Finding us

Chapter 47

The birds were twittering away madly in the surrounding trees, creating a racket. But Nikhil's heart was racing in his mouth as he rushed into the posh mall. Diya had called him a couple of hours ago, sounding very tensed.

She'd asked if he could meet her here. And for the life of him, Nikhil couldn't think what was bothering her so much. He shivered and his heart sank - did she want to break up with him?

But why did she want to break up with him at such a posh mall?

Thursday evenings usually meant that he's either up in his office, reading some documents, or at home if his mother throws a tantrum and orders him there.

Of course, from the past few weeks, most of his evenings were spent with Diya, or with him perusing magazines and the internet, preparing for their date.

Nikhil's heart was hammering loudly in his ears as he reached the fast food joint on the ground floor, where he was to meet Diya.

Panting, he looked around, searching for her. As nervous as he was, a smile indeed broke on his face as his eyes landed on her. Diya was sat at a table the opposite end of the counter, by the window.

He stood there, taking a moment to gaze at her. If this is the last time she's meeting with him, he wanted to make the best out of it.

Diya was dressed in a bright red kurti and black palazzo. Her hair was up in some fancy messy bun and even as he watched her, she toyed with the bracelet he'd gifted her weeks ago.

She was biting her lip, jiggling her legs nervously and toying with the bracelet, looking very tense.

And his heart clenched.

This is it.

He gulped a deep breath and blowing out all the air in his lungs, made his way towards her. He felt like his legs and feet were made out of lead! But before he reached her, Diya turned, her eyes landing on him.

And she smiled brightly, making his heart go haywire, and his brain freeze. He too froze on the spot. Her smile bewitched him as always.

But as she waved at him, he cleared his throat and straightened his tie, moving towards her.

"Hey" Diya smiled, getting to her feet and hugging him as he reached her table. Nikhil felt like his arms were made out of lead now and his brain couldn't process anything.

"Sorry, were you busy?" She let go off of him and sat down, whilst he continued to blink at her in confusion.

But as she continued to stare expectantly at him, he cleared his throat, shook his head and finally sat down at the chair opposite her.

"I uh.." he cleared his throat, his eyes moving to the bracelet around her wrist, and then to the gold hoops around her earlobes. Tiny diamonds glittered on those hoops, and he gulped.

She's his diamond. The rarest of rare diamond. And he couldn't live without her!!

"Don't break up with me please!" Nikhil said, without any preamble.

"If I've come off too strong or I've crossed some sort of a line.... I'm sorry... Just tell me where I went wrong and I'll change I promise!!" Nikhil said in a single breath, tears slowly pooling in his eyes whilst Diya sat back on her chair and gazed at him, her arms crossed across her chest.

"I'm learning tapori for you... I... I'll start eating more of that street-side food also... I'm trying Diya... I'll..." His voice trailed off as she got upto her feet.

Is she not even gonna hear him out?

But she moved to sit on the chair right beside him, making his breath hitch in his throat.