Chapter 10
"Mujhe mera answer chaahiye, Neha!" Vicky asked, at the usual parting place both of them had now, while leaving her to home…
He had told her what he felt with really great difficulty, despite knowing that their teams wouldn't agree to this. What else could he do? He could no longer keep it in. It literally physically hurt him to play such hide and seek with her. And quite frankly, he wanted to hear a 'yes' out of her for the longest time now…
He could see the slight pink playing on her cheeks, and a smile crept up on his face, anticipating the battle half won…
She leaned in to the driver's side, and slightly brushed her lips on his cheeks, and then with the speed of light, opened her side's door and left… running away, her cheeks now a full crimson…
*Beep* Her cell rang the msg tone…
'Yessssssss!'
For once in his life, Reyaansh Singhania actually thanked the Gods for the financial freedom he had.
How else would he get unknown flora like blue poppies, cobra lilies, alpine bistorts, cranesbill, whorlflowers, and snowberries flown in to Mumbai? Thank god nobody knew about this... Had Sharon even gotten a whiff of this, he would have been slaughtered like a pig!
He carefully supervised the truckload being transported into the shed of second building. This was the place they had caught Neha and Vicky in the first place. And now, as the maintenance work almost came to an end, nobody would suspect one more truck coming in and unloading. He sighed, tired and sleep-deprived, but then, he had to recreate her beloved valley of flowers, And Ms. Ghai, as he had realized quite some time back, was very hard to please.
She had mentioned the place only twice, yet the heavenly smile on her face, when she would recall the endless natural extents of beautiful flowers was enough to tell him, that she would give anything to be back there.
Hadn't she told him that whenever she felt confused or dejected with a situation, she would go there, float in the flowers, and the answer would be in front of her.
That was exactly what he had wanted. He knew more than she did what effect the kisses were having on both of them. She wanted a confirmation, a green signal, a trusting bond, which actually made her feel at ease that what was happening to her was equally happening to him as well. To say that she was frazzled all these days, would be a colossal understatement. She had been tripping more than usual… Daydreaming more than usual… And smiling into space for more time than considered healthy.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the prick of bistort… How beautiful the flower was, like the flush of her cheeks… Amazing shades of pink, burgundy and white woven into one.. But yet, laden with thorns… Much like every flower in his vicinity… All of them were so thoroughly unique, some resembling church bells, completely in the color frost blue, some completely pristinely white and sharp… It was the first time for him to see all these kinds of flowers in one place… How he wished right now he had Sharon to help… Wasn't she an expert at all this… It would hardly take her any time to know what should be placed where…
Finally, he got finished at everything, and checked the time. It was past 9.30, so she must have entered the college by now…
He messaged her, to be at the shed after their dance performance got over, in case she ran off to her besties again…
She hadn't gone.
For the first time in her life, Sharon Raiprakash had backed down from a challenge.
Yup, it was nowhere an invitation, it was a sheer challenge. On her willpower, nonetheless.
How many times would she hurt him more?
How many times would he refuse to understand?
Why the hell would she accept him as a Secret Admirer, when she still struggled with the fact to accept him publically?
So, for the sake of her own sanity, and somewhere, his as well, she hadn't gone to meet him in the second building when he had invited yesterday.
The excuses she had given herself was, well pretty much the only excuse she gave was, there was no time, as Valentine's Day was a busy day for her…
So, she had immersed herself in the final preparations of the program. But even then, taking her mind off of him was impossible, what with him roaming around her every half an hour, again with that undying smile on his face…
Finally, she barked orders at him… Unnecessary orders, just to keep him away.
There were only minutes left, to the final program to start, and that was when, Sharon finally thought she could heave a sigh of relief. Everything was perfectly coordinated, the volunteers, the participants, everyone in an elated mood and working perfectly synchronized. She couldn't have been happier; this was going to be such a success…
She just needed to change now, get ready for the grand celebration of Valentine's Day. She rummaged her purse for the car keys, as her dress was still in her car, and realized them missing.
Thinking she must have dropped them somewhere, she made her way to all the places she had been to the whole day, finally landing up in the barren classroom…
She was kneeled over searching for her keys near her bench, when suddenly, she heard footsteps… She turned her head in the direction of the sound, only to hear someone say,
"You ditched me yesterday!"
Shock crossed her face as she finally stood up, seeing for clear who it was. Her eyes wide, she gasped with an immeasurable disgust.