Ishqana Dil

Part 12

"Phone baj raha hai tumhaara!" he shouted.

"Toh uthaalo na!" she shouted back.

His jaw fell open at her audacity but at the same time, his lips were fighting to make him smile. Of course the smile won in the end. He looked down at her phone again. It was not a number she had saved...

"Hello," he answered awkwardly. Thankfully it was only the bank, trying to sell some useless deal to her which he politely decline. When he hung up though, his eyes widened with shock. The picture gallery had been open on the device, possibly since before he had answered it, and there was a picture of him there. He didn't even know when she had taken it! He just gaped, wondering, and suddenly a hand snatched the phone out of his grip.

"I gave you the right to answer the call, not to dig around."

He looked up to find Amaya watching him sternly as she locked her phone. Heat crawled up his cheeks. "Oh Madam! I am not interested in searching your phone, okay? That was open already, so you should be more careful. But why did you have a picture of me-"

"That was not you!" she protested, looking away as she blushed violently.

"Kardi na wohi wali baat?" he narrowed his eyes. "You think I would not recognise myself?" Mahadev, his heart was beating so fast it was painfully difficult for him to speak correctly, but he willed himself to. Did she have the same feelings for him? Was that why she had a picture of him on her phone? She just had to say it once, Mahadev... She just had to give him one hint... "Tell me, Amaya, why do have a photo of me?"

She grimaced, reddening even more. "I cannot tell you that, Mantu! You are not supposed to know!"

He was feeling dizzy now. There were too many emotions. He had never even thought he could be capable of feeling this way... "Amaya." He stared at her until she looked back, and her composure broke. She had the most miserable look on her face.

"Ughh, fine! Come here!" she hissed and caught his wrist to drag him the farthest possible from the room where Chiklu and Jazz were studying. His heart almost jumped out of his chest. "Don't say a word about this to Chiklu or he is going to kill me, okay?" she whispered. "Last week, you remember when Chiklu was home before us and you saw him and me talking but we didn't tell you about what?" He gulped and nodded. Amaya bit her lip and looked away. "Well, Chiklu told me that your birthdays, his and yours, are on the same day and it's coming soon and he wanted to plan a little party for you, so he needed my help. So, I agreed and this," she pointed at her phone, "was supposed to be your gift, you duffer!"

He looked at her, completely baffled. "What?"

She nodded hastily. "But don't mention any of this again. Pretend like this conversation never happened! I just told you so that you don't get the wrong idea," she stammered her explanation at him.

Mantu could still not understand... Chiklu had told Amaya about their birthdays? That little monster, how could he...? He felt like shaking his younger brother-

"Don't get angry at Chiklu for telling me! I should be angry at you for not telling me! Mantu, you will not mention this again, promise me!"

He gazed at her in wonder. How did she know? His own brain was not functioning well enough to react properly and she had already read his mind. He smiled at her. "Achha, theek hai... I will forget everything about this... But, Amaya... why are you going to give me that photo as a gift?"

She laughed. "Not just this one. I have been collecting them for the past few days." His eyes widened, making her giggle. "Every time you are not looking, I try to take a picture. It's fun. Well, now that you know, it makes my work more difficult but Amaya Mathur likes a challenge."