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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•••
The bed swallowing her would've probably been a better situation for Chandni, rather than the current one wherein she found her Aakash's-shirt-clad self with a boxers-clad Aakash, underneath the bedsheets, some time after they'd done the deed, being spectated by an amused Prithvi.
"I thought you were coming tomorrow!" Aakash whisper-yelled at his brother who kept eyeing the new box of condoms on Aakash's night table.
Aakash followed his gaze and with a huff, stuffed the box inside a drawer while Prithvi held back a laugh.
"Technically, it is tomorrow." Prithvi shoved his digital wrist watch in Aakash's face, before turning to the pair of eyes that were peeking up from the blanket, "Hey, Chandni."
Chandni sunk further into the bedsheets and covered her entire form by it while Aakash read the watch.
00:23
"Amma and Appa are here?" Prithvi nodded in answer to Aakash's question.
"Your Amma and Appa too?" Prithvi nodded to that question too.
"I don't know if we're ready," Aakash mumbled his concern, "I don't know if she's ready."
Aakash squeezed Chandni's body close to his involuntarily and something about the affectionate action twisted Prithvi's heart in yearning.
"Looks like you better get ready, then. Or," Prithvi eyed the two, "She better be good at hide-and-seek."
"You mean just the hide-part." Chandni's muffled voice came from the sheets.
"Ye—"
"Aakash! Surprise!" Aakash's mother burst through the door with an exclamation.
Chandni stilled under the sheets while Aakash jerked violently at the interruption and Prithvi sighed at not having popcorn to watch the drama unfold.
But Prithvi remembered the small plastic wrapped thing in his pocket.
"Hi, hey—" Aakash assumed a stiff position that was something between sitting and lying on the bed.
He cleared his throat and tried again, "Hi Amma. How was your friend's fiftieth birthday?"
"It was good. But, I thought we'd come home early. Y'know," His mother's eyes turned concerned, "I noticed that you didn't feel well after er... Chandni... um, after Anjana's reception. So we boarded a train here as soon as the ceremonies were over."
Chandni felt her heart squeezing at how her actions had hurt Aakash to the point that it had alerted his family and made them come back to him.
But for the next plan of action, Chandni processed the fifty-fifty probabilities:
Number one, staying as still as possible, would lead down to other fifty-fifty possibilities; getting caught eventually or not getting caught.
Number two, exposing herself, would lead down only one path; letting everyone know.
