Little girl's wild side

Chapter 18

Sindhu and Gautham left Aryan's place at about 8 pm. They had a hefty dinner. They had a lot of fun.

Gautham found himself attached to them just after spending a few hours, especially Adithi. He felt like he could have a relationship similar to that of Aryan and Sindhu's between himself and Adithi. She talked so much that he wondered how her jaws had not gone numb yet. She was out of the world bubbly and so straight forward. She talked as if she had no filter on her mouth and Gautham liked it even though she asked him some awkward questions.

Gautham also got along with Aryan. Seeing as both females forgot the guys more often than not when they talked within themselves, Gautham and Aryan invariably ended up talking a lot too.

When they reached Gautham's office to take his bike, Sindhu suggested they go on a walk and Gautham obviously happily agreed.

The city was still bustling around them with vehicles and people all around. Hotels and other eateries were brimming with people filled with laughter.

Gautham and Sindhu were walking hand in hand on these roads observing everything happening around. They stayed quiet. But the silence was not awkward. Sindhu's eyes roamed around incessantly from one corner to another taking note of everything happening around. Trying to make sense of what people were doing, what they were talking about. She was reading them like she reads a book. And Gautham simply watched her and accompanied her.

An ice cream parlor in a slightly secluded section caught Sindhu's attention. They had chairs out in open facing the road and that particular stretch was less crowded as that building consisted mostly of offices and business entity. And all staffs had already left. She dragged Gautham to the ice cream parlor and a few minutes later they were sitting in a table opposite each other with an ice cream cone. Sindhu was happily slurping the ice cream and watching the traffic ahead with a relaxed and peaceful smile on her face. The chilling breeze of the night was enticing her to get lost in them.

But after a while, once she was done with her ice cream she turned to Gautham. She took a deep breath and started talking," I don't know where to start Gautham. I mean... My mind has been playing tricks on me, going round and round. And I can barely make sense of it. So I just decided to follow my gut."

After that, she hesitated for a while but Gautham kept quiet the whole time and waited patiently to let her gather her thoughts.

"It's a yes from me. I mean I will marry you if you are still okay with it." Sindhu confessed with a slight blush creeping on her cheeks.

Gautham was stunned. He doubted his hearing ability right about now. Did he hear her right?? Did she just say what he thinks she did??

Gautham just kept staring at Sindhu while his mind went blank. He wanted to confirm what he heard was right so he asked Sindhu, "What did you just say??"

Sindhu was not a shy person. She was an absolute brat at best. But right at that moment for some reason, she felt embarrassed. She felt it hard to meet Gautham's eyes or reply to his question. So she just bit on her lips and hung her head down.

Gautham's eyes stayed on her unwavering and patient. So Sindhu finally relented and put away her embarrassment and said in a very low voice looking up straight into his eyes, "I will marry you if you still want to." After which she stood up and started to move away. But Gautham held her back by grabbing on to her hands and he stood up right in front of her and cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. Gautham saw everything in her eyes. Her fear, her confusion but there was also a stubborn determination.

"Are you sure??" Gautham asked in a meek voice. The voice was so low and so hopeless that it was as if he did not want to raise the question in the first place in fear Sindhu will back out.

This fear of Gautham was so evident in his face. And his eye held desperation.

When Sindhu saw this, a sense of determination swept upon her and she said, "Yes," confidently.

Gautham face lit up immediately. He gave her a wide smile and then buried her face into his chests and squeezed her dry in the name of a hug. But Sindhu did not mind. She simple circled her own arms around him.

They were walking back to Gautham's office that's when Sindhu started talking again.

"Gautham I want to make certain things clear. I... I know you have feelings for me. I don't know how far or how deep that is. But I cannot reciprocate it as of yet. I do not have any special kinda feeling for you. Like I told you I am a mess. So I am kinda very slow in this area. So I don't really know how long it would take for me to actually be able to reciprocate it. As of now, I am comfortable around you and I trust you. May be not completely but enough."

"And you know that I have problems. I am not ready to share it yet. I am not even sure if I ever will be able to share it. And there are things in my past that even I am not sure about. So you are okay with that right??"

"I don't know everything about you and you definitely don't know much about me. So I would like it if we don't lie to each other. Especially if it's in the name of protecting me from feeling hurt or some bullshit. I am big girl and I can take it."

"If you don't want to tell me anything or if you are not ready to share, I would accept it if you could just say so rather than lying about it."

This list went on and on. Sindhu kept listing things until her throats went dry.

Gautham listened to it with a slight sense of amusement and relief. After all, he was ecstatic that he wasn't the only one overthinking things. And all this shows how much importance and effort she had put into this.

Once they reached his office, Gautham looked at Sindhu and said, "Hey, you don't have to be so anxious. We don't have to rush into anything. We will take one day at a time okay??" After which he bought her into his arms for a hug.

Sindhu simply nodded into his chests but asked in a nervous voice, "We can do this right??? We will be okay right??"

"We will make it work," Gautham said with conviction and he shifted his face and placed a kiss on top of her head.

After which they bid each other goodbye and went their own way to their respective homes with a smile plastered on their faces.