The Fire.

She sank to her knees on the dusty floor. She could hear the commotion in the background. It seemed like a badly tuned radio. 

She was tired, and she wasn't going to move.

Let the fire rage, she thought to herself wearily.

Her phone lit up. She saw her friend's message. "Bought three cupcakes today. Was meant to save one for you, but ended up eating all. Will buy you another one, promise! Meet me quickly, before that finishes."

Despite the chaos, and commotion, she couldn't help smiling.

"You can eat that one too, Aisha." She replied.

Her sister sent a message saying she had done well in her exam. It was not so difficult as she had anticipated. Sanchi smiled again, as she thought of all the days she had spent with her studying.

She thought of Aisha and the cupcakes again.

She wondered, why wasn't she running and escaping like everyone else? The fire was close, but not so close. She had a good chance of escaping now, if she tried.

But then she remembered things again. She hugged her knees and her eyes welled up. 

Her mother messaged asking her to buy milk and eggs from the market. Oh, they had finished again. How annoying. She suspected extra milk had been given to her cat as usual. She couldn't help smiling.

Yet this was not enough to make her move.

Images kept flashing in her head, and she felt she was drowning in a fire of her own. He hadn't messaged, and she didn't expect him to. 

But she wanted him to. And she was angry with herself for that.

She leaned back. The fire must be spreading now, she thought. Now there was no escape.

She looked around and closed her eyes. She had had such happy times in this college, and dark times as well. 

Neev wasn't coming for her. He had escaped the fire like everyone else.

He probably was too concerned about her. 

Her chest tightened as she thought of her cold reality again.

There were some footsteps, and someone burst in through the door. She looked up anxiously and sputtered, "Neev?" 

Of course it wasn't him.

The man stood at the door, looking rather perplexed.

"There is a fire raging the building. And you're sitting here."

"Yes. I can't escape it." She said tiredly.

"You need to hurry, it's getting worse." He said, panicking.

"You go." she said quietly.

He looked startled. He took a deep breath and then came and sat next to her.

"What are you doing?" She said baffled.

"The same thing you're doing."

"You mustn't."

"Then why are you here?"

She didn't answer. She said worriedly, "Please go. Don't put yourself in danger like this. Please." She noticed his hand was bleeding. Automatically she took it in her hand, and wrapped her dupatta around it. 

He held her hand for a second, and then let it go. 

"Not unless you tell me why you're here."

"Because...I don't have..."

"You're going to tell me you have nothing to live for. Very predictable."

"It's true." She whispered.

She thought of Neev again. The last cold words he had told her. "I've found someone else Sanchi. I have felt nothing in the last two years of our relationship. I tried, though. But I can't."

Her phone beeped again. There was Aisha telling her how she was running late to a class again and she was certain that the professor won't let her in. 

Sanchi answered, "Crazy girl, please run quickly before she marks you absent! Stop messaging now, I'll meet you for dinner today." She wrote that automatically. 

She couldn't help smiling.

"That smile tells me the opposite." He said quietly.

"I'm tired. I can't face anything."

She looked at her bracelet again. She remembered how Neev had put it on her wrist last year. 

Apparently that was all "trying."

The phone rang. She jumped. It was Satya. 

"Hi." She said, trying not to let her voice break too much.

"Sanchi, Sanchi! It's official. We decided to make it official."

Those words rang through her head. He sounded so overjoyed. She had never heard him sound like this. "I'm so...so happy for you." She said, her voice finally breaking.

His voice softened. "Sanchi, you're crying. You're the only one who would cry on hearing this. THIS is why you're my best friend and why I love you so much. You don't share my happiness. You feel it. Ugh, enough sentiment. You make me all soft like this. I want you to meet Sandhya tomorrow, okay. Bunk your classes. She's dying to meet you, she's heard so much about you. My treat."

"I would love to meet her. I've heard so much about her as well. She sounds like a lovely person." Sanchi said, smiling through her tears.

"God, you and your cliched statements. See you tomorrow. Bye."

And he hung up.

Her new friend looked at her. 

"Do you still want to stay here?"

No, she didn't. She didn't want to stay. She wanted to go and meet Satya, and see the happiness in his face. She shuddered as she thought of all the years of misery he had been through. She wanted to see him smile, finally. 

And then she remembered some more cold words.

"Don't hold on to this anymore, Sanchi."

"Neev, please- try-to understand. You can't just throw away four years-"

"Time does not matter, Sanchi. Feelings do. Those feelings aren't there anymore." He said gently releasing her grasp on his cold hands.

"Neev-don't."

"Be reasonable, Sanchi." He said. And then he walked away.

Be reasonable, Sanchi. The words echoed in her head. 

Be reasonable.

"He is not coming back. He has found someone else. He doesn't care for me anymore." she suddenly burst out.

Surprisingly her friend didn't flinch.

"You're giving up everything for that."

"Four years. Four years." She murmured feverishly. She picked at the bracelet. "Lifetime of memories. I can't live."

"The girl I loved, died. I'm living." her friend said unexpectedly.

Sanchi left the bracelet alone.

"She was coming to meet me after the cricket world cup. So we could celebrate India's victory. It was night, and she didn't think before crossing the road. I always warned about her crossing roads." 

His voice did not break, but Sanchi suddenly could not bear to look at his eyes.

"I'm living. I continue to live. Because that's all I can do."

There was a hush in the room.

"Why are you here, please go. You'll die with me today, and that's not right." Sanchi said, holding his hand tightly.

"You're staying here is not right. You can live, and you're not. She couldn't. That's what makes me angry. You have everything- and you're throwing it away. You have a friend, who wants you to meet her this evening for dinner. You have another close friend who has a girlfriend and is happy- and wants to share that happines with you first. And you're here."

"I'm idiotic, that doesn't mean you have to be. Please go. Unless-"

Then she realised why he was here as well.

"You're here for the same reasons as I am."

He smiled sadly. "We're both trying to convince each other not to be stupid and to run for our lives. I can feel the fire and smoke getting closer now. I wonder if this is the best way to meet Riya." He said it more to himself.

"No. It isn't. She'll be upset, because you didn't fight when you had the chance to." Sanchi said angrily.

"We both have a chance to fight. What if this is the last conversation?"

The last conversation? Fear suddenly clutched her. 

What if she could never laugh with Aisha again? What if she could never read Aisha's long stories about her daily incidents? What if she could never stand beside her mother while they washed dishes, quietly talking about the days events? What if she could never have that last bad joke competition with her sister? What if she could never hear Satya's playful way of teasing her, and rolling his eyes when she would get too serious? 

Would that end in this dusty room today? Because she refused to fight? 

Was she letting the fire take over her?

"No. No. We must run. I'm not letting you stay here. Whats-"

"I'm Saagar." He took her hand and pressed it warmly.

"We have to go." She whispered. A small tear left his eye. 

She wiped it gently. 

"Will we be okay?" He asked quietly.

At first she was unsure of how to reply to that. Fires come, fires go. It depends on how one chooses to handle it. There will always be fire. 

But there's always a way to tame it.

She took a deep breath. She threw the bracelet on the floor. It was best if it was left in this room.

She pushed open the door and turned to him and said to him with a small smile, 

"I think we can be."