Guzarish

Pehli Mulaqaat

♪ Ek Ajnabee Haseena se

खूबसूरत बात ये
चार पल का साथ ये
सारी उमर मुझको रहेगा याद
मैं अकेला था मगर
बन गई वो हमसफ़र...

Author's Pov

Anika was sitting on the bus, with her earphones plugged in her ears and looking outside the window, busy in her own world.

After a few minutes, the whole bus was filled ready to go but suddenly a boy literally jumped on the bus startling everyone. The boy was catching his breath but then gave everyone an apologetic look and bowed and muttered "sorry" to everyone. The boy's eyes wandered everywhere to find a seat. He finally spotted a seat beside a girl who was busy looking outside the window clearly unaware of the presence of this man.

He slowly moved towards her and gently patted her shoulder as she was wearing earphones She probably couldn't listen if he would call her. She turned her head towards him looking up at him with a neutral expression. The boy asked while pointing at the seat beside her, "can I sit over here"? She just gave a nod and again turned her gaze outside.

The boy knitted his eyebrows slightly being curious about her aura, but placed himself on the seat anyways, putting his backpack on his lap.
After a while as the bus already started moving, the man couldn't suppress his curiosity and urge to talk, so he finally spoke to the girl.

"Hey!", the girl was so busy being in her world, she didn't hear him.

The boy this time waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention.

The girl turned her head towards him with her eyebrows raised with a questionable expression.

"Hey! I'm Devansh!" He exclaimed, forwarding his hand for a handshake.

The girl looked at his hand and then up to him being perplexed about what he was up to while Devansh waited for her to take his hand.

She just gave him a nod. Devansh backed away his hand, being dumbfounded.

After a few minutes of awkward silence Devansh asked "What...is your name?" Looking at her with a curious look. "Ay, Don't think of me as a creep, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you. It's boring just sitting y'know!" He reassured her.

"Anika" He heard her muttering without even glancing at him.

"Nice name yaar! What is the meaning of it?" He asked again. This time Anika turned her gaze towards him, basically giving him side eyes. "देवी दुर्गा /पत्थर की प्रतिभा" (Goddess Durga/the genius of stone) She replied.

He gave her a thumb up nervously as he noticed her glare. She looks dangerous, he thought. He sighed in relief and took his phone out from the pocket of his jeans and started scrolling through Instagram.

He laughed at memes earning 'are you crazy' looks from some other passengers and even Anika. He awkwardly scratches his nape being embarrassed. After a while he huffs frustratedly feeling so bored, so decides to take the risk to talk to Anika again.

"What song are you listening to?" he asked curiously.

Removing earphones from her left ear, she replied, "Guzarish!"

"from Ghajini?" He asked again.

"Yes", she replied simply with a nod putting her earphones back and turning her gaze towards the window, looking at the sunset outside.

He looked at the side of her face and sang two lines,
"tu meri adhuri pyass-pyass, tu aagayi Maan ko raas-raas".

Anika heard him and her lips curved upwards slightly at his silly behaviour. "Did you just smile!?" He looked at her excitedly. "No" she replied looking back at him.

"Ay, I saw you! You can't deny it now!" He Snickers. "By the way, where are you going to? Where are you from?" He asked further. Anika's eyebrows frowned hearing him talking so comfortably to her.

Sensing Anika's Awkwardness, he said "Okay I'll go first so that you won't feel awkward!" And he begins. "So I'm originally from Jaipur, now I'm going to Delhi because.......(he kept blabbering about himself) See I told you about myself now tell me about you too!" He looked over Anika who had an annoyed expression on her face, she wasn't even able to hear him properly as she had her earphones on. He gestured for her to speak. Anika took off her earphones and sighed.

"Are you always this angry? Ya bas...aaj-" He quickly zipped his mouth noticing her glare.

She suddenly spoke sarcastically "And you always talk nonsense like this ya bas aaj?" He gasped dramatically and said "you're so rude yaar, itni aachi tarah tumse baat kar rha hu aur tum ho ki...khair choro mujhe bura nahi laga, mujhe bura lagta hi nahi hai. Maaf kiya tumhe maine." He said and Smiled.

"I didn't even apologize to you!" She mumbled.

"What did you say? Kya Tum mujhe gaali de rahi ho?" He asked putting a hand over his mouth with a shock expression.

"De bhi rahi hu toh kya?" She teased him.

"Badi besharam ladki ho yaar!" He muttered.

"Tum mujhe besharam keh rhe ho!?" Her eyebrows raised as she asked.

"Nahi- nahi- main kaise kyu- Kuch kahunga tumhe" He denied while shaking his hands quickly saving his life. "itni jaldi marna thodi hai mujhe!" He added.

Anika just passed him a glare. He shut his mouth immediately. And sat straight on his seat nervously.

Time skip

Devyansh yawned as felt sleepy and hungry too but he had no food. After few minutes, He noticed Anika opening her backpack and taking out a lunch box. The boy's mouth watered at the sight of gajar ka halwa and puris. Anika noticed a pair of eyes looking at her food. She looked up and noticed Devyansh almost drooling over the sight of food. Seeing his reaction she asked in her signature neutral tone him "You want some?" He quickly shook his head denial. As he was too stubborn to ask for it. But his stomach growled, he embarrassingly looked over Anika and replied "Maybe I do want some..." She passed the whole lunch box to him. He happily took it but asked her confusely "You wouldn't eat?" To which Anika replied "I have another one." Hearing her response Devyansh started devouring the halwa with puris without any worries.

He thanked her and returned her lunch box after emptying it. He thought to himself that this girl is like a coconut...tough and rude on outside but kind and sweet from inside, she just doesn't expresses her.

Now that his stomach was full, he felt his eyes getting heavy. He leaned against his seat trying to sleep.

-

To be continued...

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