CHAPTER 15
MISHTI'S POV
College life has been good. It has been more than two months since college started and I have enjoyed it to my fullest. Ketki has been really nice with me and I feel really happy that I have found a nice friend like her in my life. She understands me really well and that is exactly what I love in our friendship. Sometimes, Nishanth hangs out with Ketki and me, post our History of Journalism class, where he sits with us. He has lunch with us often and the rest of the time, he spends with his team-mates from the college's cricket team. Nishanth has also been a very nice and sweet friend of mine. Unlike the rest of his friends from the team, he is not arrogant and egoistic, which gives me a huge relief. At one point in time, I was so sure I would never be able to make new friends other than Naira, but they definitely proved me wrong.
Talking about Naira, she is doing really well academically at her college. It is not a big surprise, though. Naira and I have always been big nerds at our school, topping all the exams that were held. So, the fact that she is continuing her good streak in college does not come as a shock to me. But sadly, she hasn't been able to find a good friend for her until now. She has a very mean and rude girl as her roommate who just litters around in their room, and does no work in cleaning them. Sighing, I thank Lord Krishna for giving me good friends at college, a lovely family and Abir.
Abir.
Just one thought about him and my breath hitches. Somehow, he manages to have that effect on me. Everyday, while he drops me at college, he would slowly pick up my right hand and interlace it with his left hands' fingers and would never leave my hand throughout the journey. Whenever he did that, my heart would begin to race and my insides would melt immediately, with millions of butterflies racing to come out of my tummy.
I sigh and look at the waters in front of me. Right now, I am at our secret hideout, waiting for him. Today we are meeting here for no particular reason, just to hang out and spend time with each other. He messaged me at around 9 in the night, asking me if we could meet here at 11. So here I am, waiting for him to arrive in the middle of the night.
I slowly bend back and lean on my elbows and look at the sky, with the full moon shining brightly against the dark night sky. When we were young and we used to come here, we always loved to count the stars while Abir also had an obsession with constellations. He would always look for them when we came here and always tried to teach me, but I was never able to learn them. He would get very irritated whenever I told him to give up on making me learn them. This was another favourite hobby of his, that he loved doing.
Well, not as favourite as the first one is.
I hear footsteps beside me and I can tell that it is Abir who is here. I felt him propping down beside me on his elbows, imitating my position. We both continue to look at the starry sky, with a comfortable silence between us.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?", I started the conversation.
"Yes. The night sky filled with stars is always a treat."
I turn to him, "Did you find any constellations?"
He nodded slowly, still looking at the sky with utter concentration, "Yeah, I think I just found the Ursa Major. Yeah, it is right there.", he said pointing into the beautiful night sky, at the constellation he just found, but unfortunately, I couldn't.
"Where is it? I can't see.", I said trying my best to locate the stars which form the bear-shaped constellation.
He immediately grabbed my right hand and pointed in a particular direction, "There, you see that bright star? That is the face of the bear. From there the four stars down, is its body. You're able to figure that out, right? And those two down there are its legs and from there..."
I slowly turned and faced him, who is speaking about all of this with so much passion. There are so many things his eyes convey to me and the first and the foremost thing is that he loves stars. He loves astronomy.
After all, this was one of the few other things he had aspired to become.
He then dropped our hands down and without leaving my hand, he interlaced our fingers pretty quickly. He then turned to me, "Understood?"
Having got caught off-guard, I nodded and replied, "Y-yeah", stuttering.
He gave me a huge dimpled smile and pulled our interlaced hands closer to him in such a way that my shoulder bumped onto his and there was almost zero space between us. I tried my best not to blush, but I couldn't control it as heat crept onto my cheeks.
I looked at our interlaced fingers. This moment is just perfect.
Me and him. Only us.
I sigh and lean my head on his shoulder and then look at his face. I take my own time to study his handsome features. In the three months he had been here, I of course stared at him for long hours, but I did not realize how handsome he had become in the last four years. All his boyish charms of his teenage period are gone, only to be replaced by more attractive and handsome features. His long, silky black hair fell onto his eyes and urged me to move them away, but I controlled them. He had beautiful almond-shaped eyes with hypnotizing hazel orbs, that would make the entire female population weak on their knees. He had a long and a slightly crooked nose, which seemed to have been broken. He had a small two-week stubble growing on his face that made him even more attractive. And then his full pink lips-
"Mishtipie, its rude to stare.", he broke my series of thoughts.
Having got caught red-handed, I try my best to put on a facade, "No I didn't."
He had a smirk on his face, "Yes you did."
I laughed humorlessly, "Why would I stare at you?", and then, I shook my head as if it was the most absurd idea in the whole wide world.
He pointed to himself with his free hand, "Because I am the most hot and happening guy in the whole of Rajkot."
Huh. Cocky Rajvansh.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever helps you to keep your ego satisfied."
He looked at me as if I am mad, "So do you mean to say I am not attractive?"
I scoffed, "You're not, really"
He shook his dramatically, "How sad is my life. You wounded me Mishtipie, you wounded me.", he said, taking a stone from beside him and throwing it into the waters, acting as if he is venting out his frustration.
The stone, to my astonishment, bounced on the surface of the water 6 times before sinking into the depths of the river.
Astounded, I turn to him, "How did you do that?"
He turned to me, "What?"
"How did you make it bounce?", I asked, with a tone of urgency in it.
He shrugged slightly, "Its quite simple. Try it", he handed over to me, a few stones.
I threw one into the huge blue expanse, only for it to get drowned on the very first bounce.
Abir immediately started laughing as if I had cracked the most funniest joke in the world. I huffed in response and crossed my arms across my chest, getting irritated with his annoying laughter.
But to be honest, his laughter is anything but annoying. This sound is one of the most sweetest sounds I have ever heard, and will be one thing that I wouldn't mind listening to for the rest of my life. I look at his happy face while laughing, which looks so serene and peaceful, almost as if he has returned back to his problem-less childhood.
Once he controlled his laughter, "Okay Mishtipie, come I'll teach you."
He held my hand, which had the stone, in his and then started to explain, "See it is a very simple trick Mishtipie. Throw the stone parallel to the surface of the water. But don't throw it from a height. Keep it quite close to its surface. That's it."
I tried to ignore the numerous electrical shocks that ran through my body, but I couldn't. Neither could I ignore the speed of my racing heart.
Abir then demonstrated how to throw the stone, with my hand still in his. The stone this time bounced 8 times before it sank.
Happiness surged through my veins at accomplishing something new, "Oh my god! We did it", I exclaimed happily and turned to face him, but the look on his face surprised me.
Abir was looking at me very intensely that made my insides knot. His eyes were raking over my face as if searching for something. The sudden change in the atmosphere gave me goosebumps. The air between us, suddenly felt electrically charged.
When I raised my eyebrows questioningly, he shook his head and then hugged me close to him, "Mishtipie, just stay like this, happy, forever, okay? You are our bundle of happiness. You make all of us happy by doing silly things, and you don't even realize it. Ju-just stay like this. That is all that I ever need. All that I ever need."
He then kissed me on my forehead, with his lips lingering on me for a few seconds longer than required. My heart was beating so fast, as if it was Usain Bolt, and I felt an entire zoo come alive in my stomach. The place where he kissed burned with love and affection and all of a sudden, I was breathless.
I placed my right hand on his chest, and I hugged him with the other. Through my right hand, I could feel his heart beating as fast as mine or even faster. It gave me pleasure when I realized that I affected him the same way he affected me. I took another huge breath and looked into his hazel orbs, that only reflected his sincerity and gentility. He then smiled softly at me again, before pasting his forehead with mine, with our noses touching.
This instant, just the two of us, is what I want to last for a lifetime. Just the two of us sitting happily, smiling at each other.
Just the two us.
Just me and him.
Just me and him.
***
Hey! This is Chapter 15!
Hope you guys liked it!
Abir's POV will come up in another 2 chapters or so, I think.
Thank you!