Not Around The Corner

Sexy Legs

“The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention." ~ Richard Warren

Yesterday had been fun. Anushka and Gaurav left the day before yesterday for the honeymoon. Jai and I decided to stay for a couple of days more before heading back to India. He hadn’t insinuated any more flirty gestures since that night in his room. He was being normal and I was happy. I wasn’t confused further. It was easier to spend time with him now. We had been to Universal Studios yesterday and we had a blast on the rides. By the end of the day he had ended up convincing me to buy a camera, to start with my passion again. I decided to enlist myself in some of the exhibitions once I was back to India. I had let go of my dream and he got me back to it.

Today we spent the day on the Sentosa Island. Walking on the streets of Singapore after such a fun day felt amazingly relaxing. Jai was continuously cracking jokes and was making me laugh. The decision to walk back seemed really good right now. I had forgotten how much of my childhood this guy was a part of. He knew what I wanted to be. He knew what I liked and what I disliked. There were no pretenses in front of him. I could behave the way I wanted to. In just a span of four days I ended up liking him. He was a great friend when he wasn’t being all rich and arrogant.

As we were walking back to the hotel I thought back to the day when I had seen him after he had come back from Bangalore. He hadn’t recognized me and even after the introductions were done he kept averting his eyes off me. It had been pretty obvious he was ignoring me. Clearing my throat I asked him, “Since you remember so much about me, how could you forget my face?”

He looked confused, “Forget your face?” he asked.

“The day we met, when Nikhil was with us. He had to make the introductions.”

“I remembered you,” he replied defensively.

“Then why were you ignoring me?” I asked.

“I wasn’t ig-,” he started but before he could complete his sentence I continued, “Don’t say you weren’t ignoring me. You weren’t even looking at my face. Don’t lie Jai,” I said a bit sternly.

“Let me try to remember,” he said feigning memory loss.

I scowled. He was so dramatic.

“You want the truth?” he asked smiling now. I just nodded impatiently.

“Do you remember that you were wearing a dress that day?” he asked. I raised one of my eyebrows and gave him a slight smile. I somehow was apprehensive about his question’s direction.

“The reason why I wasn’t looking at your face was because I couldn’t keep my eyes off your legs”, he said quietly.

My mouth just dropped open with shock. I hit him on his arm still slightly scandalized.

“Knew you wouldn’t be able to handle the truth,” he continued, “I still cannot believe you were wearing a dress like that to the office. I had to pity all the guys there,” he was laughing now.

“Who works on a Sunday?” I replied a bit irritated at the inopportune compliment. “I didn’t even know I was going to an office.”

“Well, that is the truth,” he smiled.

“My legs?” I whispered to myself. He was still smirking.

“You looked like a summer holiday in there,” he continued teasing.

“Summer holiday?”

“Yup, glares, sandals and the dress,” he enlisted my attire from that day.

I smiled in my mind. He remembered everything. 

“Then you must have been disappointed that evening, right?” I asked remembering that I was wearing jeans that evening for the dinner Jai had thrown for us.

He smiled and replied,” Totally, I had to look at your face.”

I hit him harder this time. I knew he was just teasing me. I decided to be a bit dramatic. I started walking ahead of him. He caught up with me immediately and put his arm around my shoulders.

“You didn’t let me finish,” he continued walking with his arms around my shoulder.

I slowed down a bit because his arm was making walking a bit difficult. “What else is left to say?” I said a bit huffily.

He slowly whispered in my ear, “I was kidding. Thank god your legs were covered or Nikhil would have caught me staring at them and he would have kicked my ass.”

I smiled at that picture. “He surely would have,” I said.

“He’s too protective,” he continued to himself.

I just nodded. We continued walking this time in silence. It was late and the activity of the entire day was taking its toll on us now.

We reached home and then our respective rooms in the next fifteen minutes and the last thing I remembered was removing my shoes before I flopped on the bed.