Snapshots

Day-off

I was sitting in my classroom, grading some mid-term papers for my 12th grade students one Saturday morning, when Ritwika, our receptionist, poked her head in at the door.

"There's someone here to see you Deepika", she chirped.

I raised my eyebrows at that. It was a slow phase in the school year, no big exams or anything, and classes on Saturday were just a formality anyway, so I wasn't expecting anyone.

"Let them in", I told her, thinking it was probably a parent worrying over their child's poor performance.

Ritwika grinned, and winked at me rogueishly before shutting the door behind her, confusing me even further.

Shortly, there was a knock on my door.

"Come in", I called.

The door swung open, and I gaped at the person standing on the other side.

"You?!" I exclaimed. "B-but how? I thought you were supposed to be in Chennai!"

Virat chuckled lightly, as I got up from my desk and ran into his open arms.

"What?" he said, tweaking my nose. "I take out time from my crazy shcedule to come see my best girl and this is how she reacts?"

"Don't get me wrong", I said, leading him by his hand to my chair. I pushed him down on it. He pulled me on his lap. "I'm extremely glad you're here. But you aren't going to get in trouble for doing this, right?"

"This is the problem with you teachers, you know?" Virat said, with mock exasperation. "You always have to do everything by the rules. It's healthy to break them sometimes."

I gave him a look.

"Okay fine", he sighed. "I had today off as the Mumbai test ended earlier than expected. So I thought I'd utilize it. And here I am!"

"So you're here for the whole day!" I shrieked.

"Yep."

"Nowhere else to be? No photoshoots, meet and greets, or ad makings?"

"Not at all."

"No one to meet up with?"

"Apart from you, none. I'm effectively yours for the whole day."

"YAY!" I cheered, making him laugh.

Then, a thought occurred to me. "Wait", I said. "Does that mean you'll be here, in the school with me?"

"That's the plan", Virat affirmed. "Unless you don't want me to?"

"Trust me, I'd like nothing better", I said. "But I'm afraid you can't stay hidden from the kids the whole day, and they'll absolutely mob you if they get to know you are here."

"Oh please", Virat scoffed against my neck. "I'm not afraid of a few kids. It's the adults that scare me. Kids are fun!"

I raised my eyebrow. "Adults scare you, huh Kohli? Would that include me as well? Do I scare you?"

Virat smirked. "I said adults Piku. So obviously, you don't!"

I gave him my most menacing glare. The man had the audacity to laugh! "You know", he informed me, snickering. "You look like a cute kitten when you do that."

I sighed, muttering, "If only he wasn't my husband", under my breath.

"Oh!" I said suddenly, as I had an idea. "I know exactly what you could be doing today."

"You do?" he asked. "And what is that?"

"The kids have their sports practise today for a couple of hours. I was thinking I could negotiate with the principal to convert the whole day into one, and you could join them. They'd totally love it!"