One week or Seven days?

Prologue:

Hello people! :) This story is dedicated to ukhanna! For being a lovely friend and one of my favourite poets/ writers!

Prologue: (MONDAY)

Mounds of clothes and accessories cluttered the little, lumpy, single bed. Meghna Joseph was least bothered as she patiently and carefully folded each one of them and placed them in a black leather duffel bag.

 Her dark brown hair was pulled into a lazy pony tail, bobbing  to the blaring music from her little I-pod placed on the plain cappuccino brown teak table in her hotel room; that she didn't at first notice the gentle 'rap-ta-rap' on her rooms door.  The door was tried again, this time a lot successful than the previous one and in emerged a dark male, with a firm jaw line; with a straight face and  dark softly curled brown hair with a little pudgy nose and wide red lips. He was not too tall, neither too short. His hands hung loosely around his sides, almost awkwardly and he slouched the least bit. A hint of stubble lined his cheek and jaw line and he stroked it thoughtlessly. He wore a comfortable looking a tee and pair of dark blue jeans underneath a thick leather jacket.  

"Oh c'mon in Adrian" greeted Meghna, who had let him in. He followed her into the tiny hotel room she had stayed in for the past week. After having studied the room, he made himself a little spot by the bedside amidst the pile of clothes. While he sat slightly scrunched and stuffed up in the little nook on Meghna’s bed, he envied the wooden chair holding a neat stack of papers and other important looking folders which seemed very comfortable from where he sat.

"Wow, packin' already?" He asked as if oblivious to it.

Megha didn't look up submerged in her packing and nodded a careless 'yes'.

He rubbed his palms together to bring with the warmth it brought, courage and confidence, the disheveled room throwing cold and hostile darts in his imagination. He heard the steady hum of the heater which had nothing to do with the sudden chill and shivers that ran through him; but was working miracles for Meghna who stood over her luggage in a cotton skirt and a sleeve- less tee which again did nothing again to calm the tidal waves and storms that plagued his chest.

Meghna looked up at him, with sudden realization.

" Oh dear, I must be boring you. "

" No, I just came by to ask if you needed help...." His voice trailed.

"Oh no, I'm doing just fine, Ade" she said pouring two cups of coffee, from the bedside coffee maker and handed him one.

After the awkward pause he started again:

" So, what time is the flight?"

"Tomorrow; at 4am in the morning. I can't wait to get home. I miss mum and dad so much!" she whimpered pouting her lips.

"I'm sure they do too..." His voice trailed again.

" Yeah and I miss Eva and Goldilocks too" she said her eyes shining sadly. 

Meghna had shown Adrian a picture of the two dogs (Eva and Goldilocks) and had come to the conclusion that he would miss them more than his own parents. And now coming to think of them, how long had it been since he had visited them? A year?

The thought didn't bother him much neither the fact that her parents missed her and she vice versa.

The thing that bothered him was that "he" would miss her, Meghna. Madly.

She pulled the chair of flashy magazines and dumped them on her bed and sat facing him.

"So, how’s your play coming up?"

(He thought to himself ' someone was in a chatty mood today')

He cleared the perpetual lump on his throat and tried not to choke on his words,

"Good- good. We had auditions last evening for the role of Mollie Raltson. The director seemed pretty satisfied with our catch but we’re still on the lookout for the role of the Indian major." He told her.

"That sounds awesome. You know, you promised to show me around the sets some day." She said her eyebrows rising harmlessly; expectantly.

"Certainly." He said. " If you'd  only stay longer..."

She smiled, “Yeah, that would be nice too, but I have to go back, you know. "

"Uh-huh"

“And I did have an amazing week with you. I really would never have loved Delhi this much without you." She said. "Thank you so much, Ade.”

She looked at him, a light tingle in her eyes reminiscing the four days of fun and frolick the two had been on .

“Oh I lov- enjoyed having you here!" He exclaimed. “So when is the next big trip? A week is really nothing to experience the "Delhi Magic" “

She smiled again and said: “I don’t know Ade....

“There are my final exams coming up and I have to get my Master degree this year so that I can start working" she said and got up from the chair and walked to the window.  The wind gently blew in from the window, opened a peak. She shivered at the surprising sting it held just as her words did to Adrian: “Appa wants me to get married after that and Amma told me I shan't wait another year for that."

With a boulder stuck in his pharynx Adrian did little but stare at her in anticipation till his eyes stung.

She had her back to him as she studied that massive but yellowing, ancient construction in front of her as the city of cities shone.

"Oh sweet old Delhi! Maybe I'll miss you too, after all" she sighed.

" I'll miss you too, Meghna" he muttered and hadn't a clue that he had, until she turned around to study him with her typical smile- that almost always showed up but never managed to tell what it was intended for.

"Oh Ade..." She said. " I'll miss you too"

And before his own words choked him, he spoke them.

“I’ll miss you more"

He repeated “I’ll miss you more, Meghna"

(She thought he sounded like a 4 year old analogous to the boyish curly hair that stood up restlessly, playing a silly juvenile game “‘I like peaches'.’ I like 'em more'")

And before the thought crossed her mind the stone- faced Adrian turned around in his chair, regarding her for a second or two and confessed:

“I love you, Meghna"

**************

Hello Everyone! Thank you so much for even bothering to read through this! It means the world! :) I hope you enjoyed reading it and hope you'd leave some constructive criticsms and go tough on the commenting! Anyways I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! And thank you for reading again! :)