Chapter 50 / 51 · 1 min

The Piece of Information That Wasn't Actually Harmless

“Hey! Isn’t that Jerin?”

Jerin stopped. She’d recognized Sabbir at once. Still, she pretended to be surprised.

“Sabbir Bhai? How are you!”

Sabbir’s voice brimmed with delight.

“I thought you wouldn’t recognize me! How many years has it been! How are your uncle and aunt?”

Jerin told him they were well. Then she told him about her little brother getting into BUET. Then about the field in front of their house, where Sabbir Bhai and Sarah Apu and her little brothers used to play. Then she had to tell him about her own studies.

As she handed over these harmless little pieces of information, Jerin kept wondering whether she should say it.

The harmless game of tag they used to play as children, the way Sabbir Bhai had touched her during that game, the touch she hadn’t understood then but understood now, the touch that filled her with disgust whenever she remembered it. Should she tell Sabbir this piece of information? Would he understand if she did? And if he understood, could he take it?