A Happy Ending

Kritvik Bhatt

“Your parents are the problem, huh?” I had my head tilted downward as I sat on the seat at the edge of the metro. On my right was Sana, who had her head tilted to me.

The metro compartment was completely empty, man. There was no one else except the two of us. From the windows, we could see the dark sky. But, the tube-lights brightly lit the white compartment up.

“Yeah. Like, they are always fighting and saying such mean things to each other!”

“Yeah,” I nodded. I then turned my head to her and looked into her eyes with determination. “I think you should just talk it out with your mom, man. At last, they’re your parents. They’ll surely listen to you and stop all of that stuff.”

“Well, I can’t really tell my mom about this…”

“Huh? Why?” I frowned.

“I-I don’t think I can talk it out…”

“I can talk to them, then,” I said without hesitation.

“No, you won’t. I won’t let you.”

“Man…” I turned my head frontward. “Then, if not it, what else can we do to stop their fights?”

“You see, my dad could just come home early, I think. And, he should stop trading in the stock market too.”

“Because that’s what your mom doesn’t like?”

She nodded. “Mm-hmm. You see, I too feel like he’s a little too less with us.”

“Man, he’s an employed person, at last. He needs to work.” I turned my head to her. “Even we would be spending less time at our homes when we start working.”

“But my mom feels like he doesn’t care about us at all, and that’s the main problem.”

“I have a question, man. Your dad must be working for a lot of years, right? Then they've been fighting for so many years?”

She shook her head. “Only after lockdown.”

I nodded. “Maybe, your mom got accustomed to him being at home.”

She frowned as she thought about it. She then turned her head frontward. “Y-Yeah, that makes sense. I too was wondering about why my mom would suddenly start scolding my dad for this when it’s been going on for too long.”

I smiled. “Maybe you got the answer now.”

She smiled too. “Yeah.” She then turned to me again and asked, “But I still don’t know how to make their relationship better, you see.”

“Man, maybe… maybe you’re the only person who can somehow think about something and pull it off. After all, you are the connection between them. You know about their likes and dislikes, and maybe you can think of something. I’d help you with brainstorming, but only you can pull it off.”

She nodded with that smile on her face and turned her head frontward. “You’re of no use, emo. All you do is give cringe replies.”

“Damn,” I turned my head frontward.

“But, well… it really helps, you see, to get things off your chest.”

“Yeah, I know,” I turned my head downward. “If there’s anything that’s worrying you, just come to me and say all of it out. Just that much would make you feel good.”

“Like, I thought that it was such a big deal, but now, I feel like it was not. And, I can easily pull this thing off.”

“After all, all you gotta do is not let them shout or fight with each other.”

“Right,” She turned her head to me. “Thank you, K.”

I turned to her and looked into her eyes, smiling back at her. “No. Don’t thank me.” I turned my head frontward. “After all, I couldn’t even help you.”

“Still, it helps a lot.”

I nodded. “I just hope you come out of this stuff.”

“Me too,” She turned frontward. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else. You see, I don’t wanna talk about this depressing thing anymore. I wanna have some fun.”

“We’re just going back home from having fun, man,” I turned my head to her.

“You see, I feel… free now. I feel like I’ve had a lot of burden on my shoulders… which is gone now, finally.” She then turned to me and looked me in the eyes, smiling damn hard.

I too continued to glare back into her eyes, smiling.

“We were… a lot closer to each other that day, man. We were so close that… I had never even imagined myself this close to her. She used to be my crush, man, but now… I love her. I loved her then, and I still love her now.”

***

The highway was filled with cars running speedily upon it beneath the dark night sky. On the side, for some reason, there were a number of cars that stood still beside the metro station. There were also some autos to take people to their desired locations. The place was filled with people walking here and there, some honking as their auto needed space to go, and everyone just chatting.

Both of us were walking down the staircase, our eyes downward at the road where we could see a couple of people walking here and there. Suddenly, my father arrived from a couple of steps away, turned his head to the top at us, and waved at us. He was wearing a loose knee-length khaki capris and a dark-colored t-shirt, along with a wristwatch.

We both walked toward him and stood in front of him. “So, how was the day?” He asked us as he turned back and started to walk away on the crowded footpath.

“Good,” I replied as both of us started to follow him.

“What all things did you do there?”

“A lot, dad,” I replied. “No doubt, we’re going there next year too.”

He smiled. “We’ll see next year about that.” He then turned leftward toward our black car and started to walk to the other side.

I turned my eyeballs at Sana, who stood on my right beside the car, and she too turned her eyeballs to me. “You wanna sit at the front?” I ask her formally.

“No.”

“Okay, man. Don’t complain that I didn’t ask.” I turned my head frontward, smiled a little, and when I heard the click of the opening of the locks, I opened the door and moved in. She too opened the door at the back and sat inside. Both of us closed the door at once.

Thump!

My father sat on my right, stuffed the key into the keyhole, and started the car. Its engine revved a little and lights turned on, for some reason. He then turned the steering wheel rightward and started to slowly take out the car from that mess of vehicles. He then turned the steering wheel leftward and accelerated, taking up speed on the road in the middle of those cars. “So, Sana, did you all enjoy it?”

“A lot,” She replied with a smile as she sat on the seat just behind me.

“What all did you see there? I desperately want to know.”

“Well, we saw a lot. We met some really famous people such as a writer, a really cool voice actress, saw some cosplayers dressed up as famous characters from the game, and enjoyed a lot.”

He nodded.

“No doubt, he didn’t understand any of that stuff,” I thought.

“Good that you guys had fun there,” He said, and then there was a little silence between us in the car. “By the way, did you both buy anything?”

“Yeah, a lot!” She excitedly replied as she turned her head to my dad.

“We bought a lot, dad,” I turned my head toward him.

“Whoa, what did you buy?”

“A comic book, a t-shirt, and she also bought a pair of earrings,” I told him, smiling.

“Comic book?” He frowned questioningly. “You both are not small enough to read comic books.”

“It’s rated thirteen-plus, uncle,” She told him. “They’re made for teenagers, you see. Too little kids won’t understand them.”

“What? What’s written in them that makes them thirteen-plus?” He asked her, driving.

“You see, it’s not filled with just jokes meant for kids. They’re a little serious and filled with fights.”

“Oh.”

I smiled as I looked at my father, and then I turned to my back toward her. She looked back toward me, her face a little serious. I gave her a thumbs-up.

She smiled. “You see, even my mom and dad ask me this, so I always have an answer ready.”

“Great. Or else, it’d have been tough for me to explain this stuff to him.”

“What?” My dad said. “I’d have just started reading it myself. And I’m still gonna read that comic book. I wanna see what’s so special in it.”

“Okay, dad,” I said as I turned my head frontward. “For some reason, I don’t think you’d like it.”

“That doesn’t matter. I just want to see it.” He then turned his head backward at her for a second, and then turned to the front again. “Did you all click some photos?”

“Yeah, we did. But, we only have the ones only with the two of us, you see,” She replied.

“Obviously,” I added. “We only took photos of ourselves in them.”

“Any group photos?”

Sana turned her head to her phone. “I think we all clicked the group photos on someone else’s phone. I don’t have any.”

“It was not on my phone too,” I turned my head frontward.

He nodded. “Okay.”

“Anyway, where’s your house, dear?” My dad asked Sana.

“It’s on the street on the other side of the market as your street, you see. You can just leave me at the market, and I can walk home from there by myself.”

“Your home is close to the market?”

“Yeah, uncle.”

“How much?”

“Well, it’s just about some minutes of walking distance, uncle.”

“Okay, dear,” He replied as he continued to drive.

“For some reason, everything in that car was awkward. Obviously, I didn’t want Sana and dad to meet, for some reason. Maybe it was because I was kinda embarrassed that I went to another city with a girl, after all. But, I feel like it was kinda awkward for her too. And, for some reason, that’s just how our day ended, after all. Filled with embarrassment. It was not the type of end that I had hoped for, man. I wanted a better end to the day. It was, after all, one of the best days of my life. I enjoyed so much, and… I got so much closer to Sana than I ever was. In fact, I didn’t want this day to end. But it had to. And, all I could do was… experience it end and just go with the flow, after all. But everything that happened after that day… I feel like I deserved a great end to that day. Because, everything that happened after that… was damned… damned messy. No doubt—it was the last day that I’d felt so happy and so good. Everything changed after that.”