AsHlok FF~Love Finds Its Way~ Chapter 12 Pg 134 *up28May14* - Page 27

Precap:-

"Can i ask you something?" There was a soft insidious plea in his tone.

"Sure." Astha said taking her goblet from the one serving, while his laid untouched.

Shlok from a distance, busy in a formal conversation with a man, stole glances at Astha and the guy with her. He tried to have a look of the guy's face but he was sitting the other way so as his face wasn't visible to him. For a moment he wondered what could they be conversing about. He saw him ask her something to which her eyes widened and then narrowed as if in a trivial shock.

Chapter 5

First Rain of Love

"Can we see each other...um...some other time?" He asked carefully observing her bewildered expressions.

"May I ask why?" She asked in a very straight-forward tone.

"umm well... do you know Mr. Vikranth Randhawa?"

Astha tried to register the name, which wasn't very difficult. She looked past Mohit, her brain processing everything it could, but there were only too many questions. How does this man know her? How did he know about Randhawa? Why was he here? It was now clear that he was only here for her. She smiled, "Of course he was my dad's friend."

He rised his brow meaningfully.

"Good you remember...i am his son." She was surprised but didnt show.

"Nice seeing you Mohit... but if you will excuse me now... i have some important work." He was a nice guy and the son of her father's long dead rather killed friend. He didn't answer her question as to why he wanted to see her and she did not want to see him at all. Not after knowing who he was associated with. She saw a sudden shift in his expressions. He wanted to say something but seeing her leave dropped the idea. Astha made her way out. On her way her eyes, only for a moment met someone else's. These eyes were so similar now, she felt her lips curve around the corner. Shlok saw some apprehension in her eyes, he looked back for the guy who was now gone.

***

Astha left as soon as the dinner was over. She greeted the clients with Shlok and then silently slipped out. As soon as she was out in the open, her face caught the full strength of the rising wind, blowing the lose strands of her hair behind her. The shadows of the trees were restless under the breezy sky. It was a starless night with dark dense clouds paving their way in. She saw a quick jolt of lightening but without any disturbance in the silvery silence of the night.

She crossed the road and paced towards the bus stand. The expected time of arrival of the bus was nine fifteen, she still had fifteen minutes to herself. A few cars zoomed by; two boys, fresh out of their teens, passed by her on a bike, howling cheap remarks as they went. She rolled her eyes and pushed her hand inside her clutch to have a better grip on her saviour, her pepper spray, in case things got tricky.

The two desperados took a u-turn and hasted their bike back towards the bus stand. Just then a white SUV stood between her and the baddies. The glass rolled down and Astha saw him inside. She narrowed her eyes, he was looking straight at the road while signalling her to come in. She sighed, looked at the time, still ten more minutes for the bus.

Why to refuse a good offer.' She thought and took the passenger seat. The car sped by the boys. One looked at the other dejectedly.

"Looks like no fun for today." One of them said. Someone in the distance boiled with anger.

"Where did he come from?" He grunted.

***

"What were you going to do?" Shlok asked her pressing his foot hard against the accelerator.

"Wait for the bus." She answered with an obvious look on her face.

"And about the boys?"

"Oh them...they were lucky to be spared today." She said as a matter of fact.

"Really?" He half scuffed.

"Yeah... or else i was gonna make them have some taste of my pepper spray, would have been enough for those inexperienced brats."

He looked at her in a sort of stunned incredulity.

What is she?' He wondered, quite amused by her audacity.

Outside the car it had started drizzling. Astha pulled down her glass and extended her hand out, excited like a little child. Shlok irked by the sprinkle of rain droplets hitting his face thought of telling her to pull the glass up but then let it go. She was so engrossed in feeling the soothing sensation rain gives on contact with the skin.

"OMG first rain of the season..." She squealed excitedly. Shlok rolled his eyes and said,

"and probably the most contaminated too."

"Who cares... rain is rain!"

He stopped outside her house. She quickly got off thanking him but then realising something turned around.

"Last night i did not realise, that... a...i was afraid and umm... i am sorry about that sir." She completed her statement rather hesitantly. She did not know what came to her before she decided to apologise but since her relationship was purely professional with him, she wanted to clear out any such thing which wasn't intentional. For a moment their hug flickered in front of his eyes, her apology came by as a little bolt from the blue, but he nodded and she left thanking him again.

She crossed her way through the barred gate inside the house. Shlok was about to pull back when his eyes caught her throwing the clutch and her cell phone on the chair under the shed and herself hasting towards the lawn. His brows scrunched in amusement. The clouds roared loudly and buckets of water fell down from the heavens. Astha stood still facing the sky, letting the droplets of rain fall on her. Happy as a little child she danced and twirled around in circles. Soon curtains of opaque rain blocked his vision; he unknowingly pulled down his side of the glass. The wind was in high frolic with the rain and a gush came hitting his face with streaming water. He was mesmerized having never seen someone so happy in rain.

She can have all the fun alone.' He mused. Even from this distance his eyes admired her smile, a smile full of a subtle charm. She placed her hands on her lips and gave a flying kiss towards the sky and then started giggling like billy-o. Shlok himself couldn't stop but chuckle for a moment. His own voice brought him back to reality. He ran his fingers through his wet hair. Hair wet due to the same contaminated first rain of the season. She danced back inside the house and Shlok pulled his car on the main road. She was there, everywhere around him as he drove back home.

That was the second night he had to drop his bitter black midnight coffee, because sleep seemed a better option. She was there in his dizzy thoughts before sleep called in.

***