Mehendi & Moonlight || Ana

Chapter 30:: Leash Of Reality

Kabir had no idea the sight of someone could evoke such a complicated feeling inside of him. His insides were tangled within a mess of feelings — wholesome and delighted. 

She gave him a timorous smile, "Hi... am I bothering you?"

He immediately left the chair with a surprised gasp, "No way. How are you here?"
"Today's a weekend. I'm free, of course." She smiled, forwarding a small bag to him as his brows furrowed, "What is this?"

"Lunch."

"You brought lunch for me?"

She nodded at his question as he took the bag from her, peeking inside. 
"This seems homemade." 
"I made this for you." 
"You can cook?!" He gasped as she smiled, "Other than working and studying, there's more stuff I can do." 
He kept the bag on the table and walked closer to her, pulling her towards him. 

Her eyes widened, "What are you doing?" 
"What else?" He shrugged, analyzing her face. Leaning closer, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead as she stilled. A soft tingling sensation lasted on her forehead even after he detached his lips from there. The blazing imprint was there, affecting her physically and even more —  mentally.

"Kabir... we're at your workplace." 
Hearing her hesitant voice, he chuckled, "Nobody's around, don't worry." 

He pulled away from her and guided her to his seat, making her sit down. She looked at the working tabs on his laptop and asked, "Were you too busy?" 
"Kind of." He sat on the corner of the table as she took the food bag and opened it, setting the lunch boxes properly. 
"There. You should eat first and continue working. I won't take up much of your time." 

He smiled at the food, "You can take all my time as you wish. But, is that really for me?" 

A strange emotion flickered in his eyes as he looked at her, "Thank you." 
"Why are you staring at me like that? It's fine, wasn't that hard anyway." She cleared her throat and forwarded the open box towards his direction.
"Have a bite." 

He nodded and mixed the vegetable curry with the rice, taking a bite.
"You added shredded chicken in it." He spoke as she smiled, "If I cooked chicken curry separately, it'd take more effort for you to eat." 
"So thoughtful." He chuckled, took another bite and nodded.
"How is it?" 

Her unsure eyes eased when he chewed on the food gleefully.

"It's really good." His wide eyes brought a sense of pleasure to her.
"Wait, have a bite." He forwarded a spoonful of rice to her as she shook her head, "I'm fine, you eat." 
He frowned, "It's weird eating alone." 
"Just eat..." She said but he didn't take away his forwarded spoon from her mouth. 
Hesitantly, she took a bite as he smiled, watching her swallow down the food.

"It's.. not bad." She whispered, proud of her cooking as he giggled, "See? Have another." 
"I brought this for you. Why are you making me eat it?" She frowned. 

He stared at the corner of her lips with a sigh, "You're messy." 
"Huh?" 
His fingers rose to the corner of her lips, brushing off something as he took his hands back. She stared at him, feeling her heart beat loudly. His proximity wasn't unusual yet it made her feel an uncertain type of way.

Once they finished eating, he got down from the table as she packed the empty lunchbox. 
"Okay, are you full?"
"Very." He sighed, shaking his head. 
"Tsk, are you on a diet? You took almost thirty minutes to finish that little rice." She eyed him as he huffed, "You're like my Maa. Forcing me to stuff every last bit of rice. What is this behaviour, Nisha?"  

She laughed lightly, "Good thing. Your Maa must be proud of me." 

He smiled at her, "Well, anybody would be." 
"Huh?" 
"You're too cool to not be proud of." He spoke, casually fixing his shirt and walked towards her. Something about his words made her heart twist. She fisted her hands around her kurti and looked down, smiling slightly.
"Ah, I should leave now." She abruptly grabbed the food bag, "You should finish your work and return home early. Don't overwork too much, okay?"