Nasaza

V

I was hitting the shuttlecock back and forth still along the court. It was getting dark and the atmosphere more chilly due to winter.

I'd been playing since around an hour and my arms were beginning to ache but I didn't mind. 

Kya hoti hai fikar, kya hoti hai sharam, jab racquet ho haat mein, aur matha ho garam?

Suddenly, I heard a faint cough behind me.

I tsked, annoyed, and turned around to shoo them away and let me play when I froze, my breath hitching and the racquet in my hand still up in the air.

Standing there was a girl around my age, with her arms crossed. Now, normally it wouldn't have mattered. Not the type of guy who flirts with every girl he sees.

But god, she's beautiful.

She was wearing a seemingly over-sized hoody and a pair of jeans, along with a pair of sport shoes. She had short, wavy hair that fell till her shoulders and she had a round face complexion. Her cheeks and lips were a rosy pink, most probably due to the chilly atmosphere outside, and her eyes...

Her eyes were the prettiest shade of brown I've ever seen.

Forget brown, they were the prettiest shade of any colour I've ever seen.

Her dark, almost black, chocolate brown eyes glared at me in annoyance.

Wait, why was she glaring at me?

I felt a blush rise up my cheeks as I stared at her.

Dammit Aadesh, get a hold on yourself.

She was looking at me but then her eyes moved to somewhere beside my head. I followed her line of sight-

SMACK!

Ouch.

I'd almost forgotten that I was playing badminton and the machine throwing shuttlecocks at me was still on. A shuttlecock had launched and aimed straight for the spot between my eyebrows. 

Damn, it hurt.

I rubbed the spot with my fingers and looked at the girl from behind my eye. Her frown was replaced by a small smirk and she was looking at me in amusement.

My stomach jumped at the sight and a small smile formed on my lips.

Dil titli banke ud na jaye.

She walked to the machine, turned it off and leaned against it.

"Excuse me, but this machine is mine." she said.

Ayo what?

All the love-struck heart eyes and fogginess in my mind evaporated like water of the saraswati river.

"Excuse me, did I hear you correct? This machine is yours, you said?" I asked, bewildered.

"Yeah"

"How exactly?"

She glared at me, again. "I use it every day."

"So?"

"So, everyone knows that this machine belongs to me and only I use it."

"Who's everyone? I don't know that."

"Because you're most probably a guest and I'm not letting a stupid guest ruin my moment of peace in an already ruined day." she snapped.

I was annoying her, I knew, and she was annoying me too. Who did she think she was? Barging in out of nowhere and claiming the machine as hers?

"Why don't you use any other machine?" she asked, motioning to the row of machines beside us.