'Stupid cramps! ' Tarika muttered as she stood up straight after looking into the microscope for a long time.
She checked the time. 11:17 AM. Her day at work wasn't even half over and she was already irritated. All she wanted to do was lie on her bed with a hot water bag and eat chocolate. But all she had was her desk, her chair which just felt so uncomfortable today, the chemicals and reports to complete. Which she almost never really dreads but when on her periods, she just hated everything.
She sat on her chair, feeling like passing out right there. She checked her phone.
No message.
'Stupid abhijeet. Didn't even reply to my good morning message. Huh. Itna busy hai kya. '.
She felt her irritation growing.
'Arghh... what is this thing to even get angry about! ' She though exactly two seconds later.
'Good. Now I am feeling angry about getting angry. I hate this cycle. '
Then, much to her annoyance, her boss told her that the team needed them in a resort as they were investigating a murder happened there.
As she left, a tiny part of her was a little relieved as she would get to see Abhijeet.
Yes, she had called him stupid just some moments back, but she sure did know that mere sight of him can make her feel better.
The moment she entered the resort, her eyes searched for him. She could see all others around the pool but the man she wanted to see was missing.
Precisely a minute later, she saw him. But like she had never seen him before.
There he came out of the pool, his hair all wet and messy, water dripping from his face. Shirtless.
He walked towards where the team was standing.
"Andar toh koi bullet shell mila nahi sir. " He said getting a little breathless.
"Theek hai dekhte hai salunkhe kya batata hai. "
But here, it seemed that the old doctor was the only one who was concentrating on work. His assistant was busy. Staring. Eyeing the drop which went sliding down from his face to his neck, to his hard built chest to his stomach, to finally disappear in his jeans.
Tempting.
"Tarika jara magnifying glass dena. "
Her boss' voice brought her back to her senses.
She passed the glass to her boss. She just glanced at him again. He and others were busy in some discussion. She just hoped that he hadn't noticed her shameless gaze at him.
She shifted her attention to work.
"Oh my God! Just look at his hair! " Or something like this fell on tarika's ears. Which made her look at the source of this whisper.
There were two girls standing outside the sealed area. By their appearance they looked like some hotel staff and by their gaze it was pretty clear they were talking about abhijeet.
As tarika looked at him, he was standing drying his hair with a towel, his gaze intense. She could tell that he was thinking about the case, not aware that the girls were staring at him.
And yes! His hair. Now looking even more messy. Making him look... Hotter.
"Maut toh boss iski goli lagne se hi hui hai. Lab jaakar goli nikalni padegi. "
Said salunkhe as the team moved towards the forensics.
"Haan toh jao. Freddy laash aur saare evidences lab mein bhijwane ka intezaam karo. " Acp ordered. "Salunkhe tu jara idhar aa. "
As her boss and acp got busy with some discussion, tarika silently moved towards abhijeet.
"Mind wearing a shirt now? " She said almost whispering.
"Why? Done with staring at me so soon? " Said abhijeet in the same tone but with a smirk.
So he did notice her staring.
"I am done. But some girls aren't. " She said in a firm tone. Trying to hide her annoyance.
"Oh really? Then I might as well just wait for them to get done. Unke saath injustice kyu? " He said, his smirk getting bigger.
"Just wear the damn shirt Abhijeet! " Tarika gritted her teeth. Her tone a little higher than before.
Abhijeet took this as a sign to stop with his teasing. He could feel her temper rising.
"Arey relax! Bheeg gaya tha. Dry cleaning ke liye diya hai. I don't have a spare shirt right now. Wo aate hi pehen lunga. Aise hi thodi na ghumne wala hoon. "
She still rolled her eyes at him. Seeing Abhijeet was what she was looking forward to, in order to fix her mood but keeping aside some moments of instant 'turn on' when she saw him coming out of the pool, she just felt even more irritated now.
"Whatever. " She said moving away from him.
Poor Abhijeet couldn't exactly understand why was she so annoyed today. He had hoped that she was going to be all romantic when he saw her staring at him, but her reacting this way was quite unexpected to him.
She brushed all her thoughts and irritation aside and decided to concentrate on her work.
Soon, she saw Abhijeet now with a shirt on and his hair neatly combed as always.
He smiled at her giving her 'Now are you happy? ' look.
She still rolled her eyes at him choosing not to say anything.
'What else does she want? '
He too as a matter of fact decided to concentrate on work right now. Leaving taking care of his girlfriend's mood on hold for a while.
.
.
.
'Finally! '
Tarika said as she made herself comfortable on her couch. With Hot water bag on her stomach and closed eyes. She felt relaxed for the first time in the day.
One of the very common occurrences that happened with her as she closed her eyes now a days, was seeing him. But today, this experience was somewhat different. Her mind decided to rewind the scene which left her pleasantly surprised today for her. Yes, almost everything about him was attractive to her. His flirty face, his oh-so-famous smirks, his fiery eyes, his serious work face even. But today, seeing him shirtless made her feel... aroused.
Also, then she was reminded of her slight rudeness towards him. She didn't care enough about that then, but now she was feeling bad. She felt like calling him and explaining the crazy mood swings she was having today, but she just didn't have enough energy to do that.
'Arey yaar! '. The frown on her face back, on hearing the door bell. But, on opening the door, the frown again turned into a sweet smile.
Abhijeet on the other hand, was also relieved to see her smiling.
"Mujhe laga gusse mein ho abhi tak, " Said abhijeet coming inside.
"Nahi. Actually... subah bhi nahi thi. But I am just having terrible mood swings today. Sorry. "
"Arey sorry kyu? I sort of knew you are on your periods. I can understand. " He smiled at her.
"You knew I was on my periods? How? "
"Woh... last month you were in a similar mood around this date. Isliye... " He said giving a sheepish smile.
"Of course you knew! I sometimes forget I am dating one of the best detectives. " She teased him.
"Waisi baat nahi hai yaar, " He sounded embarrassed, " Dard ho raha hai bohot? "
He eyed the hot water bag kept by her side on the couch.
"Haan kabhi kabhi I get really bad cramps. Kabhi kabhi I feel nothing at all... chalta rehta hai. " She said hugging him, resting her head on his chest. He wrapped his hands around her pulling her even closer.
"Wow. Waise ek baat puchu? " He said.
"Pucho na. "
"What is this exactly? Matlab what exactly happens in the body? Why do you get this every month? "
She freed herself from his grip and looked at him.
"School mein nahi padhaya yeh? " She asked chuckling.
"Padhaya hoga. Maine itna dhyaan nahi diya us time. Lekin ab mujhe lagta hai dena chahiye tha. Actually mein curious bohot tha lekin kabhi kisise puchne ki himmat nahi hui. You are the only woman I am this close to... isliye pucha. "
"Simple words mein batau toh... Every month, a woman's body prepares itself to get pregnant a lining around uterus gets created, an egg is released. If that egg gets fertilized thats called being pregnant and if not, then the lining is released out of the body. And that's called a period. "
"Ohh. Wow. Going through this every month... Isn't it frustrating? "
"Well, yes and no. Kabhi kabhi jab pain nahi hota tab kuch nahi lagta. Lekin days like today... it's just hell. "
He let out a sigh on hearing that.
"Wow. But, you all make it look so simple. Matlab har roz utna hi kaam. Saamne wale ko difference pata nahi chalta... "
"Well... that's our superpower I guess. " She said smiling.
"It is. Waise kuch laya hu mein tumhare liye. " He said pulling out chocolates from his coat.
"Thank youuuu... I was craving this so much. " She said grabbing the chocolate quickly and started eating it like a child. Without bothering to offer him a bite.
"Arre ek bite toh do... pura khud hi khaa jaogi kya? " He complained.
On hearing this, she stopped eating. She looked at him, her eyes full of naughtiness.
"You want to taste it? "
Abhijeet nodded in yes.
And there it happened. Their first kiss.
Abhijeet was taken aback at first. But as he felt the softness of her lips against his, he began melting. He responded back with the same passion pulling her closer.
They parted for air. A very few moments later, as they caught their breaths, he pulled her into his lap.
"I still didn't quite get the taste... "
He said as he crashed his lips with hers again. It was now her turn to respond with the same passion. Which she did.
Heavenly.
The urgency, the passion, the butterflies and a gazillion other things which she had read in some novels, and called them an exaggeration while reading them, now just felt so real. So beautiful. So exciting but yet calming. May be, words have their limitations, feeling don't. The firsts are given so much importance for a reason after all.
They again parted. Breathless.
"You know, I could see this happening in your eyes when you looked at me this morning. " He said looking in her eyes.
"Well... do you regret it? "
"Yes. I regret not doing this earlier. "
She blushed. This man! Is there anything in this world he can't make her feel?
As always, his phone ringing had to ruin the beauty of the moment.
He picked it up. While she was still on his lap, hugging him.
"Haan daya... yahi hoon aaspas kyu?... Haan wo rakha hua hai left se third drawer mein... Chaabi mere paas hai? "
"Tarika hatna jara... " He said but immediately regretted it the next moment. But he searched his pockets anyway and found the key for drawer daya was asking for.
"H- Haan hai mere paas hi. " He said stammering, hoping daya didn't hear her name.
"Haan toh lekar aao. Abhi ke abhi its very urgent. Bhabhi ji ko sorry bol dena meri taraf se. " said daya.
"Haan thik hai rakh. " He immediately cut the call.
She again hugged him.
"Jaana padega. It's urgent. " He said half heartedly.
She hugged him tighter.
"Tarika... raat ho gayi hai bohot... you should take some rest. Kal subah aata hu na mein... " He said separating himself.
She still didn't say anything. A child like frown still visible on her face.
Not getting any response from her, he picked her up in his arms and started walking towards her bedroom. Needless to say, the frown on her face now replaced with a surprised expression.
He made her lie down on her bed. Kissed her forehead.
"So jao. Kal subah milte hai. Good night. "
"Good night. Take care Ok? "
"You too. "
He said and left.
'These mood swings are so much more interesting than I thought. Wow. ' He said to himself while driving towards the bureau.
AN- First of all, thank you to all the reviewers of this story. Specially cute smile thank you so much for your reviews and so sorry that I made you wait so much for the updates. I'll just say you can mostly expect the updates on a sunday or monday because weekends are the only days where I get to write peacefully. So you don't have to check everyday here for this story.And yes, the conversation AbhiRika had in this chapter about periods is something I feel everyone should feel free to have among themselves. There's nothing to be ashamed about them.
Anyways, leave a review on how you liked the chapter. I can really use some motivation. ;)
Hope to see you all soon. :)
