Arakshi SS - Between the Pages of a Book - *Complete* pg 50 - Epilogue - Page 10

Originally posted by: zainabhassan1

amazing dear amazing love it

Originally posted by: Aisha.Vashishth

hey ritu...ur beautifull writing simply sends me into another world yarr...nd this one...ufff...Books...my weakest nerve...even i feel secure..comfort...nd soothe whn around these! Books!

here too sakshi nd arjun both got to knw each other through books...nd i guess their fates r gonna mingle through books as well...
love th li'l aisha-sakshi part...typical girly convo...reminds me of my close frnd!

nd thn th unofficial accidental 1st meet! it ws cute nd enchanting!

continue soon

love
Aisha

Originally posted by: laila1994

How do you manage to write such a beautiful update.

Arjun-sakshi undefined relationship was very well written.

Wats with Rathod? He talked to Ayesha so rudely.

All I can say is wonderful update.

Loved it

Originally posted by: sisodia_shefali

after reading ur story a non book lover also could turn into a book lover 😃
that was one sweet arakshi moment happy reading
sakshi could make arjun smile even when he did'nt knew her 😉😛
thanks for pm

Originally posted by: Snehajain

Awesome update...

Loved it...

Aisha-Sam convo...😆😆😆

Their first meet...😃😃😃

Continue soon...Thanks for PM...

Originally posted by: sweetpari4u97

amazing part.

waiting for next part.

thankx for pm.

Originally posted by: Areesha566

Love it

Originally posted by: misakiscarlet

awesome post..
i loved the way they met waiting for second meeting
contd. soon thnx for pm

Originally posted by: sakshiarjun

Sorry for late commenting😊

I couldn't stop myself from appreciating u, u are such a talented writer... Loved every bit of the update❤️

Do continue soon dear...

Originally posted by: NATURESHIVANI

willl surely read after some days sorry dear

Originally posted by: anu91

awesomely written yaar...
i loved there meeting...so cool...
the way u wrote and describe was so good...

Chapter 3 - Acquaintances

She slammed her book shut as she sat on her desk. She was frustrated. Why couldn't she study today? Come to think of it, it wasn't just today. She could never study when she had new books waiting for her on the shelf in front of her. She averted her gaze from the new books on her shelf and forced her eyes to look at the white screen of her laptop on front of her. None of those words made any sense. She felt restless and she didn't know why.

The walk to the bookshop in the morning hadn't really helped.

She glanced out of her window and felt her gaze stop on the golden glow the setting sun left on the city of London. It would soon be dark again. And perhaps, there would be no more sun tomorrow. Who knows when she would see such a beautiful sunset again?

She bit on her pen as she stared mesmerised at the golden city.

"Are you studying or day-dreaming?" Aisha's voice snapped her back into the reality.

She dropped her pen on the desk and said, "This is so boring, Aish. I cannot study anymore."

Aisha smiled at her and said, "You haven't even started. I see you are still on chapter 1. By the way, have you made a start on the literature assignment? It is due next week."

Aisha walked across to her messy bed and settled down on it. "I don't understand why they have to have deadlines during the Christmas break. It's not like they will be marking it until after the break."

"Oh damn! I completely forgot." She pushed her book away and started rummaging in her drawer.

"What are you looking for?"

"I got this book out of the library for the assignment. I wonder where I kept it." Her voice came out muffled as she buried her head into the drawer.

Aisha sighed and said, "Your room is in a complete mess. Wherever my eyes land, I can only see books. At this rate, you'll never find anything. Do you plan to sort this out?"

"I can't find it." Sakshi looked up from her drawer, her hair slightly dishevelled.

"Expected." Aisha grinned and started walking towards the door. "Which means you are going to the library again, right?"

Sakshi laughed out and said, "Right-o. See you at 7."

"The library closes at 6."

"Yeah, one hour is for just-in-case."

"You're impossible. You might just spend your entire life in there."

"I wish."

***

She was supposed to be scanning the literature section for the book she needed, but somehow her feet had dragged her to the science fiction section. She was lost again in a world that the books created around her. The world of fiction.

She felt herself changing with each book that touched her fingers. Each story had something different in it. Different characters, places, lifestyles...a different world altogether.

Libraries were different from bookstores. There was the silence that was always missing in a bookstore. No matter how quiet a store was, there was always some or the other sound finding its way inside the store. But not here.

Here she found solace that she didn't find elsewhere. With the silence around her, she could hear the books even better. For they spoke to her. Telling her stories she had never heard before. They weren't just pieces of paper bound together. They were friends, people, and worlds, bound within a single cover.

She smiled as she pulled out a random book from the shelf.

"Didn't I see you at a bookstore in the morning?" A deep and yet, soft voice reached her from behind the shelf that stood in front of her.

She peeped through the gap between the books on the shelf to look into the eyes of a man. He wore a grey coat and had a white scarf draped across his neck. The stranger. The man in the grey coat was smiling at her.

She smiled and said, "Hi stranger. We need to stop bumping into each other."

He smiled back and replied, "You were at the bookshop this morning."

"So were you." She put the book back on the shelf and walked around to face him.

"And if I remember correctly, I saw you reading at St. James' park a few days before, right?" He asked.

"So?"

"You do read a lot."

"So do you." She grinned.

"Oi, this is a library. If you both want to talk, can you please do so outside? I am trying to read here." They looked up to see an old man glaring at them from a nearby desk.

"Sorry!" She called out to him.

"Do you want to go outside?" She whispered to him.

"And why should I do that? You are a stranger."

"No. I am not. I am a bookworm and so are you."

He smiled and started walking towards the exit of the library.

She called out to him, trying to keep her voice as low as possible. "How rude! You just start walking away?"

He turned back and said, "I thought we were going outside."

***

He glanced at his wrist watch as he waited for the girl in the red coat to step out of the library. He didn't know why he even started a conversation with her. It was so unlike him. Maybe he was tired of being alone in this big city. Sometimes, the loneliness just bit at you until you could stand it no more. And that's when he started doing impulsive things like talk to a complete stranger. He didn't even know her name. And some part of him didn't want to know her name. So unlike ACP Arjun Rawte.

He smiled as he saw her hurrying out of the glass doors, hastily buttoning up her coat. She wasn't wearing her red coat today, and yet, he had recognised her. He didn't really believe in fate, but it was a bit strange, the way they had kept on coming into such close proximities of each other.

"Let's go." She said, as she slipped a book into her purse.

"Where to? He asked, his brow shooting up questioningly.

"I don't know. Anywhere. Unless you want to stand here in the cold?"

"I don't normally go out with strangers."

Her smile deepened and she said, "Like I said, we are not strangers any more, but acquaintances." She paused for a moment, a teasing smile appearing on her lips and continued, "You do seem quite scared of a bookish girl. I haven't got a knife you know."

"Who knows? I have only just met you." He didn't know what he was saying.

"There you go again. What, you have never spoken to a complete stranger before?"

"This isn't just speaking."

"So you haven't."
"And you do it all the time?" He looked up at her, trying his best to supress a smile that had unknowingly appeared on his face.

She seemed to reflect on his words and said, "Not really. I don't even know why I am talking to you. Maybe it is your love for the books. It is something that connects us."

She looked so puzzled that he burst out laughing.

"So stranger, where do you want to go?" She asked.

"I don't know. Where do you think?"

He couldn't understand the expression on her face when she said, "Sometimes it is best not to have a destination."

***

The sun had set quite a while ago and yet, its faint golden light still lingered in the sky, hugging the horizon. The sky was slowly turning a deep midnight blue. A slight chill had crept into the wind that blew around them. The street lights were being turned on. The shops were coming to life around them. Light poured out through their glass windows into the streets, illuminating the sidewalks on which they walked. The city was painted in a shade of midnight blue and golden; shadows lurked here and there.

They had taken a couple of blind turns, sometimes right and sometimes left. They went where their feet took them.

It was easy to get lost. And maybe that was what they wanted.

"So, how long you been in London?" She asked.

"One week. I am going back to Mumbai in two weeks."

"You came here for only three weeks?" She looked up at him, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Yeah. Just wanted a change."
"Start over?"

"Something like that."
"Why London?"

"I don't know. I always wanted to come here. When I graduated from college, it was my dream to come here. To wander among the streets, in the night. To just get lost somewhere. And then, there were the bookshops on Charing Cross road."

"And you finally fulfilled your wish."

"Yeah. And now that I am here, it doesn't feel the same anymore. Not like I had thought it would feel. Maybe the desire faded with time."

"Or maybe, you haven't explored London like you should."

There was something about her, he thought. Something about the way she talked. It made him feel at ease somehow. Words flowed out easy, like she knew everything about him. This isn't what talking to a stranger should feel like, he thought.

"Maybe. What about you?" He asked.

"I am studying here. Waiting for the day to fly back to Mumbai."

"So, I get it you don't like it here."
She bit her lips as they walked, her face bore an expression of confusion.

He wasn't surprised when she replied, "I don't know. Sometimes I feel a connection with this place. And then sometimes, I crave for Mumbai. I miss the busy roads, the crowd, and the haphazardness. London is too ordered for me sometimes. Too quiet. Like now."

She paused in the middle of the sidewalk, bringing him to a stop along with her. They were immediately enveloped by silence. The streets were desolate; not a soul was present on the roads. There was just the haunting sound of the wind as it made its way through the bare trees around them. This, was silence.

"See?" Her voice broke the silence.

He laughed and said, "But sometimes, the silence is comforting."

A faint smile appeared on her face, and she said, "Yes. But only if you are with the right person." She paused, her eyes staring into the distance. "Otherwise, it bites at you. Like the chilly wind."

She started walking then, humming a tune to herself as if she were walking alone in this mysterious world of hers.

Once again, he felt the urge to step into her world that she slipped into so easily. There was something very intriguing about that world of hers. He wondered why he felt himself bonding with a person, when he didn't even know her name.

***

They found themselves wandering to the path along the river Thames. She stepped out of the path on which they were walking and edged closer to the low stone wall running along the river path. She leaned against the wall, resting her chin on her hand and stared into the blinking city just beyond the river. He stepped beside her and stared up at the dark sky above. The cold wind whipped across his face, turning it colder with every passing minute. And yet, they stood there, listening to the gentle lapping of the river water against the strong concrete walls beneath. They were away from the sounds of the city, the busy streets and the strong glaring lights. The street lights that lit the river path were warm, soothing.

"I don't want to go back." She said, her voice barely audible even in the silence.

"Then don't." He laughed.

"It's not that easy. I am bound by rules. I have exams coming up in January." She smiled up at him, resting her head on the barrier.

"I will be gone by then," he found himself murmuring.

"You could stay back you know?" She asked, a hint of tease in her voice.

He glanced at her curious eyes and wondered what she was thinking.

"I am bound by rules too you know. I have a job back in Mumbai." He said, his eyes moving to the few glittering stars above.

Suddenly, a faint sound of music drifted towards them, like a pair of invisible hands beckoning them to enter a world, concealed somewhere within the sparkling city. Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she heard the music. The atmosphere changed, as if a pinch of pixie dust had somehow been sprinkled into the air, so that it sparkled around them.

She stood up straight, placed a glove-covered hand on his arm said, "Come on, stranger. I am tired of the silence."

"Why do you keep calling me stranger? Why haven't we even asked each other our names?"

"Maybe I want to keep the mystery. At least for this night. I don't want to be reminded of who I am. Enough questions, let's go." She smiled.

He didn't know why her answer left him with a liberating feeling. Something that told him, he could be himself with her. That she didn't have any expectations from him.

As she pulled him along the path, slowly making their way towards the music, he asked, "Where are we going?"

She grinned and replied, "Let's break the rules for today. You and I. Just one night when I can cease to be me and you can cease to be you. We will just be two strangers in the city. No past, no future comes in between. Just the present, the moment."

"Not strangers, acquaintances." He replied.

***********************

Yeah, I know it probably feels a bit unreal - does it?

Now, it would be awesome if you could let me know of one thing - how do you find the story so far? Is it worth continuing?

Yeah - it seems a bit unreal that they didn't reveal their names - but then that just adds a little bit in the story. Sometimes you feel more connected with strangers and can share things that you couldn't share with anyone else. Does that make sense?

Do leave your comments and let me know if you feel the story is slow or getting boring 😕 - its just something i felt hence asking!