Sweet 'n' Sour | ✔

twenty-one

21. aadat na sahi, par kam se kam yaad toh banao mujhe apni. (If not a habit, at least make me someone you want to remember.)

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It's a change I'm not accustomed to yet. The little things that makes me realise this room isn't solely mine anymore. The bathroom smells of female products. My toothbrush finally has a companion. The dressing table has a wide variety of perfumes, nailpolish, hair clips, and combs. There's also a straighter, a curler, a different kind of blow dryer, and some more things I'm not educated about. And her hair is everywhere. Literally everywhere. In the shower, on the pillow, on the floor, you name the place and it's there. She has thick long hair, and they are absolutely stunning, well as long as they don't end up anywhere close to the kitchen. Meghna and mom's hair has already annoyed us enough. But Meghna's hair never ended up curling around my toes. Maybe because she isn't around me as much as Priya is. It's because of that I'm not really bothered about the change. She is here. Finally, all mine.

I smiled, lingering on the same page I had been reading for the last thirty minutes. I couldn't get enough of her, it was like my most beautiful fantasy has come alive. I still find it hard to believe that she chose me. She said yes to me. I know I'm far from what women want in men. I'm not manly enough. I don't have the body of John Abraham or the jawline line of Hrithik Roshan, neither I'm cool like Salman Khan nor am I charming like Shahrukh Khan. I'm the most average Indian man you'll find out there, one of the many you pass on the local streets and don't bother to look back.

Vikram always says I underestimate myself. How can I when the first girl I gathered enough courage to ask out rejected me saying she only befriended me for my brother, and I'm not usually girls' type because I'm too feminine? That had me crying for nights by the way. I was just fifteen then.

I know I'm not manly. I don't have masculine traits. I like to read books in my free time, I rarely take interest in sports, and my hobbies extend to writing, dancing, and cooking. No surprise girls didn't find me their type. I've read enough books to know what kind of men girls like considering most of them were written by female authors. If this was a book, my brother would have been the main lead. Because he is the type of guy girls fantasize about. Rich, quiet, muscular, and tall. His personality fits the main character arc well.

Priya and I are so mismatched. Yet every moment that I spend with her, I find myself perfect with her. As though we fit.

"Aditya,"

I refocused, watching her silently.

"It's four. I should start getting ready." She informed me. "What do you think I should wear?"

I frowned. "Clothes?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Very funny." That was definitely sarcasm because I did not crack a joke. "Seriously, I don't know what girls usually wear during Mu Dikhayi."

I don't know either but this is a great opportunity to make her wear a saree. "A saree."

"Saree?" She repeated softly. "Sounds about right. Alright, let's wear a saree!" Closing her laptop, she got up from the chair and walked towards the suitcases.

"Why don't you unpack?" I asked her.

She looked over her shoulder. "I- I didn't know if you would be comfortable with me using your space." She admitted.

I sighed. "Then were you going to use your suitcase as your wardrobe for the rest of your life?"

She shook her head.

"Let's unpack first," I flipped in my bookmark and closed the book, keeping it on the nightstand before joining her to help. "They look heavy so let me carry them. Go and shift my clothes to make space for you in the meanwhile." I instructed.