Periods, Pyaar And Patriarchy

Chapter Nine

Shweta didn't believe in The Law of Attraction. She was more of a realist and didn't quite believe that simply vibrations could manifest something she wanted in her life. Frankly, she thought that was 'lazy' philosophy, one that promised you good things even when the only work you put towards them was sitting in a room and visualizing. She was more of a believer of Murphy's law.

Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. There's no point in curling up into a ball and crying about it- you suck it up and move on.

She had been more and more aware of the need for friends in her own life. Friends who didn't share so much of a bond with Vaibhav. There was her best-friend Riddhi, who was practically his cousin. There were Sanskriti and Aditya; both of whom were good friends with Vaibhav. This is exactly why she found herself hanging around Bhavya more and more. When Shruti curled up in front of her laptop with her pending assignments, Shweta found herself actually relieved that she had to volunteer to keep herself busy.

There was still the matter of finding an internship. The travel blogger had written back with a polite declination while she still awaited a response from the professor at Delhi University. She hadn't gone back to her father's blog and perhaps that was the reason she felt like she didn't want to look for more internships. Who knew what uncomfortable surprises were in store for her?

So, she spent her time at the Sunshine Centre for the elderly. While most of her work involved booking visitations with doctors', nurses and physiotherapists, she could always count on Bhavya to pop in and remind her to take a break. Or he'd pop in and they'd argue about whether or not Shweta had misplaced his sharpeners after she'd used them.

She found herself heading for the yoga class after working at the center. Shweta and Shruti had shifted themselves into the evening session and had ooh-ed and aah-ed over the gorgeous paper lamps on the first evening session. They had become good friends with Ritika as well who had taken a liking to the sisters and had promised them a 'treat' the following Saturday.

"Busy-bee, aren't you?" Shweta hears the familiar voice and even before she twirls around in her chair, her face lights up with a smile.

"I was wondering if you'd forgotten me." She says and Bhavya raises an eyebrow. "No, chance. Not when you've managed to monopolize my studio, like this."

"I'm sorry," Shweta says, feeling a bit guilty about it. "I've spoken to Mrs. Matthew multiple times and she's promised to shift me. But so far, she hasn't done anything!"

"Number one rule of being a rebel. You don't ask Mrs. Matthew for permission." Bhavya says, a bit of scorn in his smile.

"Who said I'm a rebel?" Shweta asks, irked by his tone.

"Well, you never said you were not one." Bhavya smiles and then points to the canvas on the desk.

"Can I get that?" He asks.

"Sure," Shweta says, grabbing it and giving it to him.

"And by the way, you're free this afternoon." He says, and adds, "You're welcome."

"Did you do that?" Shweta asks, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yeah, I talked to Mrs. Matthew and cleared up your schedule for the afternoon." He speaks.

"And why did you do that?" Shweta asks, and he winks at her and shakes his head slightly. A curl falls into his eye as he does so.

"I've got something to show you." He says.

"Really?" Shweta asks, surprised by the gesture.

"Really." He affirms with a little nod. "Get done with your lunch by one-thirty. I don't like to be kept waiting."