Hey, how you guys are doing? This was durga puja festival so, I could not update the story...
Hope you enjoy it and please leave some comments as I love to read your reactions... XD

"Adi uth!" (Wake up) I groan, rolling over in my slovenly sheets as the sunlight hisses at my face.

"Adi, c'mon yaar!"

The blanket is pulled up from my lazy skin and I cover my face with the pillow.

"Agni is here..." Angshu wishpers.

I wake as if it's an emergency, as if sleeping has become a dangerous thing. My heart beats fast and there is a buzzing in my brain. I sit up and my head crashes with Angshu's jaw. We both groan.

"What the..."

As I rouse from a heavy slumber I am first aware of the coolness of the air and it's loamy fragrance, and there's definitely no sign of Agni.

"What? Do you really think Agni will come here with her fractured ankle?" he asks taking his jaw in both of his hands and wincing with stinging pain but that smirk doesn't fall away from his lips.

I narrow my eyes at him as his smile broadens and he winces at the same time.

"I wasn't expecting her to be here, anyway," I mumble.

"Oh! Weren't you?"

Without replying him, slowly but surely, I push myself out of bed, letting my feet hit the cool floor as yesterday's exhaustion catching up to me. I take a look at my phone and it says it's 9 a.m. I've slept for only five hours. A yawn leaves from my mouth as I stretch my body. Kolkata's winter mornings contain delicate cold and dry breeze with pollution however, in just few hours it will become humid and warm.

"Well, everyone seems to be talking about you two."

I freeze so does my yawn. "What?"

He shrugs, "Like, you two are spending a lot of time together, and giving short glances and all..."

"Tha-that's utter hogwash!" My voice betraying the confidence as I take my clothes and towel from the cupboard hoping he hasn't witnessed the growing redness on my cheeks, and leave the room while Angshu smirks behind me.

When I go through the corridor I hear approaching giggles with a familiar rose scent and I halt. The voices are familiar so I peek at them and see two women stand beside the railing while one has a big plaster on her leg. It's Trayi and Agni.

Agni's eyes fall on me as I see she's wearing a yellowish-pink patiwala suit* like morning's vivid light extends across a rosy sky. My mood brightens and the dizziness of sleep evaporates with her smile like summer rain evaporates from the burnt soil. Her dark hair falls down around her shoulders in a glossy curtain. Still wet from shower and my heart plays hundred guitars together.

'O haseena zulfowali jaane jahan...'¹ plays behind me and brings me back to reality. I turn to the source with a frown and it's Angshu playing the song in his phone, giving me a sheepish grin.

"What? It's my favourite song!" He shrugs and go down the stairs. I shake my head. He's getting on my nerves.

"Hi..." Agni says and I turn my attention to her as I give a nod.

"How's your leg?"

"Great, I guess."

Trayi beams with curiosity. Her eyes are flicking between us, an interest appears in them, however, she clears her throat, "Well, I'm going to go to Bratati as she'll be starting to cook. I'll just help her." She dashes off, giving me a wink which Agni hasn't noticed.

"But... How am I suppose to go down?" before Agni can finish her sentence, Trayi has crossed a good distance.

"Well, you're early," I say.

She nods, "Yeah, I... I like to get up early. However I could not sleep." There's a red hue on her cheeks which I can't decide whether it is from her make up or blush.

"Yeah me too."

And we don't know what to say next.

"I can't go down with the plaster," she informs as she points at the big white plaster on her right foot. However, there is something about her gaze that doesn't feel like before. It's as if she's avoiding my eyes.

"Wait in your room. After shower and I'll take you down."

She nods still looking down as if it contains the most interesting news of the morning and replies, "I remember, Trayi has taken the keys with her. I'll just wait here."

"Why don't you come to my room? Wait there and I'm coming right away."

I suggest however, my own ears start to heat up. I had a lot of friends coming over my bedroom but it's different with Agni and I bite my tongue.

She nods while limps with her stretcher and we enter my room. When my eyes fell on my bed, I see piles of clothes, sheets wrinkling on it and in one side my used clothes hang from the chair along with my underwear. I cringe my nose at it. I should have cleaned the room however, the possiblity of Agni coming to my room has never crossed my mind. Well, if it's not for Trayi taking the keys with her...

I pause for a moment.

Has she done this purposely?

I dash to my clothes, taking everything, I shove it to the cupboard.

"Err... Sorry for the messiness."

She gives a sweet smile and sits on the bed, "It's okay. I don't think, my room is any lesser than this."

"Alright, I'm coming right away."
I hurry up to the bathroom and start the shower, poring the best scented shower gel on me.

After my bath I come wearing a jeans with a black t shirt and enter the room. The room reeks of her rosy fragrance and I see, she's typing on her phone. She doesn't pay any attention to my entry and I ask, "Shall we go now?"

She looks up with a puzzle pair of eyes and nods while tugs a hair strand behind her ears, "Wait! Let me write this down."

"What?"

"The last chapters of 'Our Story'.

"What?"

"Oh! it's the story I'm writing and will have to give it to my agent in a week."

I mumble an 'okay' and sit in front of her taking the chair. She's so into the story that it's hardly recognizable it's her. I bring out my phone but my eyes drift to her. Her tattoos on her upper chest slightly peeking out of her kameez and it spikes an interest in me to see the full view of it. However, it will be a bit of rude to stare at her chest and I avert my eyes to my uninteresting phone. How can one ever concentrate on phone when someone interesting is sitting in your room, on you bed.

"Let's go!" She speaks up snapping me out of my not-so-gentle thoughts.

"Also, send me the address where I'll have to leave your bike."

She nods as we come out and head to the stairs. She's supporting herself on a stretcher while I hold her shoulders so she won't meet the same accident twice.

Four-Five stairs later, she stops for a break. It's taking a while to go down where she can't use her right foot.

We hear laughter, chattering drifting in the air from downstairs and the rituals have already started with the sound of Dhak. "You can go down. I'll be coming in a turtle speed," Agni says.

I nod, "Yes, of course. However, I'm not going anywhere."

She goes down another two stairs and pauses again because we still have four sets of stairs to cross if we want ourselves present in the rituals and given her situation it will take a lot of time.

"Didi!" Bratati calls from downstairs.

"Coming!" Agni shouts as she takes another step.

Seeing Agni hurrying to go down, just for a mili-micro-mini-minus-ten-thousands seconds, carrying her in a bridal style through all the stairs has crossed my mind. However, it will be more like the commercial Bollywood actor's move to make the heroin a bit delicate. In this case, Agni would die before submit herself as a delicate twig, or like those very delicate teenagers who sneeze and their boyfriends take them to hospitals...because somehow, after they sneeze, they have gotten a cancer. And it is the biggest sign of cancer!

I know I'm talking rubbish but, after learning about the app Agni writes on, somehow magically, it had installed itself in my mobile and somehow I stumble upon a book called 'A vampire bit my nose and I got a cancer, frustrating I know'.

After surfing the whole app, finally I found Agni and she has more than twenty books. I had started to read one of her books and it gave goosebumps when the main female character got assaulted physically. It surely felt real and somehow I feel she has portrayed her own experiences.

Agni rushes to the next step but her balance looses. However, I have been already holding her by her shoulders.

"Shall I carry you?" I ask.

"What? No!" She gives me a quizzical brow then resumes her work again.

I let out a sigh and finally decide my next move. I hold her waist and pull her up along with the stretcher. A scream follows us from her mouth as we cross two sets of stairs and finally, I take her down.

"What! The! Hell!" She shouts, still struggling in my touch.

"We're here." I huff and adds, "and you're heavy."

She glares at me with her dark eyes and it brings a grin on my lips. "Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Banerjee. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a wedding to attend," she says putting pressure on each words. Although she emphasises her statement in a grumpy manner, her cheeks has taken the colour of a crimson sun. I chuckle as anger crawling on her face and she turns around to leave. 'Yeh jawani, hai diwani... Ha Meri rani... Ruk jao Rani, dekh zara pichhe mudke, chali kaha aise udke...'² blares through the big sound box as she heads toward the mandap.

"What about my thanks for taking you down?" I ask behind her.

"There's nothing for you!"

*****

It took two hours to deliver the bike to Agni's friend. When Barun and I reached at the house, it was huge. Probably two times bigger than our house. And when the owner of the bike came out, that was the biggest shock of my life.

It was the famous model Ritika Verma and the bike was her. She is next in line to take the place of India's top model. I have seen her most bikini wearing pics for India Vogue. Damn she's hot from near. Agni sure has some influential people as her friends.

"Now, I can die without any regrets," Barun says from behind me as Dev casts a questioning glance at him. Dev had gone to meet his client and he picked us up from there.

"Why?"

"We just met with Ritika Verma."

Dev pushes the breaks and we come to an halt, "What? How? And why?"

"The bike was her and she's Agni's friend." Barun answers.

"Damn! Why didn't you guys inform? I should have gone with you guys," he punches the steering like his opposition attorney has defeated him.

"Come on! You can still see her on the web." I say.

"Yeah, but seeing her in front of your own eyes and through camera lenses are different matters."

"It's not like she had come to meet us with her swim suit on." I say.

"She didn't?" Dev asks a bit offended and shrugs while turn on the engine as I narrow my eyes at him. He seriously doesn't get it that no models put their clothes off if they aren't in front of camera, does he?

_________

- Glossary -

Patiala suit- an Indian ladies wear.

Kameez- upper part of the patiala suit.

- songs -

1- O haseena zulfowali, jane jahan(1966)- sung by Mohammed rafi and Asha Bhosle & composed by R. D. Burman

2- Yeh Jawani, Hai diwani, Ha Meri rani(1972)- sung by Kishore Kumar & composed by R. D. Burman

_________

27th October, 2020