The whole week passed in a haze for Neha. Juggling work and home balance was difficult, even more so when she had just shifted to the village after having spent her entire life in the city. She tried not to focus on the old neighbourhood aunties who always had some comment about her dressing and lifestyle on the tip of their tongues, but the judgement and gossip was tiring her out. The only solace she had through all of this chaos was the peacock feather hairpin, the metal piece which grounded her to the mortal realm. Often late at night, she found herself in bed, turning the hairpin in her hand, the memories of those doe eyes a fresh imprint in her mind. The girl was exquisite and both her body and mind had no qualms accepting it. 

The teacher knew that she needed to return the hair pin, that the person of her liking might already be engaged to someone else, but her delusional mind asked traitorously, "Bas ek aur din.." And thus, it had nearly been a week since their first encounter. It was not as if Neha had not tried to find her! She had scoured the entire school more than thrice, trying to find any trail that would lead them to cross paths again, gone early, returned late, spent the entire lunch break in the ground, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beauty who had captured her heart, but alas! Lady Luck was probably enjoying playing this lecherous game with her, as it appeared that either that girl had vanished off the face of this blue planet or she had been an apparition to begin with. 

Shreya was not faring any better. She had been utterly distracted throughout the whole week, so much that her parents were suspicious that some boy was entangled in the matter, needless to say that she had come back home with her hair held together by a pen rather than the hairpin she had left the house with. Priya knew what was wrong with her sister! She had caught a very deadly disease called 'loveria' but it was in its initial stage, which could be called denial or in some cases, denial of infatuation. Even her teacher seemed to be suffering from the same condition and what better than to have two people afflicted with the same disease to cure themselves! The younger devised a fool proof plan. Her teacher and her sister needed to have a one-on-one conversation and sort out the situation, before both of them died of anticipation and overthinking. So, the youngest Bhardwaj took matters in her own hands. 

It was the last period of Saturday and Neha was just finishing up with the topic when the bell rang. She was rubbing the board when she felt someone walk up to the podium. "Do you have any doubts?", the teacher asked. The meek reply was, "No ma'am. Actually aapse kuch aur vishay main baat karni thi." Neha turned to her favourite student and gave her a small smile, "Haan Priya bolo, kya baat hai?" "W-woh ma'am, aap yahan abhi shift Hui hai na, toh iss Somvar ko Shravan ka mahina shuru hone waala hai. Yahan ka maan na hai ki somvar subha ko Shiv ji ki puja karni chahiye. Isliye... Aap agar humare saath mandir chale, toh bohot achcha hota..." The younger blushed, a bit embarrassed for having to do this. Her sister better compensate her heavily for this. "Bas itni si baat hai? Monday ko tumhara school bhi hai, yaad hai na?" "Haan ma'am! Hum usse pehle laut aayenge..." "Achcha thik hai. Somvar subha 8 baje mandir main milte hai. Aur haan, apna homework pura karke laana, mujhe check karna hai, samjhe?" "Okay ma'am, main karke laungi!" The smile Priya gave her could blind her with how bright it was and Neha couldn't help remembering the beauty in the soft chiffon saree.

Convincing her sister was not a hard task, considering that their mother was already pushing her to go to Mahadev to ask for a husband like him. This also meant that she had to keep the vrat, which Shreya wasn't very keen on. Whenever it came to spending her life with someone, she had flashes of stray hair on the shoulder of a off-white kurta. Beknownst to herself, her diary had multiple mentions of those acne scars she wanted to trace - not only with her fingertips, but also her lips... How would those lips taste? Soft, plump like they looked or rough and chapped like the rest of the person? She shook off her thoughts, apologising to her aradhya, while making floral garlands for him. What she did not notice was that the smile on Krishna's face seemed to increase infinitesimally because his plans were coming to fruition at last.

Monday morning was hectic for her. Shreya woke up very early, to get ready for the puja. After bathing and freshening up, she stood in front of her almirah, a towel draped around her body, trying to decide what to wear. Finally she narrowed it to a printed white cotton saree with red blouse. The neckline was a bit deep but the saree would be enough to cover it, or so she thought. Donning the saree, she did the slightest makeup - lining her eyes with Kohl and applying a faint pink lip balm on her pouty lips. Then it was time for her puja. As she lost herself to Krishna bhakti, her younger sister got up and dressed for the mandir. She chose a simple white lehenga with a pink dupatta. Just as Shreya was finishing, Priya walked up to Krishna, asking for support from him, so that her plan could become a success.

Neha had had a sleepless night, trying to figure out how to dress for the mandir. She did not want to attract unwanted attention, but then again she did not want to wear something she was uncomfortable in, because she had planned to go to school directly from there. In the end, when she woke up, she dressed in a pale blue kurta with a pair of white pajamas. Pulling up her hair in a high bun, she put on the tiniest bit of moisturizer. The hairpin resting on her vanity table caught her attention and she picked it up, tracing it's intricate designs as if she had not done for the entire week. "Shankarji ki kripa ho, toh aaj zaroor unki yogini se mulaqat hogi..." She put the hairpin in her kurta's pocket, before preparing the thali for the puja, when she remembered that she had forgotten her watch. She hurried back to the vanity, deciding her Titan analog watch fit the best with the outfit. Collecting her bag with the pre-prepared lunch, Neha hit the road, her trusted floaters covering her feet, her heart in her throat.

Will Mahadev bring these two souls together?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry but not sorry for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger. Agar continue karta toh aaj update nahi de paata. Sorry.. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Actually, I just finished my first semester of Bachelor of Sciences in the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology in IIT Madras.

So, I am home for a month...

I am extremely enamored by a series called "Shadowhunters : The Mortal Instruments". I am not getting anywhere I can watch it for free, because it is only available on Netflix. So here is a clickbait for you guys!!

If anyone can give a Google drive link of all the downloaded full episodes of Shadowhunters across all the three seasons, I'll give one update a day for the next 7-10 days and each update will atleast be 2000 words.

Love you guys,
Adiraj!