Song Of Spring

Chapter 8

Summer is waiting around the corner! But you keep holding on to the frigid winter in your heart - summer

🍂🍁🍂

“So, what’s the deal with the weather?”

Aadi stopped slurping his noodles and gave me a weird stare. “Which part of what I had told you didn’t you understand?”

“I—” I hung my head. Honestly I had thought more and more about his story in the last few days and the sudden climatic changes definitely were something that couldn’t be attributed to science. So the only way was to have believed his story but something had kept me from going to find him. But here he was in front of me, his eyes shining like dark bourbon in the dim light from the fire.

“So, finally you believe me, now that it is all over.” He shoved the rest of the noodles into his mouth and chewed noisily.

“You mean Shishira took control of Ritu Sabha—“

“And is probably on her way to capture all the other roohs.” He completed my assumption.

“Is there a chance they ran away and are hiding?” I gathered up the last bit of the gooey noodles on my spoon.

“And what will you do by knowing that?”

“We could trace them down and unite together to defeat Shishira.” I put the last bite of food in my mouth.

He snorted.

I almost choked on the sticky, cold noodles.

“What?” I took a painful swallow and glared at him.

“Please continue. That is a nice idea,” he mocked. “It is so like you little humans to assume everything can end in peace.”

“Can’t it? We can negotiate and form a team.”

“A team of roohs. So, it’s like the seasons will come dressed in their own colours, chant some spells and a rainbow will form and boom, spring is here!”

I frowned at him. Had Aadi become bitterer over the days or was it my imagination?

“I was just suggesting. I know nothing about your world. You don’t have to be so rude.” I got up from the table and slammed the steel bowl into the sink. A few seconds of silence ensued as the sound of metals clanging echoed in the frigid air.

“Sorry.” He scrapped the chair against the cement of the floor, standing up too and gathered the remaining of the dishes. I peered at him from the corner of my eyes. His shoulders were slumped. He looked genuinely remorseful. “It’s just that it has been a rough couple of days.”

“It’s been rough for all of us,” I retorted. “You being miserable doesn’t give you the right to make others miserable.”

I cleared the counter and stowed away the extra utensils. Washing dishes wasn’t even an option in the cold, so I let it be.

“Feisty, I like it,” he chuckled.

“What on earth is wrong with you?” I eyed him warily.

He took two steps towards me. I stayed glued to the spot. The distinct lines of his collar bones stood out firmly against his firm pectorals. A tiny drop of water was still on his neck, probably from the wet cloths and his body heat. With one more step, the water dropped trickled down between the valleys of his gorgeous muscles and disappeared somewhere south but I didn’t dare look. The proximity of his smell was alluring. I slapped my mind back into focus instead. “Look, Mihika.” He lifted his palms and placed them on the sides of my arms.