wooing Meera Rai

XI | day two - lunches and dates

word count - 9k words (almost), so take your time

XI | day two - lunches and dates

Ever since her divorce, Meera feared men.

It was a silly thing for others especially pseudo feminists to be afraid of men, but to Meera, men were both scary and fearful. She had her fair share of experience of being under the chokehold of a man and that would forever keep her on guard whenever she was around any man.

A single word, a single touch or even a mere glance would often shake Meera's confidence and shatter her self-esteem. It took intense therapy and medications for Meera to finally let go of the fear and learn to blend in the crowd, and try to not judge all mankind based on one man who ruined her life.

But it was difficult.

Meera would never talk to any man, she'd never look any man in the eye whether he was a senior adult or someone of her age. She'd never let any other man ever walk in her life and ruin it again.

Vihaan Singh Chauhan was of course, an exception.

It surprised her truly to see a man barge in her apartment at midnight, press her against the wall, invade her privacy and her personal bubble and then valiantly vowed to woo her - and she wasn't afraid of him. It was the first time Meera was not scared of a man, despite him acting like a complete asshole.

It was also the first time Meera's heart was beating not in terror, but in excitement and anticipation. 

So when Vihaan Singh Chauhan asked her out for lunch the next day of the flower serenade, Meera readily agreed. 

Why?

Because it was the first time she didn't have to blend in the crowd, or act normal, or adjust to everyone else. 

She wasn't scared of Vihaan, not even a little bit. Which was funny, because she couldn't maintain eye-contact with any man. 

Yet with Vihaan, she could keep ogling in those chocolate brown eyes and not feel threatened or scared.

She needed to get in touch with her therapist and ask why Vihaan was the only guy she did not feel so edgy and nervous, but excited and to an extent... safe.

Her curiosity drove her to accept his lunch invitation. She needed to test herself, she needed to test the limits of her body to make sure whether she had really overcome the trauma her mind and her body suffered. 

The scars of the past were still engraved on her body and her soul. They were blurring over the years, but they freshly imprinted in her memory.

"You are going out on a date?" 

"It's not a date per se."

"With whom?"

"Vihaan Singh Chauhan."

"WHAT THE FUCK? THAT RAEES HARAMZAADA?"

Inayat surely needed to tone down her cursing, but Meera knew her colorful words often brought a sense of calm to her always anxious mind. 

They were a weird pair. 

A girl who never cursed, never spoke more than required, never raised her eyes paired against a spiteful fiery woman who would not hesitate before killing someone when it comes to protecting the people she loved.

Inayat's chaos was the right amount of balance to Meera's calm.

"Stop swearing!"

"Why are you going out with him? Didn't you say that you hated him? That he looked down on woman! Then why?"