Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1 – THE BOY ON THE MANGO TREE
The summers in South India are unforgiving.
Diya stepped out of the car, the heat hitting her skin after spending the entire journey inside the air-conditioned comfort. She helped the driver unload her luggage from the trunk, thanked him, and watched the car disappear down the narrow street before turning toward the place she had spent every summer vacation of her childhood. Srinivasa Illam.
Her paternal grandparents’ ancestral home. It looked older now. The edges had softened after surviving countless scorching summers, monsoon floods, and cyclones that arrived faithfully at the end of every year. Yet somehow, it still stood exactly the way she remembered it.
She climbed the steps one at a time, dragging her suitcase behind her.“Grandma?” She knocked gently. Within seconds, the wooden door swung open. “Oh, Diya!” Her grandmother pulled her into a warm hug, tears already gathering in the corners of her eyes.
“You’ve become so thin, dear. Do you even eat properly? You should visit us more often. Your grandpa keeps asking about you.”
The familiar stream of questions began before Diya could even answer. She smiled.Some things never changed. Stepping inside, she let the cool air wrap around her before dropping onto the old sofa with an exhausted sigh. “I’m so thirsty, Grandma,” she said, looking up at her with an innocent smile.
A few hours later, after greeting every relative in the house and finishing a satisfying lunch, Diya wandered into the backyard. It had always been her favourite place. The towering mango and coconut trees filtered the afternoon sun, letting a gentle breeze slip through their branches. It was the perfect place for an afternoon nap.But Diya wasn’t here to sleep. She stopped in front of a particular mango tree. Slowly, she looked up into its branches. Almost as if she expected to find a monkey...or a certain “monkey.” Her lips twitched.
Tarik.
For a brief second, she imagined him sitting on one of the branches, legs swinging carelessly, waiting to tease her the moment she looked up .The thought disappeared just as quickly. She lowered her gaze. No.Not last year. Not this year either. This was where she had first met him. Blue shirt. Denim shorts. A tiny kerchief folded neatly into a triangle and pinned to his shirt. They had both been six years old.It felt like another lifetime.
While their mothers chatted happily and unknowingly became friends, Tarik had been perched on the mango tree, swinging from one sturdy branch as though he owned the place. His mother had later decided to enroll him in the same school as Diya. “They’ll grow up together,” she had said with a smile. “They’ll become best friends.”
Meanwhile... Tarik had been far too busy dropping dry mango leaves onto Diya’s hair without getting caught. A quiet smile found its way onto Diya’s face. It didn’t last long.
Because beneath it... was longing. She missed him.
The boy who had once occupied almost every corner of her childhood was now somewhere on the other side of the state. Far away. After leaving for Canada, he had promised her he would call. He had promised he would text. At first, she waited. Then she realised his priorities had changed... and she was no longer one of them. So she stopped texting him. What hurt the most wasn’t the distance. It was that... he never came back.
