WHEN FATE BRINGS YOU HOME

CHAPTER 21

"What are you lovebirds doing here?"

We broke the mesmerizing spell that we were caught in and looked back at the stairs in alarm. Hera stood there holding her saree in place, with a camera in the other hand in position. I took a step away from the growing tension of our eyes burning each other. His eyes were not finished with me. I can feel it.

"Lovebirds?"

"Oh, sorry. I was looking for-. Tara? What are you doing here? I thought you already left-"

After a good look at the two of us, she continued.

"Why do you two look like you got caught?"

"Doing what exactly?" I demanded.

"You both are flushed to the core."

Instantly, both my hands went up to cover my cheeks. I looked up to him and he's the dictionary antonym of flushed, he's pale, scared-pale. 

"It's the moonlight."

Thanks for the save, Shaurya.

"Too red for the moon, don't you think? Well, I'm leaving that topic for later."

She said, her eyes critically analyzing me.

"Now that you're here. You took pictures of everyone but yourself. Tara, you should get a picture to send your family."

"Huh? I don't like-"

"Look, your parents are worried that you are overworking yourself, which you are. A post in Instagram in this outfit would be great. Maybe with a caption, 'enjoying the red hot moonlight'."

I roll my eyes at her. She does know that we have company, right?

"No, I don't want a pictu-"

She shoved me towards the wall which is lined with blue neon lights.

"Good background and lighting. Now, smile."

Before even getting a chance to adjust myself to the impact of the shove or the intensity of the bright blue neon light, a bright flash went off from her camera. She takes a look at the screen in her camera once, then aims the lens back at me for the next click without even giving a warning. All are purely candid.

"Hera." I whined.

"What?"

"You know that I'm not photogenic, right?"

"Yeah, I know that Chandler's spirit takes over you when you're conscious of being in the camera spotlight."

That's not what I meant Hera. But she continued anyways.

"That's why I had to take pictures at lightning speed, before your brain starts to work."

I give a small sigh. I am a candid girl. I hate faking happiness and smiles, just to remember a moment from past through screens. I believe in our high-storage-capacity brains, if the moment was worth remembering, the brain will do it for you. You wouldn't forget any bit of it, if it is important enough to be stored. Isn't it amazing how this organ works?

"Rest we can take from down, with Ryan and everyone else."

She stepped around towards the stairs.

"Oh wait." She said to herself turning back.

"What now, Hera?"

"You two need to take a pic together."

"Need? There's definitely no need for that-"

Again, she brutally forced him near me under the blue light. He seemed surprised at first but tried to keep his cool. A flash went off again. When has she ever listened to me?