Twists Twirls Perils & Pearls

2. First touch: Sweet yet Scary

"Not talking to them, still caring about them is a state of being angry with someone you truly LOVE."

Such was the state of Abhedya. He was feeling uneasy and all messed up after Swarnima. He wanted to reach out to her and ask if she was fine but did not.

He called up his friends and left to hang out with them. Chilling with his friends at their favourite hangout 'MYSTIC GRILL' which serves the best beverages, food and corners for mushy stuff. Abhedya tried to get her out of his mind but she had messed up his head bad. Even the bombshell of the college Adah's flirtatious talks couldn't break his chain of thoughts. So he left the place soon.

He had no answers so he decided to talk to Rose as she was not only the caretaker and governess but also a friend to him and his brother.

Inhaling a deep breath he went to Rose who was about to leave. He asked her if she could sit with him for a while. Rose never denied to any demands from the boys so she gladly agreed and they sat on the patio.

Very cleverly Abhedya moved the topic from general to Swarnima and Rose started to tell him about her.

"Swarnima, my golden girl. She shifted from Windsor 3 years back to pursue her education in engineering. Her parents died when she was 8 and all her life she has lived with her grandmother who also passed away around 4 years back. She said her father belonged to Swarnbhoomi so she chose to come here. Nim is an extremely well-groomed girl. She is supremely talented though she never shows her talents to the world. I wonder why that girl is hiding. Trust me Abhey if you see her first thing in the morning your day brightens up.
You know one of the reasons I asked her to tuition Nivi is because of her ideology. Nim's level of maturity is way beyond her 19 years and I am confident that she will be able to tackle Nivi's tantrums and.."

Just then Rose's phone buzzed and picked it up immediately, "Hello Nim, what happened? Are you okay?"

Abhey stiffened on hearing Swarnima's name. He was concerned for her and her phone call and Rose's panic state made him more tense.

"No! no! I was about to leave but was just chit-chatting with Abhey and did not realise the time. You won't believe we were just talking about..." before Rose could complete her sentence Abhedya snatched her phone and hung it.

Rose was confused by Abhedya's action and she asked him, "Why did you hang up my phone?"

"You were getting late and all of us know what a chatterbox you are. Once you start talking you don't stop until sunset changes to sunrise." Abhedya tried his best to give a strong reason as he knew Rose would have blurted out that they were talking about her which he just didn't want.

DDHISHHH! Was the sound of a smack Rose gave Abhedya but he laughed. Rose left smiling but stopped midway and turned around to say, "Don't deny what's obvious to see."

Abhedya didn't quite understand what she meant and he didn't even want to think. The information from Rose was too much for him to comprehend. Swarnima didn't have parents and the two times he had spoken to her, he had commented about them.
She may have survival problems in terms of money too, as she comes on a cycle, wears the same black and white clothes and is taking tuition. He felt bad for his behaviour which was a result of his short-tempered attitude. He couldn't reverse the scene but would not repeat it in future. (So he thought)

Abhedya dressed in his classic white T-shirt and faded denim jeans with messy yet sexy hair and his favourite Gucci guilty intense. He saw himself at least 10 times in the mirror before leaving for college. Never in his life, Abhedya had waited but today he was waiting for Swarnima and when she came into his sight wearing her regular white t-shirt and dull jeans with her hair clipped tight and neat in a braid, Abhedya's lips automatically curved to smile. She was indeed a pleasant sight.