U̶N̶C̶O̶N̶D̶I̶T̶I̶O̶N̶A̶̶L

.・。.MERAKI.゜・。.

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𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙥: 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘝𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘱-𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦𝘥.

The onset of dawn had Bani settled on the swing attached to her balcony, sipping coffee while thinking of ways to kill time without being intrusive. There were times when Bani would literally look forward to weekends to knock on her door but like many others things, this too changed post-Meera's marriage. Mr Sharma's hasty departure at the shipment base far away from the city where he would stay for a day or two left Mrs Sharma and her all alone & that shoots up the chances of bumping into each other; which would be the last thing Mrs Sharma would ever want, even if the current situation is kept in mind, it won't be something Bani would prefer at least for now when she knows that the conversation would go off on a tangent she wouldn't like treading into...A 'no-win' situation for both. Her muse was broken when her phone buzzed to life and a message popped up.
'𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦???'
She didn't even had to spare a glance at the name as she was so well versed with that format of texting. The little voices in her head actually mimicked the statement in the same tone, same as NOOR's.
'𝘕𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?' questioned Bani as she got her hands off the warm coffee mug ..unwilling which followed a chilly breeze brushing against her skin as she touched the phone screen.
'𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 & 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥.
𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘰,𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦' came a deadpan reply from the other end at which Bani couldn't help but chuckle at Noor being NOOR.. 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳.
As she typed '𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 "𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘱".𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘞𝘐𝘚𝘏 𝘎𝘙𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘋' with a smile that came with the mere thought of meeting her.
'𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭..𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯...𝘛𝘖𝘖𝘋𝘓𝘌𝘚' replied Noor & with that been read, flashes of last night conversation with Meera Di fogged her mind..'𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘕𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯 & 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴..𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱...𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘋𝘪 𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘻𝘺𝘢𝘥𝘢 𝘩𝘪 𝘥𝘪𝘭 𝘱𝘦 𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘺𝘢'. The only rational explanation she could come up with, to ease her overworked mind which was already piled with all the hows and whys of her life, she needed an immediate break from. Thinking of Noor & her antics and anticipating the fact that whenever she is about to dive in the pool of awkwardness, Noor would just magically show up & keep her off the edge... '𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴'.. as she giggled at her thoughts. A while later sensing the underlying threat in her oh-too-sweet text she decided to get going.

Getting all the chores done, informing about her leave & instructing the house help about the meal prep, she marched towards her room to get ready. She stuffed her already bloated mini backpack which she was too lazy to clear out with some accessories that belonged to Noor which she forgot in the wedding day rush. After staring at her closet for the good two minutes her eyes landed on a teal green wrap jumpsuit she had forgotten she had; with her mind ruling out all the pros and cons of wearing it '𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 & 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘦' pointed a voice inside her head '𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴...𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭 & 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘗𝘖𝘊𝘒𝘌𝘛𝘚'  said another, and that was enough a reason for Bani to slip into it, tieing her hair into a messy half-bun with the necessary touch-ups she marched out for her room.