If I Had A Love Story - Chapter 21

 

Chapter 21

The raindrops split apart as they hit the ground as the skies opened up. The warmth of her hand was spreading through my body. We had a wonderful time at the Harangi Dam. The water glistened, reflecting the cloudy blue sky. We were almost left behind at the dam as we stood at the top admiring the massive posh scenery surrounding us. It's strange how time quickly flies when you're with the person you love.

We then set out for Mysore. The music was on and Diya went to dance with her friends. She was wearing a peach chudi with her hair tied into a pony tail. I turned down requests to dance (Not that I suck). Diya came up to me and offered me her hand.

I stared at her blinking.

"Let's dance" she said.

"What?" I asked.

"What? Were you expecting Aishwarya Rai?" She pulled me from the seat.

Now everyone was calling out our names.

“But I don't know to dance” I whispered. I turned back to see the coast cleared for us to dance. Now people were clapping and cheering. I tried to smile so as to not show my embarrassed face. We were the only ones in the pathway. There was little space to move across and I wondered how they danced here.

"Trust me when I say I'm not good at this" I whispered again.

"Nah! You'll be fine. Just a few steps" she reassured me. Her slender hands moved gracefully to the rhythm and her feet kept moving to the beat. I spun around and moved my shoulders back and forth and then I swayed sideways. Clueless with my next move, I swayed, tapping my feet till I reached my seat and sat there.

“That’s it. I’m done.” I said mimicking an exhausted tone. She finally settled beside me.

“You aren’t bad” She said.

“Yeah, I know. I was terrible”

“That’s a joke”

“Hi I’m Chandler. I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable”. She giggled.  

We talked for a little while before she slept on my shoulder with her hands entwined in mine. It felt odd sometimes that you have someone to love and hold hands with for the first time. The time I used to spend in private was now spent with her.

It was almost midnight when we reached the Deccan Herald press (We probably were the only department to visit a company at midnight). I was half asleep and washing my face didn’t help. The press was more like a godown with a massive offset machine at its heart. We traversed through the sections with drowsy faces and returned back to the bus as fast as possible. I do not remember seeing much around the factory as I was sleepwalking most of the time. We returned back to Hotel Mayflower early in the morning.

Time flew like anything. We were almost inseparable sticking to ourselves at almost every place we visited. We entered into an artefact store filled with paintings, sculptures and other models. We were taking photos near those sculptures till the shopkeeper threatened to throw us out if we take any more pictures. I spotted a miniature of a beautiful barque on one of the shelves. It had three masts with white sails and looked very adorable.

“Shall we go then?” Diya interrupted. I kept the barque in its place and hurried out with her. She said she had to go to the restroom and asked me to wait. She came back after 10 minutes. Her hair was neatly tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a yellow tee top and a denim.

“When will you stop being so charming?” I asked her. She did well to control the smile that crept across her face.  

“What’s so charming that you find in me?” she asked shooting a fixed look at me.

“Everything! It would take me a day to explain”

“We’ll save that for later and move on before that girl over there eats you with her eyes”. I turned to look at her – a girl in white tops was staring at me and smiled as I looked at her. Before I could respond, Diya dragged me from the scene.

“So, I am not allowed to look at girls and smile back now?”

“Yess” she said scornfully.

“Chill! I was just trying to define our relationship”. She acted like she didn’t even hear me.

“I am sorry” I gave up. There was silence.

“I am sorry too. The way you glared at the guys’ prying eyes on me at the store. I thought I was doing the same thing” She spoke in an undertone. I gave her a platonic hug.

“Thanks” she said.

“I love you. You are charming in so many ways” We both laughed.

After witnessing a beautiful orange sunset, we gathered near the bus. She asked for water and I went into the bus to get the water bottle from her bag. As I took her bottle, a small yellow box fell out. I picked it up and read the name printed on it.