Risky Romance [COMPLETED]

Chapter 4

Rhea shrieked at the top of her voice till Varun finally found her face in the dark, and put his hand over her mouth, trying to muffle her voice.

"Shhhh... Are you mad? Don't scream like a maniac!" He told her.

She nodded and he finally removed his hand. "I'm scared of the dark", she said.

"Yeah I noticed", he rolled his eyes. "Take out your cell phone and use it's flashlight."

"I don't have a cell phone", she said, timidly.

"You're kidding me, right?" He rounded on her. "You're actually joking."

She shrugged and said, "Never needed one."

He gave up on her and then asked her, "Okay do you have anything which can give you light while you sit here alone watching our luggage?"

"Yes I have a torch in my- the hell I'm sitting here alone!" Rhea shouted. "Either take me with you, or don't go at all." She pleaded.

"Girls", muttered Varun under his breath and said, "Fine. Let's just sit here."

They sat in silence for a good fifteen minutes, Rhea praying for the lights and Varun playing on his mobile.

Finally, Rhea was showered with God's grace and the lights came back on.

"Thank God!" Rhea let out a huge sigh of relief. Varun looked at her, shook his head in disbelief, and went back to his mobile.

After a while, the train started moving. According to the people in the neighbouring compartments, the train had some technical issue which was sorted out. Rhea and Varun's compartment was empty.

Rhea took out her tiffin that her mother had packed for her. It contained delicious idli, dosa, chutney and sambhar- a typical south Indian speciality. She looked at Varun who was still immersed in his mobile.

"Umm..Varun?" She said, tentatively. "Would you like some idli-dosa?"

Varun looked at her, surprised that she could talk normally without being rude to him. "Sure", he shrugged. "I have some packed sandwiches with me. We could have those too."

Soon they were devouring on the idli-sambhar, while Varun's sandwiches lay abandoned.

"This is truly amazing", said Varun, licking his lips. "Did you make this?"

"Nope. Amma did. I mean, my mom did. I can't cook."

"You know out of all the restaurants I've been to, in Bangalore, this is the best south Indian dish I've ever tasted." He paused for a moment before continuing, "What do you mean you can't cook?"

"I mean I can't cook at all."

"Nothing? Not even tea?"

"Nope."

He looked at her intently. "Where will you be living, in Pune? At a relative's place?"

"Nope, a rented apartment."

"And who's going to cook there?"

"My roommate."

"And what if your roommate falls ill and can't cook?"

"I'll order from outside."

"What if you have no money?"

"Then my roommate can cook, since I'm asuming she'll be fine again?"

He stared at her. "You are unbelievable."

"Uh-huh." She burped. "Oops, sorry." Rhea turned pink with embarrassment.

Varun tried to control his laughter and said through pursed lips, "That's fine."

"Don't you have a tiffin? Apart from the sandwiches?"

"No, I'm planning to eat on the train."

"But that's unhealthy", she complained.

He raised his eyebrows at her and said, "Okay, mom."

They sat in silence till they reached the next station, where people started boarding the train. Their compartment soon became noisy when a family of four, an elderly couple, another family of six, and a group of seven friends boarded the train.

The group of seven friends took their seats opposite to Rhea's seat, while Varun climbed up and sat on his berth, planning to doze off for a while. Rhea didn't like any of those seven people. There were five guys and two girls. They kept shooting fervent looks at her. She looked away, and tried to concentrate on the song her iPod was playing. Until a guy from the group called out to her.

"Hey, you", he got up from his seat and walked towards her. She shifted around nervously.

"What?" asked Rhea.

"We are playing a game. You interested in joining us?" He asked her politely. Or atleast she thought he asked her politely till he started eyeing her up and down.

"No thank you", she said.

"Okay. What about you, man? You wanna play?" He asked Varun.

"Sure." Varun got down from the berth and joined the group. "So what's the game about?"

"Nothing", laughed the guy. "We are just gonna sing some songs. We are actually a band and we perform in different cities, small shows strictly. Hopefully we'll get our big break soon."

Wow, musicians, thought Rhea. Should have accepted his offer.

"Sure man, go ahead", said Varun. And together, they all sang classic old Hindi Bollywood songs, and some pretty famous English songs. Soon, the whole compartment, except Rhea, joined in singing, clapping their hands, most of them singing out of tune.

Rhea tried to block them out, trying to resume reading her unfinished book, but she just could not concentrate. When the last song was done, everybody cheered and clapped.

"This has been great, guys, but I've got to crash. Too sleepy", said Varun.

"Hey c'mon, not so soon Varun", said a guy named Bhavesh. "You've got to sing a solo song."

"No thanks man, I'm a terrible singer."

"Liar, liar, I heard you sing, you are good", said another guy called Nikhil.

"Cmon man", insisted Bhavesh.

But Varun didn't oblige. Finally Bhavesh said, "Tell you what, you sing to the nerdy girl in glasses, any song you want, right now, and we'll pitch in and give you a thousand bucks. Deal?"

Rhea raised her eyebrows and her eyes became round with surprise. Varun looked at Rhea, and somehow got lost in her mesmerising eyes, his breath caught, and he finally said, "Deal."
He took a deep breath and parted his lips.