Pitter Patter Of Hearts

Chapter sixteen- bonus

TWO YEARS LATER 

Aarav and I decided to major in multimedia, far away from Arunachal Pradesh in NYC, in an apartment the size of my room, but we are happy, though.

Our parents don't know that we are together, though, as it would take away the chance of living together. For them, we are just staying together in one apartment to save the rent and also because we're best friends. Living together is the only option as we're seven seas away, and we only know each other- that's true, but they don't have to know about us yet, though.

We made new friends in the university, and we made it very clear that we are very much together to avoid the third-party drama. The only ones who don't know that we're together are our parents, but I think they figured it out by now. They're not as dumb as we are.

Aarav took my suggestion and became a food blogger, mainly recommending the best Indian food places here for our fellow Indians. He also became one of the very few Indian mukbang YouTubers, finally putting his pigging out skills to use and make money out of it.

I'm still doing shopping hauls and promoting small businesses. We edit our videos together in the evening, but since we turned eighteen, Aarav barely kept his hands to himself, which is a huge disturbance in our work, but it is a distraction I don't mind. 

And whenever it rains, we don't use those silly rainpots anymore, we use morse code of our heartbeat to talk to each other as we cuddle in the cozy weather with takeouts or my mother's instant, lazy recipes. The only thing about her work that I like is these lazy recipes that she discovered to keep up with work and home. 

Now, I can put them to use. Well, Aarav does because I stay away from the kitchen. He doesn't let me enter anyway after I burnt pasta once. In my defense, it's because he couldn't keep his hands off me but at least it allows me to sit back and watch him cook. 

And he looks like an art piece while cooking, sweat beading on his forehead with his messy hair all over his face, those veins popping when he cuts the veggies, makes me want to devour him instead of the food he's working on. He looks so adorable whenever he's concentrating on something.

It's gloomy outside and we've just returned from our classes together. I plop on the bed, looking out at the weather when his arms snake around me, pulling me towards him. 

Our faces are inches apart, our eyes talking in a language that puts morse code and every other secret, coded language to shame. He pulls me towards himself, and we stay there, in comfortable silence before a thought breaks it.

"Aarav," I shake his right shoulder as he groans into my neck. "How did you recognise that it was my hand and not Laya's in the farewell party?"

He snorts. "Really?"

I nod. "Yes, tell me."

"It's simple, she doesn't have a habit of attaching fake nails- ow! What?" He winces as I show him my nails.

I huff as I turn away. "My real nails are sharp enough."

"They're not long enough though- ouch! Oh my God, stop kicking me!" He cries but I kick his legs one more time before scooting away. He heaves a sigh before pulling me back to him when I wince at a booming thunder. "C'mere, you adorable witch."

"You still love me, though," I fight a smile.

He scoffs. "You just put a spell on me or something."

"So you don't love me?" I cock a brow.

He shoots me a look. "Do I have to say it?"

I shook my head as I snuggle into him. A few moments later, I can hear soft snores and even breathing and I close my eyes with a dreamy sigh after placing a tiny kiss on his nose. He smiles in his sleep and I go to sleep, smiling. 

PITTER PATTER THE RAIN DOESN'T STOP YET, THOUGH IT WILL SOON.
AND THIS IS NOT THE END OF THEIR STORY, BUT IT IS OF THE BOOK

-MOON