Falling For The Enemy

Chapter 8: Love

Upon lunch break, they arrived at their spot, the large table at the canteen. The canteen smelled like vegetable curry and rice, something that majority of people brought for lunch. The usual dynamics were visible as soon as Lyla got seated in between Yash and Jeet. Saya and Ronit busy in their conversations as always. It made her wonder if Saya had feelings for Ronit. She tried not to bind the relationship between boys and girls as the romantic one but she couldn't help but think as they appeared very cute together. Ronit was always present at all the conversations taking place at the table but Saya would only listen to him. There were slight chances that it was one sided love.

Yash besides Lyla, was opening his lunch box in a loud manner. Anything about him, hasn't been quite at all. He looked like a person to snort in his sleep. Yet he looked absolutely stunning while doing anything. Yash had a tall frame of over six feet two inches and his voice bold and deep. Symmetrical and handsome face, and annoyingly addictive personality.

Lyla subconsciously stayed away from him, for she thought she won't be able to handle his strong personality. "What have you got Lyla?" Yash asked as he looked at her lunch box. He tapped her lunch box, and she opened it to show her honey-glazed chicken wings with rice. "Whoa that looks fantastic." Yash took a mouth full of sweet and spicy chicken wings and was instantly sent to heaven. "Your mother is one hell of a cook bro." He complimented.

Lyla paused for a moment, hearing the word 'mother', but she shook it off by saying, "I made it." Proudly.

"Seriously? Wow I must have a bite." Riya took one bite of the chicken wings. Soon others joined it except for Shiv, who's a vegetarian in the group. Everyone complicated Lyla on her incredible cooking skills.

"You should totally teach me." Sangeeta chirped.

"Thanks everyone. I'll get you guys some more." Lyla said with a smile. Her cheeks reddened with praise.

Everyone shared their food with each other and sitting beside Yash, she felt like she should give it a chance and initiate a friendly conversation with him. "Yash, what did you do in the weekends?" She asked.

"Went to a buffet near my place. Those people were serving unlimited food in just ₹300 per person. Got all of my homies with me and had a blast." Yash narrated his food adventure that had everyone intrigued.

"Bro why didn't you tell us? We would've come there too." Saya glared at Yash.

"Too bad. They had Gulab Jamun. Laddoo, ice-cream, mutter paneer, chicken tikka, biryani, pani puri.. what else was there? Oh yes they served pasta as well."

"Stop. I'm jealous now." Riya whined.

"What's the name of the place?" Lyla asked.

"Oh it's near Goregaon West. It's called Sanskar Resto Bar."

"My father goes there sometimes with his friends. Isn't that place full of old people?" Lyla questioned as she remembered her father mentioning it.

"Damn. You stole old people food." Ronit said flatly.

"I paid for it."

"That's too sad. Poor old people."

Everyone teamed up in teasing Yash. Yash glanced at Lyla and said, "I'll take my revenge for sure." He smiled mischievously.

Lyla finished her food earlier than everyone and chimed, "Done!"

Yash turned and patted her head. "Good job. Finally done before everyone else." He followed.

Lyla froze. She looked up at him and they briefly made an eye contact. She quickly looked away, feeling her guts twisting. It felt warm and gentle.

She didn't like it though. She hasn't felt the pat on her head in a very long time. Her mind drifted to one of her cherished memories of when she was a little girl, being picky about her food. Her mother scolding her, "look at your brother eating so nicely. Eat up Lyla."

"Don't scold my baby. Lyla, eat up and be strong. We will beat your brother in wrestling." Lyla's father who looked so young and happy, no stress lines on his forehead, his face having that young boyish look, flexed his arms and encouraged Lyla.

"Yeshhh." She excitedly ate the food, eating the carrots and tomatoes as well.

"That's my girl." Her father gently rubbed her head.

The brief memory, though cherished, was a distant past and not a single feels felt attached to it. She felt numb remembering any childhood events of her life.

"Let's go for a walk!" Ronit declared and Lyla stood up quickly on her feet.

"Someone's excited to go out this time." Shiv commented.

They walked outside, sun giving out the dreadful heat and them sitting around the parking lot and talking about random subjects. The conversation floated from the meme they saw on Insta to the activity they did during weekends. Lyla joined the conversation just as she had planned.

Everyone noticed how participating Lyla was and they all seemed to invited that. They had sensed that the last time something had happened which made Lyla closed off. However, she seems fine now.

"Lyla, do you like this job?" Yash asked.

"Hasn't done any job yet to judge." Lyla jokingly responded.

"Sangeeta does lots of work these days." Jeet commented sarcastically.

"Of course bruh. The training days are over." Sangeeta said throwing her hands on the air.

"Yes she's pretty busy these days. Talking to a guy on her phone." Riya teased and everyone made a "aww" sound hearing that. Sangeeta embarrassed tried changing the topic but she couldn't.

"Tell us about him." Saya moved forward to hear.

"He used to be in my college. We never talked before but we met at a cafe this Saturday when I went out with my friends."

"Ohhh that's cute. Is he handsome? Can I see his picture?" Saya asked.

"Yes he is. Let me show you guys his instagram."

Sangeeta showed the profile of the guy named "Akshay". The guy was tall and his most post consisted of him flexing his gym body, medium built. He looked like a guy whom every girl would find attractive.

"So what's the status?" Saya wriggled her brows.

"Nothing really. We are just talking like friend." Sangeeta said, trying to hide her smile.

"Yes, a friend whom you can kiss." Riya teased.

The vibration of the group was high. It felt like many have started opening up about their personal lives. Lyla, after facing such trouble some week, she was happy to be able to enjoy the flow of conversation so easily.