Match Made In Hotel | Ruturaj Gaikwad ✓

Rutu - the Reason, her Passion

Passion. Reason to stitch. Ruturaj.

*******

"These are really good!" Devi exclaims as she runs her hand through the three letters that I made in the evening.

We're sitting on our bed with some embroidered cloths spread on her lap.

"They look decent to me. I'll have to learn to reduce their size." I say looking at them.

I am going to embroider a small message on his handkerchief and give it to him two days before the league starts.

"Yes, you'll get it with time, Akka." She gives me a thumbs up.

My phone vibrates.

I show my screen to Devi and say, "It's Rutu's video call. You want to say hi?" I ask Devi. When she doesn't reply I add, "Come I'll introduce you."

Her eyes widen. She scans herself up to down.

"Akka he's Ruturaj Gaikwad." She moves her hand in a gesture of grandeur.

I chuckle at her stressed syllables. "He is Ruturaj Gaikwad. But he's also my friend Rutu. Don't you keep saying you want to meet him?"

I smile at Devi's shocked face and pick the call before it gets disconnected.

"Hello!" We hear him say. He straightens up when he sees Devi in the background.

Devi raises her hand to wave when I say, "Hi Rutu, meet my sister Devi."

He waves back. "I have heard so much about you! It's so good to finally see you." Devi looks at me and raises her eyebrows to ask what have I told him.

"I do talk about you sometimes. Randomly. To make a reference or so. But he has a really good memory so whatever he remembers is because of it."

"Yes, totally random things such as you love hugs, dogs and have a refreshing perspective on many things." Rutu adds.

I see her shoulders relax. She is getting comfortable. I look at Rutu fondly.

"Oh and you have no idea how much Akka talks about you. Rutu's this, Rutu's that, oh my-"

She stops as she reads the warning on my face.

Meanwhile Rutu's smile grows wider as he says, "Oh, does she?"

"Yep." Stop smirking Devi. Before I have a chance to speak she snatches the phone from my hands, climbs on the bed and says, "But may I know why have you called my sister at this hour in the night?"

I roll my eyes at her exaggeration. Wow Devi, nobody would have been able to guess that you are talking about 9.30 pm and not 11.30 pm or something.

I climb the bed to at least get a good look of Rutu's face as he answers.

I expected to see a flustered Ruturaj but instead I am met with a confident one as he says, "Didn't see her all day, so that's why I thought I'd give her a video call."

Damn.

Devi covers the camera as she faces me and mouths,

"He is so pyaara!"

He is, I mouth back. At this moment I want nothing but Devi to wrap her questions up and hand me my phone so that I can talk to him.

But Devi is in no mood to stop.

She pretends to be serious as she asks, "What if I don't let you talk to her?"

I notice the fleeting twitch of her lips and am assured that she doesn't mean it but Rutu doesn't catch it.

He looks genuinely sad and answers, "That would be too bad."

"Devi st-"

"Shh, Akka."

"Okay, I'll let you talk to her if you tell me your most and least favourite quality in Akka."

God, this girl. But I can't deny that I am curious to hear what he says.

Rutu is silent for a while. At last, he chuckles.

"It's a little strange, Devi, that my most favourite is the one that sometimes I do not like. I have learnt that she is an all or nothing person. Be it something professional or personal, she likes to devote all of herself to it. Where Kriti is concerned, there's no half heartedness and I really like that."

I see.

"But she examines things before she commits herself to them. A lot. If only she'd let her guard down at times, even partially, the world would be a much better place."

I sigh. Agreed, If I could stop obsessing about the outcome of every decision of mine and allow life to show me new things and new people, I think I'd like it too.

Devi has a huge grin on her face. Yeah. This same grin is going to give birth to multiple smirks as soon as the call ends. Brace yourself, Kriti.

"Now your turn, Akka!" She hands an imaginary mike to me.

"What's your most and least favourite quality of Rutu's?"

Unlike Ruturaj, I answer immediately, "Well, even my most favourite and least favourite coincide...."

"Ooohh... aren't you guys goals."

We aren't anything but friends, Devi. I shake my head but can't help but smile.

"....I love that he's so thoughtful and how even the tiniest detail doesn't escape his notice but his habit of looking at everything closely and giving them a lot of thought has its own side effects."

Devi nods. I nod. Rutu must be nodding too. If only she let me see him.

"It was nice talking to you Devi." I hear his sweet voice.

I watch her melt.

"Aye, same here, Rutu."

"Now if you permit, may I get my phone back?" I chime in.

"You may."

I am glad to finally see Ruturaj properly.

His smile tells me that he is glad too.

"Missed you today."

"Likewise, Rutu, likewise."

*******

I feel Devi looking at me throughout the call, watching me laugh, listen and liven up.

With time, she fades into the background and it's just Rutu and me talking about everything under the Sun.

*******

A/n - :))))

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