"PRACHI!!!" , Ranbir shouted, as he heard Prachi yelp in pain at being hit hard in the face with the dense and hard football, having fallen down on the ground.
That would have really hurt her, Ranbir thought with concern.
He and the other team members ran towards her to see if she was okay. That monkey man Tej got to her first. Ranbir felt his teeth mashing and grinding together, his free hands balling into fists at his side as Tej held prachi's hand with one and put his other hand on prachi's back. Ranbir felt an odd rage like a heat wave surge through him hearing Rhea laughing, as she strutted over smugly towards injured Prachi.... whilst monkey man still had his hands all over her.
Ranbir shot a warning glare at Rhea as she hovered over prachi smiling and giggling. Rhea saw this and looked back at him questionably. He shook his head at her wordlessly, refraining her to not say or do anything. Rhea scowled at him, looking confused and surprised at his pissed-off expressions. Rhea rolled her eyes at him and turned her focus back to prachi, smirking once again.
"Nice shot Vicky!", she laughed.
"What are you saying? Prachi is hurt. And move away a little please, we need to check prachi's head. It looks like she hit the back of her head on the concrete ground".
Ranbir instantly came forward towards prachi at hearing this, ignoring both rhea's presence and Tej's hands on Prachi, taking over from Tej to help her to sit up on the ground. Ranbir inspected her face and head for injuries. She winced in pain at Ranbir touching the back of her head.
"Tell me Prachi, did you hit and hurt your head hard? You need to tell me exactly where it hurts", Ranbir asked in frantic worry, as he lightly held her face and back of her head in both his hands. In between, Ranbir couldn't help but notice Tej still had one hand on Prachi's shoulder..... He should take it off before I do so myself.
"My lips and nose feel slightly sore, but the back of my head hurts a lot", Prachi explained, with one hand flying to the back of her head as she winced in pain. Ranbir grimaced in discomfort, as if seeing her in pain was hurting him. Ranbir relaxed seeing Tej's hand slide off from prachi and him backing off her a little, allowing Ranbir to take over.
"Does it hurt as much as it hurts my eyes to look at your face? I doubt it.", Rhea said in mock concern with a big smirk on her face.
"Just shut up Rhea", said Ranbir, Tej and Vicky in unison and irritation at Rhea.
Rhea's face flushed red, and nose flared in fury at their behaviour.
"HOW DARE YOU? How dare you guys tell me to shut up, and for whom... this Prachi? How dare you cross your limits with me and talk to me in a raised tone? Have you forgotten who I am? And you Ranbir... look after this behenji if you want, but you better watch out for me later, because I'm going to give you a peace of my mind like I have never done before", Rhea ranted in an angry tirade.
Somehow the boys felt themselves shrinking under Rhea's commanding tone. Ranbir thought carefully about what he was going to say.
"Look Rhea, we didn't mean to speak to you like that, sorry, just Prachi is hurt and it's unnecessary for you to talk to her like that right now. Please just go, we can talk later, but I need to help Prachi. W, w, we could also get in trouble by principal if he gets to know about this, especially if Prachi is hurt a lot, so he could even ban us from playing football, that's why I and the guys are tensed, because principal could take strict action against us. That's all, please understand."
Ranbir winked at Prachi discretely, signing her. Prachi understood the purpose behind Ranbir's words and hid her smirk from Rhea. Ranbir, Tej and Vicky looked at Rhea, to see her reaction.
"Oh! Okay, whatever you say then Ranbir". Rhea straightened up her tensed body, looking satisfied with Ranbir's explanation and walked off silently. The boy's all heaved a sigh of relief. Vicky laughed and smacked Ranbir's back in approval.
"Nice save Ranbir. I thought we were goners for sure". The boys laughed. Prachi shook her head at them in amusement.
"I have to watch out for you Ranbir. You really are a shrewd person", Prachi looked at Ranbir with amusement and disbelief at how smoothly he lied to and convinced Rhea. Ranbir smiled at Prachi.
"I know I'm just that good. But hey, I seriously was kidding what I said to her about only being worried because we'd get in trouble. We wouldn't get in trouble, and principal would be damned if he banned us from playing football. Who would win him the trophies?", Ranbir chuckled proudly.
As Prachi giggled at Ranbir's words, she winced again in pain, feeling light-headed. The boys came forward in concern.
"Okay, I'm going to take you to first aid to get you checked out now. That head definitely needs checking", Ranbir said.
"I can take her, Ranbir. We're both have our next class together, so I could help her back to class too after first aid?", Vicky suggested.
Ranbir looked at him, feeling the urge too say much more to him than he was about to say.
"Nah, Vicky. Prachi's head seems pretty bad. No way she'll be able to attend the next class. You should go to class and inform the professor about Prachi not being able to attend the class due to being in first aid", Ranbir instructed, once again using his smooth skills of conviction.
Anyways, your monkey arms are far too weak to carry dizzy Prachi to first aid, unlike my buff bod, Ranbir thought, his mind oddly filled with venom for Tej, who had never really done anything to Ranbir personally to deserve that much disdain from him. Not that he ever showed Tej it.
Tej nodded in agreement, but Ranbir saw from his expressions and how he eyed Prachi with visible concern and disappointment, that he was reluctant to listen.
Well tough shit Vicky, because I'm your captain, so do as I say. Build a bridge and get over it sucker, Ranbir thought and glared at him with a smug smile that nobody saw.
Tej and Vicky stepped back to give Ranbir room as he went down on his knees ad scooped Prachi up in his arms. He looked at Prachi, who seemed surprisingly calm at him picking her up, but he guessed she was probably in too much pain to voice objection. He looked at her and gazed along her body that was cradled in his arms, and thought that something felt so right and good about this. Just as he was about to start walking off with her, he couldn't help but turn to take a look at Tej's expressions.
He did just that, and was smug seeing what he saw. Tej looked like he just ate sour grapes, but put on a quick and brief fake smile on his forcefully when Tej saw Ranbir looking his way. It was as if Tej saw something in Ranbir's face that Tej let go of the fake smile and glared back at Ranbir daringly, looking back and forth between Prachi and his face with a scowl.
Alright then monkey man. Not gonna try to hide your sour grapes now, heh? Take a long and hard look Tej, because you better get used to this sight, Ranbir thought, still meeting eye to eye with a scowling Tej.
Ranbir thought that it wasn't as if Tej had a chance with Prachi anyways. She would have never have even given him a thought. She almost doesn't even know a guy called Tej exists. Ranbir chuckled under his breath, which Prachi heard, and looked at him questionably. Ranbir ignored her look and Tej's presence and walked off to take Prachi to first aid. Ranbir felt the urge to look back again at Tej's face but felt it was more important to get prachi quickly to first aid. As he walked away though, he saw a slight glimpse of Tej seemingly kicking a stone with frustration, and Vicky seemingly patting his shoulder to pacify him.
Ranbir at that point didn't even care to feel happy at Tej's jealousy, because there were more bigger things for him to feel happy about, like prachi in his arms, showing no objection to his proximity to her. As he walked carefully with her, he intentionally brought her closer to his chest, so that he could feel her breath against his neck. He slightly closed his eyes in pleasure at the tingling sensation it sent through his upper body to feel her warm breath along his neck, her hand gripping the front of his t-shirt, her nails slightly digging into the skin of his chest through the material. Every bit of it was enjoyable and pleasurable to him.
He wondered if Prachi felt the same pleasurable sensation back when he was giving her that head massage at her house. From the look on her face he got the impression that she did. Not that she would admit it... but then again he knew neither would he, that he was enjoying having her here in his arms and close to him. He coughed lightly to get Prachi's attention.
"Umm, are you comfortable? I hope I'm not hurting you?".... although what I really mean is, "Are you enjoying me carrying you in my arms?", but I know you'd probably just throw another fit and ruin this moment for me like usual if I actually say that.
Ranbir looked at her intently to scrutinise her expressions and get an idea of what she was thinking.
"Yeah, you're fine".
Ranbir smirked mischievously at her response.
"I know I'm FINE, but am I hurting you?" Ranbir chuckled and looked at her teasingly.
Prachi smiled, perhaps even blushing a little, and smacked his arm playfully at his teasing words. Ranbir chuckled and winked at her. Prachi looked back at him, looking into his eyes momentarily, before, what Ranbir swore was her blushing, looked down at her own hands grabbing the front of his t-shirt. She released his t-shirt from her hand, then moved her face a little from his neck.
Ranbir, realising prachi felt conscience of their closeness, intentionally slowed down his walk and positioned prachi closer to him in his arms again, forcing prachi's face to burrow into Ranbir's neck even closer than before. Her lips were now directly on his neck, and Ranbir once again slightly closed his eyes to enjoy the pleasure of her lips on his neck, her breath tickling his skin. He this time rested his left cheek on her forehead, burrowing her lips and face even closer into his neck. He internally thought that he can't believe Prachi isn't voicing any objection to this, which must mean she is also enjoying it. He felt the desire to look at her face, to see whether she was enjoying the closeness too, but that would mean disturbing the contact that had been created between her soft lips and his neck, his cheeks and her forehead. He wanted nothing more to keep things this way and enjoy this closeness, hence why he intentionally walked at a snails pace to first aid, wanting prachi to remain here longer.
However, he couldn't keep her here longer, as within 3 minutes they reached the first aid room. The door was thankfully ajar, so it was easier to get in without his hands, that were both still cradling a quiet Prachi. Ranbir thought that when he puts Prachi down he will be sure to take a long and hard look at Prachi's face, specifically her eyes to see whether his closeness to her had at all affected her as it had affected him.
Sure enough, as the first aider signaled him to lay her down to sit on the first aid bed, Ranbir slowly released her from his arms, to allow him more time to look at her face under pretext of putting her down. Her cheeks were red, she was avoiding eye contact with him, and was biting her bottom lip. He had never seen her do that before, and he recognised that action, which he had seen just about every girl do when he was flirting with them.
She loved it too, he thought, fluttered and blushing himself.
He continued looking at her as he kept his face close to her, trying to force her to make eye contact with him. She eventually could not control herself clearly, as she met his eyes and looked at him with the sort of affection he had never seen any girl look at him with before, her eyes twinkling bright at him, her cheeks burning scarlet, her lips pursed, as if thirsty. He felt heat rush to his face seeing how Prachi was looking at him with adulation and shyness. He wanted so bad to place his fingers on her cheeks, to feel whether her cheeks were as hot as his now felt, but couldn't do that obviously. He noticed that her one hand was still on his shoulder and she was very slowly taking the hand off, as if she was reluctant to do so. He gave her a warm smile, the sweetest, most charming smile he had never offered to any girl, and he was delighted to see Prachi strike the most breathtaking and coy smile in return. They both continued looking at each other like that for a few seconds, only to be snapped out of their trance by the first aider clearing her throat.
Ranbir backed off from Prachi. Ranbir and Prachi both saw an awkward look on the first aider's face, who was looking away with a slight smile on her face, which they both noticed.They both tried to straighten themselves up to appear more normal, now attempting to avoid eye contact with each other in the first aider's presence.
"Ummm, do you want me to check her now, or would you yourself prefer to do that Ranbir?". The first aider looked at them both teasingly.
Ranbir looked down awkwardly playing with his fingers, but spotted Prachi smiling coyly to herself.
If this first aider wasn't here, I would happily inspect you myself Prachi, Ranbir thought.
Ranbir backed off, allowing the first aider to come forward and do their job.
Prachi refused to look up from the floor the entire time, even when she was given an ice pack by the first aider to put at the back of her head, who said it was nothing serious but a bump that may swell up.
Ranbir was happy to know she wasn't seriously hurt, but where Prachi couldn't get herself to look up in the entire check-up, Ranbir, stood behind the first aider who was working over prachi, could not take his eyes of Prachi. Ranbir now could not wait for the next opportunity to be alone with Prachi, as he felt they had a lot to talk about. He then realised they both had to go to office in the afternoon as it is. Ranbir smiled gleefully, pondering about all that he will say and do in the office with Prachi in the afternoon.
Arjun
Web Series
24