Almost Love (ON HOLD)

CHAPTER 3

It was diwali and Meera wasn't even surprised at how quick this week went by.

It was the same every year, before diwali there was always too much to do. Gifts to buy, new clothes, decorations and diyas. No one could ever take notice of time flying by untill it was the day.

Meera woke up early that day to help ma make the delicacies and pack the gifts. At around noon, everyone got ready.

"You look beautiful Meera," her mother complimented her. "Aman's friends may come after the puja and your father and i may be gone for exchanging gifts, so you must welcome them all."

"Okay ma."

Time flew by and in the evening soon after her parents had gone, the bell rang.

"Meera, get the door!" yelled Aman from his room.

Meera ran to the door and welcomed his friends. Raj, Arjun and Vishesh came and all of them wished Meera politely. She wished them back and off they went to Aman's room.

She was closing the door but a hand stopped her. She opened the door to look who it was, and in all his glory stood Kabir.

"Hi," he said with a smile and got inside and then Meera closed the door.

"Hi," she replied, and then smiled. She felt Kabir's eyes on her so she looked down and felt herself blushing.

Kabir recognised her outfit at once, it was the lahenga he chose. He felt proud of his choice right then, the lahenga looked beautiful and more so, so did Meera.

Meera caught his eye and it felt to her that time stopped. Their eyes held contact and both of them were suddenly more aware of the opposite gender.

Meera fumbled with her dupatta and wiped her sweaty palms on her behind. Kabir too, looked everywhere but her. He was embarassed that he looked at her like that. He had never liked any girl in such a way, he had never been attracted to any girl with such an intensity that it felt like something could burn.

She was definitely something, he thought. She was his best friend's sister and he had always thought of her as that only, but now it was different.

It felt different.

He thought about how she transformed from just his best friend's sister to a little crush, but he couldn't point his finger on the exact moment it happened.

"I'm going to Aman's room," he said, hoping just a tiny bit that she'll talk to him so he'd instead stay there but since she didn't, he walked on to his best friend's room.

After a while, the boys came down to burn some crackers. Typical bad boys, thought Meera but instantly put on her smile back on her face and followed them. She was the good girl, you know.

"Burn that one!" Someone yelled and the crackers were burnt.

Meera sat on the verandah steps and sighed, looking longingly at everyone else burning the crackers.

She smiled and giggled at their antics.

"Kabir, someone called for you!," yelled someone from inside, and Kabir hurried up the steps past Meera, while giving her a quick smile.

And Meera's heart instantly swelled! She felt her heartbeat quicken and she looked down, blushing.

She heard a voice talking feverishly on the phone and then silence.

What happened?

She waited a few minutes to see if Kabir would come out but he didn't. So noticing that the rest of the boys were busy and didn't notice that Kabir was gone, she quietly got up and went inside the house.