His Favourite Book

Chapter 3 - What's your name?

"That's it. Any doubts?" Aashna's professor was about to end the class.

"Ma'am, so for this phobia, we have two major options for treatment... One, where we can help the person to be systematically desensitised to their feared stimuli and two, they can choose a life without any contact with the concerned stimuli. How do we know which one to prefer and when?" A student asked.

"That depends on the person. If they can control the feared stimuli and live an unhindered lifestyle, no harm in doing so. For example, if a person is afraid of aquatic animals, but can easily continue with life if not exposed to them, we can let that be. We can't always win over every single thing out there, and we don't have to. But a person afraid of... say, darkness; or maybe ants; can't always control their exposure to these stimuli. Here, I think desensitisation and other behavioural therapies will be better options. All of this, considering whatever your client consents to."

She thanked her professor and left the online class call. She was at the book cafe with no one around. Well, people got jobs on weekdays but she had to be there with the employees, at least for the initial days of this Cafe. Thereafter, she will be gradually getting back to her college, internship and research paper. Not expecting much work in the books section, she went into the store room to check food ingredient stocks.

The day felt longer to her somehow. Returning to her seat, she felt strong winds hitting the closed window. Her excitement kicked in when she quickly opened the window, stuck out her face and felt the cool breezes with closed eyes. Within seconds, she felt a paper smacking her forehead.

"Ouch! Who-" She rubbed her forehead and opened her eyes just to meet a smiling Abeer looking at her. "Why, you-"

"If it wasn't for me, someone would've painted your face thinking it was a wall." Jumping to sit on the window sill with legs outside, he turned behind to face her. "Mind having a look at your beautifully scattered pages at the back?" He pointed.

Aashna made a lazy face and started gathering the pages after rolling her eyes.

"By the way, here." Abeer hopped in to squat down beside her, before helping her with the pages. He offered her a paper.

"What is this?"

"The paper that slapped you a while ago. It's a bookmark I made, in return for the one I took that day from you."

"No, that's fine. It was my apology so..."

"Just take it, you confused jet plane."

"STOP CALLING ME THA-" Aashna was about to go off when he closed her mouth and put a finger on his own mouth, indicating to her to keep it low.

"It's a library, girl. Your bEsT fRiEnD's book cafe. Remember?"

"Yeah, whatever. Why are you here at this hour?"

"Umm... I took a day off today, you could say? To complete a project. Meeting deadlines is clearly not my thing." He paused, hesitating to continue. Looking at her approachable expression, he decided to go with it. "Meanwhile... I thought I'd make something for the ChaiScript girl who finally decided to keep her windows open yesterday, uh- upon my request of course, b- but, still..."

Aashna smiled. "I keep doubting who the real stalker is-"

One of the employees interrupted her, calling her into the kitchen. Abeer lightly tapped himself on the head and with a silly smile, went to work on his self-proclaimed seat. By the time Aashna returned, he was already busy enough to be in his own world. She kept the bookmark in her book.

Soon, the same group of school friends from the previous day came in. They had probably bunked a class or two, so it seemed. Their sounds were enough to bring Abeer back into the zone.

Aashna sat there with an instinctive smile, reminiscing about her own school days. She got a sudden urge to steal a glance at the bookmark guy. As her eyes turned towards his direction, they perceived him already looking at her with a similar smile on his face. Probably involuntary, too. But was it uncomfortable? Who knows.

Abeer mouthed a question to her, not uttering a single sound, "I-never-asked-your-name. What-is-it?"

"A-A-S-H-N-A. And-yours?" She mouthed back.

'She's good at lip reading.' Abeer thought to himself. "A-B-E-E-R." He replied, again, silently mouthing.

- X - X - X - X - X -

At night, Aashna was back with her books to study for the next day. In her book, she found the bookmark from earlier. It was a canvas strip, with pressed yellow flowers stuck on it, and a golden tassel dangling from the top centre. A warm and lovely bookmark was exactly what she needed to end her day on a good note.

To start the next day on a better note, she began scheduling her day and gathering literature for her current research topic. It was for a national research competition- her dream presentation- in around 6 months. Time was less. Well, so was her luck, for a loud blast was heard from the nearby electricity transformer. Within no time, people were swarming out of their houses, some through windows and some on their respective balconies, shouting and asking each other questions. Sometime later, they received a notice saying that their power would be cut for a few days. Aashna had to consult Girisha regarding her book cafe. They decided to stay shut for those days. It was great, one could say. She had more time to give to her studies. But at what cost? She couldn't ask Abeer about the book anymore.

"What is so special about it anyway? The other day I thought you were just curious about it, but it seems like you could perish right here if he doesn't lend it to you at this moment." Girisha asked from the other side of the call.

"Yeah, it was—a mere, general stupid curiosity at that time. But now I've seen him for days. He reads, sketches and observes. His reading list is awesome by the way! That's why I want to know about-" She paused, before continuing, "Hey it's not as strong of a wish as you exaggerated!!!"

"I know, I know," Both of them kept giggling and talking till late at night, about themselves, their days and more of themselves. Girisha was relieved now that the rooftop guy had cleared the misunderstandings and turned out to be a decent one.

- X - X - X - X - X -

As decided, the ChaiScript Book Cafe had been closed for 4 days.

[The day before reopening.]

Aashna, in search of literature for her research, was scanning through the non-fiction and academic books in a bookstore. She picked up 6 books and started walking towards the issue desk. Passing through the knowledge section, she noticed an encyclopaedia on flowers. The cover had the same yellow flower as the one on the bookmark she got from Abeer. She took it to have a quick look.

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A/N: Low-key wishing such scenes irl...

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Happy reading <3