The Window Seat

Chapter 4: The First Fight

It had been one week since they became sharing partners.

Sharing tiffin, sharing window seat, sharing bus tickets. Everything was going perfect.

Until that Monday.

Aakay came early and saved the window seat. Second row. He kept Isha's bag on the next chair so no one else would sit.

Isha came. But she didn't sit. She went and sat in the last row. With someone else.

Aakay kept looking back. She was laughing. Talking to a senior from BCA Second Year.

The whole lecture, Aakay didn't listen to a single word. He kept counting the seconds.

When the bell rang, he went to her.

You sat there? he asked.

Rahul needed notes. He asked me for help,Isha said casually.

Rahul? Since when do you know Rahul?

Since yesterday. He sits near the bus stop. He is nice.

Nice. That word hit Aakay.

He had saved coins for her bus ticket. He had saved a window seat. And she called someone else nice.

You could have told me, Aakay said, his voice low.

I don't have to tell you everything, Aakay. We are friends, not... you know," Isha said.

The common boy who counted coins felt small again. The girl who shared her 5 AM paratha was now sharing her time with someone else.

Fine, Aakay said. Share with him then.

He took his tiffin and went back to his old place. First bench, corner, alone. Like before.

Lunch break. Isha opened her tiffin. Two parathas. One for her, one for him. But his seat was empty.

She looked at the empty seat. She looked at Rahul, who was eating his own tiffin alone.

She got up. Walked to Aakay's bench. Kept the tiffin in the middle. Same as day one.

I only made two parathas today. My mother asked one for you, one for me. She didn't make a third one for Rahul, she said softly.

Aakay looked up.

I was jealous, he admitted. It took all his courage to say that.

I know, Isha smiled. That's why I came back. Because jealous boys are still hungry. And my parathas get cold fast.

She sat. Not in the last row. Not with someone else. Second row, window side, Roll No. 22 and 23 again.

And that is how their first fight ended. Not with a sorry. But with a shared paratha. Because for common people, food is bigger than ego.