MOONLIGHT | Driti

BREAKING THE ICE

CHAPTER 1

9:35 pm

Both finished their dinner - delectable Prawn Biryani and Raita made by Meera.

Dining with the family was always fun because Rhea's mother Seema and Aashna's mother Meera were siblings; and everyone would be charged to listen them banter about childhood memories, pulling each other's leg and narrating some unheard incidents.

After finishing the dinner, Rhea and Aashna sat in Aashna's room while the adults were still at the table.

Aashna's room reflected the aesthetic of a proper teenager's room with study desk at one wall with a chest of drawers above it. A wardrobe with a light shade of blue, a cosy bed with wooden dressing table besides it and a bean bag to sit on during leisure. The window had a blue-black dreamcatcher attached to the grill and helped in keeping the room airy with sufficient ventilation.

Rhea laid on the beige bean bag while her hands rested on her stomach intertwined each other. While Aashna was desperately finding something in her room when Rhea stood unable to hold her curiosity and eventually asked,
"What are you searching for Aash?"

"I am searching for a board game we can play tonight" she replied, her hand lingering in the drawer of her desk. "What will you like to play?"

"I really don't feel like playing a board game right now, can we go for a stroll instead?"

"No" Aashna answered in a stubborn tone and a straight face.

Rhea was suprised at this reaction.
Why is Aashna being rude all of sudden?

"I mean that we both can go in the compound and play badminton, instead of taking a stroll"

"Why didn't you think of this earlier! You know how much I love badminton right! I live, breathe and bleed for that game" Rhea exclaimed with a feeling of pride.

"Yes, I do know. After all there's a reason why you are a state level badminton champion"

Rhea was keen in sports ever since her early childhood.
Basketball, cycling and running fascinated her. But Badminton was the only sport that was the closest to her heart. Her undying passion, zeal, persistence and hard work for the game had earned her the title of a State Level Champion.
In the earlier state level competition, she secured a gold for herself and was now planning for the Nationals.

*******

Rhea's POV:

We climbed down the stairs with a pair of racquets and a shuttlecock. I noticed three figures in the compound area; two people sitting on a bench and one person standing with the racquet and fidgeting.

"Rhea, here is Nitya and he is Vidit" Aashna said pointing her fingers at the people sitting on the bench, "And guys, this is my elder cousin Rhea but she is more of a best friend to me." We exchanged generous smiles as a note of greeting.

The boy who was fidgeting with the racquet came towards us, giving me outstare.

"He is-" Aashna got interrupted by the racquet boy.

"You don't need to introduce us. I challenge her for a ten minutes badminton match. If she accepts it, then I will introduce myself to her after I win the match," he said staring at me with a smirk.

Arrogant, over confident and over optimistic.

"But you don't know that she is a-" I interrupted her this time.

I knew that she will reveal my sports identity to him. I wanted to curb his arrogance and over confidence, and then introduce myself to him as 'State level badminton champion Rhea'. So I took the plunge and accepted his challenge.

"Challenge accepted" I replied with a impish grin.

The game started with him being the first one to serve. Dodging his shots was a piece of cake for me because district level competitions had always been about dodging, so this seemed like a practice session to me.
I intentionally gave him the first point to pretend that I wasn't quite good at defending where as in reality defending was my forte.

Four minutes thirty five seconds in the match already passed.

Now this was my time to score a point. So I struck the racquet against the shuttle with might and he wasn't able to dodge that shot resulting for the shuttle to land on his side of court and me scoring my first point of the match. I was elated but did not show it superficially because sometimes expressing emotions in game ends in losing control over the game. I kept a poker face on where as he had started sulking. I was in my best stride.

Now there were only two minutes for the match to finish and the score was equal. Someone had to score a point for the game to end in the declaration of the winner because I aversed ties and draws.

So, on the 45th second of the ninth minute, I walloped the shuttle so hard to his side, that he wasn't able to process my smash shot.

The shuttle directly ended on his court; him still trying to react to what had happened.

I had won the match! I have done it! Curbed his arrogance!

I finally emoted my feelings of victory while sharing a clutch with Aashna. Vidit and Nitya felicitating me.

I looked at my opponent, still in his stance scratching the back of his head with the hand in a low bow of shame but still with a little grin on his face. That was I first time I saw him smile tonight. One of the purest smiles my eyes had witnessed! He was defeated but accepted his lose.

I went walking towards him when Vidit was patting his back.

"Good game. You defended well" I broke the ice.
"But in the end you won. You deserve the win," he said leaning in for a handshake.
I joined the handshake.
"Thank you! I am State level Badminton champion Rhea. It is nice meeting you" I replied with a modest smile.
"Ohh! Now I get it," he paused, surprised and stunned. "Hi! I am Achintya."
"That's a rare and unique name"
"Just like me... and sorry for being arrogant earlier, I was trying to mess around"

We started our conversation sitting on the nearby bench and as we proceeded talking, I noticed a few things about him. He was an attentive listener, his way of talking was impressive and there was something about his aura that made him seem charming. I actually had forgotten that this was the boy I defeated few minutes ago and till the end of the conversation, we both ended up knowing many things about each other.

*****

A/N: Hello people! Yes, we meet again. So how y'all doing?
Tell me if you liked by voting, commenting and sharing! :)

Stay tuned,  Stay Safe.

Buh-bye then,
Driti.