There he was in the shedâŚsitting down on the dusty floor and thinking intently about the next dayâŚthe day of the resultsâŚi.e the results of the election for the Maurya High students' council leader. His eyes blazed with a fire; he wanted so much to winâŚto prove to everyone that he was the bestâŚthat he could pull this off single-handedlyâŚ
Then he thought of his competitorâŚhis rivalâŚthe one who annoyed and irritated him so muchâŚand also the one who, he had to grudgingly admit, had given him a hell of a fight. Still, 'I will win,' he thought and he was confident that he would. He had worked hard for it and he was sure that his campaign had successfully won him the votes of the students.
'Well, tomorrow will be showtime,' he thought and then smiled grimly.
"Oh, toh Mr. Kam akkal yahaan pe baithe hain!" said a taunting voice which he knew very well, he did not even have to look up to know it was her. He immediately stood up and glared at her.
"Anvesha, tum yahaan kya kar rahi ho? Can't you just get the hell out of here?"
"Hey bhaggu! Mujhe nahin pata tha ki yeh tumhaara playground hainâŚI didn't know ki tumhaare dad ne iss shed ko bhi khareed liya hain!" Ashi said, making a face at him.
"What? Wacko, what do you mean by that?" Yuvi asked angrily.
"Hey bhaggu! Mujhe pata toh tha kit um dumb ho par mujhe yeh nahin pata tha ki tumhaari dumbness ka meter itna upar tak jaa sakta hain!"
"Wacko, waise bhi tum half the time non sense bakti rehti hoâŚnow tell what you want to tell, taaki mujhe tumhaari iss idiotic, wacked out shakal ko zyaada time dekhni nahin padegi!!"
"OhâŚ.jaise tumhaari shakal itni acchi hain! Shayad tumne mirror mein apna face nahin dekha hain! Do you know what you look like? A BIG, CRAZY BEAR!!!"
"WACKOâŚ" and Yuvi looked at her as if he would dearly like to kill her. He had balled his fist and for one moment it looked as though he would actually punch her.
Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
Finally he said in a would be calm voice, "Anvesha, what do you want? Jaldo bako and just get OUT OF HERE!!!" He finally looked at her. Ashi had folded her arms and was looking calmly at him, smirking, clearly unimpressed by his outburst.
"Well, main bas tumhe "Best of Luck" kehne aayi thiâŚ.you know why? Because you will need it! Kal tumhe pata chalega ki Anvesha Bannerjee Ray kya cheez hain."
"OHâŚreally?! Mujhe pata hain ki Anvesha blah blah blah kya hainâŚek rang-birangi, tedhi medhi JOKER! Aur as far as good luck is concerned, uski tumhein zyaada zaroorat hainâŚkyunki elections main jeetne waala hoon. Just watch out tomorrow!"
"Look who's talking! Ek baat bataoâŚtumhaare campaign ke liye tumhaare politician dad ne kitne logo ko bribe kiya?" Ashi asked sarcastically.
"What do you mean huh? Yeh saari preparations maine ki hainâŚismein mere dad ka koi haath nahin hain," Yuvi said, now a bit defensive.
"Oh reallyâŚaur woh saare tricks jo tumne play kiyeâŚlogo ke votes ke liye? Unka kya? Mujhe pata hainâŚwho tumhaare dad ke hi devilish ideas honge!" Ashi said, a bit serious now....Before he could make any retort, she continued.
"YuviâŚwhy can't you do anything on your own for once?"
"Oh really, ab mujhe tumhaara lecture sunna padega? Main bhi tumhein ek advice deta hoonâŚapna yeh bada sa mouth band rakhnaâŚatleast mere saamne tohâŚkyunki mujhe tumhaari inn ridiculous baatein sunne mein koi interest nahin hain! Mujhein bahut kaam hainâŚjaise ki mujhe ready hona hainâŚkal meri victory celebrate karne ke liye," Yuvi said in one breathe.
"Wow! Tumhein kya kisi astrologer ne bataaya hain ki kal tum jeetne waale ho?"
"Mujhe kisi astrologer ki koi zaroorat nahin hainâŚI know that I'm gonna winâŚit's so obviousâŚkoi tum jaise wacko ko kyun vote dega?"
"For your information, public poll main mujhein zyaada votes mile!" Ashi replied, smirking.
"TabâŚaur aaj main bahut pharak hota hain wacko. Public poll ke baad, mere rocking ideas and even more rocking parties ke wajah se, I'm more popular than you."
"Wow yuvi, tum ekdum Hitler part-2 ban rahe ho!" ashi said, shaking her head.
Yuvi looked at her, confused and then rolled his eyes.
"Mujhe tumhaari yeh weirdo baaein zara bhi samajh mein nahin aa rahi hain!" Yuvi said in a sing song voice.
"Ab thodi hi der mein Yashwant Dev ke political party mein ek naya member aa jaayegaâŚwoahâŚyuvraj dev! Mujhe toh lagta hain ki tumhein aaj se hi netaji bulana shuru kar dena chaahiye!"
"SHUT UP!!!" He screamed at her; he was shaking with anger now. Maybe it was because, he last sentence had hit home a bit too hardâŚhe never wanted to become a pawn in his father's "army"âŚ
"Don't try to poke your nose into my life," he said, his eyes blazing with angerâŚ
Ashi was shocked and a bit scared but she was hardly going to show him that she was scared. So she rolled her eyes at him. That if possible, made him angrier.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and brought his face close to hers and said, with controlled anger, "You.just. stay.away.from.me," For a moment Ashi was really frightened of him, as she had only once been beforeâŚ
Yuvi was still holding her by her shoulders and their faces were very closeâŚhe could feel her breath on his face... He could feel his anger ebbing away to be replaced by a new emotionâŚone which he could not describeâŚtheir closeness was making him crazyâŚso he did the only thing that was making sense right now: he kissed her.
For a moment, ashi was shocked and completely frozenâŚand that was all the time he needed to deepen the kiss. Now even if she had wanted, she could not have pulled away from him.
He wrapped his hands around her and she felt herself melting into his armsâŚshe forgot where she wasâŚshe did not know when her hands wrapped themselves around his neck....the only thing which she could feel was that she wanted this kiss to go on foreverâŚ
For how long they continued like this, wrapped up in each other, they didn't know. It seemed like an eternity after they broke apart. Yuvi stared at herâŚher eyes were still closed and the sliver of moonlight falling on her face made her look more beautiful than ever. Ashi opened her eyes and immediately all the memories came flooding back to herâŚall the time they had spent togetherâŚhow he was the only one who could make her blushâŚhow happy she had been thenâŚ
But she also remembered how heart-broken she had been when she had found out about the betâŚhow much she had criedâŚit had felt like the end of the world for herâŚ
She suddenly moved away and turned back. Yuvi who had been gazing at her, all this time, immediately pulled her back. He cupped her face in his hands and looked at her.
He could hardly believe that just mere moments ago, he had hated herâŚnoâŚhate was too strong a wordâŚthey had been rivals just a few minutes agoâŚbut he was not sure what they were nowâŚ
"WeâŚwe should go," Ashi said softly and she turned around once again, "kal electionsâŚ" Yuvi laughedâŚhe had completely forgotten about the elections and he was surprised to find that he hardly gave a damn about them now.
"What elections, Ashi?" he asked her smiling now. She looked at him surprised and then grinned back at him.
"I'm gonna win, psycho," ashi said teasingly.
"Oh no wacko, main hi jeetne waala hoonâŚpar I don't care about them now!" Yuvi said.
Ashi looked surprised but still asked, "Then what do you care about?" raising one eyebrow. Yuvi just looked at her, naughtily and said, "Guess"âŚ
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No eggs please!đ
Book Talk
Shiv Shakti
