PART 1
~~~~ Naira ~~~~
Beep. Beep. Beep
Sleepily, Naira reached under her pillow and pulled her phone out. With half open eyes, she tried to unlock her phone.
Wrong password.
Frowning, she pushed the covers down and sat up. Rubbing her eyes, she tried again.
1 new message her home screen announced. Her heart immediately picked up speed. Biting her lip in anticipation she quickly opened her inbox only to be greeted to the best morning ever.
"Good morning beautiful. :)"
grinning like an idiot, she quickly typed a reply - good morning sweetheart. She was just about to hit send when she paused.
"What are you doing, Naira?" she chastised herself, " too much. Too soon. No way" shaking her head, she quickly erased out the endearment before sending her message off.
Smiling, she went back to her inbox and read his message again. And re-read it. And re-read it one more time, checking the time of his message this time.
06:30 AM.
" I am an early riser. I am usually up by 6-6:30" he had said.
That meant, he had thought of her the first thing in the morning.
"Yes!" Naira exclaimed cheerily. She felt like hugging someone. Leaning behind her, she grabbed her pillow and hugged it to her chest
"Nairaaa" her mothers voice shook off from her dreamland.
"Shit. Mar gayi" Naira mumbled, " Uth gayi Maa" she called out to her mother loudly.
Walking to her closet with a spring in her step and her favourite song on her lips, she pulled out her clothes.
" black. Black is my favourite colour"
Shaking her head, she replaced the red top she had chosen and took out her black t shirt.
Suddenly realising what she was doing, she blushed. A warm feeling spread through her tummy. Hugging her clothes to her, she fell down on her bed with a plop. Her love struck heart promptly reminded her of his morning message. As if she forgot. She remembered every bit of it. Every alphabet. Every space. Every smiley.
Good morning beautiful. :) 2 spaces after morning and a period after beautiful. And his trademark smiley.
Beautiful. He had called her beautiful.
" shit. Naira, you are smitten"
~~~~ Kartik ~~~~
Beep. Beep. Beep
Kartik tossed over and pulled a pillow over his head.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Mumbling, he pressed the pillow harder over his ears in an effort to drain out the sound.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
" Kya hai?" He yelled, tossing down the covers and grabbing the phone from under his pillow.
Frowning, he quickly unlocked it. " who the hell messages at 07:30?" He muttered angrily.
Good morning sweetheart.
Ab tak nani uthey
Uth Jao. It's very late. And I have something very important to tell you.
Grinding his teeth in frustration, he rammed a hand into his hair, how the hell could he tell this girl without hurting her? He wasn't interested. But he didn't want to break her heart. She was nice and sweet. She was compassionate and friendly.
They had been good friends at first. He felt he could tell her anything and she would patiently listen - right from his family problems - to his ever troublesome love life. But somewhere along the way, he felt that she had started developing feelings for him. And that was the last thing he had wanted, so he backed off. She would often ask if he was angry with her and if she had done something wrong. And he had no answers other than a smiley. And she had seemed contended.
And he had let it be. But he knew it couldn't go on like this. What she wanted. He couldn't give. He just wasn't interested - either in her or in love. He ran as far away from love as possible. And now he had to tell her in the nicest way possible. He also knew that no matter how nice he put it, she would be immensely hurt. And all thanks to him.
No, he corrected himself. All thanks to love.
Gritting his teeth, he punched the pillow beside him - love screwed everything up
Rrriiinnng.
He didn't even need to look at the caller ID to know. No one called him at 07:45 - they knew he would bite their head off if they dared to wake him this early. Pressing ignore wasn't an option either as this girl just didn't get the message. Sighing, he picked up her call reluctantly. Before even he could say hello, she exclaimed excitedly, " Kartik!! My brother is getting engaged. Tomorrow evening. You HAVE to come"
He opened his mouth to answer before someone called her, " I have to go. Lots of work. See you tomorrow, OK. Bye"
And just like that she was gone. "that was a nice conversation" he muttered sarcastically, " if she had to talk to herself, why call me?"
Shaking his head, he pushed all the troublesome thoughts to the back of his head, and fell back down on his bed to catch up on some sleep.
He was right. He didn't need love.
" beta Kartik, stay far far away"