Finding Love in the City

39. Once in a blue moon

The last thing Aditya felt like doing was visiting a shopping mall at Abhi's insistence. But as his best friend—well, only friend—requested and begged and whined and scolded him, Aditya was left with no option but to drive up to the mall, park at the overcrowded garage, and grimace as a horde of over-excited ladies passed by him and hit him with their heavy handbags that slung from their shoulders. Furthermore, he scowled when Abhi informed him over a text that the man was running slightly late due to a traffic jam.

Ever since Abhi and Shruti had broken up—which was around the same time when the entire fiasco had happened—he spent most of his time taking care of silly activities like shopping and decorating his apartment. Living alone had been challenging for him, and he found some support and companionship in Aditya. The latter gave in to the demands unflinchingly because Abhi had stood by him like a rock during his lowest.

But then Aditya loved the brotherhood too. Their Sunday morning ritual had continued with Abhi bringing breakfast over to his apartment and the two of them having the food over an hour of soulful conversation. Abhi could still read Aditya like an open book. Aditya could still confess his innermost secrets in front of his best friend and spend hours listening to him talk about Shruti. Both were highly dependent on each other in the emotional sense of the term and hence, Aditya couldn't decline Abhi's requests.

Cursing himself for agreeing to the preposterous idea of shopping for shirts, Aditya went inside the outfit store, only to exit within minutes due to the loud yells of people trying to converse with each other amidst booming music. Rolling his eyes, he chose to walk around the mall, explore the place to see if he could find an electronics store. However, his gaze fell on the bookstore at the far end, tucked in one corner of the floor yet imposing its presence on everyone with its majestic placard standing out amongst all.

A small smile crept on his lips as he recollected Nandini's love for books, and he found himself entering the store, surfing through the mystery-thriller aisles, searching for something. Or someone. He was completely lost when perusing through the introductory chapter of a particularly vicious story, wherein an accident led to a murder that got an innocent, blind man framed for something he was physically incapable of doing.

"Huh!" Aditya's brows went up, and he swiftly flipped the book to check the price. "This seems interesting. Perhaps Nandini was not too wrong when she said books can be fun."

"Do you have this in your inventory? I have been searching for it for two months now."

Aditya's head snapped towards the source of the sound. So very familiar. So very honeyed. As warmth seeped through his body, his eyes widened when he discerned the back of a chubby girl, her curly tresses swaying near her waist each time she moved, her sweet voice reaching up to him as she continued gesturing towards the advertisement on display behind the reception counter.

"Sorry, ma'am," the receptionist said, an apologetic expression on his face. "We ran out of copies of the book. It's a bestseller."

"I know," she whined. "I have been trying to get my hands on it for so long."

"Here." He forwarded an e-pen to her and twisted the e-reader's screen towards her. "Please add your phone number to our list, and we will text you as soon as the book is in our inventory."

She nodded vehemently and picked up the e-pen, tapping on the screen with the tip of it as she scribbled her digits across.

Aditya took a deep breath when she swerved around. Her chubby cheeks still had the extra fat that made her an adorable teddy bear. The sheen on her face had dimmed, her eyes were not glimmering like any other time, but she was more or less looking the same as before. Beautiful. Cute. The gorgeous, curly locks she was always so proud of cascaded down her face, touching the sides of her cheeks, and he craved nothing more than to tuck them behind her ears. Those pink lips were slightly parched but so fucking inviting that he yearned to take them in a soft but passionate kiss.