The Flying Dreams

CHAPTER TWENTY

I stared at her face, not missing the high speed of my heart and feared I would die from a heart attack. Crush on her? How did she even know? This was not a question, she made a statement and dared me to lie again on her face. I couldn't even open my lips for a breather, how was I supposed to say a word. I watched her small smile turning wider at my lack of response and the loose grip on my wrist tightened. Slowly, she tilted her head and brought her face closer to mine. All the while, I was hyperaware of my heart hammering inside my chest and my ears practically melting with the heat but Shifa apparently didn't give a single penny to my peace of mind. For a moment, I thought she was going to kiss me and I, with my racing heart and frozen breath, could do nothing to stop her—would not have stopped her but she decided to spare my sanity and the kiss never came. Of course, it never came—I was the one infatuated with her not the other way around; she had recently started to tolerate my company, why would she kiss me after knowing I had developed a stupid crush on her in a span of days? But at that moment, a huge realization came down upon my head—I had no power whatsoever where Shifa was concerned. I could have spent my whole night, standing there with my wrist caged between her fingers.

Watching the heroine in any typical Bollywood movie always scumbling to the hero's touch used to annoy me. How could she have zero resistance? But as I stood frozen, pinned to the ground under Shifa's eyes, I understood the struggle. I tried to think of all that was wrong with the situation but seeing Shifa's smile rendered me unable to think of anything else other than her. At last, after she made sure I wasn't nearing toward a stroke, she stepped back.

"Is that why you were avoiding me?"

I didn't reply immediately, instead, I took my time to balance out my breathing, caressed my ears and took long breathes in. In the meantime, Shifa silently waited. She took off the jacket from her shoulders and leaned one shoulder on the wall. When my eyes betrayed me and stole a glance, I found her already staring, a hand deep inside her pants pocket and a small smile, almost teasing playing across her face. I had never seen a more attractive sight in my life.

"Adia?"

I didn't look at her when I answered in all honesty, "Yes. It is."

I was expecting a scolding, or perhaps a reprimand but what I didn't expect was her laugh. Seriously? Was that any time for laughing?

As if hearing her laugh at me strung all the right wires inside my head and I didn't linger. Taking a last breath, I turned to walk toward my room. Obviously, she was laughing. I gave her all the reasons to humiliate me but still, I had hoped she wouldn't be so cruel about it. I wouldn't have gone around confessing my sins to her. I didn't even want to admit it to myself, but she asked, and I refused to lie. I had been lying a lot lately, too much that I almost forgot how to be honest. But Shifa must know how hard it was for me. I was engaged to her cousin, and having a crush on a girl? Surely, she had gone through it too. She did have some sort of lady friend—that Riya.

"Adia, wait!"

I didn't stop and as soon as I opened the door, a hand on my shoulder jerked me back. Surprised by the force she had used, I gaped at her, and my palm hit her arm. She dropped her hand to the side, and muttered a lame, "Sorry."

"Shifa! That hurt."

Instead of looking sorry, she just grinned, and I felt bad for hitting her. After a second or two passed, and she didn't say anything— the awkwardness of the whole situation got to me. Shifa had her hands in pockets, and I wore a salwar, which had no pockets to hide my fidgety hands. So, I brought my hand to massage the shoulder she had nearly broken. I recalled my mother telling me to stop fidgeting when Wahab had first come to our home to meet me. You might look childish if you do that with your fingers and it's stupid. I didn't want to look anything but calm in front of Shifa. But I realized when I glanced at her that she noticed my hand rubbing the shoulder in a very weird angle and then she held my eyes. She seemed calm.

"Did I really hurt you or are you just nervous?"

"You- ", my voice came out as more of a squeak, clearing my throat, I tried again, "You were too harsh."

Shifa nodded, "Right. Just admit you're nervous. I barely touched you."

I gave her my ugliest stare and hoped I wouldn't have to say more. Yes, I was nervous but was it really necessary for me to say it too? I might have started to feel more awkward if Shifa hadn't opened her mouth to speak. But obviously, I didn't like what she said.

"So, you like me. That's not new if I am being honest. You're not the first person to fall for my charms and good looks."

We both stared at each other for the longest minutes and at last, I saw a tiny scowl on her face and her feet moved, "And you didn't laugh. Okay."

That made me snort. Really? She expected me to laugh at that?

"And humour is clearly not a part of your charm."

"Says the one who has a crush on me."

How could she just joke around it as if it was the easiest thing to do? There was absolutely no point in standing there with her if all she intended to do was try to embarrass me. I shook my head at her and once again turned to walk inside my room.

"No, Adia. I am sorry!"

Thankfully, she didn't grab me this time, but I stopped in my tracks and waited for something more. I knew she probably was not trying to humiliate me but sometimes she acted as if we weren't raised in the same environment, and it annoyed me to no end. I heard her move and then she said, "But you should stop avoiding me if you want to stop liking me."

I had opened my mouth to retort but her voice cut me off, "Haven't you heard—distance makes the heart grow fonder? Instead of avoiding me, you should start spending more time with me so that way you'll start seeing me as just the younger cousin of your fiancé."

That was the stupidest thing I have heard from her mouth, and I knew spending more time with her would do nothing but strengthen my already growing attraction to her but something in me couldn't completely deny her words. All the reason and logic were out of the window and I thought of the conclusion this decision might fetch me but I just couldn't find a word that would make sense and force me enter my room and slam the door on her face.

Finally, with a deep breath I turned to face and to my surprise, Shifa was fidgeting with her fingers but when she saw me looking, her hands instantly dropped to her side and her lips stretched into a genuine smile. I tried to mirror her expression, "And how do we spend time together?"

Shifa's eyes squinted in a delightful grin, "Simple. We watch movies."