Just for one night

Scooter ride in rain

Raghav was more confused than he has ever been in his life. He was not sure if he should get closer to Siya or to simply maintain distance. He had never been in a situation like this before and even if he had he was always sure about what he wanted in life and pursued it no matter what. The next day was a Sunday, Raghav and all the others were hanging out at Rohit's house to prepare for the event planned the next day. All the youngsters were invited, everyone was having a good time. Siya was there too; she wore a beautiful white anarkali salwar with a colorful dupatta. She truly was an embodiment of simplicity and immediately stood out in that roomful of women elaborately dressed on a chilly Sunday. 

Raghav was extra vibrant and social today, talking to everyone and helping everyone out. All the aunties in the room were doting over him and jealous of Nidhi's mother Sangita aunty who had an eye to catch him for her daughter. Siya was hanging out with her sisters, but Raghav was always around making small talks and giving his unrequited opinions. Siya was mostly quiet today trying very hard to hold her temper. Her sisters both married and unmarried were having a ball being at the receiving end of Raghav's charms and flirtations. Meanwhile, Siya was gathering all her strength to keep herself unattached to all the nonsense around her. Suddenly there was a requirement to run some errands in not so fancy areas of Bangalore. 

Siya grabbed the opportunity and left the house. Unlike her cousins, she didn't have a car. What she had was a purple scooty which she drover proudly. As she was about to leave, she was stopped by Raghav and Rohit. Raghav had offered to take her in his car instead, but Siya refused proudly and drove on. Raghav stopped her again and hopped on to her bike to go along with her. Siya had no other choice than to take him along. The famous area of City Market was filled with crowds, smells and lot of bumps and potholes. Raghav had intentionally grabbed Siya's waist in the pretense of protecting himself from a bump. Siya nervously drove by but stopped her scooty when she could find a chance and asked him to hold on to the support provided behind Raghav at the back seat. Siya seemed to have lost her cold demure that she took a lot of effort to build. They walked around the entire market picking stuff required for the puja from the local vendors. Raghav tried to impress Siya with his knack of the local language, but he failed miserably. Instead, it was Siya who ended up impressing him. She was a kind person and not just kind to people she knew, she was kind to people from all walks of life. They spent the next couple of hours roaming around in that dirty and very crowded market. It was quite a sunny day, and they were exhausted. Siya took him to a local milk parlor that served the best 'Badam milk'. Raghav was amazed to see the crowd. While they were having their drinks under a tree in a very crowded place mostly filled with men. Raghav put his arms around Siya, carefully ensuring that he does not touch her. Siya found him behaving weirdly and then it clicked to her that he was trying to protect her from the crowd of men around. She immediately snapped at him "Please take your hands off, I don't need your protection". Raghav replied, "Who is trying to protect, I was just trying to measure the curvature". Siya was furious listening to his response but all she could do was laugh out loudly. Men around them got confused with her sudden outburst. She was softening again. 

Siya had 3 big bags filled with stuff and they decided to head back home. Raghav mocked her for not listening to him as this luggage cannot be carried on a small scooty. Siya took his words as a challenge and hung two bags on her shoulders and tied one bag tied to the hook on the deck of the scooter. Just when she thought, she had shown enough swag, she realized she forgot to put her helmet on. While she was struggling and was weighed down by two big bags hung in her arms, Raghav held her face and put her helmet on her and took the two bags from her forcefully and hopped on the scooter and sat quietly behind her. She turned around and said "Hey... I could have pulled it off". Raghav replied, "of course you could". She was surprised to not see any sarcasm in his tone. Just when they started, it began to drizzle. Raghav put the two bags on each of his legs and held them between his hands that were not holding Siya's waist. This time, Siya didn't complain. On a traffic signal she turned around and said, "We should have come in a car, I'm sorry you are getting drenched". Raghav replied grabbing her a little tighter "Are you kidding! This is the cherry on the cake, I love this rain". Siya immediately turned around blushed all the way. The weather really was as beautiful as it could ever be. She tried not to read between the lines coming out of Raghav's mouth, but she really didn't have any complains at that moment, the smell of rain, the dusk, the wind in her hair, Siya loved it all. Her hair tickled him when it brushed over his face. Unable to move his hand, he rubbed his nose on Siya's back to soothe the itch. She loved the feel of his skin on hers. This day was getting surprisingly better.

Raghav ended up having the most fun he had in the last couple of days. He was just mesmerized by Siya, especially now when she was not being as cold as she had been since yesterday. But as soon as they were back home, Siya was again lost in the crowd that was her family. The talks and discussion of Raghav and Nidhi's match were getting serious. Siya went back to her cocoon trying to protect herself from the upcoming hurt and pain. Its true, Raghav had flirted with her all day, but she was determined not to make anything out of it. She was too vulnerable in this phase of her life, and she couldn't risk getting heart broken. This time she wouldn't be able to come out of it.

Raghav was assigned with the responsibility todrop a few people late in the night. Siya was one of them. Rohit had ensuredNidhi sits in the front besides Raghav allowing them to spend some more qualitytime to get to know each other. Siya was sitting behind with her other twobrothers. The entire journey was no less than a nightmare for Siya. The musicwas on, and Raghav and Nidhi seemed to enjoy a great conversation. Raghav keptturning around at every chance he got but the boys were too busy on theirphones playing games. Siya pretended to fall asleep while her heart wasbreaking with the same beat as the sad song that was playing on the radio. Siyashut her eyes tight, so no drop of tear falls out. When they reached home,everyone got out and Siya was the last one out. She had her hands full with acouple of bags filled with goodies. Raghavinstantly tried to help her out of the car, his hand automatically reached toher waist like it was the most normal thing to do. This however shook Siya andshe lost control of her bags. She started picking her stuff hastily carefullyavoiding eye contact with Raghav and ran away from that spot as soon as shecould. Siya never looked at him even once and Raghav never stopped looking ather even for a second. He was a little confused and upset about watching her freakout.