Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Thirty Eight

The best part about marrying your best friend was that they knew you better than your own self. They could understand and read your thoughts even before you said it out to them. It also came with other great advantages wherein you could easily avoid any distressing emotional dramas, can be each other's eternal support without being judgemental, and can have fun together by making the best of the time you share.

Both Omkara and Gauri also saw yet another good thing: they both could enjoy each other's company even if they did absolutely nothing. On this cold, rainy evening, they felt happiness and peace in the comfortable silence between them. The comfort level between them was so much that only each other's presence was enough; even words didn't matter to them.

The evening had grown darker and turned into night, and the room was bright enough with just a candle. They had decided to have Maggi for dinner, which seemed like an amazing idea given how apt the weather was for an instant dinner. Now that they were done with their meal, Gauri smiled softly when she heard Omkara humming an old Bollywood tune. Omkara, upon noticing Gauri's smile in the dim light of the candle, began singing the lyrics to the song with an added filmy style and expressions.

"Kaho ki apni preet ka geet na badlega kabhi..." he sang, turning to face her while seated on the sofa. She chuckled as she placed her feet up on the coffee table, with her head turned in his direction while resting it on the backrest of the sofa. Omkara paused, and nodded at her, urging her to sing with him. She shook her head with a small frown, wanting to listen to his voice rather than sing along with him. "Please?" he said inching forward towards her. God knows how he had learned to make that pleading face like a little puppy, but it absolutely worked.

Realizing that she was going to sing along with him, with the background sound of heavy rain and the rumbling of thunder, he sang the line once again when she sat up straight. "Kaho ki apni preet ka geet na badlega kabhi..." to which she continued in a slightly lower scale that went a little off tune, "Tum bhi kaho is raah ka meeth na badlega kabhi..."

Omkara, realizing the pitch was too high for her, encouraged her to continue singing. Gauri closed her eyes for a moment, before she sang, "Pyaar jo toota, saath jo chhoota..." And Omkara joined her as they both sang the line, "Chaand na chamkega kabhi..."

Both of them smiled at each other happily, as the meaning of the song fit perfectly even into the friendship they shared; that the love they shared wouldn't change. And if it ever did, then the moon wouldn't ever shine again. Gauri felt slightly emotional at the depth in those words. Knowing that she could get sentimental over just a song, he held her hand and pulled her to her feet, asking him to dance with her. She agreed happily, as both of them sang the vocables – ha ha ha, la la la - of the song with bright smiles on their faces. He held one of her hands in his, while her other hand rested on his shoulder and he placed his hand on her waist.

Omkara kept twirling her as he continued singing, "Pyaar hua, ikraar hua hai, pyaar se phir kyun dartha hai dil..." He held both her hands as he pulled her into his arms. Gauri immediately followed with the line, "Kehta hai dil, rasta mushkil, maaloon nahi hai kahan manzil..." She interlocked her hands behind his neck as he placed his palms flat at the small of her back. Gauri continued, "Kehta hai dil, rasta -"

She gasped in fear, abruptly stopping, as the bright streak of lightning brightened the whole sky. "Oberoi!" she almost mumbled in a fearful cry while hiding her face in his chest, scared of the loud noise that would follow. She loved watching the storms, but always got scared when the thunder and lightning turned severe. Omkara knew of her fear, and held her tightly, patting her back in consolation till the loud crash of thunder faded slightly. "Ho gaya, it's over," he said pressing his chin into her hair, pacifying her scared cries, knowing very well that the storm was only beginning to get worse. She shook her head, not wanting to part from him and look at the severe lightning. She tightened her hold on him, clutching his t-shirt at the raging roars and rumbles in the sky.