Vrishali was popularly known as the life of the party. She had a natural ability to make friends with anyone she met. Everyone adored her, and she had yet to find her perfect match amidst all the chaos of her college parties. However, she was not in...
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The alarm startles Vrishali, and groaning, she turns to the other side, brings her leg up on the pillow, and gets comfortable. She felt something move underneath her, but she ignored it and tried to make sense of the dots in her dream.
The alarm started ringing again. She moved closer to the other end to escape the noise, but it seemed impossible. In annoyance, she opened her eyes, moved her hand, picked up the phone and turned off the alarm. Throwing the phone on the bed beside her, she closed her eyes but couldn't go back to sleep when she felt a warm feeling underneath her leg.
Looking at where her leg was, she pulled away in shock. Her shock turned into surprise when she found Padmanabh sleeping peacefully beside her. They were wearing clothes, and the pillows were a mess around them. Stunned, she took a minute observing him, and memories of last night started hitting her.
She remembered getting drunk with Padmanabh and how they played ludo late at night before falling asleep on the bed side by side with happy smiles on their faces. She caressed his cheek while smiling contentedly. She sat on the bed for the next fifteen minutes, caressing his hair. Padmanabh didn't even move in his sleep.
"He is a heavy sleeper," she whispered under her breath. She stayed another five minutes before rushing to the bathroom. They had made plans for the day. By the looks of it, they are running late.
*
"Oh my god! How am I going to wake you up every morning if you are going to complain about getting up and be grumpy?" Vrishali complained as she tried to wake Padmanabh up. He moved away and covered his face with a pillow.
"Can't we just stay in and sleep in the morning?" Vrishali let out a chuckle. "I wish, but we are in Paris! I don't want to waste our morning staying in! Maybe when we are in India, I will allow you to sleep all the mornings."
Vrishali placed her hands on her hips and waited for Padmanabh to get up. She was sure to throw water on his face if he didn't wake up in the next ten minutes. Thankfully, he woke up grumpily and massaged his face.
"How did you wake up all these mornings to go to the office?" She was genuinely curious. Padmanabh gave her an almost shy smile. "Hmm— I never go to the office early. My days usually start in the afternoon. I wrap up the work late at night because I know I won't be bothered to work in the mornings."
"What?! But you used to drop me at college sometimes, and I saw you leave for work." Padmanabh's cheeks turned pink. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, after dropping you off at your college, I used to return home to sleep and even when I leave for work. I have a makeshift sofa bed in my office."
Vrishali was too stunned to reply to him. But when she snapped out of it, she couldn't help but let out a loud voice. "Wow, that's amazing. So, you love sleeping and hate getting up in the mornings?"
Padmanbh rolled his eyes as Vrishali joked. "Yes." She couldn't help but laugh, and Padmanabh took the chance to look at her. She was dressed, did her hair and also applied makeup. "You got ready already?" Vrishali looked at herself. "Yeah, I thought of getting ready before you use the washroom."
