Shrishti Reborn

Chapter 74. Good evening, bad night

'So what happened today?', Raghav asked.

Shrishti looked at him with confusion. She was too lost in being giddy that she was enjoying tea with her beloved Raghav. She could not remember what he was talking about.

Raghav looked amused. 'I am asking about today.'

'What about today?'

'What happened today?'

'Did something happen?'

Raghav sighed before looking at her fondly. 'Pari. Why did Arpit call me this noon and told me to come and spend time with you? What happened?'

'Oh. That!' Shrishti slapped her forehead. She had forgotten about that.

'You forgot already?'

'Of course. You were with me. Who remembers irrelevant things?'

Raghav looked at her with wide eyes.

She frowned. 'What?'

He then chuckled. 'And you tell me, I am a flirt. Who is flirting now?'

She lobbed back his own words at him. 'I am not flirting. I am stating the truth.'

She was amused to see his ears turn red as he looked away. He was blushing. How cute!

She sighed and became serious. She turned sideways so that she was facing him full body, her one knee folded under her. He was still staring straight and looking away from her.

'I am serious, Raghav.', she said, 'There is a reason Arpit called you. He knew very well that you would help me forget about what happened and make me feel better.'

Raghav swallowed but still did not look at her. She grabbed him by his chin and made him look at her. She smiled at him. 'You mean that much to me. And I know, it is too intense. I fell too fast, one might say. One might say, I am going fast too. But this is how I feel. I can forget my woes as long as you are around.'

He took a sharp breath at those words. He grabbed the hand holding her chin and intertwined their fingers. 'It is not too fast. Feelings cannot be measured, Pari. Fast or slow, feelings do not have a standard tempo. Sometimes things just click and you get from meeting to marriage in few months and sometimes people get attracted and love slowly builds up and they take their time to get to the marriage mandap.' He shrugged.

She looked at him with surprise. She did not expect him to be so wise. But then why was she even surprised? This was Raghav. He had been mature for his age since they were kids. She tilted her head as she smiled at him. 'How are you so wise?', she teased him.

He replied in a deadpan voice, 'I read books.'

She stared at him. He stared back. And then both broke down laughing.

As Shrishti laughed, she noticed that Raghav was still holding her hand. She could not help but smile as she lifted the joined hands and kissed the back of his palm impulsively. She realised what she did only after she did it. She froze while Raghav gasped. She bit her lip. Was she being too much? No, she wasn't. Raghav said so. She sneakily looked at him. He was looking at her fondly. She ducked her head feeling shy.

Raghav then let go of her hand and moved away, removing the tension from the room. She did not even realise there was a strange tension in the air till he moved away. She felt simultaneously relieved and yet disappointed. Why let go of her hand?

Shrishti sighed. 'You still want to know what happened in college?'

He nodded.

She began to tell him by starting with Ronnie's words. As she spoke, she kept her eyes on Raghav. She did not want to hurt him. Also, she did not want him to have any idea that she still liked Sharad. But Raghav did not show any negative emotions. He listened to her with concentration. Only after she finished the tale with Pratik taking Ronnie away that Raghav frowned. Shrishti suddenly felt nervous. She hoped that he did not believe in Ronnie's words.