Around You

Chapter 13

I know I've been MIA for a while now; for over a month with this story. I'm sorry.

But here it is and it's filled with Sumellika fluff! Do let me know what you think of it! 

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I skidded to the left side of the car, sprinting to my seat without spluttering the open flask of coffee in hand.

As soon as I sighed in relief I heard a sarcastic snort in my direction, "Are you getting better or what?"

I pointed a glare in his direction, finding his orbs glimmering with mischief that made my heart skip a beat, "I've told you before. I'm not a morning person."

"If only the world understood." He dramatically sighed, before handing me a bundle of papers neatly binded together. I quickly skimmed over the script for today before readjusting my focus to my precious coffee.

"What do you find so great about that drink?" He scoffed in disgust. I rolled my eyes before explaining, "Well, how about we start with it's aroma."

"Yeah, that's where it ends too." He muttered to which I ignored.

"That's just the beginning. Then there's the enriching taste."

"Of black coffee."

"It's mesmerizing."

"It's bitter."

"That's the beauty of it." He quirked his brows in suspicion at my statement as I diverted, "And then there's the boost of energy you get. That's never possible with chai." I condescendingly added at the end.

"Chai soothes you with eternal peace, Mallika. It's an art you need to know how to appreciate." He demonstrated with closed eyes.

"Yeah, eternal peace isn't something I need when I have a fifteen-hour shoot schedule ahead of me."

"It wouldn't be if you didn't take that long to get ready." He mocked.

"As if you don't spend hours getting your morpankh right." He chuckled, fulfilling his aim of riling me up at the start of the day.

I rolled my eyes before turning away, rolling the window to catch the cool morning breeze. Between the bustling traffic I heard a voice I'd grown too familiar to, "You sure you don't want to rehearse?"

"It's just the usual bickering. That comes naturally to me now." I brushed off with a wave of hand as I smiled in contentment, closing my eyes to the comforting gust of wind.

"Seven minutes, for the record." My co-star and recently turned friend reminded me of how late I had turned up today.

"Oh, shut up, Mudgalkar!" My huffs of annoyance met with callous chuckles in amusement.

This was what my days started with now. This is what I secretly looked forward to every morning. Our banter had turned into a daily ritual over the past month that we had decided to become friends. Following that night, I had expected some lingering tension or awkward silences. Most of all, I had been scared Sumedh would revert back to his old, hidden-away-in-his-shell, self. That night had been magical, because it was one of the few times that I saw a side to my co-star he seldom revealed. It had nothing to do with his unexpectedly sweet gesture, nor his burning gaze, I had to repeatedly remind myself. His genuine care for me made no difference, I reiterated to myself on more than one occasion. Sumedh Mudgalkar was just a friend and my thoughts about him were strictly platonic, I convinced myself.

I turned in my seat to find him on the verge of snoring. With almost an hour of car ride ahead of us and the exhausting work life we were experiencing continuously for the past few days, it was only normal to catch up on sleep. Or in my case, it was normal to catch up on caffeine.