CHAPTER-44
STRANGER GIRL
Naomi’s POV
“Kiku!” Akshat whispered in my ears. I shook my head and placed a finger on his lips. His meek and hesitant eyes embraced mine for the entire next minute. I looked away and withdrew my finger as he continued blushing at me. As I hid a strand of my hair behind my left ear, I blushed at the floor. Why is my heart jumping as if the building is in the process of collapsing due to a quake?
I wrapped my saree’s pallu around my fingers. I just don’t want to lift my head up and look at him. But, what are these absurd clouds of thoughts disturbing me? Urgh! Naomi, why are you feeling shy at Akshat? You don’t love him. I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Sexy! Are you dreaming already?”, whispered Akshat. I opened my eyes at once and bulged my eyes, shaking my head rapidly. He chuckled and caught the handrails above. He lifted his head up with utmost care and peeped around like a young boy planning to sneak out of the house and play cricket during exam time.
“Sexy! The coast is clear!”, declared he, turning back at me and gesturing for me to follow him. I stood up and caught his palm as we hurried like rats escaping from someone chasing them with a broomstick. I blushed at Akshat’s palm tightening mine as if we eloped! Aww, his touch makes me feel cozy and comfortable. Urgh! Stop crossing your limits, Naomi! How could you even imagine eloping with your lecturer? No, no, no. He isn’t your lover and can never be one.
“Get inside!”, said he, sitting on the driver’s seat and closing the door. I wore the seatbelt as I took my seat on the slang.
“But, sir? Where are we riding to?”
“Sexy!”, chuckled he, hitting my forehead with his fingers forming scissors while playing the rock-paper-scissors game. While I threw my mouth open, he informed me, “I will drop you back to your PG. Where else?”
“Ohk, Kiku. Thanks a lot! You’re very sweet. I’m pleased to have you as my man…” What are you telling, Naomi? Don’t play with his feelings by filling his heart with fake hopes. Urgh! You just can’t love him. Stop! I bit my own tongue as we blushed at each other.
“But, I can go on my own. Thanks!”, said I, turning to remove my seatbelt. He caught my hand as I held the slang door.
“Naomi, don’t go”, said he. I turned to him and raised my eyebrows as I felt him tightening my palm. Tears accumulated in my eyes at the fact that he doesn’t want me to leave his life. Aww, who has ever badly wanted me like him? I doubt if I ever mattered even a bit, to anyone to date.
“Look, it's my responsibility to drop you back. Don’t you remember that I proposed the dinner plan? I must ensure that you reach safely…”
“Thank you, Kiku. But, I know the route from here. I can book an auto. I’ll inform you as soon as I reach. Please let me go now...”
“Naomi, no! Listen to me!” He raised his voice. I shook my head as my earrings oscillated along, restlessly. No sooner did I push the door a bit, that he started the car.
“Sir!”, I freaked out, closing the door and wearing my seatbelt at once. He chuckled as he drove the car.
“Are you crazy? Do you want to kill me, Akshat? How could you do that? You…”
“I won’t leave you even if you want to leave me. Above all, I know that you can’t leave me…”
“No sir, I can’t love you…”
“At the same time, you miss me, you want me…”
“Kiku, please! This could have been dangerous. Are you a carefree boy?”
“No, Naomi. You have been killing yourself. Why will I want to kill you? At least I love you.”
“But, I don’t, I can’t and I will never love you. How can I love you, sir?...”
“Hmmm…let's see. For now, I’m dropping you. That's done!”
I shrugged as he blushed, taking a turn to go straight on the main road. I’m scared but I can’t be blamed though. I have always been clear to him. No, going forward, I should gradually reduce such friendly interactions with him. I gazed through the window only to see building after buildings moving behind us. I laughed to myself. He patted my shoulder.
“Aye! What’s the matter, Kiku?”
“I feel as if I’m your girlfriend…The way we were hiding from your mother…The way you hid me in your room for a night…Hahaha!”
“Oooo, I already see you as my wife.”
What! What did he just utter? He blushed as I swallowed my shyness to prevent my cheeks from turning rosier. Oh, no! Where have I lost myself? When you wanted to avoid him, why did you take such words?...girlfriend…wife…Urgh! You’re mad, Naomi. Nope! I must cut this ride. If you want to do something, start at once. Yes yes, from this very moment, I will take the best actions to ignore him. Sorry, Akshat, but if I don’t hurt you right now, you will be hurt more, in the long run.
“Kiku! Water!”, asked I, pointing at a roadside store. He nodded and parked the car, as I coughed. As the shopkeeper handed over a Bisleri bottle and Akshat grew busy paying him, I opened the door and ran away.
I’m sorry, Akshat. But, if things keep continuing this way between us, I’ll die of guilt for pestering your delicate heart. I should stop giving you any sort of hope. I hurried to the nearest street and walked to cross two grocery stores. My eyes went over a queue of autos standing a few feet away.
“Auto! Kalyani Nagar?”, I asked an auto driver resting his left leg on the right leg and scrolling through his mobile.
“Nah!”, denied he, displaying and vibrating his right palm at once. I walked to the next auto and requested a ride.
“Madam, booking hai”, said he, pointing at the mobile screen and nodding along, as his wired earphones shook along.
“Oops! How do I go now?”, thought I, frowning at the loading green bar searching to book autos on my app.
“Kalyani Nagar? New Age Ladies’ PG?”, I heard a male voice.
“Yes. Exactly!”, agreed I, looking up from my mobile and nodding at once. My grin vanished as Akshat beeped his horn and chuckled at me as he waved from his car, in front of me. I rolled my eyeballs hither and thither and swallowed my anxiety. Urgh! Why is this happening just to me? Neither can I love him nor escape. Why him everywhere? I sighed hard.
“Kiku!”, he called me, at which I faced him.
“Ey ladki! Kya hai? Jab apne pati hein toh auto mein kyun jaana hai tujhe? (Why do you want to ride an auto when your husband is here to drop you?)”, teased an auto driver dusting the windscreen.
“Thank you, bhaiya!”, Akshat smiled at him who bowed. I covered a part of my forehead with the palm to avoid the wrath of the boiling morning giant, as I walked towards the car. He got down from his seat and crossed the bonnet, as he interlocked my eyes deeply into his dilating pupils.
“Whether you’ll ever feel for me or not, currently, it's my responsibility to drop you back, as I already explained to you. Come on, Naomi! You’ll plot a plan to escape and I won’t be able to figure it out. Bad guess! Sexy! When you can think, I’m your lecturer. Isn’t it?”, whispered he, opening the slang’s door and gesturing for me to get inside.
“Sir, but I can go home…”
“You are my priority, Kiku”, concluded he, holding my hand and ultimately making me sit inside. He closed the door and got in to turn the key. “Find your bottle in the drawer”, concluded he, pointing at the drawer as he drove. I gulped in a mouth or two and closed the lid. I don’t know. I’m blank!
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“Excuse me, sir!”
“Hi, Naomi! Come in!”
I smiled, nodding and closing the door behind me as I walked in. I looked around at his enclosed cabin. I breathed as if someone sprayed cold water on me, as I grabbed a chair and sat opposite him, in his air-conditioned cabin.
“Congrats, Akshat sir! I heard that you bagged a promotion. The youngest associate professor ever!” We shook hands.
“Thanks, Kiku.” I smiled at the blue triangular nameplate with his full name, designation, and qualification painted in white on it.
“I feel very happy for you. You are amazing, sir.”
“Thank you. How is my cabin?” I gestured a superb sign and blushed as I nodded along.
“Yes, tell me. What reminded you of me?”, asked he, chuckling as he left the ball pen in his pen stand and closed the textbook.
“Why? Should there be a reason for me to remember your presence and come down to meet you?”
“Sexy! It's a question you must ask yourself.” He inserted the textbook in between many others on the shelves behind.
Urgh! What’s wrong with you, Naomi? I don’t know why you have been spilling out words without your own conscience nowadays. I sighed, flipping the pages of my notes, hard.
“Oooo, chill! Why are you applying your internal pressure on these poor pages?” He chuckled while I shrank my eyes and frowned up at him.
“I’m confused between the two working groups in the complaint procedure topic. Can you please explain, sir?”
“Why not? Come”, agreed Akshat, dragging my notes across the table, towards his side. “See, the first point to note is what happens once there is a vacancy. Consider working groups on situations. The respective regional group to which…”
I rested my right hand on his table and my chin on my hand. I couldn’t take my eyes off his lips as they moved in sync with his cute eyes as he moved his palms between the two sections of the page on my notes, to compare and explain. I blushed at his eyes, focusing just into mine, as he smiled and went on.
“That’s all. Anyways, you should understand them separately rather than comparing them. Generally, the difference isn’t the objective here…”I took a sharp breath in, to stabilize myself, with a shock.
“Did you get it now, Naomi?”
“Umm…Hmm…” I smiled, twisting my eyes hard and wondering where I had been, for the past couple of minutes. Why didn’t I concentrate? Focus, Noami! Focus! I shrugged. He chuckled and nodded.
“Anytime. Let me explain better this time. So, actually, the point is that…” I looked at my notes to avoid his eyes, his lips, and his face-indeed himself entirely, which was the primary source of my distraction. Urgh! But, why is he distracting me? No, he isn’t. He was just explaining, as his duty dictates him to do. Firstly, why are you getting distracted, Naomi? Why?!
He patted my shoulder. “Wait, are you listening to me?” I nodded. “Look at me otherwise how will I know if you’re clear or lost? Did you get me?” I looked into his eyes as he spoke.
Love is so blind that it just happens unexpectedly.
You may fall for anyone!
Would you let go of your policy if you fell for someone you shouldn't? What would you choose-your policy or your beloved?
Urgh! Control, Naomi. Control yourself. Self-control is the most important element of life. “However, one can't control love. You just fall..”, I recollected Akshat’s words back the other day when our horns had interlocked due to the contradiction. Wait, isn’t my current situation the very same? No! What sort of a lawyer would I be if I violate my own policy?
“...Remember Regional Group and Advisory Committee. Any further doubts?”, he interrupted my thoughts.
“Umm…Sir…”
“Ooo, it isn’t very complicated. What happened, Naomi? Is there anything else going on in your life that’s disturbing you?” He chuckled, raising his eyebrows along.
“Akshat sir, I don’t know”, said I, getting up and heading towards the door. I turned back at him. “Kiku, you weren’t explaining seriously. So, I lost my focus…”
“Oooo, I’m sorry but I didn’t even give an example, right? I just paraphrased some key points…”
“Yes, exactly. Your points…That point was funny…”
“What? I don’t think I said anything funny. Did I?”
“Go, sir…” I was about to open the door and he raced to grab my hand wrapped around the door’s handle. His meek and hesitant pupils shrank secretly within his cute eyes.
“Hey, I don’t know what took my explanations astray. Fine, let's do one thing…”, suggested he, holding my hand and escorting me back to his table. He made me sit and then sat back on his taller rolling chair.
“Let's try this way. Hmm, you close your eyes and listen to me. I feel this will work.” I rolled my eyeballs hither and thither while he again insisted I close my eyes. I let my eyelashes fall upon each other and put my eye cones to rest.
“Vacancy, Chairperson and members. They are the key points here. So, in case of working group on communications,...”, began he, at which I nodded with eyes closed and jotting down with my fingers and creating a quick mind map within myself.
“...based on the admissibility criteria.”
“Ok, great! I’m clear now!”, exclaimed I, opening my eyes only to immerse them into his. He blushed and chuckled as our eye contact continued. I grabbed my notes and stood up.
“Thank you, Kiku!”, I thanked him and turned back to leave his cabin. He gave a slight bang, with a closed fist, on his table. I faced him and shrugged.
“What’s special for the day?”, he enquired.
“Special?..”
“You are dressed in ethnic wear.” I wore a mustard-yellow kurti with round circles filled in solid white, on its surface. My long silver drops chimed as I blushed and chuckled. I blushed at half of my hair on the front.
“Nothing, Kiku. Our gang decided to wear a traditional dress today, just for a change.” I winked and set out to leave.
“Aye! You’re beautiful in ethnic, Naomi!”, exclaimed he, as I blushed alone and walked on the corridor.
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“Dude, Banking Law was hard. I hope I pass”, shared Vyomi, as we took the first seat as soon as we got in through the back door.
“Ticket?”, roared the conductor, at which Vyomi and I displayed our bus passes as if we were CBI officers.
“Mine went fine, I believe.”
“Of course, dude! And your ‘OK’ means to cross ninety-five for sure.”
I shrugged, dashing Vyomi’s shoulder while she chuckled.
“Whatever, dude, I’m not pursuing Law. Articles over articles to remember. Phew! A year more and then I’ll be doing an MBA.” She sighed while I chuckled.
“How did your exams go, Naomi?” I gulped my fear on hearing a male voice suddenly.
“Akshat sir!”, exclaimed I, smiling at Akshat standing along on the footboard. My eyes followed him as he chuckled, getting inside and taking the seat behind mine. The local bus was sparsely populated with most passengers occupying the front seats and a man or two on the last seat, that afternoon. I turned back and shrugged at Akshat as he removed the bag he wore across his body and rested it on his lap.
We blushed at each other as he leaned back on the seat and extended his legs.
“Huh, Kiku?!”
“What happened? Ooo, sorry, did it hit you?”
I shrank my eyes.
He turned to look outside the window and chuckled.
"Sir, do you remember how our first meeting was on such a local bus?"
"Yes yes, how can I forget it?" We blushed at each other.
The bus halted at the next stop. As the door opened, our eyes went over a young girl, of around my age, buying her ticket and heading towards the last previous seat. She looked haute with a short top paired with light blue jeans and had left her loose silky hair on both sides, in the front.
I turned to face Akshat who continued to look at the girl settling down on her seat and scrolling through her smartphone. I breathed hard and frowned at Akshat who continued to look at her. I bet his left shoulder.
“Akshat!”
“Hey, what happened?”
“Why are you looking at her? I agree that she is haute but why are you acting like a roadside stalker?”
“Dude!”, called Vyomi, turning my head towards her. “Why do you care? You don't love him, right? At Least feel happy at him finding his love…”
“What! How dare he?”, I bulged my eyes and interrupted Vyomi’s speech as I happened to notice Akshat sitting on the back seat and shaking hands with the stranger girl. She smiled and chuckled at my guy as I banged the plastic yellow handle in the front. Urgh! No, Naomi, he isn’t your guy. How can he be? But, why can’t I resist? Huh! As Vyomi asked, why do you care?
Akshat nodded at the girl, removing a feather from her head and blowing it out through the window.
I closed my right fist and hit the handle one last time.
“Stop!”, yelled I, at which the driver applied a sudden brake. The bus halted. All eyes were upon me as I pushed Vyomi to come out of our seats. Akshat shrugged at me. He rolled his meek and hesitant eyeballs hither and thither as I headed toward him.
“Why are you sitting with her? Sit with me”, ordered I, holding his hand and making him stand up.
“Naomi, I just spoke to her. She seems to be very sweet. She is Prerna, a junior architect. Akshat and Prerna-sounds nice, right?”, he whispered. Tears accumulated in my eyes as his words echoed within my heart. I felt as if the whole world froze for a second. But, why? Neither will I ever manage to love him.
Urgh! What sort of destiny is this? One fine day, how can a random girl from somewhere enter my life and snatch my happiness away? I can win justice for myself. I want justice!
I stamped his shoes hard. He threw his mouth open.
“Excuse me, Mr. Akshat, why were you talking to me and wasting my time when you have such a possessive girlfriend?!”, asked Prerna, roaring with a nightingale’s voice.
“Hey, sorry but thanks to you! You’ll find a great guy, don’t worry! But, Akshat and Naomi are made for each other. It's always Naomi for this Akshat and vice-versa”, said he, at which I blushed while Prerna slammed her forehead.
“Guys and their love dramas”, commented she, carrying her handbag. She joined her hands and completed, "Bye bhaiya bye bhaabhi!" Akshat blushed at me while I threw my mouth open at him.
"Thank you, didi", said Akshat, as Prerna left the bus.
“Arey yaar, kya ho raha hai udhar? Chod. Driver tum chalo faltu ke pyaar (What’s happening there? Leave. Driver, you start. Useless love)”, grumbled the conductor.
I frowned at Akshat while the latter shrank his eyes and blushed at me.
“Ouch!” The bus started without a notice. I was standing, without any support, on the passage.
“Naomi!”, called Akshat, holding my hand and pulling me closer to him. I rested my hands on his chest as he stood, holding the handle above the seat. We were lost in each others’ eyes. However, his balance couldn’t withstand a sudden turn.
“Kiku!”, said I, falling upon him who, in turn, fell with his back on the last seat. I breathed hard as his meek eyes smiled at my pendant exposing itself out of my collar. I was entirely on Akshat.
Will Akshat’s efforts to make Naomi realize her love towards him succeed?
Dear readers,
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