‘Madhav, please save me!’ He heard the familiar voice of the young boy. He closed his eyes and, smiling, went near the shadow.

‘Madhav!’ Someone shouted from behind him but he paid no heed to it. He felt his soul crawling out of his body and a strange force compelled his body to do its bidding. As a loud honk broke his trance-like dream, he saw that he was lying on the roadside, against the grassy sidewalk. A truck roared past him. He opened his eyes wider and looked up.

‘Madhav, please!’ Radhika stood in tears, tugging at his hands.

‘Radhika,’ he murmured. He was covered in sweat as his body shivered. ‘Where am I?’

‘Madhav, what are you doing? You were having a fit in the middle of the road,’ she cried.

He held Radhika as she sobbed. ‘Please come back home.’ Pulling him to his feet, she took him upstairs and made him sit on the bed. She calmed herself down and tried to figure out the best way to approach the situation, her therapist’s training kicking in.

‘Where am I?’ he asked.

‘We’re in my apartment,’ she said, placing her palm on his cheek.

‘What are we doing here?’ He looked around. The window was now closed. Radhika was wearing a short red nightdress while Madhav realized he was half-naked, wearing only his jeans. His shivering worsened.

‘Last night you came back here,’ she said. He nodded, pretending to remember.

‘What happened to you?’ she asked, handing him a bottle of water.

‘I don’t know. I thought someone was calling me. I went down and saw young children playing.’ He had a sip of water. ‘And then you came.’

‘And before that?’

‘I felt like two people in one body. It was like my soul was crawling out and I was losing my senses.’ He took a deep breath. Radhika went closer, trying to decipher what he was saying.

‘I don’t remember how I got here,’ he finally confessed.

Radhika could discern a few things but was still extremely confused. ‘It’s okay, Madhav.’ She kissed him lightly and he drew back, shocked at her gesture. He remembered she had rejected his advances last night.

‘But you left me alone last night,’ he muttered.

‘Madhav, you came back here sometime during the night,’ she said, rubbing his back.

‘And what happened after that?’ he asked uneasily, deeply perturbed at his loss of memory.

‘Nothing. You just asked me if you could read a book and sleep here tonight.’

‘Read a book?’ he asked. His confusion deepened but he desperately wanted to know if Radhika had accepted their relationship.

‘Did you agree to be with me?’ he murmured, sipping the water.

She smiled at him and pecked his cheek to calm his roving thoughts.

‘I will tell you everything, Madhav, but I want you to relax right now. We can meet in the evening. And yes, Happy New Year, silly boy,’ she said sweetly, ruffling his hair.

Convinced that he was all right, Radhika asked Madhav to head home. He drove back, puzzling over the forgotten events of the night, but smiling at the fact that he and Radhika were finally together.