Chapter 91

[MEMBERSONLY]

Hi guys! I apologize if the content isn't upto the mark. I confess I did not work enough on them especially Meera and Hum Tere Seher. Reason -  I have not been keeping well. I could have sat with the chapters for some more time but I was started getting the feel that the more I delay the more uninterested I would be to make it better. So here it is.

Before I start delving into Nishit and Kirti's story full on, I will have to warn y'all I haven't written romance before. I have written flirting scenes or where the characters skirt around each other but a full blown romance. No! So I cannot promise heart-fluttering moments but I will try writing a feel-good, healthy and entertaining romance from here on. Thank you for your continued interest and patience.

XxxX 

83(III). Meera

The vicious wind thudded at her closed windows, rattling them. 

The room inside was dark except for the dim glow of her phone.

Kirti checked her Insta account for the umpteenth time. No, there had been no follow back from a certain person named Nishit Aggarwal.

It had been a week since she had followed him.

She wanted to resent him and unfollow him because she felt ashamed of low key stalking him while he regally ignored her. While he could ignore her! It was in his capacity to ignore her wherein her nights were perturbed by his dreams!

But she didn't unfollow him. Could not. 

It would look even more juvenile of her.

It had all started with a blasted heart! Yes, an unintentional heart! 

Until then she had been blissfully - not entirely blissfully. She was filled with bursts of shame at her pitiable condition - stalking his page without anyone's notice. 

In her defense she only wanted to know if he was well. If and when he would be back to India. 

A tiny weeny part was also curious about his dating life.

But much to her disappointment and consternation, he wasn't much of a social advertiser of his life. She usually liked people keeping things private but in his case, it grated on her nerves. 

Why even make an account in your name when you were only going to post sunset and sunrise or places and landmarks?!

Why not call it a vagabond's travelogue!

There was only one photograph of the man posted on his account and that too of his side profile. Not that she was qualified to complain for the only post her account had was the picture of her shadow! 

This picture of his was one of the earliest posts of his account and did nothing to quench the thirst of her heart.

How did he look now? She wanted to know.

She missed his eyes. She missed the little smiles that played at his lips - not that she had witnessed many. She missed his height! And she missed the short hair! Nobody could pull it off like him!

So, she had been trying to absorb whatever of him she could through his picture when her traitorous finger had slid on the heart below the picture, like oil drops on a screen and with horror filled eyes, she had seen the shape blink in red. 

She had been quick enough to click on the heart again - unlike the post - but then the notification would have reached him, right?

And what would he think? 

That she was stalking and to not get caught she removed her like? 

So she once again gave the post the heart. 

Did it even matter? He already had her heart in his fist.

Oh Kirti you sure are going nuts! This is a new low! You are making a habit of pining now!

And then she went to like all his posts. Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak. Because seriously how weird it would be to like only the post that had his picture?! 

And, then because it wasn't enough, she went and followed him! 

Since then she had been waking up at untimely hours in the night to check if he had followed back.

Kirti refreshed her page. 

No! He had not.

She didn't mind. Really! It was his prerogative. She hadn't followed him to be followed back.She had not followed back a few of her classmates as well. There were so many messages from Tejas lying in her inbox. 

Nishit was entitled his freedom just as she was.

It was just that it made her feel a -  tad bit sad. 

She was never going to be friends with Tejas again. When he continued to send messages despite her disinterest she often felt angry, miserable or pity - for him - all depending on her mood. 

One and a half decade of friendship and she was okay without Tejas in her life. 

She could actually live without him - something that had looked impossible at one point of time in her youth.

Was this how Nishit felt for her? 

Did he want nothing to do with her?

Her heart pinched and she pulled her knees close to her chest under the thin blanket.

Aimlessly scrolling through posts, she came across Debbie's. She had shared a poem excerpt.

Kirti was not much of a reader. She read but only academic and non fiction. But the poem that Debbie had shared struck a chord with her.

Logging out, she kept the phone away, her gaze flitting to the window. She hoped it wouldn't rain tomorrow. She had a dinner to attend. 

What saree should I wear tomorrow night? Suppose he is coming back tomorrow? Groaning silently, she closed her eyes. His thought had slipped in just like that. And when one thought  sneaked in, several others followed too.

Suppose we collide accidentally? We always used to earlier. But that was when and because he was obsessed with me? Maybe the cosmic energy aligned things then. Would it be too much if they could align one more such coincidence?

Gosh Kirti! You are almost 30! Woman up! You have a job. And a house! And....

Well I am happy!

[NOCOPY]