Renaming Destiny : Apsara To Myla

Basketball

Apsara's POV

I wrapped the hairband around the end of my braid, framed my face properly with my baby hair and smiled at the mirror widely. I took my book and my veil and walked out of my room to go downstairs to my brother who was on the couch looking like a depressed potato. I jumped on the floor as I skipped the last two stairs and looked at my brother happily, "Are you ready for your first day in the basketball court, Aloo?", he whined and called for my mother, Swapna Deep Adhiraj who walked out of the kitchen and said, "No more whining, Varun. Your sister will be there with you. Adarsh Bhaiyya will teach you everything, okay? Now, go. I'll have your favorite panner fried rice with panner Manchurian ready by the time you come back".

"At this rate of spoiling him, Maa, he will never lose any weight. I feel sorry for the horse which will have to carry him for his Bharaat", I said making him cry louder. "You are 15 years old already, Varun. Not 5. Act like that and come with me now!", I yelled and walked to wear my flats. He was still whining behind me but I couldn't wait to reach the court to see him. Adarsh Simha. My crush since the day I learnt how to spell the word "Thunderstorm". He was my father's friend's son and we all grew up together. We were all neighbors and met each other everyday. He had taken over the family business they had in South India and I couldn't be more proud of him.

While thinking about him, I did not realize when I had reached the court and my brother had ran to his best friend, Prem Kashyap while I stood at the entrance of the court looking around to find Adarsh like a love-sick puppy. I looked around and to my relief, no one had seen me drool over the man every girl had a crush on who wasn't even there at that moment. I sat in the resting area and looked around to find him somewhere but he was no where to be seen. I sat alone for a while and the boys started a match but I was least interested in it. I started reading the book which I had with me and decided to wait for a while. Frustrated and disappointed when he did not arrive even after the whole match ended, I decided to go home and stood up. 

The gate of the court opened again and all eyes turned to see who it was. The Simha brothers walked in one beside another with a smirk on their faces as everyone paused to take in the moment. Their mere presence demanded attention as they walked in to go start their game. As it was our private property, no outsider was allowed but our closest friends could be invited with the permission of our parents. I was sure if that wasn't the case, the empty chairs beside me in the resting area would have been completely filled. The property was owned by all of the five friends of my father and him too, of course. Well, being the children of the richest people of South India came with it's advantages. 

The match began after they all did some weird moves and called it warmup. I saw Adarsh fist bump his elder brother, Aniket Simha and went to the center line. He yelled something to someone, who I think was his friend, and then threw it to the basket from there. I had no interest on the match. I was there to see Adarsh. He was all that I could concentrate on. The match went on for a few more minutes. But then they all stopped playing and walked towards the resting area making me straighten up. I looked into the book in my hands, looked at the words which made no sense to me as I saw him walk to me from the side of my eye.

"Hey, Apsara! What a surprise! You here?", the second he said my name, I could not help but hold the book tighter so that I did not fall on my knees or something. I smiled awkwardly and said, "Umm... Yeah, Adarsh. Basketball wanted to learn Varun so I brought him here", he started laughing loudly making me look at him like he had wings. It was such a sweet sound, his laugh. "You mean, Varun wanted to learn basketball?", I nodded while cursing at myself internally. "So, finally he decided to have his glow up, huh?", he said in a husky tone as he sat down beside me. 

I looked away as soon as he lifted his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face and controlled myself by almost destroying my book with all that tightness of my palms. "Don't worry about him. I'll teach him everything he needs to know. But if you decide to learn basketball, come to me. I am a good teacher. Not many know that about me", he smirked. I smiled and shifted in my seat unable to think straight when his body scent was hitting my nose in waves making me dizzy. "Well, I need to get going. Don't worry about Aloo. I'll take care of him", he said and jogged away. I let out the loud breath I was holding back all this time.