You Know its love when even the way they eat pizza makes you smile like a goofy.

"This one is jasmine, this is marigold, there you see... that's cauliflower," Nimrit stood at one place and told Nivedya about various flowers and vegetables in the garden.

"Nimrit, please! Just stop. I am not interested in these plants. I have a bigger garden with a wider variety of flowers." Nivedya cut Nimrit short and realised his mistake. "Uh! Sorry. I don't mean it that way."

"Are you sure? Because in a span of two hours, this is the second time you are commenting about my financial status. Well, Mr Singh, this is who I am  and this is where I belong. I studied on scholarship in my last school and my current school is thankfully affordable for my parents. I am happy with the life my parents give me. This two-bedroom house I live in or this small garden I maintain with my own hands. You can judge us,  for all you want." Nimrit sat on a small stone wall in her garden with a bitter expression.

"Shit!" Nivedya muttered under his breath and went behind Nimrit. Crossing the wild grass that was not trimmed he reached to her and took her hand in his. Nimrit retracted her hand immediately because she never thought Nivedya  would make her feel poor.

Nivedya tried again but Nimrit didn't give him a chance. It became a play for them. Nivedya kept pulling her hand and she kept pulling it back.
He pulled her with force due to which she almost fell on him. The closeness between the two was what Nivedya wanted because he knew it would tame Nimrit.

He took her both hands in his and ordered her, "Listen to me," she stopped struggling and looked at him with her charcoal eyes boring deep in his soul.
"I asked you to listen to me, not look at me. I can't talk when you look at me like that."

Nimrit's forehead creased and Nivedya rubbed his thumb on the frown lines on her forehead. "I don't care about your financial status. What I said just  came out in the wrong way. I respect you, your parents, and this garden too. It's just that, I... wanted to talk to you, and you were behaving so  indifferently."

"It was your fault partly," Nimrit said softly, looking down.

"Partly? Completely. I am a fool. No. What did you say... 'khota'."  Nivedya proudly called himself an idiot and Nimrit couldn't keep a straight face. She giggled and that made Nivedya smile as well.

He scooted in front of her and looked into her eyes, "Nimrit, I get angry very easily, but I also admit my fault easily. You and everything related to you bother me and..."

"Why?" Nimrit didn't let him complete his sentence and questioned him midway. Was she prepared to hear the answer? Will he answer what she wanted to  hear? She didn't know.

"Nivi..." Nandini called Nivedya and Nimrit retracted her hands from his hands. Nivedya looked at her, but she couldn't revert his gaze because she felt conscious of her question.

"Your mother is calling you. I guess you are leaving. See you at school." Nimrit got up but Nivedya was still scooting.

"Nivi..." Nandini called again and Nivedya got up this time.

He pulled Nimrit behind a wall and put his left hand behind her. "Nivi... what are you..."

"Shhh!" He put his finger on her pink lips and touched the pad of his thumb on her chubby cheek.
"You bother me in ways more than one, if I tell you why it shall leave you stunned," Nivedya confessed with intense emotions and walked away from Nimrit leaving her under his spell.

*****************

It was Monday and Nivedya got up half-heartedly to go to school. Mainly for two reasons, one, Rose was not the one to wake him up, and second, he did not have the guts to face Nimrit after what he told her. He was about to confess his feelings in the worst way possible. He had hurt her and should restrict himself to gaining her apology rather than scaring her with his fervent emotions.

"URGH!" He let out a frustrated sigh before jumping off the bed.

At breakfast, his parents were telling Abhedya about the lunch with the Khannas and they quickly diverted the topic when Nivedya came. He found it odd but he let it pass because his mind was preoccupied with a lot of things.

As soon as, Nivedya entered his bus, he was bombarded with questions. All the kids wanted to know about what happened at the palace. He told them what his father asked him to say.  "A man captured Nimrit for unknown reasons but she was saved and the culprit was caught."

He didn't tell them how he jumped off the balcony to save her. His father told him it will give rise to unnecessary gossip and play an obstacle in their  friendship. If only, his father knew the damage was already done.

Nivedya blamed himself for Nimrit being absent that day.

"She has never taken a leave in these months, probably she needs time to recover from the horrifying incident."
"Totally. I would have not shown up either."
"I think she should have come. What are friends for? Help you recover from the trauma."

Nivedya quietly heard his friends talking because only he knew the real reason for Nimrit's absence.

"What did I do?" He regretted. But when the question Nimrit raised reverberated in his mind, he couldn't help but say what he said. 

Swarnima always told him, speaking the truth is always better than telling a lie. She had lost her best friend because she lied to him and regretted it each moment.

After working on all pros and cons Nivedya decided to go and talk to Nimrit. He couldn't hold it any longer. He knew his parents won't allow it, so he called Abhedya from the school office and requested him to send a car. In return, he promised Abhedya to tell him everything.

Nivedya sat in the car Abhedya sent for him and reached Nimrit's house. He thought twice before knocking on her door but when the door opened, his eyes met the most captivating pair of eyes he had ever seen.

Standing in a short yellow coloured frock, Nimrit kept the small plant in her hands on one side and questioned him in amazement, "What are you doing here?"

"Are we repeating the events of yesterday?" Nivedya questioned back and moved inside the house.

"Um... What brings you here? I mean..." Nimrit couldn't find words to complete her sentence.

"Why didn't you come to school? Do you know how worried I was? Look, I am sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to offend you or scare you. Yes, you are a great friend and like all other friends, you bother me. I didn't mean it in the way it came out. I am sorry, okay? I just wanted to clear out things between us. I don't want it to get awkward. You are getting my point?"

Nimrit was looking at Nivedya blankly. She was on cloud nine with what Nivedya told her yesterday. To her, it was a beautiful way to say that you care. 

Yes, she was scared, because she wasn't sure what she should reply to him. But Nivedya just thought she was a friend like other girls. He said that yesterday and he cleared it out today too. She hated Barkha for getting her hopes high.

"Say something?" Nivedya prompted Nimrit who did not give him any response.

Nimrit was a little heartbroken with Nivedya generalising their relationship, so in a very cold tone, she asked, "What do you want me to say? It's okay?"

"No. Say whatever you want to say. I just don't want you to skip school because of a silly thing I told you in the heat of the moment."

"One second. Do you think the "silly words" you told me in the "heat of the moment" were a reason for me skipping school? Please, Mr Singh, get a  life. I have better and more poignant reasons to skip school." Nimrit sounded more sarcastic than she aimed to.

Nivedya looked around and asked, "Where are your parents? You are alone?"

Nimrit retorted rudely, "My  parents don't own a big company where they can work as per convenience.  They have fixed work schedules."

"You know it's a common misconception that people who own big companies work as per their convenience. As a matter of fact, they are loaded with work and sometimes have to miss out on important events of life too because they have to work even if no one does." Nivedya replied sharply  to Nimrit's comments making her feel bad.

Nimrit sounded defeated and repeated her question, "Why  are you here? You know my father still disapproves of boys coming to my home for no reason."

Nivedya took a seat on the opposite sofa and clarified, "Sorry. I came to clarify the tense air developing between us. I didn't know how you would take what I said yesterday."

"What you said was fine. Friends bother each other. How you said was... not how friends say it." Nimrit stressed the word friends because, to her, they were not just friends, anymore. She doubted they ever were.

Nimrit's words brought Nivedya's attention to her lips which he touched only for a fraction of a second but were softer than the petals of a rosebud. Her cheeks on which he moved his thumb were smooth like porcelain. He mercilessly  killed the urge to kiss her.

"It was... normal?"

Nimrit suppressed the smile that was about grace on her face. Nivedya was not sure if it was normal or not. She found him questioning her so cute that she wanted to pull his cheeks and shake him hard to put some sense in him.

Nivedya didn't want to sound like a fool, so he shifted the topic back, "Anyways, why didn't you come to school? If I was not the reason?"

Nimrit's smile died and she put her loose strands behind her ear. She crossed her legs and Nivedya cursed himself for looking at those sexy legs. 

"Doesn't she have anything full to wear? Her father acts so conservatively and lets his daughter roam around in short dresses. Doesn't he realise there are perverts like me around?" Nivedya coughed when his own brain called him a pervert.

Nimrit got up to get water for him. He followed her and when they reached the kitchen he sniffed like a dog. Without bothering to ask he opened the lid of a pan.

"Wow! Your father cooks such a variety? How does he get the time?" Nivedya fetched a spoon and plate and served the dish for himself and ate. "Mmm! This is so good."

If 'cuteness overload' could be personified, it was Nivedya munching rajma-rice carefree in Nimrit's kitchen.

"I am sorry for taunting you, earlier. I did not intend to comment on your parent's work. I was just... I guess, trying to come back at you. You  irritate me so much at times, you know. Are you even listening, to me?"  Nimrit cross-checked and Nivedya just nodded his head in a 'yes'. It  irritated her more and she asked him in a fake sweet tone, "would like more?"

"Let me finish this, then I will decide." Nimrit widened her eyes in astonishment. Nivedya ignored her apology, her taunt for food. She  wondered if she told him about her feelings he would even pay attention. He loved food and no one else. Period.

Nimrit came out of the kitchen and sat on a chair. She didn't want to see the cute boy, anymore. She was falling for his gobbling up food?  Was it even a reason? You can't possibly like everything about someone, can you? She thought.

"Boo" Nivedya scared Nimrit and she almost fell off the chair. She was dreaming with her eyes open until Nivedy brought her out of her La La Land.

He started to laugh after startling Nimrit and she wanted to hit him for scaring her but she joined him in laughing.

"Daydreamer, are we?"

"Dreamer, yes. Daydreamer, not quite." Nimrit answered him candidly. "If you are done with eating, clarifying, questioning, and answering, shouldn't you leave?"

"No! There's still time for Nim to come. I can sit here for a while." Nivedya went to Nimrit's room and made himself comfortable on her bed.

Nivedya just hit her pinch point and Nimrit remarked, "Your tuition teacher is good. Your marks have improved."

"Good?  She is better than the best. I mean... Literally. She is so good. I wonder if a girl like her even exists. She is so soft-spoken, so righteous, so down to earth, so clear with her thoughts, and so brilliant in her studies. She won a singing competition too. She is..."

"Perfect. I get it." Nimrit had no ears for the tuition teacher's praises. Was she the reason Nivedya only saw Nimrit as a friend?

"You bet. You know studies aside, I can talk to her about what I feel. Rose D was my everything but after she left... Oh! You probably don't know, the reason I behaved like a jerk on the field trip to the palace. Rose D has left for an indefinite period because her mother is severely ill."  Nivedya looked out of the window getting emotional.

Going to Nivedya's house for practice was enough for Nimrit to recognise the special bond between Nivedya and Rose. She kept her hand on Nivedya's to comfort him and said, "She'll come back before you even know. I am sorry I didn't know earlier."

Nivedya just nodded his head and held Nimrit's hand tighter before she could withdraw. She tried to slip her hand because their closeness affected  her senses and she didn't want that, especially when Nivedya treated her just as any other friend. "Just let me hold your hand, will you? Stop  retracting it all the time."

"Why should I let you hold my hand? I am just another classmate to you. That is why all our friends knew about Rose D's departure but I didn't. On top of that, you ruined my first-ever school field trip. You didn't even ask me if I was fine after I hit my head on the bus. How am I supposed to understand the reason for you being so grumpy?"

Nivedya loved the list of complaints Nimrit had with him. She will be the perfect girlfriend, he thought. He smirked and asked her, "So, your focus was on whether I came to see you when you hit your head? Why? Do I bother you as well?"

"You bother me in ways more than one. Not because friends bother each other, but because you are not just a friend to me. You are someone I trust, have faith in, and care for." Nimrit looked directly into Nivedya's eyes before leaving his hand.

Silence filled the room and no one was ready to say anything. Nivedya was finding it hard to understand what Nimrit said. Nimrit was finding it  hard to believe she said what she felt.

Did she say too much? She didn't want him to know what she felt when he didn't even consider her a friend enough to share his sorrows.

Nivedya glanced at his watch and said, "Umm... I should leave. It's time for my tuition class. Bye." He walked out of her room and opened the main  door.

Nimrit also thought it was best he left. After all, his dear 'Miss Perfect Nim' will  be waiting for him. He was heartless enough to not say a word about her honest feelings. 'Hey, thank you for putting your trust in me,' would have been sufficient to say but Nivedya chose to ignore her words, and that hurt Nimrit.

She was about to close the door when Nivedya turned and asked her, "Why  didn't you come to school? The answer is still pending."

"I am on my periods, for the first time and my stomach was paining badly. Got your answer? Or are there any more questions left?" Nimrit shut the door on Nivedya's face and wiped the haze forming in her eyes. She wanted to kill the fool she loved with all her heart.

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Readers

I hope you liked the chapter that was free from extra characters (almost). Just Nivi and his Nimrit or Nimrit and her Nivi.

Will Nivedya recognise Nimrit's confession or his lack of acknowledgement create any conflict?

Find out next.

Stay hooked!

lots of love!