Between the Lines Chapter 7

It had been six months since I had met Guno in the library for the first time. Since then I had got to know her a lot better, but she was still an enigma to me. She was open, but mysterious at the same time. It was difficult to define her. She lived around five miles from the campus and shared an apartment with two other girls. One of them was a student of Computer Science. The other was doing an integrated master's in Economics like Guno. One of the girls came from a rich family, and Guno would always talk about her. "You have to see Nasha's wardrobe. She has almost all the high fashion labels in her collection", she would tell me.

I had gone to the bar with Camphor that weekend. "So how far is your relationship?", Camphor asked me. "We don't have a relationship", I simply replied. "What do you mean by that? I always see you guys together on the campus", he said. "We are just friends", I replied. "Ok let's drink to your friendship then", Camphor said and raised his glass. Camphor was a sensible guy, and he rarely joked. He was too serious about his work most of the time. We met almost every weekend to work on our projects. He lived with a group of roommates, who were loud and noisy. He preferred to work on his software tools in the peace of my garage room. His tool for trading stocks was still in its infancy. I had built some data for him in excel. He often asked me to test his tool, as he added more features to it. I was not impressed with the functionalities of his tool, but I preferred to keep my honest opinion to myself. We shared one common interest, programming. My research though was my top priority.

I was kind of obsessed with only two things then, one my research and the other Guno. The fact was me and Guno were not in a relationship many would understand. I met her every day after school. I waited for her outside her apartment, and we would go for long walks. We had a favorite bench near a bus stop where we sat down and discussed our families, our friends, and sometimes the moon. I had told her about my feelings. She knew how I felt about her. But she kept her feelings to herself. I did not want to rush her. I had the feeling that she was still trying to know me.I could wait my entire life for her answer. It didn't matter. Her company was all that mattered to me. 

Sundays I usually stayed in my apartment and worked on Genie. But that weekend, Camphor's comments had left me feeling empty, and wanting her even more. I went to her apartment late that morning and knocked on her door. Her roommate answered. Not the rich one, the other one. I discovered Guno had gone to the temple to pray. I waited for her for almost an hour.

She came up to me waiting by the edge of the wall beside her apartment.  Her hair was tied in a bun, and she was wearing a bright red ethnic dress. She was excited. I could sense it from her gait. She came rushing to me and declared, "I am going with my roommates to the Sierra Nevada next weekend". "That's wonderful", I sighed. "What are you going to do there?", I asked. "We are going to paint the mountains. We are going to do a bus trip. Oh, it will be wonderful. It's been ages since I painted. Nasha's partner will be joining us. He is an artist you know", she explained. "How about your other friend's boyfriend?", I asked inquisitively. "He will probably come too", she replied. " That reminds me. I have to buy a pair of sunglasses. I am planning to go shopping today evening with her", she added excitedly. I contemplated for a while.Letting her go with people she didn't know could be risky. She was kind of childlike in many ways. "What are you thinking?", Guno inquired. "Can I come with you guys too, I like to paint", I said. I had never painted in my life. Fuck, what was I getting into? 

The following week went by like a whirlwind. On Friday afternoon, we left for the Sierra Nevada. When we reached our agreed meetup point we realized, the charter bus trip had been organized by Nasha's partner primarily for his friends. They were all artists, and they had come prepared with all their gear. Guno, nudged me and whispered, "Don't worry, I have brought extra canvas and paintbrushes for you. Amidst the confusion, I had forgotten to notice that Guno was wearing an off shoulder dress, her honey-colored skin, glistening in the sunlight. Nasha's partner Omaar requested me to take a picture of the group before we boarded the bus. He stood between Guno and Nasha, his arms around Guno's bare shoulders, his hand dangling over her round shapely breasts. They seemed to curl inwards, and adjust themselves to accommodate the foreign object.

I was trembling with rage. I handed the camera to Nasha and seated myself in the bus. Guno was still chatting with some of Nasha's artist friends. I shifted myself in the seat, shaking my legs in discomfort. Guno planted herself beside me, as the bus started to move. I looked the other way. She held my hand and squeezed my palm. Was it the first time, she was holding my hand. I couldn't remember. If not the first, probably the second or third time, I guessed. "Did you realize, his hand was over you?", I whispered to her in rage. She quietly whispered back, "I am sorry".

The road to the mountains was slightly bumpy. I could hear her soft breath beside me. Her dress had a small slit in the middle, and I could see her breasts partially from where I sat. They were fairer than the rest of her body and larger than I had originally imagined. When the bus tyres bumped, my eyes automatically diverted to the slit in her dress.She was still holding my hand as if we were one. We were almost halfway through our journey when she spoke again. "You had asked me a question when I had visited you with Olivia. Do you remember?", she asked. I did remember. I looked at her with imploring eyes. "I was angry Guno. I didn't mean it. It was a mistake", I begged. It had been unfair on my part to make judgments about her, without knowing her, and I knew that was a mistake. "No, I meant the other question", she replied quietly. I was perplexed. And then I remembered. She had never told me if she loved me, or even if she liked me. She grabbed her handbag from her seat pocket and took out a marker pen. I was not sure what she wanted to do. But then that was Guno. I never understood her fully. She extended my arm and wrote on it "I love you Robocop". 

Our group was sleeping in the wilderness that night. Guno and I decided to share a tent, as most were sleeping two in a tent. I was nervous. After we set up the tent, we decided to lie down on our sleeping bags. We were dead tired. "Who is Robocop", I asked her. "It's you, you are my Robocop", she answered simply. I garnered enough courage to embrace her in my arms. She didn't resist.

She was loving and giving. She was everything I had ever imagined a woman to be and more. We made love, and lay in each other's arms, staring at the stars above. She removed the white sheet from below us. " I think I am bleeding a little", she said. "I am sorry", I said. "I didn't know", I added. "No, it's just a little spot. My periods are not due until the end of the month", she said. She was twenty-five, she could certainly not be what I was thinking. "Are you a virgin?", I asked her, and then I cursed myself. What was I doing? That was an unnecessary question. There was a moment of silence, it was dreadful. "Not anymore", she replied, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

It all made sense to me now. Her discomfort, her awkwardness. I kissed her forehead gently.  We were like two happy kids, lying below the stars, with not a thing to care. She was mine, and I was hers, and nothing else mattered. Our love was endless, like the ocean, with no boundaries.