We are a lovey-dovey couple!

"Wow. This movie is not even remotely scary." Rudhra said. It was, quite true, for the random noises he made, to scare me were a lot scarier than the entire movie combined. We were watching Annabelle- The Movie, at my house.

"Yep." I agreed.

"My mother is lot scarier when she gets angry." He said, and I nodded.

"Or when you randomly open the internet explorer by mistake." I said.

"Yes, yes." He agreed.

"So, Rudhra, have you ever experienced something paranormal?" I asked him.

"As a matter of fact, yes. One night, I was walking down the hallway when I saw the silhouette of a really scary person. She was floating in the air, not walking. Her eyes were red like a demon, and her neck was as long as a cricket bat."

"Eh? Really?"

"Yes. She also had long hair, about this length." He continued, pointing to my long hair.

"Oh, let me guess, she punched your face with the cactus plant?" I said.

"Yep, totally deflated it. I bruised like a ripe mango. Fortunately, my face heals very fast." He said.

"You have a lot of confidence for someone who looks like that goblin from Harry Potter." I said, and resumed to eat my popcorn.

"You have no idea about how lucky you are. The other day, the ladies in my modelling agency, named me 'the most handsome' of all models." He said proudly, his chin up, and nose quite high up in the air. The balloon needed to be deflated.

"How nice. They definitely won't be naming you 'the most intelligent.' Someone like you would be very happy and content with such compliments."

"Ha ha. Oh, hey! Did Annabelle come out of the screen? Oh, it's just you. I was really startled there, for a second." He said, and gave an annoying grin.

Devil couldn't be everywhere, so he created Rudhra.

.....

Meera, my friend, called me that day. "Did you see the group's messages?"

"No why?"

"Shiva and Amanya have summoned everyone for an outing at the beach. I think they're going to announce something. Anyway , they've promised us lunch. Shall we go?" She asked me. Shiva and Amanya were our friends who were also a couple. Normally I don't like such gatherings but the prospect of free food enticed me.

"Okay! I'll bring Rudhra too." I said.

"Do you have to?" She asked me.

Her reaction was understandable because he'd never fulfilled his promise of introducing a nice guy to her. She was never going to forgive him for that. When I had asked him about it, he'd said 'she's crazy, and I never said such a thing', and that settled it.

"Rudhra, I am going to the beach for a friends' gathering. Want to come?" I asked him. He was watching TV. He never went to his house, he loitered about my apartment like he owned the place.

"Now?"

"Yes, I promise you free snacks." I said, and he got up immediately. We went on the bus and were greeted by Meera at the beach. "Just why have they summoned us here?" She wondered, murmuring  aloud everyone's thoughts.

Amanya and Shiva beamed, and it was obvious what the announcement was going to be. However they suggested that we eat snacks until everyone arrived, and none of us complained.

"Who is that guy?" Amanya asked me, pointing to Rudhra.

"Oh, he's my ..um..boyfriend." I said, the fact that Rudhra was my boyfriend was still funny to me.

"Are you sure?"

"What? What do you mean by that?" I asked her, surprised. Why would she say such a thing?

"It's just, he's more interested in eating fried rice than you." She said, with an obvious grin.

"Yeah, so?" I asked, surprised once again. Didn't everyone behave that way at the sight of free food? What was so weird about that? We all had come here for the food only, unfortunately I couldn't say this to her.

She nodded her head like it was some kind of grievous sin. She dragged me closer towards her. "You guys don't behave like a couple at all. You guys aren't lovey-dovey." Saying this rude remark, she scooted off to her boyfriend and began stroking his neck as if to show off in front of me.

"Hey, Meera. We are a lovey-dovey couple, aren't we?" I asked my friend, Meera.

"Of course." She said and hugged me.

"Oh my god. I am not asking about you and I. I am asking about me and Rudhra." I said, annoyed. She simply looked at me blankly.

Well, I certainly was not satisfied with such a reaction. I walked towards Rudhra who was eating his fried rice with much gusto. He looked up, winked, and went back to his plate. Well, I just had to prove to these people that we were the most lovey dovey couple there ever could be. Which was, to be honest, quite an easy task for us.

What did couples do? I looked around, and there were a lot of people to draw inspiration from. Most of them held hands and looked like they were in their own world.

"Rudhra, give me your hand."

"I am not sharing fried rice with you." He said.

"You are so annoying! I don't want your fried rice. I want your love." I said, irritated.

"Love?"

"That girl, Amanya mocked me just now. She said we weren't lovey-dovey at all. You don't want to lose, do you?" I said, knowing things were now going to be done my way. If there was one thing to rile Rudhra up, it was the prospect of him 'losing' in anything. Of course, he didn't know that I knew.

He put away the plate to the side, and pulled me closer towards him, and held my hand tightly. Everyone looked at our sudden PDA with surprise, and I saw that Amanya took note of it. We stood like that for about five minutes(or maybe lesser) until our palms became sweaty and mushy under the Chennai sun. The hotness of the climate was not at all conductive to cuddles, and both of us were sweating from top to bottom. Our skin was becoming prickly.This was really nerve-wrecking. "I think this is enough." I said, freeing from his hold, and he heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

Well, we were lovey-dovey for a short while.

It was as if the sun upped its game a few notches, and it became even more hotter than it aleady was. I held up my bag above my head to protect myself.

"Sams, how cruel! Your boyfriend is melting under the hot sun, but you are keeping the shade to yourself." I heard Amanya say.

"Huh. Rudhra, do you want to share the bag with me?" I said, quite reluctantly, since I didn't want to share at all. I didn't want my arms and neck to get tanned. But he refused. But I coerced him, so I could earn a good name.

The same thing happened a little while later,  with the last remaining piece of the mango. Just as Rudhra was about to have it, Amanya came in front of us, and he had no choice but to share it with me, even though he wasn't happy with the outcome at all. "Here, Sams. Have this mango." He said, even though his blood boiled and his nerves popped.

I was beginning to realise that being a lovey dovey couple required a lot of hard work, and we weren't suited for it, at all. I, honestly, wasn't having any fun. We had more fun when we weren't being  judged. We functioned best, when left alone.Fortunately, time came for their announcement. 

"We called you guys here, since we wanted you people to know that Amanya has been transferred to the Bangalore branch." Shiva said.

"Huh? That's it? I thought they were getting married or something." One of us said, and we all agreed. It was so ridiculous, that we were working hard to please a couple who were going to be apart. 

"Are you really okay with that, Amanya?" I pulled her aside and asked her. But she only shrugged.

"We are going to be okay, because we are a real couple. Unlike you people. Fakers."

Saying we were not lovey-dovey was acceptable, but calling us 'fakers' was intolerable. Maybe we didn't do well with public displays of affection, and maybe we didn't seem like a loving couple to other people. But he'd rather have me in the shade completely than share it with him. I'd rather have him the entire piece of mango than share it with me. It was our own sweet love.

No one could judge us about being romantic!

 Something inside Rudhra's head snapped, I could feel it. This afternoon was already going over the top, much more than he could endure.

"Listen here, woman. You keep milking your love from that boy for all that's worth, cos he's probably going to break up with you. He looks like he wants to run away. While we continue to live next door to each other and be romantic all the time." He said. 

Damnnn.  Amanya looked at both of us in disbelief.

"Rudhra, I've heard that fifty percent of long distance couples cheat on their partners within a month. Is that true?" I said.

"No, its seventy five percent."

I made a mock shocked expression, and Amanya retreated from us with a dishevelled look on her face.

"Oh, my god. Really Rudhra? Poor Amanya."

"Poor Shiva." He said, sympathetically.

"I hope they learn certain things from us." I said, and he nodded.

"Well, I don't know about you guys being a lovey-dovey couple." Meera said, as she watched Amanya run away. "But you both are certainly a match made in heaven."

Author's note:

Them Devils 0_0.