Mahika and Amoli can't stand each other, but that's not the only thing they have in common.
Mahika treats Amoli like she's childish. Amoli thinks Mahika is a stuck-up prude. But Mahika's best friend and Amoli's brother are getting married, so they c...
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˗ˏˋslow smiles and natural woes'ˎ˗
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The words 'I want to tell everyone about us' are still ringing in Amoli's ears when they're having breakfast later, and she can't bring herself to fully focus on anything because of it.
Mahika has shifted her chair closer to Sakshi so she can rest her head on her shoulder, legs pulled up and shirt siding over one shoulder to reveal the dainty dip of her collarbone as she scrolls through her phone, absentmindedly nibbling on an apple slice.
Her hair is sticking out in places from the messy bun she's put it up in, and Amoli feels that familiar itch under her skin again; the yearning to just be closer, closer, closer. She doesn't know why she didn't take this into consideration before — that it would only get harder to keep her distance once she gets a taste of the proximity, that once she gets to trace the curve of her waist, she might not be able to keep her hands to herself.
Amoli thinks about the day they went to the farm in Gaigar, and when Mahika fell asleep on her shoulder on their way back. Thinks about how it had felt back then to have Naina's knowing gaze on them in the rearview mirror; the panic, the fear, the desperation. The relief when Naina had given her the soundless acceptance that Amoli had never expected from anyone.
Thinks about what it would feel like to tell everyone else.
"Oh, wow," Mahika murmurs, breaking Amoli out of her daze. "Remember that guy from my Illustration class that did the mural outside our library?" Sakshi hums, turning her face a little to look at Mahika's phone when she holds it up. "He's getting married."
"No way," Keerti calls from the kitchen, and when she walks out to join everyone at the table, Amoli thinks she looks much more relaxed than she did a couple minutes ago. The mug of coffee between her hands may have something to do with it. "I remember him... Abish? Avnish? Something —"
"Aneesh?" Sakshi offers with an amused smile.
"Right. Him." Keerti snaps her fingers. "I remember him."
Sakshi breathes out a laugh through her nose, shaking her head even as she continues to look through the pictures Mahika is flipping through on her phone. "Sure you do."
"I do!" Keerti defends, pulling back the chair beside Amoli and plopping down on it. "I'm just... kinda bad at names. You know this."
"Mhm."
"Besides, how can I forget the guy when he followed Mahi around like a puppy?"
Amoli's fork pauses on her bowl of fruit. When she looks up, Mahika's face is scrunched up in an expression so sour, you'd think she ate something bad.
"Don't make that face. It's about time we acknowledged how many admirers you have in Uni." Amoli doesn't know what kind of face Keerti is making, because she's too busy taking in Mahika's reaction.
