The next morning dawned earlier than expected. As usual Adhi didn't sleep. Ever since Dhira disappeared from the night he was asleep, sleep has become a stranger.
Even if he manages to fall asleep sometimes, he gets crucial nightmares that ruin his slumber.
But now with Dhira just a door away from him, everything became worse.
Adhi could have subconsciously threw his words at Kavin but seeing a different Dhira he couldn't recognise, scared him..
Adhi clicked his tounge, shrugging away his thoughts as he went to shower.
🦋
Not even Adhi's first day off to his new campus could help distract him from his jitters to face Dhira.
He was afraid if he would be able to control himself if he sees her close enough.
As a cue to his thoughts, Dhira came out of her house at the right time while talking on her phone.
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Dhira felt a strong gaze on her, she looked up from her over phone conversation with Shakthi and realised that it was Adhi.
Seeing his brown orbs deeply etched on her, naturally made Dhira's lips curve into a blushy smile.
She smiled, she bloody Smiled. And that's all it took for the smile to reflect on Adhi's face as well.
🦋
Adhi quietly walked behind Dhira with his hands on his pocket.
So many twist and turns in one day and here he stood, unable to throw himself and claim his long lost love.
She wasn't the same Dhira he knew at all. She was quiet. She walked with calculated steps. She talked in refrained words.
She wasn't the cheeky, annoying girl he met the first time years ago instead she was a grow up and could be seen wise just by her looks.
First day va?
Adhi snapped out of his thoughts when Dhira all of a sudden talked to him inside the elevator,
Adhi nodded humming in response. He had no idea when did they entered the elevator.
Dhira had always made sure that she never approaches a conversation wantedly to avoid any unnecessary and awkward questions about her actual whereabouts. Which she herself doesn't know.
But seeing her new neighbour constantly rubbing his sweaty palms with evident stress in his face. She subconsciously felt the urge to help him out.
Since Deepa was talking about Adhi for a whole night yesterday, Dhira knew that it was his first day to work.
All the best.
Adhi smiled in response,
Thank you.
If it was the usual Dhira that Adhi knows, he would have been slapped for thanking her.
But now that everything was different, SHE was different, he was responded with a beautiful smile making him sigh.
Surprisingly, no more than twice since Dhira laid her eyes on this person with perfectly chiselled jaws beside her, she felt like she'd known him too well.
She knew when will he run his fingers through his soft smooth hair, She knew when will he bit his lower lip, She knew when will he crack his knuckles, She knew when will his brown orbs drift their attentions to her and she knew when to turn away to pretend like nothing was happening.
Dhira reluctantly kept stealing glances at Adhi and was shocked to realise how attachingly her consciences reacted around him.
Once the elevator opened, they both exited.
Dhira could have made much faster strides but she didn't, Eerily she was contented in walking beside him with just a few decent inches of distance between them.
Adhi could have blinked just to make sure that none of this was a dream but he didn't, afraid she might dissappear.
The silence around them prevailed until,
I'm Adhira
I'm Adithyan
Both their eyes widened when they introduced each other simultaneously stucking their hand out.
Traces of blush crept through Dhira's face that surprised Adhi. So was Dhira.
He gently took her hand in his and shook it. His one smooth touch was enough to send chills over Dhira's spine.
They smiled before bidding bye to each other as Dhira walked to Shakthi who was waiting in his bike for Dhira.
A tiny smile approached Adhi's lips as he watched her retreating figure, she abruptly turned back to wave at him and his smile got wider.
Maybe he's not really left behind after all.
🦋
Pudhu neighbour'ku bye'lam katreenga pole?
Shakthi teasingly asked Dhira to which she blushed and knocked on his head.
Shakthi winced in pain as he caressed his head,
Kovathula kotturae seri, adha yen vekka pattute kotturae?
Shakthi's question only made Dhira to blush harder as she hid her face behind a file that was laying untouched on her table a minute ago.
Weirdly, her new neighbour's been troubling her attention too much after their first conversation itself and Dhira had no idea why.
Shakthi gaped covering his mouth in shock before he snatched the file from Dhira and tossed it away.
Appo idhula yenamo iruku?
Dhira cleared her throat before she shifted to a straight face,
Apdilam onnu illaye! Na inniki dhan avara kitta'ye pathen.
Shakthi snorted before he leaned closer to Dhira and whispered,
Kitta pathiya?
Dhira needed a moment to think before she grasped his adultery joke and glared at Shakthi.
Shakthi instantly regretted using his humour sense as he smiled sheepishly and leaned back,
Adhu ok, ama avaru peru yenna?
Suddenly, Dhira's mind flashed to his magnetic brown orbs that stared straight to her soul and his warm voice that pierced her heart, when he spoke clearly to her for the first time,
Adithya
That one name gave her more goosebumps than the actual one he said when he introduced.
