches. Only the artist had the power to freeze time in this phase of the in-between.

"They are naked," Zara said.

Of course, the Renaissance gave rise to more in-depth study of the human anatomy.

Divya looked at me with glazed eyes. "Well, they're hot so I"m not complaining."

"Divya! Shut up."

"But why?" Zara insisted.

"Because," a new voice said from behind us. "The human body is beautiful no matter its shape and features, and we should celebrate it. That's the truest revelation of this time," Yash gestured at the paintings.

Divya whistled loudly that made several parents passing by look at our little group with frowns and disapproving stares.

"Stop that," I whispered urgently.

"But it's Yash. THE YASH. Hello, handsome."

Yash's friends standing at a distance now glanced over at us. They were amused, to say the least.

Well, did I expect her to be any different?

The answer was a big fat NO.

This is Divya we're talking about.

I had missed her.

Yash laughed. "Hi, Divya. Hello, Zara. Have heard a lot about both of you. I'm your brother's friend," he told the little one.

In the past month, I might or might not have ranted about Nisha, listed Zara's little achievements at school and at home and worried out loud about Divya whenever I sat together with Yash during our breaks.

"Friend, huh?" Divya smirked.

Yash pursed his lips but you could tell he was smiling.

"Friend?" Zara still looked confused. "Dadabhai, you've never told me about your college friends."

"Riyaaz, how come you've never told her about me?" Yash feigned a look of hurt. "Listen Zara, I'm your brother's best friend here."

"Then I don't like you," Zara pouted at him. "I knew a best friend Dadabhai had. He wasn't a good person. He hurt Dadabhai later."

Yash did not avert his gaze like I had thought he would. Instead, he looked straight at my sister and said, "But I know that Divya is your best friend. Has she hurt you?"

Zara vigorously shook her head and tightened her hold around Divya's neck, "Divya Didi is nice."

"I'll be the nice best friend your Dadabhai needs, okay? I promise you. If I can't, then you can go back to not liking me."

My sister stared back at him. "Okay, I'll give you a chance then."

We kept walking along the corridor, Divya recognizing one or two Greek and Roman figures every now and then, and Yash pointing out the rest to her. They stopped in front of Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. This reproduction was based on van Buuren’s version of the supposedly lost painting.

In the last month, Yash and I have walked these corridors a number of times. He would go on about each of the pieces they recreated. He would point and show me little details like how there was an upturned face in the bushes in this painting and nobody knew what it was doing there.

"Hey, I know that flying man with wings. It's Icarus!"

Yash shook his head at Divya. "No, that's Daedalus, his father. Look down, over here, beside the ship. Icarus is drowning."

"Why aren't they helping him?" Zara pointed at the shepherd, the ploughman and the angler – the onlookers.

Yash and I shared a look.

Humans, ugh.

"It's because when you see the painting, you feel bad about how nobody is helping him, so that, next time you see someone is hurting, you help them out." He looked up at the drowning figure, "Because everyone secretly wishes for Icarus to keep flying but they're too scared of defying the will of the gods."

"Art is very confusing," my sister said thoughtfully, as we moved on to look inside the studios.

"Well, I couldn't agree more," Divya thumbed her small earcuff and shifted Zara's weight to her other arm as we entered Pramila Ma'am's studio. "But I think these nerds are pretty damn awesome."

The professor was sitting in the main studio and she looked up from her papers when she heard us entering.

"Ah, Riyaaz and Riyaaz's friend.” Then she noticed Divya. "And Riyaaz's other friend. And your... kid?" She frowned.

"Introduce yourself," I nudged my sister as the other two started giggling hard at the teacher's assumptions.

"Good morning, ma'am," she began in a sing-song voice as they do in primary school. "I'm Zara and I'm seven years old. I study in XYZ School in class 2-B. This is my Dadabhai. This is Divya and she's our friend."

Look at her rattling off all that information in English at one go! My sister is growing up fine, yes!

I’m so fucking proud of her.

"Sure, because that makes more sense." Pramila Ma'am went back to her paperwork on the table before her. "Don't mind me, kids. You can touch the things on display as long as you don't break anything. Take a look around, but Riyaaz, I need you at the stall in another thirty minutes. Marjorie will end you otherwise, regardless of your guardianship status as a brother or as a father."

"I suddenly fear for your life," Yash whispered.

***

"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DINOSAURS AND DRAGONS? WHAT AM I MISSING? YOU NEVER SAID THIS FEST WAS GOING TO BE SO RAD!"

Half an hour later, Yash and I had taken the girls to the open field where the sculpting class had put up their installations.

"They look so bigger than the dino slide in the park," a wide-eyed Zara stared at the scene that lay before us. She was finally walking on her own, and the grip of her little hand on my finger tightened. Between the feet and tails of the giant frames, students took turns in sitting at the small stalls set up by each class. Basic Drawing sold their posters, Painting class students offered to draw your portrait in under ten minutes, History of Art promoted the college's art journals, magazines and newsletters. Business in Arts and Installation Basics had no separate stalls as their students had teamed up with their other respective classes, just the way I steered away from Basic Drawing in spite of taking it.

Majorie waved frantically at me as I made my way towards our class's stall.

"You still want your friend to have it, right?" her eyes twinkled.

I couldn't help but look away. "Yes."

"Hurry up then! We're selling out fast."

"Are you serious? It's barely the middle of the day!"

The senior gave me a shit eating grin, "You still don't know how gag gifts work, do you? Whispered words attract curious customers like a dumpster attracts flies. It works faster than announcements."

This class was bonkers.

I wish I had got to know them better earlier.

Once I had Yash take Zara away after buying her some small stone figurines from our stall, I gestured Divya to come with me to the back of the little shack.

"What now -? ARE YOU KIDDING ME, RIYAAZ?"

"Shut up, Divya. Just tell me if you wanna buy." I was embarrassed but I couldn't stop myself from grinning broadly since I knew that she would absolutely love it.

She stared at the contents of the box. "What are these made of?"

"Definitely not from silicone," I rolled my eyes. "We wouldn't be able to sell it at this price then. These aren't for use but I guess you could use a –"

"Yeah, I get it. I want to buy all of them and give one to each of my friends just for the heck of it."

"We're limiting the purchase to two units per person because, one, I'm pretty sure this is somewhat illegal, and two, too many people want to buy these for some reason beyond me."

"Give me two then. I don't care what Tuhina does with it but I still want to see the expression on her face when she receives this. Speaking of which, has Yash already bought one?"

I looked away from her as I packed her order in an old newspaper. "No."

"Then why did you send him away with Zara? I'm sure he would have loved -"

I fixed her with a suggestive look. "I know, so I got one. I'm going to surprise him one of these nights."

***

"I'm sorry I can't stay back for the evening."

"It's fine, Divya. I'm just glad I got to see you today."

Divya played with her hair absent-mindedly. "I just, I just didn't see that coming from Nisha."

"You didn't have to deal with it all by yourself. It's okay, though," I explained. "Do what you gotta do and take your time. We're here for you whenever you need us."

"I know that. Hey," she glanced back at Yash and Zara running about in the field. "Are you sure I can't escort Zara back? Yash is so nice, I almost don't want you to leave him even for the little time it'd take you to drop Zara at home and return."

"Don’t worry about it," I assured her. "Unlike me, he has his own little group of friends. And things aren't so good at home with my father. If he sees you there instead of me, I'm sure he'll explode."

She nodded. We walked over to where the other two were now sitting under the shade of a tree.

"Dadabhai, Yash Dada is better at running than you." Yash flashed a victory sign with a toothy grin.

"You little cockroach, you're choosing my friend over me again?"

"Aw, there  there," she patted me on the head. "I'd never do that."

"Come on, it's time to go home."

The girls bade their farewell to Yash.

Zara slung a pudgy arm around Divya's neck as the latter picked her up once again. "Does this mean you're not mad at us anymore?"

Divya frowned. "I wasn't mad at you two in the first place. You know Zara, when something makes you really sad, you need a little time to be alone. To not be sad around the people you love."

"That's not the kind of love I want. I want people I love to come to me when they're sad, so that I can wipe off their tears."

Divya blinked and looked at me, "Are you absolutely sure she's only seven years old?"

***

So I've been uploading character illustrations in the first book THE CHOCOLATE BOY, and as of yet, you can see illustrations of the twins, Ishan, Afzal, Rakesh and DIVYA done by me. Let me know if you liked those!! I'll be doing the same for this book too.

Love you all. ❤