Love Bites

Unexpected Serendipity (1)

Mumbai, 5 pm

Avni had always been her father's princess. As much as he pampered her, he had also made sure to imbibe in her a strong sense of what's right & what's wrong, he had taught her to stand for her morals & to stand for herself whenever needed. 

So following her father's advice, after years of dreaming, Avni had finally stepped into the city of dreams. She had always dreamt to be an interior designer since the time she understood the concept of designing. She had completed her graduation in her hometown, Indore & had come to Mumbai to pursue her dream. 

She had gotten into one of the best institutes offering a diploma in interior designing through merit, it was a two years course including a period of one year of internship. Avni was more than excited to get started & thus, with eyes full of hope & shine, she dragged her suitcase and carried a bag-pack on her back as she walked out of the platform of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. 

Reaching outside, she opened her phone to check the details of the car that was supposed to be here to pick her up.  After looking for a few minutes, she finally found the car & moved towards it. The driver greeted her sweetly while she greeted back as he helped her to load the luggage in the car. 

As much as she was excited to start her studies, she was also equally excited to meet Neil. The only man she had a crush on. Avni had been fascinated by Neil since the time she had seen him for the very first time. She had first met him when she was eight years old & he was fifteen. Though she had always been the outgoing sunshiny kid who would want to be friends with everyone, for some reason unknown to even her, she always acted out of character whenever it came to Neil. She used to hide behind her mother, grabbing the ends of her saree as she peeked at him sneakily while shielding herself from his sight. However, at the same time, she followed him silently everywhere he went, she loved watching him as he helped her father at his apparel shop, solved his math problems that he had gotten as holiday home-work, as he clicked pictures of almost anything & everything that he found appealing to his camera. 

Summer - breaks were her favourite time of the year as it was the only time when Neil came to their place for staying from his boarding school. Year went by year but nothing changed about the way Avni felt for Neil, in fact, her feelings just intensified as time sailed by. Over the years, they had interacted a few times, & Avni's heart never failed to go jittery every time he talked to her, however, she didn't really like the fact that he always treated her like a kid. He ruffled her hair & brought her chocolates every time he visited, which she obviously loved, but even then a tiny part of her couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be treated by him as his friend, as someone who he would consider his go-to person & not just his father's friend's dumb child who follows him with a stupid smile on her face which still misses a tooth, for god's sake! 

Lost in her thoughts, Avni didn't realise when the car came to a stop. It was only when the driver had opened the gate for her that she realised that they had reached her destination, Neil's apartment. The driver helped her carry the luggage up to the 23rd floor where Neil's apartment was & once in the lift Avni's heartbeat was skyrocketing as each floor passed by. The moment they reached his floor, she could feel her heart thumping against her chest. 

Breathe in. Breathe Out. Act cool. Repeat. 

Chanting the mantra in her head, she finally rang the door bell as she nervously waited for him to open the door. He had called her two hours back to let her know that he was stuck in a last minute but urgent meeting with some client so he couldn't come to the railway station to pick her up. Avni could feel her heart drop at the moment, however she understood that he was genuinely busy & he had even arranged for his driver to pick her up as he sent her the details of the car so that she could recognise it. Avni had dumbly nodded to herself upon listening to him as if he could see her through the phone. She voiced out an embarrassing "Yes" when he asked her again if she was okay.