Yato hastah tato drishṭih|
Yato drishṭih tato manah|
Yato manah tato bāvah|
Yato bāvah tato rasah|
"Where the hands go, the eyes follow;
Where the eyes go, the mind follows;
Where the mind is, there goes the expression;
Where the expression is, ther...
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•••
Should she pick the phone?
Or maybe she should take a page out of Prithvi's book and pull off a 'I was in the bathroom' card, thereby successfully avoiding him?
Yes, definitely.
But of course, when it came to Aakash, things were always haywire with her. That was why her fingers slid the icon on her screen.
Silence.
"Hello...?" His voice drifted through her phone, and even if it was through an electronic device, it had been so long and she couldn't help but zone out a little. It felt... nice.
"Um... Chandni, hello?" Aakash drew his phone away from his ears to check if she was still on call. And she was.
Hesitantly, not knowing if he still had the right to call her the way he was going to, Aakash tried again, "...Chuckles?"
Chandni could hear the hesitance in his voice and her lips quirked up in an automatic smile as she whispered, "Hey there Eyes."
They had the worst possible nicknames for each other.
But never once did it repel them.
In fact, they liked it; they liked that fact that no one else could ever call each other with a horrible nickname and yet make them feel at home.
Chandni's voice was just a whisper, that too through a mere device, but the hopeful, ecstatic yet quiet tone of hers made it difficult for him to not simply damn everything—even the fucking dancer emoji on Prithvi's phone—and go meet her.
It's been so long and he missed... a friend of his. Yeah.
Of course, that is what he told himself to keep himself from running to Chandni's house.
Silence.
"To what do I owe this pleasure, Aakash?" Chandni finally broke the silence, the smile not falling off her face. And she highly doubted if it ever will.
"Nothing actually, I—"
"Well, if it's nothing, I'll hang up then." Chandni teased him but still stayed on call.
What? He had finally brought himself to call her but if she hangs up now, he didn't know if he'd be able to make himself call her again. So Aakash rushed his next words. "What? no! Hello, Chandni, I wanted to talk to you about—"
"Relax, I was just kidding." Chandni chuckled and it felt like his own customized relaxing-tune, making him smile involuntarily.
"Okay, wow. So uh, yeah, I heard about your programme this week, congratulations!"
"Thanks! Prithvi told you?"
"Yes. He even gave me your invite."
Did he like it? Did he like the background color? Did he like the font? Did he like her pose? Did he like her costume's color? Did he—
