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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•••
Chandni and Aakash discarded their footwear before entering the studio.
The bell chimed when Chandni opened the glass doors, attracting the attention of the men and women there.
Almost immediately all the faces held a smile that was directed towards Chandni.
She passed a brief smile to everyone before heading to the front desk.
"You come here regularly?" Aakash voiced his doubts, following behind her.
"Yep. Every single Bharatanatyam costume of mine has been designed and stitched by the people here. And I bring Anjana and Diya here sometimes if they need any specifically fancy blouses or sarees." Chandni explained.
She then turned to the young woman at the desk but was interrupted by a deep voice, "Chandni!"
Aakash directed his attention towards a tall, young, attractive man whose arms were almost completely covered by tattoos. He had tousled brown hair with just a dust of electric blue in it that glinted when he sauntered over to them.
Aakash felt very uncomfortable when Chandni quickly responded with a grin and hugged the guy tightly.
Fuck! The guy seemed taller than Aakash's own few-centimetres-shy-of-six-feet frame, had more tattoos than Aakash's bland skin, had a more unique hair rather than Aakash's plain black hair and Aakash had his insecurities quickly seeping in.
But it seemed to ebb away when Chandni pulled away and latched onto Aakash's arm, "Aakash, meet Richard, my favourite designer. Ricky, this is Aakash, my..."
When Chandni trailed away at that and looked at Aakash with an unasked question, Aakash blinked slowly in agreement.
"My boyfriend." Chandni's grin seemed even more bigger when she finished.
"Hey, man, nice to meet you!" Richard replied and ignoring Aakash's outstretched palm, the tattooed man went for a hug.
Aakash gulped in a surprised sound and patted Richard's back awkwardly, noticing Chandni's teasing look from sideways.
Rolling his eyes, Aakash pulled back, smiling politely as Richard lead them to a room.
It was littered with mannequins, banners and posters, catalogue books, measuring tapes, writing materials of various colours, ball pins and fabrics. In a corner there was a desk with a chair on one side and two chairs on the other. There were also several couches around a coffee table nearby.
"What would you like to drink? Tea? Coffee? Or soda...?" Richard asked Aakash.
When Aakash looked at Chandni hesitantly, Richard continued, "She always asks for Pepsi. What about you?"
Something about him knowing more about Chandni irked Aakash but then again, he was the one who suggested to explore things at their own pace.
