It had been almost two months since Meher had been living in the new house with Sasha and the rest. Agreeing to live in a house with boys as roommates had been tough for her but it had to be done. It had been hard enough for her to get into college, but to take up a part time job so that she could pay the rent would have distracted her. A distraction that she didnot need at the moment. Exams were looming ahead and she did not want to fall behind in her studies. All it took was one slip up; one moment of relaxation before she could fall prey to becoming a slacker.
Meher opened her eyes abruptly as she heard the strings of a guitar being played loudly.
Speak of the slackers, and the King awakens.
Meher turned around and put a pillow over her ears to drown him out. She groaned out loud in irritation as somehow the music appeared to be getting louder by the second.
No matter how much she tried to be civil with him, Abeer would always find a way to irritate her. Whether it's him playing his stupid guitar in the middle of the night or him waking up at four in the morning and gargling.
---The first night that she had spent at the house, Meher was constantly on edge since it was a new location that she hadn't accommodated to yet. In the pitch darkness, with no form of illumination, her fear had been growing incrementally. The creaking of the floorboards, thetap tap of the tree branches on the window pane... and the mysterious sound. She could never forget that mysterious sound that had woken her up before dawn, every day for a week.
In the mornings, her eye lids would be heavy and she would be yawning every few minutes. Each time, while sipping her black coffee she would ask the others if they had heard that same mysterious sound that she did. It had been hard for her to explain just what the sound was as there was no distinguishable feature to it. It had been a mesh of different noises.
On the seventh dawn, Meher had had enough. Tired of being scared, and frustration running through her veins, Meher had gone outside to investigate. When she had opened the door and checked the corridors, she had found nothing. It was then that she had heard aclang! coming from downstairs. Immediately thinking it was a robber, Meher had emptied out the flowers from a vase and taken the improvised weapon with her.
She had passed by Sasha's and Nisaar's room and had tried waking them up, but judging from the empty bottles littering the floor, that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. Closing their doors, she had given herself a small pep talk. Picking up her courage, she had descended the stairs on her tippy toes, not wanting to inform the intruder of her presence.
Her fingers had clenched tighter onto the vase when she had seen a shadowy figure moving along the wall. She hadn't dared to call out as she hadn't known how dangerous the intruder might have been. Walking slowly past the corridor and into the kitchen, she had seen a figure standing before the cupboards. Gulping, she had raised the vase up into the air, ready to attack.
The moment the sound came again, Meher had shut her eyes tight and attacked, her screams echoing across the room. When she had opened her eyes, she had covered her mouth in shock as the intruder had fallen to the floor and had been writhing. Scared for her life, Meher had quickly turned on the lights to see who the intruder had been.
Gulping again, Meher had slowly approached the trembling figure on the floor and crouched. Her fingers had been shaking so hard as they got closer to the body. Turning it around, Meher had gasped as she saw Abeer choking.
"Abeer!" She had called out, throwing away the vase away from her.
She picked his head up and felt around to make sure she hadn't him too hard. Not finding any serious damage, she called Abeer's name several times to get a response. But she didn't get a positive one. His face had been turning red and from what she was able to notice he hadn't been breathing properly.
Placing Abeer's head gently on the floor, she began to do CPR. Trailing her finger down his chest, and finding the appropriate position, she had pumped his chest ten times. When she had gotten no response, she had tilted Abeer's head, pinched his nose and blown air into his mouth three times. She repeated the procedure two more times, before she had gotten a positive response from him. Abeer had started coughing out the water that had been stuck in his pipes. To further assist him, Meher had tilted him onto his side and rubbed his back to soothe him.
"I"m so sorry Abeer," Meher's words had become muffled as she spoke into his shoulder, highly embarrased.
"What the hell is wrong with you! Marna chahti ho kya?" He had shouted at her.
The air hung heavy around them, with Meher's silent tears in the way.
Sitting up properly, Abeer coughed to let out the remaining few drops of water.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Abeer asked still angry.
"There were these weird sounds bothering me from the past week and when I came down to check right now I thought it was a robber." She cried.
"So you couldn't bother to turn on the light or give a warning? Your first choice was to attack?" He asked incredulous.
"So what else was I supposed to do?" Meher whined. "I don't know anyone here, am living at a new place with complete strangers, half of who are so drunk out of their mind they wouldn't even know if someone died here or not. Abeer, I'm scared okay?"
Abeer remained silent at the revelation.
As soon as the words had left Meher's mouth, she had instantly regretted them. She hadn't expected to break down and let her frustration out like that. But she didn't seem to have another option considering she had almost killed Abeer just now. Thinking about that, she had started crying even harder.
Awkwardly, and unsure of how to react Abeer had patted her back slowly and had said, "There, there."
Meher had sniffed and had tried to control herself but thinking about how alone she was and how she had nearly ruined her life made it hard.
"Meher, look at me." Abeer had said holding her face in between his hands. "Look, I'm fine." He had searched his eyes to see if she was listening to him. "I"m fine. There's nothing wrong with me. Look." He had put her hand on his chest so that she could feel his heart beating healthily. "See, nothing's wrong." He had reassured her. "Now stop crying, and put on that gorgeous smile of yours." He had wiped her tears from her cheeks. "I promise, from now on I'll give you my schedule so that you know where I am at every moment of the day. Okay?" He had teased.
"What?" Meher had asked not understanding what had brought that up.
"Haan, I know how much you've fallen for me and to be honest, it's not your fault. Abeer's charm is just that special." He said unabashedly.
Meher had simply shook her head in disbelief and had huffed.
"You're disgusting Abeer!" Pushing him away, she had gotten up to walk away.
"Eh, Meher!" He had called out.
Meher had stopped by the entrance and had waited for Abeer to approach her.
"On a serious note," Abeer had stood behind her and had spoken in a low voice. She had slightly shivered as his breath had blown her hair. "If there's anything that bothers you, let me know. This early morning gargling will stop from tomorrow. But if there's anything else, just write it down in a list and give it to me. I'll try my best to not do them."
Meher had looked into his eyes and had seen the sincerity behind them. With a small smile, she had thanked him and gone upstairs to her room.
Settling into her bed, she had stretched out her body to relieve herself of the stress that had accumulated from the attempted murder she had just committed. No, not attempted murder. Defense. She had been defending herself. Convincing herself of that, Meher had replayed Abeer's last words in her mind. She had hid her face in her pillow to hide the blush that had crept up on her. She hadn't been able to understand why her heart had started fluttering in his presence.
Unconsciously, she had touched her lips and remembered how she had used them to save his life. Her face had turned into a deep red as she had felt her lips tingling. His lips had been soft and wet and so kissable. She had never imagined that she would have ever come to Abeer's rescue. Granted, she had never imagined she would have put him in a near death situation either.
Meher had removed her hand as she had thought about her sprouting feelings. Her face had paled and her heart had quickened. She had been going down the wrong path. These foreign feelings that she had started to evoke, she could not feel them. She couldn't afford to.
---The strumming of the guitar continued to annoy Meher. Sighing in frustration, she got up from bed and stomped downstairs. She was just about ready to yell at Abeer for disturbing her sleep again when she noticed his head hung down. Various composition sheets were littered around him in a circle, resembling the confused and disheveled state he was in.
Wanting to give him some space, Meher had gone to the kitchen to make herself some coffee. She was already up, she might as well use that time to study some more. As she took out one mug from the cupboard, she thought about Abeer and took out another one. Pouring some coffee in both mugs, she walked to the living room where Abeer had started composing another tune.
When she had offered him the mug, Abeer stopped as he hadn't been expecting someone else's company, least of all Meher's.
"Meher?" He had fumbled, sitting up straight and paling. "I'm sorry, I woke you up." He had said embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it. Drink some coffee." She offered the mug once more.
Putting his guitar away, Abeer took the mug and stretched his legs out before him. Meher took a seat beside him and sipped her black coffee. Taking a sip from his own mug, Abeer sighed in satisfaction.
"Meher, how do you make such good coffee man?" Abeer asked taking another sip.
"That's a secret I'll never tell." Meher said slyly, winking at him.
That exchange brought a smile to his face, relieving some of the tension he was feeling. He rolled his head around to relieve the muscle cramps that were building in his shoulders.
"Stress?" Meher asked.
"So much. I have to submit a new song by Friday and I can't seem to come up with a good tune." Abeer explained.
"Hmm." Meher offered, not knowing what else to say. She didn't know anything about music to be able to offer him any good advice. "Did you try asking Nisaar for help?" She asked.
"Can't. Any sort of outside help is not allowed." Abeer replied.
Meher nodded her head as she fully understood those type of projects. Sure originality is the way to go, but when you are desperately stuck and need help but are unable to get some... it sucks.
"Well, if anyone can do it, it's you." She hid her expression with another sip of coffee.
"Pinch me." Abeer said shocked.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, pinch me. I think I'm dreaming." Abeer repeated.
Meher shook her head confused.
"I mean, Meher Purohit, is complimenting me?" Abeer explained dramatically.
Meher rolled her eyes.
"Pinch me." He offered his arm to her.
With a grand smile, she did as she was told and pinched him really hard.
"Ouch!" He yelped, rubbing his arm.
"What happened?" Meher asked feigning innocence.
"You.. hurt me!" Abeer complained still rubbing his sore arm.
"You're the one who told me to pinch you." Meher defended.
"Not that hard!" He retorted.
Meher rolled her eyes again and took another sip of coffee.
"Stop crying like a baby and drink your coffee."
With a sly smile, Abeer smiled. As he was about to take a sip, an uncontrollable laughter sprang out from him. Shortly, Meher too joined him. Both put down their mugs, not wanting to spill their drinks over themselves. They both laughed and laughed until their bellies ached and they had to hold onto their stomachs to ease some of the pain. Abeer's laughter had made him topple over onto Meher which only made her laugh even more.
"Abeer!" She had screamed, laughing.
"Why are you laughing so much?" He had managed to ask in between.
"Because you're laughing so much." She had replied, feeling the ache in her stomach increase.
"Okay, okay," He had put his hands up in mock surrender. "On the count of three we will both stop, okay?"
Meher nodded her head in agreement and held in her laugh. They both turned to face each other and sat cross-legged.
"One, two," Abeer raised a finger as he counted.
Before he could say "three", Meher burst out laughing again and held onto his hands. He held onto hers tightly as well and followed suit in laughing.
As Meher's laughter consumed her, Abeer saw the glint in her eyes that he never got to see before. The carefree vibe he was feeling around her, filled him up with euphoria. He simply didn't want this moment to end. He wished that every moment could be like this with them. With ease, peace, friendship, comfort and happiness.
Seeing Abeer's change in mood, Meher's laughter died down.
"Oh god, my cheeks are hurting so much." She giggled, touching the sides of her cheeks.
Abeer trailed the back of his knuckles along her left cheek. Meher looked up at him, feeling every movement his fingers made.
"You're so beautiful." He had mumbled to himself.
He hadn't realized that what he had meant to keep to himself was said out loud. Meher avoided his gaze and lowered her lashes.
"Abeer," She whispered feeling the intensity of his gaze upon her.
"Hmm," He hummed, lost in his daydream of her.
He hadn't noticed when rather than trailing her face with his knuckles, he had cupped her cheek within the palm of his hand. Meher closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, lost in how good it felt to be touched by him.
Abeer's breath hitched and his pupils started to dilate as he took in Meher's response.
"Meher," He whispered, unsure of whether what was happening was actually a dream.
Meher shifted her face in his hand as she craved more from him. It was when his thumb brushed her bottom lip, that she took in what was happening. Breaking away from his contact, Meher got up and ran upstairs to her room. She ignored his call and closed the door with a pounding heart.
She gulped as she tried to get under control.
It was a slip-up. That's all. She can still handle herself and her emotions without jeopardizing her future.
She walked over to her bed and laid down.
She couldn't think of Abeer like that. She can't dream about him nor can she afford to form a friendship with him. She can't allow herself to slip up like that and potentially put her entire family at risk of living in poverty forever. She had come here to study and make something of herself. Not fall in love.
With a failing resolution in mind, she shut her eyes to fall asleep.
But even with shut eyes, all you could see was Abeer.
Itti Si Khushi Sab TV
Anupamaa
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
