Dawn at Last

Stolen Moments

" Stolen moments are the sweetest, for magic resides in moments stolen from time" 

Her face remained even but he knew she had felt it. The sharp yet short intake of breath had let him in on that piece of information. So he went again, his thumb grazing her knuckles, his touch feather light. Barely there and yet leaving a blazing trail in its wake. 

To the outside eye, the contact would look like an accidental brush, yet it was anything but accidental, and Tejasswi knew that. When she refused to react anymore he pretended to reach across kitchen counter for a spoon. His body leaned forward his fingers twisting to grip the spoon yet slipping to fall on her hand that was conveniently near the spoon he was reaching for. 

That did it. 

The suddenness of his touch, and the overwhelming surge of yearning that gushed out of her heart at such contact after what seemed like eternity made the flames of desire leap, and they leapt from behind the steel encased enclosure and into her veins. Burning through her skin and coursing through her body. 

The response was a loud gasp followed by her jerking her hand away. Which she would realise in the next second was the wrong move. 

The movement caused her to knock the utensil holder and they all went tumbling, scattering on the floor. But the utensils were the least of her problems. The problem was the places at which they had fallen.

Behind the the jungle kitchen counter, the one and only blind spot in the house. Nevertheless, she bent down, picking each spoon, each fork and each knife one by one. Karan too bent down beside her, in the pretext of helping her of course. 

He however, did anything but pick up the utensils. At first his hand followed hers, hovering above her skin but not touching, yet close enough to radiate its heat. He then dipped his hand, finger stroking her wrist. 

Tejasswi's eyes fluttered close but her hand did not stop moving. She kept collecting and placing the utensils. As the last spoon found its way inside the utensil holder she went to stand and so did Karan. 

But his hand lingered near her ankle, his finger sliding up her calf, to her knee as he rose up. That made her shudder, her heart raced and eyes fluttered close yet again. 

His finger inched up to her thighs, pausing just at the hem of her shorts, still inching up when his hand abruptly left her skin and she heard Karan clearing his throat. 

Looks like he too understood, any further would be a point of no return. So she gulped down the tension that had built in her and continued working or rather pretended to, since even against all her will her mind wandered back to his touch. To what they both wanted but could not have. 

To end her reverie she saw Vishal and Nishant walking up to her. Maybe conversation would help divert her mind. 

"Teja, kya ban raha hai?" Nishant asked leaning from across the counter to get a whiff off the vegetable on the stove. 

"Khaana" She responded to which Nishant threw her a look. 

Vishal chuckled 

"Nishant tere paas toh andar itna saara raashan aur acha khaana hai, toh phir humare khaane par kyu nazar daal raha hai?" 

"Aur nahi toh kya?" Vidhi said as she walked into the kitchen with the vegetable she had finished chopping. 

Tejasswi's eyes drifted from her face to the jacket she was wearing. 

"Yeh jacket?" Tejasswi asked 

"Arey yeh? Karan ki hai, samaan mera ayaa nahi, aur thand lag rahi thi to usne de di" Vidhi responded smiling 

Tejasswi passed her a tight smile in response. 

It was stupid she knew, to be affected by something as small as this. And yet she felt her throat tighten seeing Vidhi in that jacket. She wasn't jealous, but it reminded her of what she couldn't do in this moment. 

She couldn't fling his bag open and pick his favourite hoodie to wear, like she normally would. She couldn't exercise the right she had to wear his hoodies. She missed that. She couldn't tell Vidhi that the jacket she is now wearing was the one Karan had wrapped around her shoulders after they had stepped out from a movie and into the breezy night. She could not steal the multi coloured hoodie that always had his smell, and she couldn't walk up to him and kiss him like she so wanted to. So she did what she could. 

She took in a deep breath and continued working. 

"Tejasswi" the voice caught her attention 

She looked up to see Karan. 

"Hmm" she hummed looking back down, attention on the stove. 

"Woh, meri bartan ki duty hai... subah mera matlab hai breakfast ke bartan pade hue hain na"

"Ha sink main rakhe hai" She said still not looking up. 

She felt him walk around her and to the sink behind the counter. But she did not look up. 

"Tejaaa khushboo badi achi aa rahi hai!" Nishant said, back at taking a whiff of the food. 

"Arey khushboo hi nahi swaad bhi hai! Teja bada acha khaana banati hai" Vishal added 

"Mujhe chakhna hai!" Nishant whined 

"De dungi thoda" Tejasswi responded

"Yay! You're the best!" Nishant said

"She definitely is" Vishal responded engulfing Tejasswi in a side hug. 

The gesture was sudden causing Tejasswi to yelp at first, but then she eased into his half embrace. A little stiff, a little awkward. 

But what made her eyes shine was something she noticed. From the corner of her eyes she saw the muscle in someones jaw tick. And she knew... she had found her trump card. Karan wanted to play games, so now she is going to show him how it is played. 

***

The game of desire continues! What do you think Teja has in mind? 

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