The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

8. A garden of roses

Ishita furrowed her brows and inhaled sharply. "Which smell?"

Before Rudra could clarify his stance about the rosy fragrance that seemed to intensify with each passing moment, he heard Rishika's voice from downstairs.

"Rudra! Ishita! Come down soon. Surbhi and Shravani are here."

He was startled for a bit because of two reasons. Firstly, never before had he been able to directly relate the elements of his dream with his reality—the prime example being the rosy aroma—but strange occurrences had been taking place for a few days now that struck him to be odd. Secondly, Shravani had met Ishita only a couple of times, and he was not certain why she showed up at the Verma household. However, one thing was steadily becoming clearer to him. The fragrance belonged to Shravani probably, for this was the third time he could smell it in his waking moments, and she had been close by every time.

"Shravani?" Ishita's surprised voice broke his chain of thoughts. "What is she doing here?"

***

When the two came down the stairs, they found Rishika offering coffee and breakfast to Surbhi and Shravani, which the girls declined politely since they had already eaten before leaving their homes. Hence, the question was directed towards Rudra, but he had to refuse as well since he was stuffed up to the brim with the delicious poha Shweta had made.

Rishika went ahead towards the kitchen to pack food for Ishita, leaving the youngsters with each other. Rudra and Shravani were busy trading shy and flirtatious smiles with one another while Surbhi was screeching something about having left her jacket at Ishita's place a couple of days ago. Ishita could barely pay attention to what Surbhi was saying since she was busy gagging at the manner in which the seemingly newest couple in town was behaving with each other. As if they were lovestruck. As if no one else existed in the world.

Ishita pursed her lips. "Yes, Surbhi. I have your jacket in my room. Let me get it for you."

Surbhi cast a quick glimpse at the way Rudra was itching to speak to Shravani in solitude, clicking his tongue, letting out puffs of air from his mouth. Giggling to herself she said, "I wanna see your Elsa collection again."

As the two girls strode up the stairs and went out of earshot, Rudra centered his attention on the purple churidar suit-clad girl. She had her head ducked down as a shy smile played on her lips.

He took a couple of steps in her direction, the smirk refusing to leave his features. "Surbhi left her jacket. What is your excuse?"

She rolled her lips inward and glimpsed away. "Surbhi called last night, and we spoke at length about our... our..." She bit her lips. "Our..."

He leaned closer to her ears. "Our?"

She gulped, taking a step back. "Our date." Clearing her throat, she said, "Surbhi was the one who suggested that you and I... should..."

He covered the distance between them. "Should?"

She looked up at him, discerning the mirth dancing in his eyes. She playfully smacked his arm, earning a chuckle from him. "Rudra!"

"Should what, Shravani?"

"Should go to college together," she murmured. "That's why she and I... we... we swung by your home, but one of the servants told us that you are here. So, we... came..."

He grinned. "Here. Right!"

She breathed. "Yeah."

He forwarded his hand to her. "Then let's go to college together, you and I."