CHAPTER 7
ABIR'S POV
Two days. It has been two days since I gifted Mishti that saree. And I have been really ecstatic and happy knowing that she loved it. And also, I have not been able to understand the reason of the unnecessary smiling that I have been doing these days.
Mishti.
Mishti is as pure as the snow. Her smile is enough to light up your entire day. The way her eyes gleam with excitement whenever she sees chocolate reminds me of the innocent kid inside her and the childhood we spent together. She is as sweet as her name. That is exactly why I call her Mishtipie. When one can call someone 'Sweetie pie', why can't I call her Mishtipie?
She not only brings a smile to my face whenever I see her, but also inspires me with the way she sees the world. Her opinions almost always make sense and I relate to them much easily. She is my confidant and I can confide anything I want in her. And whenever I do, I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I can be myself with her without me putting on any filters. Even though it has been over a decade now, we still try to keep up the promise we did that we would not lie or keep secrets from each other.
When I was studying in Mumbai, most of the time I would miss talking to her about my day and share my problems with her. While leaving Rajkot, I did not think much about it but the four years in Mumbai made me realize that she is special to me. She is like my lucky charm. Now that I am back here, I already feel relaxed and relieved, after having talked to her.
A few nights ago, when we talked about love and marriages, it irritated me a lot. She is like my best friend! She just can't talk about leaving me and the others for some new guy who might come into her life. If she leaves us, who will I talk to about my problems? Who will I go on night strolls with? Who will I go to our secret hideout with? And the day she finds her man, our special relationship will no more be "special" to her and that thought haunts me. She would prefer going out in the night with him and I would be sitting alone at our secret hideout with a bottle of whiskey in my hand, with nobody to share my sorrows with.
But when I thought about all of this, I realized that she has her whole life in front of her and I can't hold her back for my selfish reasons. It was obvious that one day like everybody else, she would marry somebody and settle happily in her life. But now that she is in her quest for love, I don't understand why I am reacting this way. I should be happy for her but truth be told, I am not. So, I have been trying to not think of this but somewhere, in the corner of my mind, this is actually bothering me.
A lot.
Now as I sit on the couch of the Maheshwari sadan and apparently read newspaper, this is exactly what goes through my mind.
"Hey Abir!", I hear Mishti greet me. I immediately turn towards the stairs to find her standing on the topmost one, with a smile adorning her face. She is wearing a very pretty floral white dress that makes her look like the cutest doll in town. She waves at me excitedly as she hops down the stairs.
I smile and wave back at her, pushing all of my thoughts into the back of my mind. "Hey Mishtipie. Any plans for today?"
She takes a seat beside me on the couch, "Nothing much, I guess. We can watch movies today!"
I looked at her with my eyes wide, "Wait a minute. Movies? As in plural?"
She shrugged slightly, "Yeah, why not? We can have a movie marathon."
I laughed humorlessly, "I don't think I will be able to do that."
She raised a single eyebrow, "Have you tried it?"
"Um, no?"
"Then how do you know if you would be able to handle it or not?", she asked with her hands crossed and her eyebrows creased.
"Well maybe I don't know that, but I definitely know I will get bored after the first one."
She nodded slowly as if thinking, "We can test that theory today. If you do get tired, we can change our plans."
I smiled and forwarded my little finger, "Deal?"
She happily curled hers' with mine and said, "Deal."
***
Its almost 3 in the evening. We are in the middle of our second movie of the movie marathon. The first one was a comedy one and this one, a horror. I look at my right to see Mishti watching the movie with her utmost concentration. Kunal beside her is also watching it quite seriously. Naira on my left is watching with her mouth agape. Seems like I am the only one who is really bored.
I know I can tell them to stop watching the movie according to the deal, but all the others seem to be enjoying it except me. So maybe I should just sit simply throughout this movie and stop this marathon at the end of this one. I continue to eat pop-corn from my bowl.
I look back at the screen to see the heroine walking through her dark room. Horror film leads amuse me a lot. Often, it feels as if they do the wrong moves, knowing the consequences. Again, right now, it was a stupid move of this girl to go into the room alone. I am pretty sure there is going to be an attack in 3... 2... 1...
And...
"Ahhhhhh", as expected, the ghost figure appeared on the screen. Mishti immediately held my arms really tight and clenched her eyes shut. She buried her face into my arms and breathed fast. I immediately felt something happen in my stomach and my heart skipped a beat. Even though she has been doing this since the beginning of the movie, every time she did it, my heart did flips.
The fact that she held onto me instead of Kunal made me feel special. Off-topic, I know.
"Mishtipie? Are you okay?"
"Is that thing gone?", she spoke into my arm.
"That ghost thing?"
She nodded into my arms.
"Yeah, he is gone now."
She slowly lifted her face and opened one eye slowly and checked the screen. Realizing that the ghost isn't there, she sighed and released my hand slowly and went back to her usual position. I immediately missed her being close to me. So, I slowly interlaced the fingers of my right hand with her left.
This felt better.
This felt right.
Somehow, having her close to me, immediately makes me feel better. But this also scares me, knowing that the day she finds somebody who loves her the way she deserves to be loved, I won't be able to hold her close to me.
I take a deep breath and decide to stay close to her while I can. So, I pull her closer to me and she leans on my chest. My heart starts thumping loudly and I pray to my partner to make sure she wouldn't hear it. She slowly takes pop-corn from my bowl and eats, without diverting her attention from the movie.
I look at her illuminated face. Her doe-like eyes give you an insight into her pure and innocent soul. Her black orbs often make you want to forget everything in the world. Her button-like nose often turns red whenever she becomes angry and that is one of her cutest features.
Mishti suddenly gasps and again snuggles into me and brings me out of my reverie.
I quickly realize that I was staring at Mishtipie like a creep and I try to watch the movie for some time.
Keyword: Try.
Mishti suddenly switches the tv off, earning gasps and protests from the other two. "This movie sucks. Teddy, you have no movie taste." She got up and walked away with the remote in her hand.
I sighed in relief.
Yes. Freedom.
I immediately back her up, "I agree. It was so dumb!"
Kunal scowled at me, "So you two are teaming up against us? Mishtu, I watched the movie you picked without making a fuss. Now let's finish this one, please."
"You watched that fully because that was a good movie. This one isn't.", she retorted.
"Mishti, we'll finish the movie please. Let's not leave it half-way. I hate it when people do that.", Naira added.
She held the remote above her head and climbed on top of the arm rest of the couch. The other two stood by her side, begging her for the remote, while I stood at the other end of the couch.
"Girls like to swing....", Mishtipie suddenly began to sing, with the remote as her mic and started dancing, shaking her hips. I began laughing so hard at the irritated faces of those two.
Mishti has got swag. And nobody can deny that.
Kunal left an irritated sigh and was about to climb onto the couch when Mishti winked at me and threw the remote towards me.
I caught it immediately and ran towards the dining table and climbed on top of it. I smirked at Kunal. Perks of being the tallest in class.
Kunal suddenly was about to climb onto the dining table and Naira was being held back by Mishti.
I quickly jump back down through the other side and I corner Kunal to the wall. He tries to grab it from my hand and I immediately hide it behind my back. I successfully dodge him a couple of times before quickly calling Mishti.
"Mishti, here.", I shout and throw the remote towards her but it falls short.
Suddenly, there is pin drop silence in the hall.
The four of us look at each other and then at the remote.
Oh no!
All of us take off at the same time and immediately run towards the remote. I eye the remote with all my focus and I immediately dive and catch hold of it. After a few seconds I realize that the four of us are piled over each other. Me at the bottom, Mishti on top of me, followed by Kunal and then Naira.
Ow.
But I still don't give them the remote. The other two refuse to move without getting hold of the remote.
Oh God! I won't be able to handle this weight for long.
"Oh God! What is happening here?", I suddenly hear Rajshree ma's voice.
We look at her with identical sheepish grins on our faces.
"You guys have mentally not grown up at all. ", she shakes her head exasperatedly and leaves.
After a few minutes of not moving at all, Mishti, breathing heavily, said, "Abbi, give it to them, it's fine"
Did she just call me Abbi?
It has been so many years since she called me that!
Absolutely dazed, I reply, "Huh?"
Still breathing heavily, "Give it to them, it's fine", she repeated.
I slowly nodded and passed the remote to Kunal. I immediately felt weight being lift off me. Slowly, Mishti rolled beside me and laid on the floor.
"That was fun. It felt nice", she said, smiling.
"Yeah, it felt nice.", I grinned back at her.
Only, I was talking about the name that she used to call me now.
***
Hey! This is Chapter 7!
Abir's POV earlier than promised!
Hope you guys liked it! If you did, please do vote!
Thank you!