First Ishq

Chapter 32 [A Side Request]

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|Ishika's POV |

As he drove the car, silence seeps in between us.

Mausi and Aunty kept gossiping about some stuff unknown to me.

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I stared outside the car, trying to drive away the boredom. But it was ineffective.

I turned my eyes to Ansh as I asked in a low voice, "Ansh?"

I saw him flinch slightly – or maybe it was just my imagination – his head jerked to me for a second, before he looked back at the road.

He let out a startled, almost inaudible, "Huh?" before adding a tiny pause. He resumed, "Yeah? What is it?"

I gulped I put forward my question. "What did you talk about with my parents?"

"They quizzed me, asked me about my likes and dislikes and just similar stuff", he replied without a second's delay.

'So a full-on interrogation', I pondered in my mind.

"So... how was it?" I continued.

"Hmm?" he repeated the same action from before – taking a quick glance with a surprised hum followed by the answer in his casual, lazy tone.

"It was fun", he replied with a small grin before it disappeared just as quickly.

His reply amazed me just as much as his faint grin did. Any time they interrogated a boy, the boy would start crying as his pride and ego would shatter completely. Never did I heard such an amused reply.

I nodded slowly, taking in that fact till I looked away again.

Once again, silence filled in.

An image from during our conversation flashed in front of my eyes.

A pink tint had spread across his pale face and his honey eyes shone under the sunlight, passing through the front window.

'He has honey eyes.' I realised. 'Finally, I saw his eye's color.'

A small smile, without my permission, crept across my lips and I tried to hide it under my palm as I rested my elbow on the window pane.

|Author's POV|

But Ishika didn't notice that Ansh saw her slight smile and felt tingles in his stomach as he kept having delusions.

And what they both had not noticed was the fading voices of the two ladies as they talked to each other.

As they arrived at the mandir, they got down the car.

After parking the car, Ansh returned to Kishor's side.

"Where is Tushar uncle?" He asked as he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

Kishor lifted his gaze from his mobile as he looked at Ansh. "He too keeps fast. So, he is inside, doing puja."

"Ohh", Ansh let out vaguely as he tried to sneak a peek inside the temple, sneak a peek at Ishika.

But he failed. He stopped after his sixth failed attempt and diverted his attention to his little storm, Aahaan.

Meanwhile, as Ishika prayed, as always, in front of Maa Durga.

'Durga Maa, as always I plead you to keep me and my family safe; for me to improve and be the top of my college and my parents to be immensely proud of me. But today, I am asking for an extra, side request.' She inhaled a deep breath and let out slowly, as if preparing herself. 'Please make Ansh my friend.'

'Just a friend I swear. Nothing more than that', she added, unable to explain the reason behind though.

^~^

She stepped down the stairs, still facing the decorated idol of Maa Durga, her feet moving backwards. She stopped when she reached the ground and bent down.

Her hands touched the last step before grazing them over her head, taking blessing from Maa Durga.

She turned around, her eyes met Ansh's eyes. Her eyes widened before she quickly looked away, almost as a reflex.

'Why did I look away?' She questioned herself, still processing the eye contact.

Ansh was taken aback by her reaction but he tried to shrug it off with an excuse that maybe, she didn't mean to.

Ishika tried to take a glimpse of Ansh secretively. Except that she was caught again when their eyes met.

She frowned in frustration as she face palmed her face.

"So embarrassing", she whispers to herself.

Ansh, on the other hand, blushed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

'Shit.. I was caught', he thought in his mind as he had turned away from Ishika. But he could not contain his stupid smile that dominated on his lips, along with the pink blush.

"Bro, what do you seem sick most of the time?" Kishor finally asked as he brought his right hand around Ansh's shoulders.

"What?" Ansh counter questioned his confusion.

"You seem red most of the time recently", he stated while pointing towards his red, flushed ears.

"HUH!?" Ansh almost yelled as his hands raised to cover his ears. He was embarrassed, shocked and scared.

Everyone's attention turned towards them. Even Kishor was shocked.

The matter was brushed off when the children urged for ice creams, tugging at their brother's shirts.

They took one glance at their mothers, who nodded in yes, and walked off to the ice cream stall nearby.

But, Anjana called Ansh for the call she was on so, Ishika went to the stall in his stead.

Ansh was busy talking to his father when someone lightly tapped his shoulders with soft pads.

He turned to find Ishika holding his favourite Blackberry Cone in her hand as she forwarded it to him.

He extended his left hand and muttered a quiet 'thank you', muffling the speaker of the phone. He didn't have the nerve to look at her as his eyes focused on the ice cream.

But Ishika refused to hand over the ice cream and even took a step back when Ansh tried to extend his hand further.

Before he could question her the reason as he looked into her eyes, she spoke, "Right hand.."

His mouth shaped into a small o as he realised. He took the phone in his left hand as he forwarded his right hand.

This time, Ishika handed it over and he gave a proper "Thank You", in a clear voice.

'But I never told anyone my newly discovered, favourite ice cream flavour', He wondered in his mind and he took a bite of the ice cream.

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Another update!! §(*￣▽￣*)§

I really like this chapter, I don't know why.ˋ( ° ▽、° ) §(*￣▽￣*)§

Btw, my exams are starting from the coming Monday.(⊙x⊙;)

 (Wish me Luck)╰(艹皿艹 )(ﾉ*ФωФ)ﾉ

So, maybe no update or late update next week（︶^︶ ) (￣ε(#￣)☆╰╮o(￣皿￣///)

ヾ(^▽^*)))

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ヾ(•ω•')o

Anyway!

Did you enjoy reading this chapter? Let me know, please.

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