Ishqana Dil

Part 29

"Amaya? Tum ab tak taiyaar nahin huyi? Aren't you coming shopping with me?"

Her eyes opened wide as she suddenly remembered she had told her aunt she would accompany her in the evening. Now, she heavily regretted doing that. How could she go? Her heart had bound her to her house because... because he was there and she could not just leave, could she? Amaya jumped on the first excuse that came to her mind. She raised her hand to rub her temple.

"Voh Mamiji... I am not feeling well, my head is hurting. I think I'll stay home and rest a bit."

Dimple's face fell in disappointment but she patted her on the shoulder nonetheless. "It's okay. Mummyiji is coming with me, na. We will be fine. You rest, okay?"

She nodded and watched her grandmother and aunt go, then turned around with a sigh. Her eyes fell on Mantu, who was perched on top of the ladder, a roll of tape between his lips, as he stuck a string of fairy lights in place. She sighed, her shoulders dipping in defeat. She was going to die because of him and soon.

Just then, Rano called out something, a question maybe, and Mantu opened his mouth to reply but he had probably forgotten he was holding the tape there. It fell to the ground and rolled, stopping just a few feet away from her. She picked it up. He was frowning at her but she ignored it and threw it back at him. Her brain came up with some rather innovative curses when he caught it perfectly in one hand, without batting an eye. How exactly could he do that? He had not even been ready for it, she knew it. Had it been her, she would have cringed and missed the roll of tape or worse, fallen off the ladder and broken herself a few bones.

But of course, being at this level of perfection did not satisfy him. Mantu threw the roll on the ground, on purpose this time, and she looked at him with puzzlement. He climbed down the ladder, scowled at her, picked the tape up, scowled at her again and went back up. She felt her lips curl with distaste of their own accord. Well, good for him. The next time he needed any sort of help, he just had to ask. She would slam a door on his cute pointy little nose.

***

She thinned her lips into a tight line and looked at a random wall with as much indifference as she could muster. Who would have thought it would be so difficult? When he turned away to turn the switch on, she cast a look at him. He was awfully hesitant, she remarked. She knew he had not been able to check the lighting himself first but she trusted him to have done a good job. A little smile pulled at her lips. After all, he was perfect, wasn't he?

She gave Rudra a dirty look, still. He had dragged everyone out the moment Mantu and his friends had finished putting the lights up, without even giving them the time to see if everything was good. She swore, if the opportunity arose to make this asshole pay, she definitely would! Mantu flicked the switch but they remained in darkness. He looked around and she felt his panic rise in her too. What had gone wrong? Already, her Nanaji and Rudra were condemning Mantu for his work and she balled her hands into fists to stop herself from saying anything. They finally agreed to give Mantu another ten minutes. And Gajanand Chaubey made sure to precise that he was not going to allow one second over the ten minutes.

Mantu and his friends split up at once to check all the connections. Amaya bit her lip. No one had thought of going upstairs? She knew there were a few connections upstairs too. Without anyone else noticing, she eclipsed herself and started checking the new lines that had been added. She found it behind a chest of drawers: someone had cut a length of wire off and opened the circuit. That's why the lights had not lit up.

Amaya went cold. She had to tell Mantu. But how? He was still angry at her and it seemed as if there would be no truce for some time now... His self-esteem or whatever would take a blow if she found the fault and pointed it out. Her hands ran through her hair with her rising panic. She had to do something, somehow! A bulb went on unexpectedly in her brain and she smiled, running for her room. She grabbed her charger and a pair of scissors. Hopefully, they would to the work.