🎶 Laagi Na Choote
Published on 02.07.2021
● A U T H O R ●
Aarohi woke up pretty early the next morning. She found Vihaan snuggling into her stomach, his left hand holding her fingers limply and she resisted the urge to pull his cheeks. Carefully, not wanting to disturb his sleep, she freed herself from his hold and got up. She went to the bed and grabbed a pillow and duvet. Placing the pillow below Vihaan's head gently, she covered his body with the duvet and brushed a hand softly through his hair before leaving the room.
Aarohi stretched her arms when she reached her room. It was still dark outside. She took her phone to check the time, it was quarter past five. She got freshen up and put on a baby pink color hoodie and black track pants to go for a jog. She wanted to give her mind a rest and maybe a jog would help calm down her racing thoughts.
When she came back, she found Tina sitting on a chair and reading newspaper.
"Good morning," Tina wished when she noticed Aarohi.
"Good morning," Aarohi smiled, ignoring the way her stomach twisted and her brain again went on a rampage reminding her of the history that the woman in her sight shared with her husband.
"Jogging?" Tina asked trying to break the ice even though it was pretty visible that she had gone for a jog.
"Yeah," Aarohi answered awkwardly. "It wasn't raining today so thought of going to the park." She shrugged. "I'll go and take a shower."
Vihaan still hadn't woken up when Aarohi came back after taking a shower. Madhavi Tai had made sandwiches and left. Aarohi ushered Tina to the dining table for the breakfast, serving her and filling both of their glasses with orange juice.
"Vihaan isn't up?" Tina asked, attempting to initiate some sort of conversation.
At the mention of Vihaan's name, Aarohi's hand around the glass tightened and her jaw clenched.
Why does she care if Vihaan is up or not? Am I not interesting enough?
Resisting the urge to scoff, Aarohi looked up from her plate. "No. He must be tired," she replied in a clipped tone.
"Hmm." Tina hummed concluding that the woman across her wasn't interested to talk.
They both continued eating in silence.
Aarohi time and again discreetly stole glances at Tina who was wearing a white colour spaghetti top and navy blue long skirt. Her skin was fair and Aarohi was sure she could easily camouflage with the white walls of the kitchen. She had mahogany coloured shoulder length straight hair which reminded Aarohi of a painting that she had once seen in a museum. She had a square shaped face and her features were sharp. She was horribly beautiful, Aarohi thought.
"What do you do here?" Aarohi asked catching her attention.
Tina smiled. "I'm an art teacher at St. Andrew's and since today is Saturday, it's a holiday," she answered politely.
"That's nice."
"Actually," Tina started, "I'm sorry. You both don't have to yet you're helping me and getting involved into trouble. I regret it." She murmured apologetically.
Aarohi felt like a horrible person. "It's okay, don't be sorry and don't worry, you'll be out of it soon and the guy whose name is..."
"Vishwas." Tina informed.
"Yeah Vishwas. He'll definitely be caught in a few days," Aarohi said confidently. "Vishwas vishwas karne ke layak hi nahi hai." (Vishwas isn't worthy of trust.) Aarohi muttered under her breath but Tina still heard it, erupting a laugh from her and Aarohi pursed her lips in embarrassment. "Sorry," she whispered meekly.
"That was funny." Tina complimented with a giggle.
Aarohi stood up with her empty plate and was greeted by Vihaan walking towards the dining area.
"Good morning," he wished.
"Morning." Aarohi said in a bored tone.
"Good morning." Tina said softly.
"Good morning." Vihaan gave her a small smile.
Aarohi narrowed her eyes at that. He didn't wish me with a smile. She walked past him, shoving him lightly by his shoulder in annoyance.
Vihaan frowned at her attitude in confusion.
He followed her in the kitchen. "You didn't wake me up." He asserted leaning against the counter, watching her as she filled the empty bottles with water from the kent purifier.
"You seemed really tired so I let you sleep and went for the jog," Aarohi said nonchalantly.
Vihaan gasped. "You went without me!" He exclaimed.
Aarohi shrugged.
"The plate and glass." Tina said awkwardly realising that she interrupted a conversation.
"Give them to me." Aarohi took the empty dish and glass from her hand before putting them into the sink.
"I'll leave for the hospital now." Aarohi said wiping her hands dry with the help of dish towel.
"I'll drop you." Vihaan offered following her to the living room with Tina on his tail.
Aarohi looked at him puzzled as she picked her handbag. "Don't you've to go to Vedhaan?"
"I'll do the work from home. And if you're forgetting so let me remind you that I'm the boss." He stated. "Let's go."
"I'm not going with you. I guess you were the only one who appointed Samar uncle as the driver?" Aarohi cocked a brow at him and crossed her arms.
"Not you acting stubborn again." Vihaan sighed, knowing in the back of his mind that it will end up in a futile argument. "What's the harm if I drop you off today?"
"And why do you have to do it all of a sudden? There has to be something more to it, isn't it?" She gritted. Her irritation had more to do with other things like Vihaan not having the dinner that she had cooked last night, him smiling at Tina, Tina speaking so kindly with her whereas she was being somewhat judgemental rather than Vihaan offering her a lift.
"Honestly yes," Vihaan admitted. "I just want you to be safe. After yesterday, we need to be careful. I just want to make sure that there's no trouble around you. I'm sure someone will call Tina to warn her and they'll come to know that I'm helping her and then they might try to harm you. I cannot afford that at any cost." He said firmly looking into her eyes with an unwavering gaze.