"A handsome face is the devil's veil."
Dr. Abhinav Kapoor's clinic received more patients (read = female patients) due to his deliciously handsome face than actual medical conditions.
No doubt he loved his work. A LOT.
Enters Shanaya - a cynical yo...
Shanaya traced the window sill with her finger, gathering the dust on the tip. The moving images outside the taxi window wasn't appealing to her. The busy streets of this posh area angered her, these people threw her away in her worst time. It was the slums, the so called 'dirty area' that had accepted her, given her a home when she had none.
However, She couldn't deny the difficulties she faced there. The hunger growling in her empty stomach, the eyes of those lusty dogs, the verbal abuse, everything came back to her today. She had tried to lock those memories far away in her mind but he brought those out today.
Sameer.
Her best friend.
Her first love.
******
She gazed at the little piece of sky from the hole in her cottage ceiling. She considered it her own piece of sky. Like every night, she lay on her back on the tattered blanket and gazed at the bunch of stars. Her mother used to tell her that stars were home of those who leave this world. Stars were the heaven.
A small tear fell from her eyes when she remembered her parents, her family.
She bit her lip to stop the tears and tried to smile. Her parents wouldn't want her to cry, she thought.
It had been six years since that night when everyone was snatched away from her, when she had stared in her parents' eyes as they took their last breath.
She shook her head, not wanting to remember that. Her parents would want her to be happy, she reminded herself again.
A low ruffling noise outside her cottage alerted her. She grabbed the pocket knife lying beside her and approached the door slowly, thinking that drunk Munna has come to attack her again. This time she wouldn't leave him uninjured, she thought with anger.
She opened the door, aiming the knife at the intruder, ready to attack.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He screeched, raising his hands up in surrender, "it's me, Shanaya, its me. Sameer."
Her cheeks flamed red on seeing him, she was blushing hard. She cleared her throat and looked away shyly, opening the door wider for him to enter.
Sameer grinned widely and entered her small tattered home, or rather, their small tattered home as they lived together.
He plopped down on the floor as Shanaya closed the door and went to stand near him.
He grabbed her hand and tugged at it, "Sit," he told her.
Shanaya could feel her heart thudding against her chest. She felt warm all over. It was only recently that she realised her love for Sameer. They had been living together since she was eleven year old, as a result of their poverty and limited resources. He was elder than her by five years and had always protected her as best as he can. His protectiveness and his charming personality attracted her too much.
"Close your eyes, sweetheart," he told her, smiling a secretive smile.
Shanaya blushed even harder at his nickname for her. She did as he told and closed her eyes.
She felt him hold her right hand and place something paper like package on it. It was warm and a little sticky too. A smile grew on her face and she opened her eyes.
It was a small brown paper package of her favourite thing in the world: jalebis.
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She squealed loudly and instantly began to open the small pack, her mouth watering.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you sooooo much Sameer!" She laughed happily.
Sameer just laughed at her childishness adoringly.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart, you turned fifteen today!" He wished her making her smile shyly.
She then took the piping hot juicy jalebi in her hand and brought it to her mouth but stopped suddenly. She smiled and offered the first bite to Sameer.
Sameer shook his head, "No, you eat, I have eaten,"
She didn't budge as she knew that he wouldn't have eaten anything the whole day, saving money to buy her some jalebis.
It had become their small tradition since last four years. Every year on her birthday Sameer would bring her jalebis and both will talk about only happy things for that day, no sad things, no sad memories.
"It's my birthday and you have to do as I say, now eat," she told him sternly.
Sameer chuckled and took a bite from the jalebi she was offering and then took it from her hands to feed her.
As he fed her, his finger unknowingly brushed her soft lips making her shiver and bite her lip.
He saw this and froze. Awkward silence wrapped them.
It was no denying that he too loved Shanaya but he was twenty year old and she was merely fifteen year old! It was wrong for him to think about her in romantic way. But he couldn't stop himself from loving her, he just couldn't.
He cleared his throat and began to stand up, not knowing what to do.
But a soft delicate hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"Sameer..." she whispered, meeting his eyes, trying to show her love to him.
Sameer pleadingly looked at her, "No Shanaya, it's not right,"
"How can love be wrong?" She asked innocently.
Sameer didn't know what to say, he knew his feelings were wrong but who was there to scold them, to tell them anything? They both had no one in this world, only each other.
He looked at her innocent face, her beautiful eyes that had seen so much horrifying things at a very small age.
He smiled and pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her soft form, nuzzling his face into her neck, breathing her scent.
"I love you, Shanaya," he told her.
"I love you too, Sameer," Shanaya whispered.
*********
Now Shanaya knew that she was wrong.
Love can not only be wrong, it can be deceiving and manipulating too.
She gazed at her red palm and smirked, feeling a little hurt but very satisfied.
