21: fairytale

━━━━━━━━━━━━ VIJAY

Vijay hid a smile as he watched Nila climb the stairs of the bus and slot herself next to him. He held the handles above him with both of his arms and if Nila stepped a little towards the left, into his space, it would look like he was shielding her from imaginary rain. "Didn't sleep, silver?" he asked.

She glared at him. "And whose fault is that?" Despite her determination to show her annoyance, her cheeks were unfaithful to her cause. They were dusted pink, matching the scrunchie holding up her hair in a messy bun. She was wearing a pale orange A-line dress paired with a pair of crocs that he'd never seen her wear before. She looked like someone had pulled her out of a modern summer fairytale. Vijay had never seen her wear dresses like these because of her dress code and only today he realised how much of a crime it was.

"Now I can't even talk to my girlfriend?" he asked, making her cheeks turn red. She slapped his arm weakly but her eyes didn't completely meet his. She was shy. And it was fucking adorable.

But as he expected, it only took a few seconds for her feistiness to kick in. "Of course you can but not till 4 am! You wouldn't let me go to sleep," she said, as if she hadn't equally participated in the conversation. "I wanted to wash my hair today but I couldn't because I barely slept. Look at how greasy my hair is!"

Vijay, without much thought, tucked back a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I don't know what you're talking about, silver. It looks perfect to me."

Nila tipped her chin the other side as if she believed he was lying.

"Are you sure you are okay taking the bus?" he asked.

"Yes, Vijay. You asked me thrice already," she sighed. "I told you, it takes a few days but the fear usually wears off. And I'm sure after what happened you'll be an overbearing protective ass. I don't have anything to worry about."

"I'm never going to let you out of my sight," he confirmed. Vijay couldn't entirely shake the guilt of not being able to protect Nila. After having that pointed out by her best friend, he felt inferior to him. Like he wasn't deserving of Nila. She had done a lot to assure him that there was no reason to be guilty but it remained in the back of his mind like gum on the wall.

"I know," she said, then stretched out a hand. "Our stop's here."

When Vijay had asked her if she wanted to go on a date, he was half expecting her to hesitate. Afterall, they had just confessed their feelings to each other. Vijay didn't want to make her think he was rushing it. But of course, she had to surprise him with everything she did. Nila immediately agreed and wasted no time in asking him to take her to the beach.

"I've always wanted to see the sunrise but I never wake up. Since I'm already awake and it's almost time, you wanna go?" she had asked.

It was a crazy idea because both hadn't slept a wink but Vijay couldn't bring himself to say No. He should've, considering how tired both of them were but he couldn't give a damn about sleep. He just wanted to spend time with Nila now that he'd finally gotten her to himself. And the thought of her watching her first sunrise with him was an opportunity he'd be a fool to let go.

He'd obviously said yes.

And here they were. At the beach.

The sky was blackish blue, the roads only lit because of the streetlights. Without the sun, the waves seemed dangerous and dark, as if they were taunting them with an invitation into the cold deep chasms hidden underneath. There were a few other early risers and lovers of sunrises on the beach, some sitting on the cool sand and some taking a morning walk.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to walk with you."

The way she looked at him after saying those words was a direct shot to his heart. He wanted to pull her in and squeeze her into his arms, never letting go.

"Whatever you want to do," he said, removing his overshirt and draping it over her arms. "Come on."

Nila didn't move and instead chose to stare at him like he had done something he wasn't supposed to do. "What's wrong? If you are worried about the shirt, it's washed. It's a little wrinkled because I hadn't ironed it."

"It's not that. Um, nothing. Forget it," she said, quickly scurrying to his side. She seemed desperate to let it go so he did.

He put his arm around her. They walked along the coast, feeling the sand bite into their feet as they took each step together, oblivious to the sync in them.

"You're so little. I could just carry you and toss you in. No one would know!"

"I'm not that little, okay? You are tall. It's your fault for growing too much. And don't even get me started about Krish. What the hell is he eating? I feel like a child when I stand next to him!"

"Everyone looks small when they stand next to him."

"Anamika wouldn't. She's tall as well. Actually, now that I look at it, I do have a lot of tall friends."

Vijay laughed. "It's you, silver. It's because you are so short."

"Hey, I'm of average height, okay?" she said, almost knocking him into the water. "By the way, there's a girl named Catherine in your class, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"Because she was glaring at me when you hugged me yesterday."

Vijay chuckled. "Yeah, she has crush on me."

"You knew?" The tone was dripping with accusation. He didn't know for what.

"Yeah, it isn't difficult to figure out. And besides, she confessed to me two weeks back."

Nila glanced at him. "And what did you say?"

"I said 'I'm sorry. I wish I could return your feelings but one wicked girl has already taken my heart hostage and wouldn't give it back.'"

"Ew, Vijay. That's so cringe," Nila said, her nose scrunching. "You said 'wicked' girl? Seriously?"

He flicked her nose and laughed. "Of course, I didn't say any of that. I'm not an idiot. I—"

"You are an idiot."

He rolled his eyes. Nila grinned innocently.

"I told her that I am already in love with someone," he said. "And now she knows you are that someone."

"Which puts me on her hit list."

He hugged her from behind, his hands around her neck. "That doesn't change that I love you and only you."

"That won't matter if I am dead," she argued.

He didn't answer. She turned to meet his eyes in question and he took the chance to dip his head to kiss her cheek. "I love you, silver," he murmured against her skin, igniting a slow fire inside her chest before pulling away. Vijay had been itching to do that since she'd hugged him. He kept telling himself that it would be only a matter of time until he'd become addicted to pressing his lips onto her warm skin and it seems like that time had come.

Because as soon as he pulled away, he wanted to do it again.

"You've told me that eleven times today and it's only 5:40 am," she said, looking at her phone intently. But when the phone screen darkened, he could see her reflection on it and find her mouthing fuck fuck fuck and closing her eyes for a moment. Vijay tucked in a smile, satisfied that the little kiss affected her as much as it did him.

"You keeping track, silver?" he teased.

"Just because," she swallowed and began again, "—just because it feels unreal. Even after hearing it so many times."

"I know," he said, resting his chin on her head. "I feel the same way."

"Oh! Look! The sun!" Nila pointed to the horizon. A thin line of orange outlined the navy blue sea. And slowly, the bright shades of orange and yellow smeared across the sky, lightening the rest of the dark sky into a soft blue. Vijay felt Nila's body sag against his, her back against his chest. "It's so beautiful."

Her black eyes turned almost a dark shade of brown as she watched the sunrise with awe and adoration. A few strands of her hair slipped out of her bun and framed her face, slow dancing to the melody of the morning breeze. Her fingers coiled around the sleeves of his shirt around his wrist and skimmed the skin underneath absent mindedly. "Yeah, so beautiful," he whispered.

Once the sun had fully risen and the world lit up with streaks of mellow yellow, clear blue and drips of orange here and there, Nila finally turned around in his arms. "Can we come here again? To watch the sunrise?"

"Sunrise, sunset, whatever, wherever, whenever. I'm going where you go, silver."

Nila blushed and that beautiful pink on her dusky golden skin put the glorious sunrise to shame.

They sat on the sand together, spending some more time taking in the scenery.

Vijay noticed every little touch of hers and none of them were different from before, except that she touched him more. It had been always harmless slaps and punches and elbows, with rare hugs before but now Nila was trying to find ways to inch closer to him in any way she could. Hand on his arm, intertwined fingers, brushing shoulders, hand around his waist, her cheek pressed to his side and her palm on his chest.

She was getting more comfortable with him. And he loved it.

"I have to tell you something," Nila began.

"What is it?"

"I-I have an Instagram account."

Vijay gave her an amused look. "Yeah, I know. What about it?"

"Uh, it's not my personal one. I have another public account and I have 30k followers?"

"What?"

"Yeah," she dragged out the word. She turned around to fully face him, sitting cross-legged. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I never told anyone about it. I wanted to keep it my secret."

"And you're telling me this now because?"

"Because I want to tell you. I want you to know. You're my boyfriend, right?"

Fuck. Hearing her call him her boyfriend would be his destruction.

"And also because of this reel I posted," she added quickly, shoving her phone before his face and playing a reel, not giving him a chance to respond. At first he didn't notice it. Then he caught the clip --- the one of him carrying her bag. "I impulsively decided to add it because I liked the video so much and the reel went viral and most of the comments are all about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Some people are just surprised men like you exist, and some are asking if you are single—which you are not and it should've been obvious even if we weren't exclusive then ---- and some are tagging their boyfriends in the reel and the others are whining they don't have a man," she explained and his lips rolled into a smile.

"Possessive jealous Nila is my favourite genre of you. She's so hot," he whistled.

"Vijay!" Her neck was turning pink again. "I wasn't jealous, okay?"

"Sure."

Nila groaned. "Fine, I just don't like it when I have competition. It makes me nervous."

"Are you hearing yourself? I fucking sold myself to you the minute you looked at me with those eyes, woman. You don't have to worry about competition because there's nothing to compete for."

"Okay, fine." She turned around, showing her back to him. He hooked his hand under her armpits and pulled her close to him so she sat in between his spread legs.

"You're allowed to be possessive and jealous, okay? But you should also be ready to hear me tell you how much I love you," he said.

"Okay, leave it," she said, untangling herself from his arms, probably embarrassed that she brought it up in the first place.

He sighed and pulled her back into his arms. "Silver."

After a few minutes of silence, she spoke, "I actually wanted to ask you if I can post more pictures or videos of you, faceless of course. But I was scared I'll make things worse for me because I wasn't feeling entirely great about the comments. So, I'm taking your word now. In case I feel insecure, you'll be there to assure me, right? Instead of getting annoyed?"

"That should be the least of your worries. Post them, silver. Do what you want to do."

She clutched his shirt and slowly pulled his face next to hers so that she could kiss his cheek. "Thank you."

"Again."

Nila laughed. But she did kiss his cheek again. "I love you, idiot."

And somehow, with the way she was looking at him, Vijay could feel the words getting realer and realer — crawling under his skin, etching themselves on his tissues, sinking into his blood and echoing inside his heart. He wanted to tattoo it in his brain.

"Want to go play in the water?" Nila asked, her eyes gleaming.

"I thought you just wanted to wet your feet."

She stood up, dusting the sand from her dress. "I changed my mind. Come on." She stretched out her hand towards him.

He smiled and took her hand.

He didn't have any plans of letting go.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Vijay and Nila had podi idli and hot filter coffee for breakfast. But the coffee didn't seem to work because as soon as Vijay and Nila got in the bus and found a seat together, she rested her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes. She told him she was just going to shut her eyes for a few minutes but Vijay had known that was a big fucking lie from the way her voice weighed down with exhaustion. He had just chuckled to himself and not said anything.

Unlike the first time she had used his shoulders as her pillow, Nila now took full advantage and curled into him. She had asked to wrap his shoulders around her so that it would be more comfortable for her. It made sense because it helped him hold her in place in case of speed breakers and rickety roads. Sometime in between, when he was sure she was dreaming her third dream, Nila stirred and clutched his shirt.

"Vijay?" Her voice was thick was sleep, as if she was drugged and her eyes were still closed.

"I thought you were asleep," he said, moving the fallen hair strands away from her eyes.

"I love being next to you. I want to, always," she said.

Vijay's heart swelled with affection and warmth, like a blazing fireplace in a wintry blue room. "Same, silver. Let's do it often, alright?"

"Okay."

A few months back, Nila had been a stranger travelling in the same bus as him.

Now, she was his girlfriend, sleeping in his arms as if she wouldn't like to be anywhere else.

How fucking wild was that?

Or should he say, how fucking lucky did he get?

━━━━━━━━━━━━