Happy new year to all my lovely readers🎉
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***
When shivansh, the kid Mukti met on Dhruv's door, said the keys are in the flowerpot, she had not expected it to be literally IN the flower pot.
"Just what do you think is in your house Mr Rajput that you had to resort to such level of security," she muttered as she opened the lock with her mud stained hands.
The lights were on and the apartment wasn't anything flashy.
The doorway led to a living room, an open kitchen to it's right, and a balcony next to it, sealed with a glass door that spared ample light into the living area.
She realised that the feline was nowhere in sight, and her hands were still covered in topsoil from the flowerpot. After scanning the surroundings for any signs of pista, she made her way towards what seemed to be his bedroom. The door was ajar, and there was barely any light in the room.
"pista" she whispered, plucking her head in.
"pistaa, wait. why am I whispering? PISTA."
"mewww"
"don't tell me.."
"Mew, mew"
"pista, baby, come here."
She cooed gently as the feline started to crawl out from underneath the bed.
She turned on the light with the back of her keys and the baby came running to her. Much like their first encounter, the furball had almost fused herself with mukti's pants refusing to let go.
after multiple attempts to distract pista she finally got the time to wash her hands when the little devil's interest was shifted to her bag kept in the living room.
There was only bathroom in the apartment- attached to dhruv's room for obvious reasons- so she had no choice but to use that. the bathroom's door opened to face a mirror on the wall, and a few toliletries beside the sink.
As she bent down to reach the handwash, she realised that her face wasn't spared of the earth either. after much contemplation, she reluctantly opened the cupboard below the sink. She hated to invade his privacy but mukti had a sensitive skin- which meant that her skin would break into rashes if she didn't clean her face thoroughly soon enough.
She came out into the living room soon after. only to find the little devil doing laps around the sofa at a dangerously fast speed.
"HEY!"
Mukti ran after pista, fearing she might hurt herself, but her attempt to rescue the kitten of her own madness was unsuccessful mostly. until she tried a new approach.
she huffed aloud and fell on the couch with a thud, pretending to give up. Pista stopped her marathon run to look over at mukti and after analysing the situation for a while, the feline came onto the sofa to join in. She settled in mukti's lap and yawned out of exhaustion, giving in to sleep.
she'll probably continue to run in her dreams too. mukti chuckled at the image.
The pretend nap soon started to feel a lot more real as her eyelids grew heavy with time, and like rain, ever so slowly, she fell into the void of sleep as well.
***
The sky was almost dark by the time she woke up. Her surroundings had a lot less light, with no feline, or human, in sight.
"Just how long did I sleep for?"
"7 hours."
She heard a voice from somewhere in the back. Dhruv's room.
Turning back, she saw him leaning on the doorway, with a half folded shirt hanging by his forearms, and a hint of a smile.
"Good morning," he said.
I didn't sleep that long, did I?
She felt around the couch for her phone. she found it by the foot of the couch a while later.
It displayed 7 PM.
She looked at phone, then the shirt in his hands, and his smiling face.
"I- uh- I was just doing the laundry in the meantime. You looked like, you could use some sleep."
"Oh."
They were looking anywhere but at each other to not make it more awkward than it already was.
"You- You must be hungry.."
"who?" her anxiety spoke.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Wh- you. You're not hungry?"
"No. Not at all."
Her stomach protested with a loud noise. Her face was heated up in emabarresment.
Stupid, stupid body.
"I'll heat the food," He offered.
"Ye-Yeah. I'll just use your washroom for a while."
"Sure."
She scurried off into his room, crying inside at her pathetic timings.
why? why? whyyy?
you just love to tease me, don't you?
She glared at the ceiling in an attempt to scold the guardian angel or god currently watching her. Whoever was supervising her must be having the time of their lives.
After freshening up, and collecting whatever was left of her dignity, she stepped out of his room lightly.
His apartment seemed to have a different ambience.
The warm light from his room lit the living room in a soft, quiet way, as if to not disturb the delicate flow of time itself. The sun had just set. A subtle aroma was wafting from the kitchen, all the way back to where stood mukti.
This was the kind of moment she had dreamt of when she left her family for samarth.
She looked at dhruv, who was reheating the food and then at pista, who was demanding to be sat on the countertop while biting down on his pants non-stop.
She realised she had been smiling.
No, her smile faltered.
This- It's not what I'm supposed to be doing right now.
She took a deep breath and walked up to the couch in the living room, picking up her bag, she was about to reach for the car keys when she noticed dhruv looking over from the kitchen with a puzzled expression.
"I-" She pinched her nosebridge to get her emotions in control.
"I should leave now."
Dhruv's confused expression changed to something like disappointment at her declaration.
"Why don't you have something first?"
"I have something important to attend to," she explained.
"I mean, pista would like it if you stayed.."
The silence streched as they looked at each other, trying to understand what the other is thinking.
"Uh-hm. Next time?" She said a while later.
He nodded in understanding.
She collected her belongings and walked out, with no destination in mind.
She didn't have the heart to go back home, especially not after the kind of day she had had. So she ended up crashing her own office, on weekend.
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Reborn (Releasing January 2024)
Fantasy"Sometimes I feel like a doll. Breaking inside, piece by piece. Cursed for its beauty" For every prayer she sent, she only got misery. She lived her life resenting her family and fate. One day she discovers that her misery was not determined by fate...
