Chapter 4: The Earrings She Didn’t Buy
On Sunday after lunch, Ananya wanted to go to the market to buy earrings for the studio. I needed a new mouse for work, because my old one had started double-clicking on its own. So we went together. Before we left, I stood in front of the mirror and took the clip out of my hair. At home, it was mine. Outside, I wasn’t ready yet. I put it in my pocket, and I touched it there more than once on the way.
At the market, Ananya went to the earring shop, and I went to the computer shop. I knew exactly which mouse I wanted, so it was quick. Ten minutes later, I walked into the earring shop with the box in my hand.
Ananya was standing in front of the mirror, holding a pair of curved silver earrings next to her face. She heard me, turned around, and held them up.
“How are these?”
“I like those.”
“So do I. I just don’t want another pair that pulls my ears down.”
“Are they heavy?”
“Here. Feel.” She put both of them in my hand. “And look, there’s a nice design on them.”
They were lighter than I expected. I brought my hand closer to my face. Along the curve, there was a pattern of tiny leaves, like leaves on a plant, pressed into the silver, so small that I could only see them when I tilted them towards the light.
“A leaf design,” I said.
“Yes. That’s why I picked them up.”
I turned one over with my finger. The same tiny leaves were on the back too. Someone had made them carefully, even on the side nobody would see.
“They’re really nice,” I said. I didn’t want to give them back. I gave them back.
She checked the hooks again, and I looked along the glass counter.
“What about these?” I pointed to a row of tiny silver studs.
“I already have ones like that.” She turned her head to show me. “I want something that moves a little.”
I bent closer to the tray to look at another pair. My hair fell forward, and I tucked it behind my ear.
She looked at me, and then at the studs.
“Have you ever thought of getting your ears pierced?”
I stood up straight, too fast. “Not really.”
It was true. Until that moment, the idea had never come into my head. But now that she had said it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“Small studs like these would suit you,” she said. “And it’s trending these days, you know.” Then she pointed at herself. “Trust me. We have a fashion expert in the house.”
She was still holding the earrings she hadn’t decided on. She was joking, but she also meant it.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“Mine hurt a little afterwards. Not for long.”
I touched my empty earlobe. Then I went to the same mirror where Ananya had been standing, and held my hair back. I had always liked the way Ananya’s studs shined through her hair. Now I imagined that same small shine on me, showing every time I turned my head.
I wanted it so suddenly that it scared me.
“Maybe I can give it a try,” I said, still looking in the mirror.
“There’s a piercing studio nearby. Just down this lane.”
I turned around. “Right now?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Yes?”
I looked at my ears in the mirror one more time.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s give it a try.”
At the studio, the woman showed me a small box of studs for first piercings.
I looked at Ananya. “Aren’t we getting the ones from the shop?”
“Not for the first time,” she said. “They use their own clean studs here, so it heals properly. After six weeks, you can wear any earrings you like.”
Any earrings I like. I didn’t say anything, but I kept those words.
I chose a small silver pair, almost the same as the ones Ananya had pointed at in the shop. Then the woman asked if I wanted one ear or both.
I didn’t know. I looked at Ananya.
“Do both,” she said. “Later, you can decide which side you want to wear.”
I nodded.
When I sat in the chair, my hands wouldn’t stay still. Ananya stood next to me the whole time. When the woman started counting, I closed my eyes.
Then it was done. She gave me a hand mirror, and I looked at the two small points of silver. My ears were burning a little. I turned my head slowly, and a smile spread across my face. I couldn’t have stopped it even if I wanted to.
“You okay?” Ananya asked.
“Yes.” My voice shook. “I like them.”
She leaned closer to see. “So do I.”
The woman gave me a small bottle of cleaning solution. “Clean them twice a day,” she said. “And don’t touch them with dirty hands.”
Outside, my hand kept going up to my ears anyway. Ananya caught my wrist.
“What did she just say?”
I put my hands in my pockets. But I kept turning my head a little, just to feel them there. Then I remembered.
“Your earrings. You didn’t buy them.”
She looked back at the shops. “Oh. I didn’t.”
I laughed. She had forgotten her own earrings because she was busy taking care of me.
“It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll come back after six weeks and buy them together. Then you can choose a pair too.”
All the way home, I counted. Six weeks.
When we got home, Mummy was sitting at the dining table. She looked up. Out of habit, I pushed my hair behind my ears, and her eyes stopped at my ears.
“You got them pierced?”
I nodded. My stomach felt tight.
“Come here.”
I bent down close and turned my head so she could see both sides. She looked at them carefully, first one ear and then the other. She didn’t say anything. The silence felt very long. I could feel my heartbeat in my earlobes.
“How do they look?” I asked finally.
“They suit you,” she said. “Do they hurt?”
“A little.”
She smiled at me. I stayed next to her a little longer than I needed to. I just wanted to be near the person who had said that.
That evening, I took the clip out of my pocket and put it back in my hair.
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