Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Five

Gauri was in deep sleep when she heard someone play a jumpy tune on the guitar. She frowned at that unwelcomed sound, early in the morning. Wanting to mute the sound, she tried moving around so she could cover her ears with her pillow, but something, or rather someone, had obstructed her movement. Her eyes fluttered open, and she had to blink a couple of times in a disoriented fashion to check where she was. She looked down to see Omkara’s arm, which was flung over her shoulder, was wrapped around her other shoulder in such a secure way, as if he was a little child and she was his soft toy.

The guitar sound was back, and she noticed that it was his phone ringing which was placed on the coffee table next to her. unwrapping his arm from around her, she quickly picked his phone up to see Shivaay calling. “Hi, Bade Bhaiyya” she whispered, getting up from the floor and keeping her bedsheet on the other sofa. She turned to look at Omkara, who frowned in his sleep and then turned his head to the other side. Quickly, she tiptoed away from the living room and went to the kitchen. “Gauri, did I disturb you?” Shivaay asked in a regretful tone, sensing how croaky her voice was. “Arey, no worries. I was anyway going to wake up in a couple of minutes,” Gauri lied, not wanting Shivaay to feel bad about waking her up early.

“Gauri, how’s Om?” The worry was quite evident in his tone, that Gauri wondered if he ever slept at all. She sighed saying, “He was really upset when he came here. The last I’ve seen him so disturbed is when Janhvi Aunty was admitted to the hospital due to low blood pressure about two years back. Bade Bhaiyya, I was too worried to ask him to go back to his apartment, alone. So I asked him to stay back here at my place, at least till he calms down.”

Shivaay nodded understandably, “Rudra told me you texted him that Om would stay back at your place. Thank you, Gauri, for everything.” Gauri smiled, replying, “You know you don’t need to thank me. He’s your brother, but he’s my best friend. Aur dosti ki hai toh nibhaani padegi hi na, Bhaiyya? There was no way I was going to allow him to deal through his problems alone.” Shivaay nods with a grateful smile and then tells Gauri he would talk to Omkara later.

Once Gauri disconnected the call, she placed his phone for charging. Folding the bedsheet that her Papa had probably covered her with last night, she placed it in her room. Then, she picked up the two soiled teacups that they used last night and took them to the kitchen to wash them. Once done, she made sure he was still sleeping and wasn’t disturbed by the slight noise happening around. Then, she made a quick trip to the bathroom for her morning necessities.

It had been a mere minute after Gauri had stepped into the bathroom when Shalini woke up and stepped out of her room. The moment she stepped into the living room, she frowned looking at Omkara sprawled on the couch. ‘Yeh ladka abhi tak yahin hai? Iska apna ghar hai ki nahi? Gauri ne isko sarr pe chadaya hai, aur Gauri ko Arvind ne sarr pe chadaya hai!’

Shalini looked around to see if Gauri was anywhere close by. Not seeing her anywhere, Shalini went into the kitchen and deliberately dropped a stainless-steel container on the floor, making a loud noise. Omkara suddenly got up and sat, looking around quite lost. He took a whole minute to realize he had slept at the Sharma residence. At a distance of a few feet, he could see Gauri’s mother looking at him with a displeased frown. Waking up from the sofa and straightening his spine, Omkara quickly folded the bedsheet that he had used and placed it on the next sofa. Then, he dragged his feet to the kitchen to where Shalini was preparing tea.

“Aunty, last night I came home uninvited, and unannounced. I’m sorry” he said, sensing the unwelcoming body language the older woman was displaying. “I was upset about something, and I just wanted to talk it out to someone,” he said, with his head hanging low. He didn’t know why, but Shalini Sharma’s entire demeanor screamed at him as if he had committed a huge crime coming over.