The Choice

Chapter-3

Kajal stretched her limbs breathing in the clean cool air. The slight mist around made everything beautiful, ''Mom, I will be out for a walk.'' Informing her mother she hopped down the stairs of her cottage , removing her slippers she let her feet feel the coolness of morning dew on the grass. It was refreshing, she opened her arms wide and filled her lungs with fresh air. She twirled around and collided with a hard wall. There were two yelps and she fell flat on her back, ''Hey are you hurt?'' Came a male voice and she lifted her annoyed eyes up to meet his smiling ones, she looked at his extended hands and slapped it,'' Couldn't you watch where you were going.'' She reprimanded Tarun who stood smiling at her. He squatted down, ''Actually I did but before I could apply breaks to my feet, we met with an accident.'' He replied with a smile

''Do you have some kind of wheels instead of legs?'' She asked annoyed as she rubbed of the grass blades and dust off her clothes. He watched her amused, she shook and moved ahead. He followed her , ''You hate me , don't you?''

''I don't even know you, hate is a very strong emotions.'' She replied

''You know , you are first one who doesn't like me...much.'' His words froze her steps, turning around she took a step forward, ''Does opinion of others or them liking you matters to you that much?'' She gave him a teasing smiled walking ahead.

''No, but its an amazing feeling to be popular among the crowd.'' He replied walking along with her.

'' Popular among the crowd ? That sounds something like low on confidence to me .'' She replied tongue in cheek.

''hey that's mean, if you are popular it boots your confidence okay.'' he replied. She abruptly stopped colliding her back to his front again, ''I think you have an issue of brake failure and have you ever heard about loving yourself or being comfortable in your own skin. That's called confidence. Looking at others for approval makes you weak.'' She smiled, took steps backwards and walked off.

He frowned and screamed for her to hear, ''I like your confidence.'' That came out sarcastic .She smiled and replied turning around for a minute, ''And I hate your brakes.'' He shook his head and went about his jogging schedule.

***

When he walked back into the cottage his mother looked excited about it. She walked around the cottage excitedly. ''What's up with mom?''

''She is excited about the combined outing with her best friend's family'' Jatin replied

''But why? Dad we came as a family, it's our personal time.'' Tarun whined.

''It's okay, after years I have seen her so excited. It's just one day.'' Tarun gave in, but he wasn't happy about his mother's plan. Kajal too had the same idea, she didn't like his views . It was becoming difficult to control her annoyance. She found his thinking too shallow and didn't like being around him

The group explore the local market, Kajal stopped at every artificial jewellery shop inquiring about the different ornaments. She was intrigued to know the different kind of jewellery available in the region. One of the shop keeper who was an old lady explained her in detail about the patterns and inspirations their designs were derived from. Kajal made a note of everything, as a gesture she bought a pair of anklets for herself.

''Are you a workaholic ?'' Tarun asked, he had been noticing her for too long. Their parents have formed a group and ignored the kids completely, indirectly they were being pushed to accompany each other. He didn't fail to notice the way she kept herself busy exploring everything alone, ignoring his presence to the max