Not "as usual"(on hold)

Maria(12)

Ridhi Caravin POV

"Why does my candy look so upset?" Rey said approaching from behind and sitting beside me. I had been waiting on the bench near the college parking lot for Rey to finish his last class for the day.

"I bunked the first hour of college and went to the hospital today. Looks like Vicky might have to use the wheel chair for another month". I explained. I wanted my bro back on the football field kicking the ball like a pro. The football team is incomplete without their captain.

"Cheer up girl. Sab won't rest till Vicky is back on two and Vicky is showing signs of improvement. Hey, by the way have you ever seen my room or met my sister?" Rey asked. "Not really. Just seen your house from the outside". i replied.

"Let's go then. My sister is dying to meet you". he said grabbing my arm and pulling me towards his car. In an instant we were on the roads. "Still worried about your bro candy?" Rey asked looking concerned and pushed his opticals higher on the bridge of his nose.How i adored this particular act of his. "A little" i replied. Ok i know that Vicky is showing signs of improvement and i know that the doctors say that he will be back to normal faster than ever but still. There was this nagging feeling inside. A month seemed just too long. The car suddenly jerked and I realized that Rey had stopped driving. "Why have you stopped? We can't have possibly reached so fast" I asked totally confused. "Wait here candy. I will be back in a minuite" he said and dissappeared without waiting for a reply. He came back as fast as he dissappeared and handed me an icecream cone. "Oh my god. Its belgium dark chocolate. How did you know that it is my favorite flavour?" i asked in excitement, my mood already lifting. "Isn't it so obvious?" he asked like I am an idiot. Is it that obvious? Meh... whatever. I want to concentrate on my icecream now. The prior gloomy occupants of my brain were slowly slipping out, delight taking its place. The effect dark chocolate has on me. Its difficult to put in words. Pure bliss would be an understatement for how I felt.

The huge timber doors to Rey's independent bunglow opened and we were welcomed by a lady in her sixties, dressed in the attire of a housekeeper.

"Rey? What got you home so early? Weren't you going to the hospital today? And who is this with you? Is it that girl you just can't stop talking about? What was her name again?" the lady shot questions after questions. "The name is Ridhi Jess. Maria was dying to meet her. Where is Maria by the way?" Rey asked entering his house and pulling me along. "All here in blood and flesh.Alive and breathing". came a cute disdain filled voice of a seven year old. Wait. Seven year old? The way Rey always speaks about his sister made me think that she is  almost our age. This was a surprise. "Princes" said Rey pecking her cheeck. "Creeper. How many times have I told you not to kiss me?" maria asked and Rey stuck his tongue out. Jeez somebody click a picture!!! He looks so cute!! "Is this that girl that you just can't stop talking about?" Maria echoed jess's words while looking at me and Rey nodded. Maria folded her hands behind her back and looked at me from head to toe and and back again from toe to head three times in succesion. Now I get exactly why Rey always speaks of her like she is nineteen. I felt like I was being assessed and tested by my boyfriend's parents for the first time. "So what do you think ?" I asked curious to know if my future sister-in-law approves of me. "pretty" said Maria. "Obvious" replied Rey. "Don't ever break her heart and treat her exactly how you would want any guy to treat me ok?" Maria warned her brother and he nodded. WOW! This is strange. Isn't she supposed to warn me and tell me not to mess with her brother? "Anyways it is my play time now. I am going to leave you two love birds alone" she said and started heading towards the door. "Isn't this such a low reaction for someone who had been dying to meet someone?" Rey called out. "Love mammals make me sick" she replied and dissapeared. Love mammals? seriously? This girl is going to proove to be a really interesting topic of research. Difficult to beleive she is just seven.

"Don't ask me anything about her. I am myself still looking for answers" Rey said when i was just about to inquire. "Let's go see my room. You know you are the ONLY person other than Maria who will ever see my room. Jess is well equipped with every inch of this huge bunglow except my room. NO ONE other than Maria is allowed inside" he continued and dragged me into his room. It was just an ordinary room with a huge king sized bed, a study table, a computer and ofcource a huge stack of books on the study table. None of those common things like a stereo or a video game that you would expect to find in a guy's room were around. One thing that caught my attention in this ordinary room was sets of drawing pencils and sketch books lying everywhere. My legs involuntarily took me to his bed where one of his scketch books was lying and my hands picked it up without permission.

The image that followed was mesmarizing. It felt like i was looking into a mirror. My face was on the paper. It was a perfect combination of strokes and lines of the most appropriate thickness and shade. Just one dull colour of the pencil was put into a million shades on the paper. Not a line out of place. I felt beautiful about myself for the first time in life. "Did you do this?" is the stupid question that came out of my mouth instead of a praise. Isn't it obvious? "You like it candy?" he asked. "I love it. Why din't you ever tell me you like scketching?" i asked. "I should have? By the way you can keep it. You know you are the first person i sketched without actually having you in front of me. Do you want to see some more of my scketches?" he asked. "I am dying to" i replied and he hurriedly dug into his closet and got a huge pile of papers out. Now that was a real number. I wonder how long had he been sketching.

Forty five minuites and I was not even half way through his collection of scketches. Each picture had been sketched to perfection. What was surprising is that there were hardly any human potraits other than a few occassional pictures of Maria or me. Each picture was different from the other. There were backdrops, sceneries and incidents depicted. There was a picture of a women in the rural areas separating rice from husk. There was a picture of a man in office sorting his files. There was a picture of two cars going in opposite directions on a cross road and there was a picture of two bears facing their back to each other. There was something strange about these pictures. Inspite of being so different from each other, there was something similar about the pictures. I don't know what but I could somehow relate every picture to the other. Knowing Rey well ofcource i wasn't going to ask him anything directly. But i knew there was a deeper meaning in every scketch. There was a hidden message. I just had to figure out what.

And then it clicked. Out of nowhere i just got my answer. I got the exact word I was looking for. The word that set all my doubts at rest. The word that made everything make sense. The word that related every picture. The word that inspite of being so distant would take me a step closer to knowing Rey.

A/N-- first of all apologies for the late update but hey...its a long chapter. And any guesses what word that is?? Vote and comment if u liked it please?