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The haze of my sleep lifted slowly, causing me to be groggy and unsure of where I was. All I could figure out was that I felt very cozy where I was sleeping, with my head propped on something warm, a rhythmic music playing in my ears. Rubbing my face against my pillow, I heard the music quicken, causing me to open my eyes and look up, surprised to find a pair of stunned chocolate brown eyes staring back at me. It took a few long seconds of staring into his eyes that everything dawned on me. I had fallen asleep in his embrace and the music was his heartbeat which played as my ear rested against his heart. I touched the scarf encircling my shoulders and realised he must have done that to keep me cozy, as he sat there while I slept.
Warmth stirred in my heart at his care as I looked back into his eyes. They were guarded, probably waiting for me to react and push his arm away, which was still loosely around my shoulder. Instead, I smiled, a smile that came straight from my heart.
"Thank you!" I wholeheartedly expressed my gratitude for his support.
His eyes widened just a bit in surprise before he coughed awkwardly. "Umm... I need to freshen up. Do you want to go too or will you wait here?"
"I'll wait." I smiled and he got up to go. My eyes followed him walking across the ground and disappear around the corner. His thoughts filled my mind. I had known from a long time that he was a good, compassionate and caring person but I'd thought he'd buried that side somewhere in the past. Now I discovered why he was always the apple of everyone's eye and why, despite being very strict with his staff, they loved him so much. To let this man go would always be a foolish thing to do.
My chain of thoughts was interrupted by a crying baby. I looked around and spotted an anxious mother nearby, trying to juggle her crying infant and the scared toddler who was clinging to his mother. Watching the family for a few seconds, I decided to help them and got up. Walking up to them, I noticed the night was over. There was a little light in the stadium now.
"Can I help you?" I held my hands out to hold the baby so the woman could calm the toddler. After looking at me uncertainly for a minute, she gave the baby and I held it, lightly cradling it and crooning to it while the woman attended to her child. "Are you alone with these kids?" I asked conversationally.
"Yes." She replied while kneeling down and helping the kid drink water out of a small bottle. "My husband is out of town and there's no way for him to come back right now."
"I know." I said in understanding. The baby in my arms was falling asleep with the constant cradling. "The kids must be scared."
What a stupid thing to say, I realised. I, an adult, was scared beyond words so they were just little kids.
"Yes." She answered. "They're really scared. He's been asking about his father ever since the storm began and the last I talked to him, he was willing to take the risk of coming by road but I stopped him. It's not safe, you know." She added.
I nodded and we chatted some more until I saw Maan coming towards me. There was a loud crashing sound from outside, pretty much like last night and I instinctively held the sleeping baby closer. The rain had probably picked up speed again, I thought. The woman thanked me and took her baby, putting it in the carry-cot she had brought along while I turned and walked some to meet Maan.
"It's raining buckets!" He exclaimed, coming to a halt in front of me.
"How do you know? Did you go outside?"
He shook his head. "The restrooms are towards the open area so I saw outside. The wind is really strong too, you know. Not at all safe to go out right now."
"Guess we'll be stranded for some time." I sighed.
"Yeah." He said as a hand slipped into his bag and produced two apples. "Here, eat this."
"Where did you find this?" I inquired as I took one from him and he bit off the other one.
"A man over there was handing out these to random people." He pointed towards a far end.
"Such acts of kindness set people apart from the usual." I commented with a smile.
We had casually started strolling on the edges as we both bit into our respective apples. Something struck me.
"Why did he give you two apples?" I turned my eyes to his face in time enough to catch a sheepish look cross his face for a split second before he assembled his features to appear callous.
"He didn't." I frowned, not understanding. "I asked him for the second one."
I blinked, staring at him looking straight ahead. He'd done it again. I felt my heart swell up and fill with feelings for this man. I hadn't come across such a man in my life. My throat began to clog from emotion but I controlled myself.
"Like I said, such acts of kindness set people apart." I repeated my words in a soft voice in a manner which was clear for him to know I was talking about him this time.
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. I could keep gazing at him if the thoughtful look hadn't crossed his face.
"What're you thinking?" I asked instinctively. I could tell he was startled by my question and I wondered if he was pondering over something he wouldn't want to share.
"Uhh..." His hesitation confirmed my doubt and, despite wanting to know what was running through his mind, I did not press the issue and welcomed the transparent change of topic from his side. "Where would the rest of them be?"
His eyes ran around the stadium while I suppressed the feeling that perhaps I did not have the right to know his thoughts. I shrugged. "Shall we look for them?"
He nodded thoughtfully to my offer, still not looking directly at me as we continued in the same slow pace without any intent of actually looking for the rest of them. Although it was pinching that he'd just used that as an excuse to evade my question, I was still glad he didn't detest being in my company alone. It was pleasing in a sweet way and I wanted to make the best use of this bonus time I'd gotten with him.
"Tell me something about yourself." I quickly said without giving it a second thought. My words paired with the suddenness of such a thing to say startled him as he looked at me. Only then it dawned on me how silly I must have sounded. Heat began to rise up my cheeks but I wasn't deterred. I really did want to hear him speak.
Upon listening to the clouds grumble just at that moment, a question came to my mind and I rushed to save some grace. "I mean, have you ever been stranded in such a storm earlier?"
"Not really." A frown marred his forehead as he pondered over it. Seeing the lines, my hands itched to reach out and smoothen them. My heart missed a beat as soon as I realised where my thought processes and my wishes were leading me. "I've been in an earthquake though." He looked at me to judge whether I'd be interested to listen to the story.
"I'm all ears." I exclaimed a little too eagerly, a smile stretching across my lips, causing his lips to stretch, only to be controlled a second later.
"Alright! If you wish to be bored because there isn't much of a story." He looked at me, his eyes clear of all the fog which was there just a few moments ago.
"Come on, I'm waiting!" I egged him on, making him let out a laugh.
"Shall we sit here?" He pointed at a corner and without replying, I thumped right on the ground, being the reason for his laughter again as he gracefully lowered and took his place beside me.
"Well..." He thought about it. "I was on a business tour and staying on the 16th floor of the hotel when everything began to tremble." My eyes widened and he stared at me with a lopsided smile and one eyebrow raised. He must have found my reaction dramatic. "Anyway," shrugging his distraction away, he continued, "I ran for my life and here I am." He shrugged, blandly ending the story.
"That's it?" I asked, exasperated. "No dramatics, no suspense, no heroic scenes, nothing?"
He chuckled. "I warned you it'd bore you." Although I was acting disappointed, I was pleased with the lightness in his eyes and the humour in his voice. "You were the one who insisted upon listening."
"You're going to have to compensate your bad story-telling." I huffed. "Tell me more stories. And you're going to be penalised with one more story every time you don't properly dramatize the story you tell." My arms crossed and my chin raised, I was behaving peremptorily.
His eyebrows shot up. "Why would I even agree to that?"
"Because we've got lots of time on our hands and I'm a very good listener." I smiled cheekily.
"Right. I am aware of both the facts." He rolled his eyes. "But you just said I'm a bad story-teller, so why would you want to hear more stories from me?"
Just to hear you speak, was what my heart and mind promptly answered with. "I don't mind listening to your stories even if they're boring because..." I happened to look into his eyes, which were staring at me as if they could see right into my soul and I feared they'd read what I was actually hiding under my charade of such peppy behaviour. I almost broke into a sweat, fumbling to take control over the racing heartbeats and continue with my facade. "Because how else am I supposed to spend my time?"
He seemed unconvinced so I added a sugary-sweet "please" which pushed him to give up.
"Fine!" He let out a huff. "What do you want to know about?"
"Anything." I responded. "You could tell me about your travel experiences or some funny incidents that happened to you or something."
He looked at a vague point behind me, trying to recall a story to tell. I had my eyes fixated on his face so I knew the exact moment he decided what he was going to say.
"Okay, I remember one incident." He focused on me, stretching his legs out in front of him and firmly placing his palms on the ground to give him support. "I was on a tour and it was a freezing cold night when suddenly the fire alarms went off." I gasped. "Since I was in my nightwear, um, so I put on a bathrobe and ran down the stairs four floors at that time and joined many other hotel customers outside where it was chilling to the bones."
"What happened then?" I interjected before he could take a breath and he rolled his eyes at my impatience.
"Well, we waited out in the cold for the firefighters to arrive. They came in about three to four minutes, and when they did, they went inside the hotel to investigate where the fire was because apparently none of the people there had seen any while they were inside."
"So did they find any fire?" I questioned eagerly, making him give me a deadpan look before continuing.
"We waited for around fifty minutes to an hour while they investigated. The road was blocked because there were at least a hundred people, mostly in their pajamas, waiting for a green signal. And when they did finally come out, it turned out one of the customers had left hot water open for enough steam to accumulate to trigger the smoke detectors."
"What?!" I exclaimed, totally not expecting it to turn out this way. "Over a hundred people stood out in freezing weather because of one idiot?! He should've been handed over to the police!"
He shrugged. "They fined him and let him go."
Something occurred to me belatedly. "By the way, did you actually believe the bathrobe would be a measure of warmth in the weather? You could have grabbed a coat or something."
"That was the closest thing available at the time, and yes, it does provide warmth when the night wear is the bare minimum." He smirked.
"Bare minimum? How?" I couldn't decipher what he had smirked about. His mouth opened and his eyebrows raised.
"I thought you were smarter than that, Geet! I'm not explaining this. Figure it out yourself."
"But..." My brain processed his words rather slowly and an image popped up in my head. Of course I knew men sometimes slept in their underwear. I'd seen enough movies and shows to know that. Imagining Maan in that context, however, was very embarrassing. It somehow felt intimate, especially when he was staring at me, an eyebrow arched upwards and his lips upturned as I sat there avoiding his eyes and blushing furiously.
I kept looking away from him so I was startled when a football bounced out of nowhere and landed right between my crossed legs.
"Hey, watch it!" Maan immediately called out, instinctively taking the ball out of my lap and throwing it back to the teenage boys who were waiting at a little distance.
The boys began playing and we both watched them for a while. After a few minutes, the ball was kicked and it somehow began to find its way back to me. Maan was quick to intervene by raising an arm across me and stopping the ball.
"Sorry sir!" One of the older boys jogged towards us and apologised hurriedly, offering Maan to join them for a game. He looked towards me then back to the boy before springing on his feet.
"Might as well take the offer to pass time!" Dusting his clothes off, he set the ball on the ground, aimed for it and kicked it off towards where the rest of the boys were watching him. A loud cheer echoed from the teenagers at the kick as Maan grinned and made his way towards the group with the boy running ahead of him.
With my lips curved upwards, I had my eyes on Maan as he played with the young boys, laughing and enjoying himself. It was so heartwarming for me to see him so light and joyful, especially in such circumstances. But then I realised, there were still people around us who were trying their best to be happy even though they were stranded. Like the boys who were playing football and now had engaged Maan too. Like the kids who ran around where their families sat chattering away like they had no worries in the world. Like the jolly old couple who had brought along a music player and was playing old classics in loud volume. A new song began playing and I felt my eyes pulled back towards Maan as the melodious voice of Elvis Presley and the lyrics filled my ears.
Wise men say only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay?
Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you?
Maan dodged one of the younger boys and kicked the ball towards the goal, scoring a point. The victory on his face only lasted a few seconds as he playfully ruffled the younger one's hair and patted him on the back.
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you.
I gathered my knees close to chest, feeling the need to hold myself together as the song touched me and my heart threatened to leave me and fly towards the guy who played there, clueless of what effect he was having on me. His goodness, his strengths, his weaknesses, his laughter, his fears, I wanted to experience all of it with him. A wish arose within the deep confines of my heart; a wish to be the one he shared it all with.
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you
For I can't help falling in love with you
At that exact moment, Maan turned from his game to look at me, bestowing me with one of his toothy smiles. The emotions that were beginning to take root within me were so alien yet so strong that his single smile, which probably wasn't even intentionally thrown my way, melted my heart. It made me want to get up, run towards him and hold him in my arms, to stay in his forever. It made me want to run away and hide from him until I could convince my heart to feel otherwise for him. It made me want to give him all the happiness he deserved, yet it made me want to keep a distance from him because he was too good to be mine. The variation of feelings tore me apart as my body sagged while I stared at Maan, blissfully unaware of the storm raging with me. A single tear drop spilled out of my eye and rolled down my cheek.
Was I falling in love with Maan?
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