Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Twenty Seven

“I’m a bit nervous!” Omkara admitted as he fidgeted with his fingers. It had been half an hour since he was waiting for Shivaay’s call. The entire drama was set to unfold this noon, he had been told. Just yesterday, after Gauri had informed them about what she’d witnessed at the hospital, Shivaay and he had landed there in merely ten minutes. However, when Shivaay saw the nurse that Gauri had pointed out at, he had told Omkara to wait with Gauri, so he could talk to her alone. “I know how to handle this. Trust me.” Shivaay had said to him, not before wearing his no-nonsense steeled expressions and authoritatively approaching the nurse, who almost trembled when Shivaay reached her.

The two had then gone to the fire exit to speak in private, while Omkara and Gauri waited at the other end. After about five minutes, Shivaay came out with a blank expression. “The reports will be delivered to the Oberoi Mansion tomorrow, as planned.” He had informed both Omkara and Gauri, and hadn’t said anything more than that. “Trust me, Om!” Shivaay said with a nod at his brother’s worried face, and Omkara had no choice but to stay put.

Right now, Omkara was seated with Gauri in her room. Of course, her parents were downstairs, and he wasn’t blind to notice how her mother had been slightly uneasy when Gauri told them that she needed some privacy and was not to be disturbed. Omkara was thankful for that because he was too embarrassed to speak about his family issues in front of her parents. For some reason, he knew he was in their good books, and didn’t want to ruin that image in any case. Her Papa, however, was supportive and had simply told him and Gauri to have lunch on time. Omkara felt a slight tinge of jealously and envy, yet again, towards Gauri for having such an amazing Dad. If his father was even a quarter part of how good of a Dad Arvind Sharma was, his family dynamics would have been a completely different one. In fact, he would have been a different person with a different history.

Gauri saw Omkara nervously picking the cuticles of his nails and placed her hand on his. “Bade Bhaiyya promised he would handle everything.” Omkara nodded as he said in a tensed voice, “I know, he promised. And Shivaay never backs away from his word. But it’s just that, it’s been an hour since he dropped a message that Mr. Oberoi and Svetlana came over to meet Daadi, and that’s it. There hasn’t been any news after that. I tried calling up Rudra, but he cancelled the call and texted me that Shivaay will call ASAP.” Omkara showed Rudra’s message to Gauri, who nodded, as she said, “Then, I guess, we have no choice but to wait?” Omkara hummed, joining his hands and pressing them against his lips.

Gauri shifted closer to him and wrapped both her hands around his left arm, making him look at her. “Sab theek ho jayega. If something was wrong, then Bade Bhaiyya would have called you already, asking for some additional help or some input. But maybe, since everything is okay as planned, he’s probably just waiting for the whole showdown to finish and the curtains to close on the whole drama?” Omkara drew an anxious breath and nodded when what she said made sense to him. “Maybe…” he said with an agreeing nod.

“Are you hungry? Should I bring something to eat for us?” she asked resting her chin on his shoulder, looking at his rigid profile that was still tensed. He turned his head slightly, almost at an angle of forty-five degrees, and smiled realizing he was hungry. When her nose almost touched his cheek, Omkara stilled as he said, “Some of that vegetable pulao would be great. I didn’t realize I was hungry until you reminded me, and now that I am, that aroma smells so tempting!” Gauri grinned as she rose from her bed they were seated on, as she said, “I’ll get some for both of us. Mamma has made something with paneer as well. I’ll bring that too.”

Just as she was about to leave, he held her wrist, making her turn around to look at him. Bringing her hand to the level of his face, he pressed his cheek against the back of her hand, looking at her intently, “Tu nahi hoti toh mera kya hota?” She shrugged, saying, “Why talk about something that isn’t going to happen? Main hoon, aur main tujhse door kahin bhi nahi jaa rahi hoon. So, don’t talk about all that. It’s not easy to get rid of me, okay?” Omkara smiled and holding her hand with both of his, he pressed a soft kiss on her knuckles, “Thank you, Sharma.” Gauri slowly extricated her hand from his hold and cupped his cheek with the same hand he’d just kissed, “I’ll be back in a minute with the food.” Omkara, with a smile on his lips, watched her going downstairs.