Extremely Slow love

4

"You seem more stressed."

"Uh.. "

She shot me this look, all mushy and gooey, like she was aww-ing at a fluffy puppy. Her eyes and expression were practically begging for a cheek squish cause. I couldn't handle Meera's cuteness. Plus, her room was filled with her sweet scent. It felt absolutely wrong to keep stealing glances at her every now and then.

"Yes, I felt really bad. I shouldn't have said all that. I don't know when I became so bad." (looking around)

"If I did something wrong, you could tell me."

Meera had casually placed the book to the side, and it looked like she was jotting something down with a pen that was already resting in her hand, kind of like those ink spots you see from pens. She had this simple gray dial watch on her milky wrist, it looked perfect on her.

Meera's gone from zero to furious in three seconds flat! She spots my expression, gives her hand the stink eye, and I swear, it's like she's about to hold a full-blown trial right there in the room. Who knew a hand could look so guilty? It's like a scene from a courtroom drama, except the defendant is a wristwatch. I couldn't help but glance at her hand for a few seconds, I quickly pretended to be interested in the book.

"What, you hate love?"

"Who says?"

(pointing towards the book) "Your book?"

Meera gave a slight smile and displayed a bittersweet anger as she said this. "Not hate....... but I haven't forgiven you. You're coming shopping with me next Sunday."

As my eyes popped out like they were auditioning for a cartoon, the mere thought of running into Meera again sent my brain into a tailspin. Seriously, am I starring in my own comedy show now? It's like my brain's decided to take an extended vacation. And if I somehow end up agreeing to go shopping with her, well, let's just say I might accidentally invent a whole new category of chaos!

"No, I have a lot of work."

(Acting like a queen) "We are friends. I haven't accepted your sorry."

It's as if Meera's graduated from amateur to pro in the art of blackmail overnight, and she's delivering her ultimatum with a glare that could melt steel. Her eyes are practically daring me to utter a single word, but it's like my vocabulary has decided to pull a disappearing act, leaving me stranded with just one word permission slip: "Yes." It's like my brain's gone on strike, leaving me high and dry in a sea of silence. I couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

Aahan came with breakfast.

"Sorry, my mom asked me to make pakoras. She said Naina likes them, hot and crispy."

Naina, smelling the aroma, said, "Yum!" Meera couldn't help but chuckle as she spied on Naina, her eyes glued to the pakoras with a passion that would make a romance novel jealous. It was like witnessing a love story unfold, with Naina's gaze on those fried goodies rivaling Romeo's for Juliet, except in this case, it's pakoras stealing the show.

So, Meera's lost in her thoughts, beaming this gorgeous smile, right? And then, boom, Naina catches her eye. It's like time freezes for a split second as they lock gazes, their hearts doing this crazy dance. Naina's eyes linger on Meera's long lashes, and just like that, Meera's smile vanishes into thin air. She quickly looks away, and they both pretend nothing happened, but you can feel the tension crackling in the air. Meera's glued to her phone, trying to hide the flush creeping up her cheeks, while Naina's doing this whole dramatic "lost in thought" routine. And poor Aahan's just there, Aahan's just sitting there, thinking, "Have these two lost their marbles or what?"

Naina muttered to herself, "Meera looking at me? No, not again."

Naina started waiting for the pakoras to cool down. Aahan said, "Naina, did you see my gift?"