Eklavya

Chapter XXVIII

"Eklavya."

Anamika breathed out with ardent affection. Hearing her soft whispery voice Eklavya clenched his fist, as if controlling himself, and took a sharp breath.

"Hn."

Both fell silent, not knowing where to start from. Contemplating, Anamika finally eliminated the oddly pleasant silence that seemed to encompass them.

"Thank you."

She breathed out. Showing her gratitude for the gajra that he got for her. She knew it was simply a whim and Eklavya was cursing himself for giving in to this whim of his, since the moment he got it for her.

Eklavya couldn't figure out what was wrong with him but his heart was thudding madly. A warm, homely feeling was engulfing the inside of his chest.

What was he supposed to say? He neither wanted to acknowledge his stupid behavior nor did he wanted her to think too much of this.

Feeling immensely irritated with himself Eklavya spat rudely.

"Don't read in between the lines."

"With you, I can only read in between the lines."

Her reply was quick and cut to the core. Both knew it was the truth.

"Eklavya... I... I don't want to force or something. But just know that... that's it's all too new for me too."

Anamika reasoned calmly. But he knew that it took every ounce of her courage to voice these words. And Eklavya didn't miss the slight quiver in her voice either.

"I know."

His reply was short but she was thankful that he wasn't outright denying anything like she feared he would.

'Baby steps Anamika! Baby steps!' she encouraged herself.

Sitting on her bed with both her knees pressed against her chest Anamika nervously toyed with her brown tresses.

God! Her hands were so clammy from all this nervousness and anticipation.

"Great." She spoke softly. "And... I was hoping that everything would go back to being normal between us too."

Eklavya took a sharp breath, "Exactly how normal."

"Like... I don't know... friends I guess." The moment those cursed words left her mouth Anamika wanted to bang her head against the bedpost.

'Way to go idiot.' Her inner self screamed at her for her stupidity.

Lips pursed in distaste and eyes gleaming with annoyance Eklavya resisted the urge to spat at her. Taking a deep breath which helped him calm down, he said in a dead-serious tone.

"We can never be that Anamika."

Eklavya's voice was sharp enough for her to freeze in her place. She knew what he meant.

'They've never been friends and can never be. Heck! Even she didn't know what they were and what was between them.

The intensity of their feelings was too extreme to label them as just plain friends. Currently, they were treacherously treading upon a very thin line.

Frankly, Anamika didn't know where they stand. But neither of them was in a hurry. Wanting to take their own time to explore and understand this new connection that they'd forged between them subconsciously.

Anamika didn't know why but those words relieved her so much that she could almost feel the heavyweight disappearing from her chest.

It was funny how much Anamika could understand and decipher the words unspoken between them. Having feelings for someone is one thing but realizing the intensity of those raging emotions is completely different.