That evening, Sayyam was walking down the hallway towards the Kitchen, when he saw Krishna standing on a shaky stool. “Hey!” he called out, but she didn’t seem to hear him. Annoyed, he walked towards her, grabbing her waist and swiftly setting her down on the ground. She spun around startled, gasping when she saw Sayyam.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, wondering what his intentions were.
“Oh hello!” he countered, crossing him arms. “I didn’t want to touch you; besides, many girls die to be picked up by me” he smirked, looking away, while she just scoffed, obviously not believing him. “You were about to fall, you stupid girl…Girnewali”
She felt offended. “What was I supposed to do then? I needed the rice flour” She paused for a while, “Khadoos” she finally labelled him, beaming proudly.
Sayyam reached up grabbing the rice flour box and handing it to her. “You could’ve asked someone for help…” he shook his head in amusement, walking away.
For the next few days after that, he saw her almost everywhere around the Birla house, most of their meetings starting with her bumping into him. He almost always saw her reading her romance novels. He thought reading fiction was a waste of time, but when he told her that, she would give him a fierce look and walk away. They had argued so often, and she had fallen so often, that he had started calling her “Girnewali” and she had labelled him as “Khadoos”.
Once, Krishna had been walking down the hallway, looking for an earring she had lost. She’d knelt when Sayyam walked in, looking under a table.
“Oh, wow, Girnewali, you always fall after I walk in, but today you sat down there itself when you saw me”.
“Oh, Khadoos!” she stood up immediately, brushing herself off and pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “The world doesn’t revolve around you!” she scoffed, walking away, before turning around, “and besides, I was looking for my earring”.
“This one?” Sayyam pulled a silver earring with blue gemstones out of his pocket.
“Where did you get that?” Krishna pouted, “Couldn’t you have told me earlier?”
“Sorry, but I’m not sorry” Sayyam laughed, “I have too much fun troubling you” he lifted the earring out of Krishna’s reach just as she grabbed for it. He backed away with the earring, teasing her, “Come and get it” he challenged her.
“Sayyam, no.” Krishna warned, “Sayyam…” without warning, she dashed at him. He took off running, and they chased each other around the dining table. Finally, she got close enough and clutched at his shirt, tugging him closer to her. Leaning heavily on him, she snatched the earring from his hand, tripping in the process. He caught her as she fell; one hand on her waist and the other behind her back. “Girnewali,” he smirked, breathing heavily. “Khadoos,” she huffed, waving the earring in his face. It was then that he felt an unknown feeling tugging at his heart and was about to let go of her, when they heard a livid voice.
“Sayyam!” Yuvaan roared.
Sayyam let go of Krishna, setting her upright and pushing her away. “Bhai, she fell-” he started to explain.
“Don’t touch her! You’re just like your father!” Yuvaan pushed Sayyam back.
Sayyam felt a lump in his throat at the mention of his father and backed away, turning on his heel and walking out of the house. Krishna watched his retreating figure, feeling guilty for what Yuvaan had said to him, a strange sense of longing coming over her.
—–
Hey guys! I missed you all 😉
I’ve commented on the previous page, but I just want to say: Thank you sooo much for all the love, it really means a lot. Also, thank you to Shreya (my ‘name twin’ 😉 ), Fidato, Annie, Prethiga, Faeeqa, Shabnam, Aarav, Shivani, Mithila, Dinu, Isha, and all others who have commented. I just got back home, and I felt so happy reading all the comments.
Back to the story, there was a (small) time leap) after Kriyam’s meeting in the kitchen, that’s why they were much closer and ‘comfortable’ with each other.