||2||

1K 75 162
                                    

The next morning, Aarohi stood on the cold floor of the terrace whilst peering into the lava hues of pink and grey above her, that quickly appeared to be transforming to a bright tinge of blue; all at the command of the illuminating golden star that ascended from behind the peakest building in front of her.

She observed the round ball as it grew majestically over the dark tiny Town, fading away the nights' painting of sorrow and effortlessly replacing it with a fresh coating of purity whilst simultaneously springing a deep sense of relief, solace and serenity into the arms of her heart. 

Her daily source of serotonin.

A subtle smile then made its way to her lips and she intertwined her fingers around the ceramic that was sandwiched between her hands, allowing the mild warmth to drizzle through and insulate her body from the breeze before she slowly brought it towards her mouth, and (since no one was visible) gently blew into it and slurped the strong liquid like a small child satisfying her tongue.

"You still do that?"

Petrified of the sudden voice behind her, Aarohi's heart almost leapt out as she rapidly pulled the mug to a metre distance away from her, causing the drink of delicacy to spill and splodge against the rim of it's enclosed place like a tidal wave until it came to a standstill. 

After noticing that no harm was done, she exasperated a sigh of relief and then turned to pierce her eyes through the soul of the person who had decided to ruin her morning.

Him.

"You idiot! You scared me!" She fumed, once placing her cup onto the table. "What if I got burnt?"

"Seriously?" He laughed as he sat on the wooden chair with his legs split in both directions and the backside of the chair in front. "Maine aajtak tujhe kabhi hurt kiya hai jo ab karunga?"

Aarohi gulped whilst processing the irony behind his words yet for some reason, she wasn't surprised, almost as if she expected it and who was she kidding? She's known him longer than anyone to not be aware of the true meaning of what he blurts.

Neil however, realised the formation of his words, the memories of that day creeping into him like a dark shadow as he cursed himself for being stupid and the expression on his face faltered evidently into a frown before he hung his head low, staring onto the floor. "I'm sorry. Mere kehne ka matlab wo nhi tha par–"

"I know what you meant. It's fine. Forget it." His eyes shifted to meet hers, hoping to find the opposite tone of her speech because this one was way too soft and the Aarohi he knew would have responded with her anger or sarcasm. But the big doe eyes stared back at him, dull and colorless.

"Waise. Tu yaha itni subah kya kar raha hai? I mean, you have never woken up this early nor come to mine at this time." She attempted to change the topic to keep a conversation flowing whilst slightly being concerned about his behaviour. There were countless times where she used to pry him off his bed just to see the beauty of the sunrise but the latter would just stuff a pillow onto his face and doze off again. 

Though there was one day where she had forced him and Aarohi recalled how she'd tiptoed into his room and caught him sprawled across his large bed, sleeping like a lazy log with a faint blue light shining across his face.

His legs were angled to the left hand side where his unfortunate duvet was now hanging for dear life, clumped into a mini hill with the majority of it dusting the floor after getting excessively kicked by his merciless feet. 

As bad as she felt just then for whoever will end up with this mess, her hand stealthily slid into the front pocket of her palazzo as she fished out her phone, swiped for the camera and captured the moment for her own future benefit. 

Khamoshiyaan ~ Neirohi Where stories live. Discover now