Second Chance

Chapter 2 New Housemate

After replenishing through quite a good number of laps and a shower, he was just getting into a fresh pair of clothes. He finishes putting on the T-shirt, the final piece of clothing. He raises his eyes to follow the sound of footsteps coming from the left side behind the hedges where the back lawns are. A few seconds later, a slender figure appears wearing black tracks, paired up with a loosely fitted pastel pink coloured shirt. Dev watches her right hand moving from her side to her mid-length, loose hair. Looking at the pool in awe, Mahi pushes the strands of hair behind the ear. Dev couldn't help but notice her every little movement with a curiosity of what will be her next. He sees her walking towards the pool and doesn't remove his gaze from her when she sits down on her feet to touch the water. She stays there for the next couple of minutes without moving. Dev pulls himself out of the trance of watching her. He walks out of the partition wall of the shower. He expected some response while he walked towards her. Watching her not making any movement except feeling the water at the end of her hand, Dev stood still for seconds, few feet away from her back facing him. 

Failing to hold his curiosity, he speaks up,' Do you swim?'. His voice jumps Mahi to turn around towards him. Due to which she loses her balance. Watching her react this way, Dev reaches out to save her from the fall. But, without fail, she plunges into the pool with a splash. 

Watching her struggling to keep afloat and realising that she doesn't know how to swim, Dev dives into the pool instantly and holds her to the level. As soon as she feels Dev's hands around her, she holds onto him like a baby. Dev, in response, clasps her securely, sensing her trembles and takes her towards the shallow ends of the pool. 

Dev stood holding her silently in shallows giving her enough time to calm herself down. Within seconds Mahi realises that Dev isn't moving. But he is still holding her firmly. She continues to cling to him like a baby who doesn't want to part from the mother. 

Taking a quick deep breath, she breaks the embrace and finds herself face to face with him. Keeping his one arm steady around her, Dev picks up the wet strands of hair from her face and put them back carefully so that he could see her face. He does this reflexively. It was, as if, not the first time he was touching her hair or her face. And even she doesn't flinch at his touch. Though she notices it. And it is definitely making her a little nervous. Both couldn't help, look at each other with curiosity. Their faces were just a couple of inches apart where Mahi could see the man's features so closely. It renders her more nervous on top of what she was already feeling from the fall. His perfect jawline with clean shave edges. She could feel his heavy breathing along with his eyes with the same inquiry as herself. While Dev couldn't help but notice her eyes. They were wandering and shaking. They make him curious and concern about her. But he just realises how beautiful they are. They are big with traces of smudged kajal around them. He has always overheard his mother and sisters praising them. Now he knows why they laud them so much. Probably this would be his first time seeing them up close. 

'No! I don't know how to swim', Mahi says after gathering some focus and little voice and a minute-long staring at each other.

Dev looks at her confusingly, to which Mahi says in a shaking voice after taking another deep breath in,' you asked me...before I fell.' 

'Yeah, I figured,' Dev says amusingly at her response and feeling guilty at the same time because he felt responsible for her fall. 'I am sorry, I shouldn't have jumped you like that,' he apologises. 

To which Mahi shakes her head and says, 'I should have been more aware.'

'By the way, we are in shallow waters. If you like, you can feel the floors yourself,' Dev says as he stands holding her securely.