1.1 | Milkshakes For Sale

06 | vanilla

⋆ ——————— shaurya ⋮ ⋆

“THERE ARE SEVEN days in a week. Why did it have to rain today? This is so unfair.” I watched Sitara pace in my living room, her hands fisted in frustration. She looked like she wanted to pull her hair out. “And the wind. Why does it have to be so strong today? I spent hours deciding what to wear and dressed up nice and for what? For all my plans to get cancelled? I feel so robbed!”

I tried not to laugh. “Sitar, calm down. We’ll go some other time. I promise,” I said, pulling her by the hand. Like she said, the wind was too strong outside to go to the theatres. I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple trees in the neighbourhood got knocked out because of it as well.  

“I am going to cry,” she said. 

“Okay.”

“Shaurya, you are supposed to comfort me!” She whined. I sighed and wondered what would calm her down. She looked at me expectantly like a child as if I could cast a magic spell and change the weather. I wished I could do it though. For her, I would do anything. 

Though, out of us, she would be the magician. She had me bewitched already. 

And, I wanted to tell her that.

“Come here,” I said, and pulled her close to me on the couch. “I-I have a secret I want to share. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time but I was a little scared of how you might react.”

That got her attention. “Now, you are scaring me,” she said after which she crossed her legs properly on the couch and tucked her knee-length dress carefully so that she wasn’t exposing too much skin. 

“Well, we’ll see how this goes,” I said, ignoring the anchor in my heart weighing me down. “The secret is that…”

“Are you going to whisper it in my ears?” she asked, trying to reason my hesitance and the long pause that followed. I considered it. 

“That would be better actually,” I said and she moved closer, tucking her dark hair behind her ears and stretching her neck to make it easy for me. We were alone in my house and there was no need for all this secrecy but sometimes you don’t really need a reason for something you do. Right?

It was a secret I was holding on to for long and I wanted to get it off my chest. I swallowed and then, sparing a glance at her curious face, I bent low to whisper into her ears. 

“I am falling in love with you, Sitara.” 

I pulled back to see her reaction. I watched one of the most beautiful smiles break out on her blushing face and her eyes slightly glaze with tears. 

“Is that all?” she whispered back, not looking at me. She was biting her lips so hard but I didn’t know if it was to trap a smile or a sob. 

“No,” I said, taking her palm in my fingers. “Someday I hope to marry you as well.”

A brave tear rolled on her cheeks and she laughed at the same time. I kissed her palm. “Well,” she said, wiping her tears and balancing herself on her knees to pad across the gap between her and me. She put her arm around my neck and climbed onto my lap, her legs sliding off to both my sides. “I have a secret as well. Actually, three.”

“Three?” I smirked. I placed my hands around her waist. Sitara was not curvy, too attractive or eye-catching. She was plain, petite and cute. And she had the most beautiful smile in the world which, I recently discovered, was the switch to my soul. 

She wasn’t every man's dream. But she was mine. Only mine. 

"Tell me," I said, ignoring the warmth from her bare legs seeping through the fabric of my pants.