His Favourite Book

Chapter 33 - Their Dreams

Abeer suddenly closed the book and turned towards Aashna, making her jolt up and look elsewhere. "Would you like to exchange books?" He asked.

"It's the same book..." Aashna asked while raising her eyebrows and smiling at the obvious thing.

"But the annotations are not... Please?" Abeer insisted.

"Sure." Aashna agreed and saw Abeer giggling like a kid while keeping her book in his bag. That was when she noticed his hands. They were dry. Probably because he continuously works on his tablet, canvas and all the other materials that could be very well guilty of ruining his hands. "Mind taking care of your hands along with your sugar consumption?" She said and took out a moisturising cream from her bag. She extended her palm towards him. "Here."

Abeer slowly kept his palm on hers as she held it gently and squeezed some moisturising cream out of the tube. She carefully applied the right amount of the cream on both of his palms, not forgetting the cuticles on his nails. She smiled seeing his moisturised, glowing and healthy-looking hands, all while his gaze was on her satisfied face.

"Thanks." He said, fueling the satisfaction in her expression and making her smile wider. He looked at his palms, and pressed his lips, trying to think of what to say next. "You always wear this combination, no? Long-sleeved Kurtis with sleeveless collared mini jackets."

"Yeah, why?"

"That outfit looks good on you."

"Shut Up."

"WOMAN I'M COMPLIMENTING YOU!"

"Shut Up."

"Whaa- seriously, you-"

Aashna's mobile phone rang, interrupting Abeer. She saw it was some unknown number and hung up.

"Pick it, what if it's something important?" Abeer pointed.

"It's not. I've been getting these calls for a week now. Every time I pick it up, the person asks for some random name. I tell him that it's the wrong number, and he hangs up. After some time, he calls again with the same thing. I've blocked so many numbers by now but he keeps calling me from some new number. I had kept my phone on silent for days. Even Muskan and Kartik couldn't contact me... but this person is just so..."

"Woah there, there. Calm down. Might be some prankster."

"Maybe."

After a brief pause, Abeer again asked her, "By the way, I had even invited Abhimanyu to the competition. He didn't show up. I asked him but he hasn't replied yet. Do you have any idea about it?"

"Umm... no."

"Hmm. Might be busy with his research, I guess."

Aashna nodded with a pout, wondering what was the reason for Abhimanyu not replying to texts. Even if he was busy, he might have seen the messages. So why didn't he reply?

"Anyway. How's your research work going?" Abeer broke the chain of Aashna's thoughts.

"We have just begun the next stage. It was good till here. Now, next, let's see. I've promised my parents that I'm going to make it work."

Abeer smiled. "Good. You love them so much, don't you? Your parents and your research dreams." He asked, hoping that she would add something to the list, that she did, but not according to what he had in his mind.

"And Girisha, yes. This list is what I live for. And next up, my friends. My genuine friends, hehe." Aashna showed her teeth forming a cute toddler smile. "I'm still mad at her for lying about such a big thing, but it was all for me. She sat there and calmly explained to me what I was doing wrong. I realised that I had never actually had a face-to-face conversation with my parents, so I did that." She paused and saw Abeer nodding at her words, carefully listening to each and every one of them.

Feeling comfortable, she continued, "Now that I think about it, I already knew what she was there to tell me. Maybe it was hard to accept my thoughts. Sometimes you know exactly what needs to be done. You either just need to hear it in words from someone, or have someone hear it in words from you. Execution becomes easier then, no? So yeah. That explains why she is an important part of my priority list"

"That's your dream? Publishing research and making the people in your life proud?" Abeer extended his question.

"And myself, too. I won't lie. This research thing is purely my dream. If I do it, I will make myself proud, more than anyone else. Sounds so selfish, but yeah..."

"That's not selfish... I don't think that's selfish? Ma'am? Whatever you are on and about?" Abeer raised one eyebrow, questioning her.

Aashna chuckled. "If you say so... what's your dream, by the way?"

"Uhm... earlier it was to make inspiring art and make people understand its importance... but now I think I've got a great story to tell so I might even write a book... Who knows?

"THAT'S YOUR DREAM?! SERIOUSLY??? I WILL BUY THE FIRST COPY DAMN THAT'S SO COOL OH MY GOD!!" Aashna jumped up from her seat.

"Uh huh... nothing is confirmed yet, please keep it between us!" Abeer made a fake crying expression to calm her down and hear him out.

"Ababababab okay okay shh!" She kept a finger on her lips and sat down. Her phone rang again, displaying the same unknown number. "Oh shut up!" She made a disgusted face at her phone and kept it in her bag. Turning to Abeer, she said, "Okay, I think I'll leave now. Got a week's pending work... Get well soon! And let me know if I could be of help... Ok bye."

- X - X - X - X - X -

Dear Blossom,

That night I told her that I didn't have any fourth favourite flower. But I think I might be the fourth flower in her life... After her parents, maybe Girisha and her career. No, I'm not complaining. This is my first time being on someone's priority list, after my family. This is good. This feeling of having friends.

- X - X - X - X - X -

[Near evening; Navkar Residency]

Aashna reached her apartment not long after visiting Abeer in the hospital. She returned to an excited Muskan ready to hug her as soon as she entered.

"Oh my, chill chill. I'm back. And everything's fine at home too." Aashna said to Muskan who was still hugging her like a teddy bear.

"I'm glad. I thought things were ruined beyond repair." Muskan said from behind Aashna's shoulder, tightening her grip.

"I am glad, too," Aashna replied and patiently waited for Muskan to break the hug.

"Okay now, I'm hungry. Let's eat?" Muskan said after finally breaking the hug and helping Aashna get her bags into her room.

After they were done eating, Aashna was back to her study table making a schedule to cover up for all the pending work. Soon, she heard some noise from the other room. She went to peek into the room only to find Muskan packing her bags, ready to leave.

"Muskan, what-" Aashna stepped forward.

"I think I should leave now."

"What?"

"Yeah. My hand is completely recovered now. And I've already bothered you a lot. There's someone allotted to my hostel room, too. So I'll leave. Thanks for letting me stay here!" Muskan smiled at Aashna.

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A/N: All the long conversations might make these last two chapters extremely boring for some people. I guess?

See you in the next Chapter! Until then, Happy Reading <3

(P.S. I've posted some spoilers on Instagram, go check!)