Little girl's wild side

Chapter 10

It's been two weeks since Gautham and Sindhu went on the bike ride. Sindhu had been caught up with work after that so they hadn't met after that. They barely talked except for a few text messages here and there. It's been driving Gautham crazy. It didn't sit well with him the fact he can't see her. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. So he popped at her office on Saturday. Its past 8 pm and she was still busy with some papers. One of her staffs let him in. Gautham was now sitting in her office watching her work. Her brows frowned in concentration. She kept flipping some pages in a file and crosschecked it on the laptop. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't even realize him staring at her the whole time. But Gautham didn't mind. He liked to observe her work.

Sindhu was finally done with her work at 9.30pm. She quickly shut down her systems and arranged her files and looked up at Gautham only to find him nodding off on her office couch. His head kept swaying sideways every few minutes. Sindhu had a sudden urge. Her eyes turned mischievous. She quickly took out her kajal and went near Gautham. When she was just about to draw on his face, he caught her hands and glared at her. Sindhu pouted in disappointment. Gautham just pinched her cheeks and asked, "Are you done with your work??"

"Yes", Sindhu said rubbing her cheeks and glared at Gautham. She went back to her desk, put her kajal in her bag and collected her car keys and turned to leave. Gautham followed suit.

Sindhu was still disappointed that Gautham woke up. Looking at her sulking face, Gautham let out a chuckle and went near her ears and said in a teasing voice," I am a very light sleeper, just so you know for future reference." And then ruffled her hairs and took her hands in his and started dragging her towards the parking lot. Sindhu slightly froze when she felt his breath near her ears. She was surprised by the closeness and the flirtatious voice. But she didn't think much about it and followed him.

"I am hungry", Sindhu whined as soon as they were out of her office.

"Where do you want to eat??? My treat.", Gautham asked.

"I don't really care where. But can we have a takeaway. I am staying at my apartment today so we can take it there and eat. I am really beat. I don't have the energy to put up with the crowd. Especially given today is Saturday. All the spaces will be packed.", Sindhu said.

Gautham simply said, "Okay." and put his arms around Sindhu and let her lean on his shoulders.

                                             ...........................................................

After an hour, Sindhu and Gautham were now sitting on top of the water tank in her apartment. Chilling wind, Dead silence, black sky surrounded them and the whole city was spread out in front of them like a carpet.

Sindhu sat there hugging her knees and stared blankly lost in her thoughts. And Gautham was starring at Sindhu. There were a couple of pizza boxes and Coke bottles littered around them.

Gautham finally broke the silence and asked, "What are you thinking??" running his hands through her hairs.

Sindhu came out of her thoughts and shifted to face him. She did not reply straight away but said after a while, "I don't know actually. I am just trying to make sense of things I guess." and after a pause, she asked Gautham, "Why did you agree to marry me??? I mean there are better choices out there. And before you think I am degrading myself, I am not. But then you can't deny the obvious disadvantages that come along with me."

Gautham kept staring at Sindhu intently and then said after a while, "In all honesty, even I don't know why. I just know that if I had to share my life with someone and if it's you, it won't be so bad. I can't sit here and say 'I am head over heels for you' or that 'you are perfect for me'. Maybe you are perfect for me, but I don't know that as of now. All I know as of now is I am drawn to you in a way I don't know how to reason or explain. It drives me crazy how attached I got to you in such a short span of time."

"I know it doesn't really answer your question nor does it make a hell of a lot of sense but then I got a headache trying to make sense of it. So I decided to take up on my mom's advice and take a leap of faith." Gautham finished with utmost sincerity in his face.

"Did you not think about what would happen if I... I...", Sindhu couldn't finish her sentence. She just hung her head down meekly and stayed quiet.

Gautham scooted beside her and put his arms around her and rubbed her arms gently and said, "Hey... I know you're scared. But that's exactly why I am not worried. Because you know the seriousness of your condition and you seem to have been able to keep it under control on your own for so long. I don't know what you've been through or what you did but you don't have to doubt your every feeling and decision because of it."

Sindhu listened attentively but then stayed quiet for a long time. She just leaned on Gautham's shoulder and Gautham just let her be.

After what seemed like hours Sindhu finally spoke, "I am trying... I am trying not to doubt myself... but it's just so hard." Sindhu paused and shifted her head to look straight into Gautham with clear vulnerable eyes and asked, "Is it really okay to trust myself again??"

Looking at Sindhu, Gautham's breath got stuck at his throats. At that moment Sindhu did not look anything like a 27-year-old girl who confidently runs an office by herself. She looked like a little girl asking her parents whether she can accept candies from a stranger.

At that moment, Sindhu looked as if she will believe anything Gautham says. And that almost brought him to his knees. Her trust in him humbled him.

Gautham simple brought her into his embrace and said, "You can." Sindhu simply buried her face on his shoulders and relaxed. After such a long time she felt as if she can breathe again. The relief she felt at that moment almost left her faint.

After a while Sindhu let out a yawn and her eyes started drooping. And she looked absolutely adorable to Gautham.

Gautham brought her closer to him and said, "Come on. Let's get you to bed." And then he pulled her up with him.

Sindhu lazily leaned on his shoulders all the way to her apartment.

Once outside the apartment Sindhu reluctantly let go of Gautham. She already missed his warmth. She looked like someone had snatched her cookies.

Gautham let out a chuckle seeing her expression and just ruffled her hairs and said," Come on. Go on inside and get some sleep. Its late."

Sindhu just nodded her head very obediently and said," Good night." Sindhu let out a big ass yawn one more time and it looked as if it took a lot of effort to just keep her eyes open. She kept rubbing her eyes to keep herself awake. In short she looked like an adorable kid.

Gautham couldn't resist anymore and pulled Sindhu into a hug. He circled one hand around her waists and the other hand he held her head against his chests securely.

Sindhu was surprised but she did not push him away but instead circled her hands around him and snuggled more into his embrace. For some reason she felt safe in his arms.

Gautham bend down to bury his head on Sindhu's shoulders and said, " Will you say 'Yes' already!"

What surprised Sindhu was the tinch of desperation in his voice.

How did Gautham end up feeling so much for her in a matter of a month???

Even Gautham did not know how desperate he was to make her his. Just now when he saw Sindhu make such adorable face, he felt something break inside him at the thought that she will be showing such faces to someone else if she ended up marrying someone else.

"Its driving me crazy you know. The things that you are making me feel.", Gautham said with a slightly annoyed voice.

Sindhu did not say anything. She just tightened her hold around him and stayed in his embrace.

After a while, Gautham finally let her go. He took one last look at her face, quickly said his bye and left. He feared if he stayed any longer, he would start begging her.