The Withering

08 | not just strangers

Then

As he predicted, her sad eyes sat like an open wound, aching every time they crossed the path, and she ignored his existence. Maybe, the other day in the parking lot was just some twisted glitch of fate, but it was unforgettable enough that he couldn't ignore it for very long.

As a result, he found himself standing over the laundry bag as soon as he got home from work, trying to decide whether he should keep following her when she hardly glanced at him.

A middle-aged woman passed him on the way to the basement as he headed down the stairs. He recognized her as Sarah's mother and threw her a cheerful hello, even though they had hardly spoken. If looks could kill, Ayaan would be dead by the glare she threw his way. Given that every so often she had caught him hovering around their apartment, he rightly deserved her wariness.

The laundry room machines churned, swished, and whirred at full capacity even at night, the only time no one else used them but the girl he couldn't get out of his system. Sarah was done with her laundry, but the last of her linens were spinning wildly. Tonight, she was in an oversized hoodie and denim shorts.

Ayaan wasn't sure how not to notice the expanse of her legs as she bent over, emptying the first dryer's content into her basket when he entered the room.

His footsteps echoed in the closed room, and the air suddenly changed around them. Sarah paused for a second to look up but as soon their eyes met, she looked away and continued doing what she was doing.

Ayaan tossed the basket in his hand between the two available dryers and crossed the room to stand behind her.

"How long are we going to pretend like strangers?" He said, his voice losing the calm he had mastered up until then. 

She picked up her basket and headed out of the room without a word, only this time, two hands landed on either side of her head, trapping her against the dryer. No part of their body was in contact, but his skin burned with the heat of their closeness. The linens spun wildly inside the dryer, and so did the unreadable emotions in her eyes as they collided with his desperate ones. "You can't keep avoiding me without telling me the reason for your coldness."

His heart began hammering against his chest as she leaned to whisper into his ear. "We are strangers."

"I don't want to be strangers." He said with finality.

She opened her mouth and hesitated. "I need to leave."

He raked back some strands of hair that had escaped from her bun, making sure his fingertips didn't steal shameless touches. Too bold of a move because that was only the second time she spoke to him, even just a few words. He released his hold on the dryer, taking a step away from her. "Are you going to pretend we never met, Sarah?"

Her thick eyelashes bobbed as she blinked up at him, stealing her back against the dryer. "It is better this way. You should stay away from me."

"What if I say I don't want to?" Ayaan had to dare at least one. If he could stay away from the girl, he wouldn't be so desperate to talk or see her when they had bumped into each other just once. Sarah was to be in his system for a long time- Ayaan was sure about it. 

There it was- the stutter of her breath, the confliction in her eyes, and the crack in her resolve. She moved through the space between the dryer and Ayaan to escape his presence.

Ayaan didn't miss how her finger shook while she picked up her basket, ignoring the sheets still swirling inside the dryer, and headed for the exit.

"It's not that I haven't tried, but I want to know you, Sarah Williams. I want you to know me." His deep voice had both stubbornness and resignation. He knew he had to try one last time. If not for himself, then definitely for the darkness and loneliness he saw in her eyes. Yes, her eyes looked as sad as they were the day he first saw her. "Is there any chance to be more than strangers?"

Her feet paused at the door, but she did not turn around to look at him. The only visible sign of her emotional turmoil was- how her breathing sharpened when she spoke, "It better to be strangers. I don't think we could ever fully know each other, Ayaan Bakshi."

And while she left him troubled yet again, all he couldn't stop thinking about was the way his name sounded on her tongue and the truth that she remembered him all along.

They weren't just strangers, were they?