Along the Lines of Love | ✓

Chapter 34 : Comforting Companionship

The remains of the soup at the bottom of the bowl had begun to dry up as they had sat at the table engrossed in the conversation. Sharanya had finally told him everything that had happened on the afternoon few days back. Of course she had focused on narrating what had happened than the whirlpool of emotions she had gone through.

She had then excused herself to the kitchen to get the dinner ready. Nikhil sat at the table thinking over everything that Sharanya had told him. He assumed just like him she didn't like to receive pity. Perhaps the reason why she quickly excused herself soon after narrating the events that had upset her.

He didn't know her sister, Aisha — Aishwarya but if he saw her through Sharanya's lens, he wouldn't like her. He suddenly felt the urge to be her protector. If he was in her shoes he'd be disappointed with her father too. How could he chose anyone over Sharanya? 

Sharanya was nice, the rare kind of nice. You didn't have to tell her to help people or people didn't even had to seek help, if she saw you in trouble, she'd go out of the way to help. Like this very evening, she had floored him with her thoughtfulness. It was just a headache but she had made sure she could help to ease the ache. No one had ever cared for him the way she did. Her small acts of thoughtfulness touched his heart, she made him feel cared for. The extra mile she went to make sure he was comfortable and looked after, was slowly filling the void he had always felt in the core of his being.

If anything, he wanted to make her feel the same way. The least he could do was ensure she was happy. He had always assumed that relationships just fell into place. But now he was beginning to feel otherwise. He had to make the small efforts to build this relationship. It was just like a software in the pre-alpha phase, he had to constantly make changes to his approach to make the best out of it. And, he was sure as hell ready to go that extra mile. 

With that thought, he got off the chair. His eyes fell on the book that was placed at the far end of the table. The Last Lecture. The corners of his lip lifted a bit, it was the same one he had recommended to her. The feeling that coursed through him, expanded, filling all of him with it. He smiled making his way to the kitchen.

"What are you preparing?" He asked as he entered the kitchen with the box of soup sticks and bottle of Chilli sauce that was on the table. 

"Pumpkin and carrot gravy."

"Can I lend a hand?"

"There's nothing to do really," she said, not bothering to look at him. She had been constantly thinking if she had spoken too much. 

He stood against the counter, folding his arms, he watched her as she effortlessly switched her attention between the chapati she was rolling and the one she was cooking on the tava.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She spoke up, feeling self conscious under his gaze.

"No reason," Nikhil mumbled flustered, "I can keep the plates maybe," He added, turning around, retrieving the plates from the cupboard.

"Maybe you should visit Gargi. A face to face talk should help ease out issues between the two of you."  He spoke, placing two plates on the counter. His gaze had barely met Sharanya's when her phone rang and she walked out of the kitchen hurriedly.

"Hi Ajji, how are you?" she spoke walking into the kitchen as quickly as she had left. Her hand made a dash for the chapati on the tava. She saved it just in time from being burnt, while balancing her phone between her shoulder and ear. 

Nikhil quickly held her phone against her ear, so that she didn't have to strain her neck. Her eyes darted towards him. He gave her a reassuring nod and she straightened her head.