Echoes of a Chance Encounter ~ A RuNak Five-Shot

Chapter 3

Misunderstandings

As the sun shined brightly in the early morning sky Aniruddh was woken up by the slow chirping of birds outside. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he got to see was Jhanak's face innocently smiling in her sleep. A smile passed on Aniruddh's face when he saw that innocent smile thinking it was a beautiful dream. He was about to run his fingers onto Jhanak's hair when all of a sudden he realized it was the reality and not a dream. He immediately got up from Jhanak's lap waking her up. He asked her, "When did I fall asleep yesterday?" Jhanak signs him, "You started dozing off while seeing the photos" He asks her, "And why didn't you wake me up when I fell onto your lap?" She signs him, "You were really tired by that time yesterday and you looked really peaceful on my lap as if you had never got such a peaceful sleep for days." Aniruddh reminisces his peaceful moments of slumber last night and realized that Jhanak was indeed right, he had never been able to sleep so peacefully as he did last night on her lap. He was surprised at that very thought and looked quizzically at Jhanak, "What connection do I have with her? What is pulling me towards her? Why do I feel so good when I am with her?" (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri...ga...ma...pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background) As Aniruddh stared dotingly into Jhanak's eyes pondering over these questions in his head, there was a sound of a door creaking. Jhanak signs to Aniruddh, "I think Shrabani Mashi has woken up, please go before she comes here." Jhanak makes Aniruddh quickly stand on his feet and runs towards her big window to open it. She signs Aniruddh to exit fast. Aniruddh climbs through the window and jumps outside but before Jhanak could close the window, he catches her hand and asks, "Listen you didn't tell me your name!! And when shall we meet next?" Jhanak was taken aback by the sudden oncoming of questions as she had never thought that Aniruddh Bose, the Aniruddh Bose would be interested to know who she was and when will they meet next." Jhanak told herself, "I'm just an ordinary girl and there would be thousands of ordinary girls like me who would be his fans, then why is that he is so keen to know who I am and when will we meet next." As Jhanak kept mulling over these things, she hears sounds of footsteps coming towards her room. She signs quickly to Aniruddh, "Today is my birthday!! Come back to my house in the evening. I will tell you everything." On saying that, she closes the window immediately. Aniruddh lets out a smile saying, "Happy birthday dear fan!" and silently leaves from there. While on the other side, Shrabani Mashi had come to Jhanak's room and affectionately hugged her saying, "Happy birthday my girl! You have turned 21 today!! Why are you still in these clothes? Go get ready fast!! Don't we have to go to the temple?" Jhanak nods compliantly. Shrabani Mashi pats on her cheek and leaves from there. After Shrabani Mashi leaves the room, Jhanak slowly opened the window and looked outside. Aniruddh was already gone however Jhanak blushed reminiscing the moment he caught her hand and asked who she was and when they would meet next?" (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri...ga...ma...pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background) Does that mean Aniruddh Bose is interested in me?

Aniruddh's residence

Aniruddh sneaks inside cautiously wearing a cap and a mask. He always kept safety measures with him in his blazer and pocket to hide from the public. Right then, someone catches his shoulder. Aniruddh jerks in fear and was relieved to find it was Ravi Dada. Ravi asks him, "Sir, where had you been last night? I searched for you everywhere but could not find you." Aniruddh smiles reminiscing meeting Jhanak and spending those cute moments with her last night. Ravi Dada notices the smile on his face and asks him, "Sir, you are smiling? Then, surely there is something good which happened last night. What is it, Sir? Tell me!!" Aniruddh smiled blushingly and said, "Last night was an adventure Ravi Dada, a very sweet adventure." Aniruddh was like a son for Ravi and when he saw that, Aniruddh was really cheerful about something, he felt really happy about it and wanted to know the reason. He asks Aniruddh, "Tell me about your sweet adventure Sir" Just at that time, Ravi's phone beeps signaling receiving of a message. Aniruddh did not have his phone with him because last night when he went out of the car to talk to Arshi Mukherjee, he had left his phone in the car and could not take it as he was on the run. Ravi opens his phone to see the message and was shocked on seeing it. Aniruddh sees his shocked expression and asks him, "What is the matter Dada?" Ravi looks on.