Sweet 'n' Sour | ✔

twenty-six

26. Tumhe muskurata dekhna ab aadat si hai meri. (Watching you smile is now like a habit for me.)

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"Now that you've worn a saree, let's put it to a good use?" I suggested with a smirk.

Priya blushed in the cheeks, eyes dropping low as she attempted to pull away. I smiled, holding her back by the waist. She stumbled on top of me, almost on my lap. "You know," I tucked a loose strand behind her ear, "when I first saw you, I was so mesmerized," I confessed, catching the hint of surprise that flashed through her eyes. "Trust me when I say, I had God damn high standards when it came to women. I mean, I'm as basic as every other Indian man, but I still hoped for a woman who could titillate my damn senses and stop me dead in my tracks. Which was impossible." I whispered, pulling her closer when I realised her breath was just as shallower as mine. "Was," I repeated breathlessly, the tip of my nose pressing beneath her ear.

A soft moan slipped past her lips, shocking me to the core. Priya pulled away frantically, disbelief covering her features as she cupped her mouth and rushed down the bed before leaving the room.

I blinked, still trying to wrap my head around the sequence of events that unfolded in a split of a second. My gaze got stuck on the door out of which she just disappeared and I swallowed.

She moaned?

I-I didn't even do anything.

I didn't even touch her anywhere intimate.

I exhaled a loud breath, cupping my own cheeks that had began to heat up as a reaction to her reaction. Her sensitivity to my touch had me uncomfortable all over, and not the bad kind of uncomfortable but the new kind. When it's something you haven't done before, and it makes you nervous and anxious since it's way out of your comfort zone, that kind of uncomfortable.

I fixed my pants, blowing a breath out of my cheeks. I wanted to take her out today since she wore the saree for me. But in the end, the moment took a complete irreversible turn.

Getting off the bed, I waited around until the discomfort in my pants was no longer visible to the naked eyes. When I was finally able to leave the room, Priya was busy arranging the dining table for the lunch. Our eyes met and she quickly scurried back into the kitchen.

Maybe she is embarrassed?

Shrugging it off, I headed to the living room to get my mind off what happened just a few minutes ago in the bedroom. Dad had some South Indian movie on with horrible dubbing, but I forced myself through it for a reason that I badly needed a distraction.

"Khaana lag gaya hai (Lunch is ready)" Priya's timid voice broke through the television noise. Dad turned the idiot box off and stood up, gesturing for me to do the same. I followed wordlessly, walking past Priya to the dining table. I was in the middle of serving myself when she arrived, and following her, Bhai did too. He served himself and took the plate to his room, ignoring mom's incessant callings. Priya settled down beside me, quietly filling her plate.

We had lunch in silence, well except for Mom who kept complaining about Bhai's lack of attention towards his health and Meghna's out-of-the-blue chuckles while she had her eyes fixated on the phone.

Normally, Priya has a habit of adding food to my plate as soon as it lessens but today she was more focused on her plate, ignoring any and all instances of needing to talk to me.