Stay With Me

CHAPTER 17: SPARKS OF LOVE

I was eating from a plate made from banana leaves. The food was very simple. It was rice with dal, with a few vegetables and a sweet kheer on the side. A woman came upto me and served me more dal. Suddenly, I felt a sudden spike of increasing spice in my mouth. I immediately ran for water, but the woman didn't react or help. She only smiled. A man sitting next to where I was sitting was laughing at me.

Dhruv woke up startled. This time, he woke up in the middle of the night. He took his time to digest the dream. He couldn't make out their faces. Even without the face, Dhruv could tell it was the same woman.

Who was the man? Why was he sitting next to me?

Dhruv felt a sudden reflection of the events. A few days back, someone had put green chillies in his pickle and he ran for water. The dream reminded him of that incident.

Dhruv sat up, covering his face with his palms in distress. He heard a noise. It was from the kitchen. Dhruv looked below the door for light. There was no light. He immediately got up and slowly moved towards the kitchen. Nothing was visible in the dark. He heard a moving of vessels.

"Who are you?" Dhruv asked.

The startled person put on the torch from the phone. It was Akanksha. She was standing right in front of Dhruv. Her face glowed from the light in the dark. Akanksha gazed at a handsome Dhruv from upclose.

The two locked eyes.

Unlike usual, Dhruv had a frown knitted on his face. He began to get closer to get Akanksha. Every step Dhruv took forward, Akanksha took a step backward. It ended when Akanksha reached the kitchen slab. He kept his one hand on the edge of the cupboard above Akanksha and the other next to her waist on the kitchen slab.

"W-w-what are you d-doing?" Akanksha asked as she was at loss of words. Her
cheeks flushed beet red.

But Dhruv didn't answer. He was looking at her closely.

Dhruv leaned down to Akanksha's face level. Akanksha's heart began to pound at an uncontrollably fast rate. Akanksha looked into his eyes. That moment, the sparks flew for Akanksha.

However, Dhruv looked at Akanksha with a serious face. The moment reminded him of the woman holding a torch.

A shy Akanksha pushed Dhruv away gently and ran back to her room.

Dhruv snapped out of his trance. He felt apologetic about his behavior.

Oh no! Should I go an apologize? Wait, right now? No. This can wait till tomorrow.

Dhruv was afraid that he might wake up someone else so he pushed it to tomorrow. He went back to sleep, wondering how several incidents from his life felt like a reflection from his dream.

Dhruv tried to join the dots. The first incident had occurred when he collapsed on set. After that, the green chilli incident and the midnight meeting with Akanksha happened. Dhruv wondered if the woman was close to him personally.

Shit! This concept sounds absurd! But I have nothing else to relate with now. Should I just try believing this? A little faith won't hurt. I have to find answers to my questions.

At this point, Dhruv was ready to leave no stone unturned to find his answers. Dhruv tried to sleep again, hoping to dream but unfortunately he didn't have any.

Meanwhile, Akanksha closed her room's door holding her hand on her heart.

What is going on? What is wrong with me?! Control yourself Akanksha! He's just a friend.

A perplexed Akanksha went to bed in such thoughts.

A sudden thought made Akanksha's face fall. No. Whatever happened, Akanksha didn't feel right. She felt like she shouldn't be feeling this. She soon fell asleep.

I saw myself holding a sword. It had blood on it. When I turned, I saw a young man holding a sword to my neck. My vision was blurry. A few people behind him came forward and took me away. The young man kept looking at me until I left.

Akanksha woke up from her dream with tears in her eyes and heavy breathing. She didn't understand anything about why she was crying but she didn't have the time to think. She woke up late.

The next morning, Ananya joined Akanksha's family for breakfast. At the table, neither Akanksha nor Dhruv met each other's eyes. They kept looking away in embarrassment.

"By the way, was someone in the kitchen last night?" Aayush asked.

Akanksha choked on her food and Dhruv gulped down his water nervously. They both looked at each other for a matter of seconds and turned away.

"W-what do y-you m-mean?" Dhruv asked anxiously.

"I heard some noise from the kitchen." Aayush replied.

"I-I went to drink water" Akanksha replied, who now was better from the choking.

Ananya and Aayush looked at each other like they made sure if both of them got the hint. They both concealed a smile and continued with their food. However, Niranjan didn't miss this.

Niranjan personally liked Dhruv. He had a soft corner for the hardworking man. He related with him about being the bread winner of the family at a young age. Dhruv did a good job with that. Dhruv had grown up well even without a father. He was proud of it.

Looking at Dhruv and Akanksha's behavior, Niranjan doubted if they had any argument. After a long time, Niranjan saw Akanksha smile and laugh so much, being open and getting along with people. He was grateful to Dhruv for it.

"By the way, can I tag along too with you guys today? I'm having a day off." Niranjan asked.

"Of course! Why not? It would be fun together." Dhruv replied excitedly.

On the way to the sets, Akanksha thought of the dream and her tears in the morning but she didn't overthink it. She didn't consider it more than just a simple dream.

Meanwhile, Dhruv decided not to look at Akanksha. He was afraid that he might make her uncomfortable if she noticed and way worse, if Niranjan noticed it. He looked out the window. Suddenly, a thought struck Dhruv.

Could the woman possibly be Akanksha?

To be continued....
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Hope you guys liked this chapter. There will be drastic changes in the storyline soon so stay tuned! Thank you for reading!