OS: New OS Idea Pg 77 - Page 9

Her apartment was just a block away from the bus stop, a five minute walk; seven, if she felt too drained. Khanak, sensing that the rain was getting heavier by the minute, gathered her dupatta and spread it unnecessarily over her head and walked faster. Even a year in Singapore was not enough for Khanak to get rid of her Indian attire and every day, as she routinely walked from the bus stop to her apartment, she felt hundreds of eyes staring at her. Not even after a year had she got accustomed to it.

Her blurred building came in view as she strode and so did Shaantanu Khandelwal, standing there at the pavement, dressed in shorts and a sweat shirt and carrying an umbrella in his hand. He looked at Khanak and smiled broadly. God, I missed seeing Khanak get drenched in the rain, he thought, and for a split second he felt the urge to throw away the umbrella and dance with her in the rain, right there in the middle of the road.

"Sam nay khana khaya?" Khanak asked, finally reaching up to Shaan and jolting him out of his day dream. Shaan made an extremely irritated face, thrust the umbrella into Khanak's hands and said "You're welcome!" Khanak looked on confused, then looked at the umbrella dismissively and said, "Oh Thank you' laikin Sam nay khana khaya?" She looked at Shaan's highly annoyed face, waiting for an answer. " Aray mujhay kya pata yaar! Main kya uss ka care taker hoon?" he said and moved to the elevator of the building, closely followed by Khanak, who hurriedly tied the umbrella. She said nothing in the elevator but glanced at Shaan sideways. The cute, annoying, infuriated expression that he had on his face made her want to pull his cheeks and then kiss them but she had more pressing matters to deal with. One was Sam and the other was Sam's five month old pregnancy.