OS: Whistle

Could this semester go any worse?

Arnav cursed under his breath as he turned another page of the fat book lying on his lap. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor in a rather deserted corner of the hallway. He still had another hour to his next class and he was hoping he would be able to finish the chapter by that time. The teacher had hinted there might be a quiz and there was no way he was going to settle for anything less than full mark.

Arnav had always been a good student and he had always enjoyed studying. But things were difficult now since he had started his own Buying House. He had thought he could manage both but day by day his business was demanding more of his time and attention. He had started small but it had started growing real fast; all thanks to his business wit and effective networking. He was still not willing to compromise his grades and so the juggling had started to be stressful lately. Now Arnav was literally counting days for his final year to be over so that he could focus completely on his business.

The sky was cloudy; the air heavy. It was so humid that Arnav was feeling physically drained with sweats running down his lean yet rightly fleshed body. He wiped off sweats from his forehead, opened another button of his blue check shirt and rested his back against the pillar. He emptied half of the water bottle in few big gulps and went back to the book.

Could the weather go any worse?

Arnav was completely engrossed into liquidation' and bankruptcy' when a strange noise broke through his rapt attention. He ignored it and frowning, tried going back to the generic strategies' but the weird sound started to irritate his eardrum incessantly.

"Fooo ... fooo ..."

It was as if someone was trying with his life to put out a fire by blowing only and failing miserably.

"What the .." Arnav muttered under his breath, completely irritated. He had climbed up to the fourth floor only so that he could study without any nuisance. It was his favorite spot and he had passed majority of his free hours at school here. Now, he could not even focus on reading, let alone getting the concepts by the heart. He waited for some time but the sound did not stop. Extremely annoyed, Arnav got up and it took him almost no effort to find out the source of the noise.

She was sitting against another pillar in a pink-green chudidaar. Her jhola rested on her lap and the books were idly lying on the floor. Her feet were bare and her jootis were by her side. Her eyes were closed, forehead furrowed, and her lips were pouted.

Khushi Kumari Gupta.

She was one of the rarest pieces of his class and perhaps of the entire business school. Everyone knew she was from Lucknow because she never stopped talking about it. Everyone also knew she was here on scholarship though she hardly talked about it. She was called chamkili' not only behind her back but also on her face but she did not seem to mind about it. Everyone had resisted her from the very first day because she was different. Her sudh hindi, her accented English, her loud & desi getup, her small steel tiffin box - everything about her had seemed to be completely misfit in this business school of high reputation. Eventually, everyone had ended up cozying around her as she never had stopped being friendly to anyone - despite the intentional sarcasm & negligence from most. And her grades were surprisingly good.

Arnav had noticed it all, being a man of observation. He had not many friends in the school anyway and there was no reason for him to befriend her. Now standing in front of her, all irritated and somewhat surprised, he realized they had never exchanged a single word till date. They had never done a group work together, they had never sat in the same table in the cafeteria, they had never hanged out with the same group which both of them did rarely anyway. She was a chatterbox otherwise; but she had never tried talking to him. Ever.

As he stood watching her blowing through her lips, Arnav wondered why she never tried talking to him. Did he intimidate her? Perhaps. Good for her. And good for him. But what the f**K was she trying to do now?

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. She looked up as if she could feel his eyes on her. He saw her eyes widening, her already pouted lips rounding to the perfection of an "O". She stood up hurriedly and her jhola fell from her lap on the floor. She glanced at the jhola but made no effort to pick it up. Her eyes were fixed on him, her lashes hardly batting.

Hazel. Her eyes were hazel. Well, he had noticed that before. But he had missed that dark green tint around the iris. Her eyes were .. unusual.

"Kya kar rahi ho tum?" Arnav questioned, his tone showcasing interest more than annoyance.

She swallowed.

"Ji .."

Was he making her nervous? The thought wanted to make Arnav laugh. She must be one of the most outspoken and confident girls he had seen in his lifetime. She probably never thought twice before opening her mouth even in front of the most obnoxious professors. But how come she had always avoided him? How did he possibly make a girl like her feel uncomfortable? She bit her nails when she was nervous, Arnav had noticed some time. But her hands were now clutching the ends of her dress. Now that was unusual.

Arnav took a step forward.

"Meine poocha .. kya kar rahi ho tum?"

She leaned back more against the pillar as if to increase the distance between them. She swallowed again.

"Woh .. woh .. I was trying to whistle .."

"Whistle?" Arnav was curious.

"Woh .." She swallowed again. "Everyone does it. So I was thinking .. I should learn doing it too .."

Arnav stared at her and wondered if they ever had stood or sat this close. Her nervousness was amusing him and he tentatively took another step forward. He watched her checking the space between them and then she looked up nervously. Did her breathing just become ragged or was he imagining it?

"Can you explain to me the difference between bankruptcy and liquidation?"

"Wha .. what?" She seemed dumbstruck.

"Can you explain to me the difference between bankruptcy and liquidation? I believe you have studied already."

"Y-yes." She seemed confused.

Arnav tilted his head slightly on his right and smirked.

"Good. Then I will teach you to whistle now. And then you can explain to me the differences."

She kept staring at him, her eyes full of confusion, nervousness, disbelief and .. surprise.

"Show me first how you were trying it."

"Ji?"

"Do you want to learn or not?"

"Haan .. haan .."

"Then show me."

He watched her swallow again. And then she closed her eyes. She lifted her chin up and wetted her lips with her tongue. Then she pouted her lips, slowly parting them and then she blew.

He heard nothing as his whole being was busy supporting his optical needs. He had seen her so many times from far and standing like this now, he wished he had seen her from this close before. He did not realize when he took another step forward drugged by his desire to see her more closely. Her skin was like buttercream. Her nose was small but upright. Her lips were thin, shiny with natural gloss and pink even when devoid from any artificial color. Her small earrings dangled with her every move. Her unfashionably plaited long hair generously bared her perfect neck.

Arnav let his eyes travel downward, till the lowest point of her V' neckline and then came back to her pouted lips. Those were making him feel strange and still staring at her, he felt like doing something more.

Just then her eyes snapped open and she stared straight into his eyes. He could feel her eyes travelling down and then again quickly fixing on his eyes. She batted her eyelashes quickly and frequently as if to hide a crime. Arnav glanced downward and looking up, could not but smirk slightly at her. His shirt was open till the middle of his chest and enough could be seen of his flesh and hair. Bl**dy hell. The innocent looking Khushi Kumari Gupta was indeed checking him out.

Arnav remembered the times he had caught her staring at him. He had always averted his gaze the next moment not wanting to be caught by her, to give her any impression that he was checking her out. All this time, had she been interested in him too? Had it always been mutual? Had they always been committing the same crime of stealthily observing the other and then trying to hide it?

Arnav remembered the time he had seen her dancing in the red saree in the last fresehrs' party. He had had a tough time disciplining his disobedient eyes from admiring her openly. She had gone back to her regular dresses hiding her charm the next day but he had not forgotten that visual for a day. Every time he had seen her after that night, he had remembered her doing those crazy Bollywood moves - shaking her perfect bottom, giving away the curves of her waist; her long, open hair dancing in the wind, her anklets glittering adorning her legs as her saree went up with all her leggy moves. She was, he had to admit,  enchanting.

"It's .. it's not working." Her shaky voice broke through his reverie.

"That's not how you whistle." Arnav was unaware of his voice coming out little husky, little dazed.

She swallowed. Her chest started heaving as her eyes followed his eyes travelling over her form.

"You want to do it with finger?"

He watched her shudder and he was sure now her breathing was troubled.

"Wh-what?"

"Whistle?" Arnav replied flatly.

"I .. I don't know .."

"Let me show you first. Watch closely."

Arnav watched her eyes fixing on his mouth and then she bit her lips. Arnav felt a strange sensation forming inside him and he tried to shake it off. As she stared at his mouth, without blinking, Arnav pouted his lips and whistled. Then he put two of his fingers inside his mouth and whistled again. He watched her staring at his mouth dazed and still not averting her eyes even though he was done.

"Want to try?"

She looked up and nodded.

"Pucker up." He ordered. "Contract the inside of your cheeks."

She tried and her face looked cute with her cheeks distorted, mouth pointed.

Arnav chuckled. "Not like that."

He took another step forward and touched the middle of her now relaxed cheeks with his index fingers. He felt her shiver the moment he touched her and he could see her lips slightly trembling. He remembered overhearing the guys of his class talking about her - how she never was coy and flirty around men. They had joked she was either too innocent or too frigid. She seemed none to him right now as she was visibility reacting to their proximity .. and to him. Those guys were so wrong and he was glad they were.

"Here." He murmured.

He could feel the slight movement under his fingers as she tried.

"Now push your tongue against your lower gum and blow."

Arnav could hardly follow if she was doing it right. The touch of her butter soft skin was melting his finger and he could not avert his eyes from her mouth as it shaped and moved tantalizingly. Apparently, her whistle still could not pick a note. She tried .. twice, thrice .. more. It did not work. Arnav hardly cared and kept watching her mouth move.

She looked up at him, little sad and frustrated. "With finger?"

"Good decision." Arnav nodded and removed his fingers off her. He could see the hint of flush creeping up her cheeks. It felt so unreal. After years of avoidance, they were interacting about the craziest thing possible, without any pretense, without any introduction.

"Stick your tongue out." He ordered.

She obliged like a good girl.

Arnav watched her pink and pointed tongue, slightly moving as she tried to balance it. He swallowed.

"Now touch it with your fingers like this." He showed her.

She tried and looked for his approval. But Arnav was not satisfied. He shook his head. He held her wrist and removed her fingers off her tongue. And then he placed the thumb & index finger of his right hand on the tip of her tongue, still holding her wrist with the other hand. He could feel her body convulse just as his own did the moment her moistness touched his flesh.

He now felt his own breathing going ragged.

"Now pull your tongue in." His managed to murmur. His voice was husky and it was more than enough to melt any girl in her knees.

She obliged without a word and his fingers were insider her mouth now. He pushed her tongue down a little with his fingers, feeling her trembling within his hold.

"Close your lips around my fingers."

She obliged again, inhaling & exhaling for breathe violently and irregularly.

Arnav used his fingers to part her lips a little.

"Now. Suck."

Her eyes widened in shock, not believing his words, seeking for clarification. He nodded to confirm.

"Suck. And then blow."

Arnav could feel her tongue caressing his fingers as she tried to follow his instructions, with her eyes wide and staring at him.

"Blow hard." He commanded.

She tried again.

"Keep your tongue against your teeth."

She tried again.

"Don't move your tongue away from my fingers."

She tried again.

"Use your tongue. Move it. Adjust it."

She tried again.

"Blow hard, Khushi."

She tried again.

Whistles were not coming to her easily.

She stared at him, seeking help but he just shook his head.

"You will need a lot of practice, Khushi." Arnav said looking into her eyes.

He could feel her swallow and her tongue moving against his fingers in accordance.

"May be .. you should try with your own fingers." His voice came out hoarse and her cheeks reddened.

Arnav slowly slid out his fingers from her mouth. Her mouth remained open even after he had removed his fingers off her. Not moving his eyes off her, he put the thumb inside his mouth first and sucked and then treated his index finger the same way. Those smelled of strawberry; and those tasted sweet. Must be her lip gloss, he decided vaguely. He watched her open mouth trembling and he could not control from putting his fingers on her lips again. He squeezed her lips shut with his index finger and thumb. And then he slowly brushed his thumb against the soft, trembling flesh of her lips.

"Be aware of flies." He said teasingly and removed his fingers off her.

She stood with her eyes looking everywhere but him, her cheeks flushed, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her dupatta. This Khushi Kumari Gupta Arnav had never seen.

Arnav could feel the strange pull he had always felt towards her - stronger, sharper and definitely sexier this time.

"Want to try on your own now?" He asked softly.

She just swallowed in response.

"So you are giving up?" He teased again.

Her eyes snapped up instantly and met his.

"Never." Her voice came determined this time.

Arnav smiled. The ever confident Khushi Kumari Gupta. This was the girl everyone knew. But who knew she could blush this much?

And then Arnav cursed silently.

Why the f**K she had never talked to him? Why the f**k he had never talked to her?

"We will work on it." Arnav's fingers itched to move away the tendril of hair messing with her face. "What are you doing after class?"

"Nothing .. much .." She tucked the hair behind her ear.

"Good. Let's go for your tea and my coffee after class. We will get your whistle right."

She nodded nervously, still flushing, and biting her lips. She did not ask him how he knew about her knack for tea. Had she noticed him noticing her? Did she know he knew a lot more about her?

"Want to explain bankruptcy' and liquidation' now?" Arnav took a step back, not wanting to get carried away again.

"Sure." Finally, she smiled for the first time.

She bent and picked up her books and jhola. She wore her jootis and she smiled at him again.

"Where do we sit?"

Arnav showed her his place. As he led her to his sanctuary, she sat with her legs folded in front of him. Without further delay, she opened her book and started sharing her knowledge with him.

Arnav listened to her earnest lecture and decided group studying probably was not a bad idea. If he could stare at her and still learn, why the f**K had he been running away from her all these days and waste his time on books only?

He could not but wish she had tried whistling before. He was eagerly looking forward to their "whistle" classes now.

The possibilities made him smile.

Who knew whistles could be their undoing?

(Completely unrelated to but totally inspired by "Whistle" by Flo Rida. 😳)