LOST

11. SAPNA

~ Sapna ~ 

24th day of May arrived sooner than I wanted it to. Twenty-three years back, I was born on the same day, bringing rejoice to the family. Little did they know, I would turn into a maniac when I grew up.

I liked my birthday. Who didn't?

I just wanted it to be my day.

A day when I could escape from reality. Spend time with my own self. Explore.

But that was something I couldn't do as long as I lived in this house.

My parents never left me alone on my birthday. Earlier they asked me to skip school or college, and now they asked me to take a day off work. Every year, Ma would cook delicious food; Daddy would get me a gift or two, and Nanu would arrange a cake and lots of chocolates. It was always the four of us.

This year would be different though. We had guests; people I wasn't yet easy around.

I decided to earn myself whatever little unaccompanied time I could spare. Because I couldn't sleep, I had a few hours to myself. The difficult part was to sneak into my room without waking Rishi and Aadi up. Since we had only four rooms of which the guest room was taken up by Dheereaj Uncle and Bhumi Aunty and Ma didn't want the guys to sleep on the living room couch and Nanu wouldn't budge when we tried trying to convince him to sleep in my room, I had to move into Nanu's room.

I quietly entered my room, making sure not to look at the guys sleeping. I envied people who slept peacefully. I walked across the room and held the knob of the door which led to my Cabin. Nevertheless, I forced myself to glance at both the guys. They were sprawled out on my bed, lost in sleep.

I gulped and went out.

I sat on the swing, put my earplugs on and zoned out.

"Why are you yawning?" She asked him.

"To check if you're staring at me. Yawning is contagious, you see," he smirked.

Dark brown eyes. Contagious smile.

That was all she thought about every day. She woke up every morning with the idea of spending time with him. He made her world better.

"I would stare at you for a lifetime and it wouldn't feel enough."

Long black hair. Chubby cheeks. Softest skin.

He knew she was her life the moment his eyes landed on her beautiful face. He couldn't imagine a day without her. She was his world.

"In that case, I wouldn't mind faking yawns for as long as your eyes are set on me."

They were in Love. Or that's what people would call it.

For them, it was just the innocent feeling of liking each other to the extent that they saw no one else.

They were so Lost in each other.

A fierce shake on my arm woke me up. I hadn't realized that I had dozed off. I stared at the dark figure standing behind me. Aadi smiled down at me lazily. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," I shrugged.

He narrowed his eyes at me, bending his face to the side. I couldn't see him clearly. It was still dark outside and the only source of light was the lamp lit in the room, which he blocked with his huge self.