Silent Hearts

33 | Thirty- Three

Gloomy days, broken nights,

Troubled hearts, and ashen sights.

•

A hand suddenly entered her vision, beside her left hand, as it extended towards what she was intending to reach for.

"Here, let me get that for you."

Nandini stilled at the presence of someone just behind her, his gentle voice ringing by the side of her ear. Heat travelled down her neck, as she felt his soft breaths, as silent as a late winter's night, tickle at her cheek, telling her of the way he was so, so close to her. As she nonetheless remained on her tippy toes, Nandini felt a slight shudder passing through her body, a sweet tremble of raw shyness spurted through her, and she couldn't tell if she liked this feeling more than him being near her. The heat of his body hovered over her own skin, as she tensed up for a mere moment before looking over her shoulders.

His face was angled up, eyes determined on the top shelves. Nandini eyed him, consciously taking her time so. He had, as she could make out, grown his stubble as they now changed from that usual 5 o'clock around his jaws to a more defined one. His black t-shirt clad around his shoulders, and Nandini felt a weird sensation resembling that of tickling, erupting all over her belly when she observed how the muscles of his lean, upper arms flexed as he brought down the heavy kitchen containers to the counter. It wasn't that she couldn't look away, it was just that...she chose not to. Her cheeks, however, flamed red the minute his eyes came down upon hers.

She gulped and turned her head away. At least, she tried to. She did look away, didn't she? Then...the burden of the situation weighed down her shoulders, while she deliberately attempted to not lose her cool. Why is he looking at me like that? Nandini blinked, twice, thrice, before she found back her voice. An attempted tug of her lips, her lips morphing into that of a manner of a small smile:

"Thank you," she said, loud enough for him to listen to, yet a whisper enough to hide her inner giddiness that she fought hard with.

He watched her calmly for a few more moments, and her abdomen whirled with that feeling again. She pursed her lips, biting the insides of her cheeks, feeling lightheaded at the way his well-sculpted face softened, his eyes seemingly tracing her face, eyes hard upon hers, as onyx as the darkest of ink, staring and searching.

Until he nodded, a small a smile playing on his lips, and then... Nandini looked away, exhaling deeply. She couldn't understand any of those sorts of things. What were they? Were they some mere fallacies of emotions that her mind played with her?

Lost amid her thoughts, she hadn't realised the hand that now laid over her left shoulder, lightly so, as she turned her body entirely to face him, calling out to her heart to stop beating so fast. She watched, stunned as he smiled down at her, his eyes seemingly sparkling as they glided across her face, "let me make you dinner?" He said, almost as if questioning her, asking her for permission, while Nandini couldn't even decipher his words, eyes, and that ridiculous mind of hers getting stuck by that little dent in his right cheek, by the side of his lips. Why didn't she ever notice that he had a dimple on his right cheek?

Why didn't he smile like this often?

She shook her head, clearing her throat, "yes" she could respond, only to earn another grin playing across his lips, this time, however, a little of his teeth being displayed.