Little girl's wild side

Chapter 14

Sindhu and Gautham were in the art room. Music was blaring throughout the room. Sindhu was extremely preoccupied. Her mind was going chaotic. Everything Gautham said kept playing over and over again on her head like an old record. She did not even know where to start thinking. Even then her hands were dancing around the canvas so elegantly. It almost looked like she was playing with the colors but the effect was almost mindblowing.

Gautham was watching all these from one corner of the room completely mesmerized. He had a book on his hands that he barely read.

Both were brought out from their own worlds when Sindhu's phone rang. Sindhu lazily took out her phone but a bright smile played on her face when she saw Steve's name on it. She stopped the music and picked the call.

"Hello, champ. How have you been?? I missed you so much." Sindhu said excitedly on the phone.

"...", Steve did not reply but made a sulking face.

"Now, why are you sulking??" Sindhu asked.

"You know why?? You called the old man but completely forgot about me. The nerve of the old man, he even called me early in the morning just to brag about it.", Steve said pouting like a child.

"Hahaha..." Sindhu let out a hearty laugh at the childishness of the father-son duo.

"You don't get laugh di. I am hurt." Steve acted pitifully.

"Overdramatic much!" Sindhu said rolling her eyes.

"Anyways where are you???? Can you come to your apartment??? I will be arriving in Chennai in about 2 hrs. I thought we could meet up and you can let me stay at your apartment. And maybe even meet my future brother-in-law. I still have to give him that 'If you hurt my sis, I will have your head' speech." Steve said in one breath without giving Sindhu any chance to reply.

"Hey, kid. Take a breath before you faint. Anyways I am at the apartment. You can come here straight. And buy all the necessary things for whatever you want me to cook for you. And don't worry. Gautham is here. So you can give him whatever speech you want to. But why are you coming to Chennai anyways??" Sindhu asked.

"What??? I am seriously getting a brother-in-law??? I thought the old man was just pulling my legs yesterday. Congrats sis." Steve said in an excited voice. "Anyways I am coming over for a seminar there. I will be in Chennai for two weeks. Okay bye. See you in a few." Steve hung up before Sindhu could utter anything else.

Sindhu shrugged and kept her phone aside, that's when she noticed Gautham was giving him a curious look.

"Don't worry. You will know when you see him. He is a friend from Bangalore. More like a little brother to me. Now come on. We will go and buy some provisions for dinner." Sindhu said gesturing Gautham to follow him.

"But you asked your friend to buy them right???", Gautham asked but followed her.

"I know Steve. He will not be getting even a water bottle. That lazy ass will forget all about it and he will even have the nerve to show a guilt-ridden face. Hey, wait. In all the excitement I forgot to ask you, are you actually free today?? If you have somewhere to be, you can leave." Sindhu said.

"Don't worry I am free today" Gautham reassured her.

Thus both went out to buy the necessaries for dinner.

In the afternoon, when the bell rang, Sindhu jumped up from her place and went to open the door. When she opened the door, there stood Steve in all his glory.

He was tall with a fair complex. His eyes were blue and piercing. He was slim but looked fit. His hairs were unkempt but short. He had a wide grin plastered on his face and both his arms extended on both sides.

Sindhu immediately flung herself on him and hugged Steve in a vigor. Steve lifted her off his feet and circled around with Sindhu still in his arms.

"I missed you so much di. Its soo good to see you. God, I missed you.", Steve said still hugging her tightly. Steve let go of Sindhu only when he heard someone cough. Steve carefully placed Sindhu back at her feet and turned to the source of the voice. "And you are??", Steve asked in a stern, authoritative voice.

Sindhu simple hit Steve at the back of his head and said, "Don't be rude. Gautham, this is Steve. And Steve you better behave yourself. Or else you are going to be starved this whole week." Sindhu said with a sinister smile on her face.

"Sis, this is not fair. I did not even do anything." Steve complained rubbing his hands over his head where Sindhu just hit.

Sindhu simple ruffled Steve's hairs and said, "Come on in. I have to start with dinner before your stomach starts grumbling"

Once inside Sindhu went straight into the kitchen leaving Gautham and Steve to tend for themselves. Gautham was initially jealous of Steve but then when he thought about it, he was happy that Sindhu had someone she could depend on when she was at her worst. And looking at Steve and the way he glared at him showed how protective he was of Sindhu. And he found that the easy-going relationship they both had to be quite adorable.

Gautham eyes followed Sindhu's every move with a soft expression on his face. When Steve saw this, he felt rest assured. When he first heard about Gautham from his pops, he had already done a thorough background on the guy before coming to Chennai. And when he called Gautham brother-in-law, it was simple to rile Sindhu up. But he was very surprised when Sindhu did not react. So he concluded that Sindhu has deeper feelings than he had imagined. And that she trusted him enough to let herself feel around him.

Sindhu might not trust herself, but Steve trusted her completely. There were only two people he had at most respected and one was his pops and other was Sindhu. So when he saw Gautham's expression and the way he looked at Sindhu, he knew Sindhu's feelings were reciprocated. They may be even deeper than Sindhu's.

"You love her, don't you??", Steve asked Gautham out of the blue.

Gautham turned towards Steve and said, "Most probably. I mean... I have not built up the courage to admit it fully. More than that, I feel like if I told Sindhu this, she will run away from me before I could even comprehend what was happening."

Steve let out a chuckle and said," She most definitely will. No doubt,"

Gautham hung his head down dejected at his reply.

"You don't have to look so down. She likes you. She probably likes you a lot more than you can imagine. While on the phone, I called you future brother-in-law and she did not even refute which means, she is seriously considering marrying you." Steve said consoling Gautham and it worked like a charm. Gautham even beamed at Steve with a goofy grin.

After a long pause, Steve said, "You know this is not the Sindhu I met. She was the wildest person I have ever seen. When I first met her, she behaved as if she had been let out of her leash. The way she behaved, it was like she was breathing for the very first time. The way she is now, it's like she is suffocating all over again."

"I mean she let a drunken old man stay at her place for the night after a two-hour conversation in a night club without even knowing his name. That's how carefree she was." Steve finished laughing out loud thinking about his dad's and Sindhu's first meeting.

Steve sobered up and said in a most solemn voice "Don't hurt her. It's going to take a lot of time for her to actually open up to you. I have known her for two years now, she still won't actually open up to me. She will babble on and on about all the insignificant nothings but when it came to her feelings- her mouth was always sealed shut. That was before her drinking problem started. After that accident, she stopped even that. If you are not patient enough or determined enough, leave her be. I don't want to see her fall into an abyss all over again."

"I know. I am not giving up any time soon.", Gautham said with at most determination in his voice.

Gautham saw that Steve's whole 12 years old behavior was a facade. He did not know why Steve behaved the way he did around Sindhu, but he figured it's probably because he likes to be taken care of by Sindhu. But it was apparent from the conversation they just had that Steve was actually quite mature.

Right, when they stopped talking, they heard Sindhu saying dinner was done taking off her headphones.