Ishq Wala Love

The Enemy's Gift.

"That's exactly where I am at the moment. I'm sitting here with a beer in my hand, in your honour."

Aisha realized Chris was a little tipsy. If she was over there, she would have had her first alcoholic drink with him.
Chris began to sang happy birthday to her, then switching to her favourite Bollywood songs. Aisha chuckled, as she missed her buddy so much.

"Thank you, Chris!"

"You don't need to thank me. You deserve to be spoilt on your special day. If only you were here. We could have the most adventurous night together."

"I can imagine. And I can also imagine Ma yelling at us for returning home so late. But she will probably put the blame on me, and then suck up to you. Sometimes I feel like she loves you more than she loves me."

Chris laughed.

"I can't blame her though."

"Chris! Anyway, thank you for calling. I really miss you."

"I miss you too Aisha. There isn't a day that goes by, that I don't think about you."

There was a eerie similarity between the way Chris and Armaan both shared their feelings towards her.

"So update me about Goa!"

Aisha spent the next two hours speaking to Chris as if they were present in the shack together. Chris told her about Goa while she updated him on Mumbai. They finally finished their conversation and bid each other goodnight.

Aisha grabbed the dress to try it on, when she noticed Shreya was asleep.
She decided to go take a shower in the common bathroom, as she took her belongings.

Once she was in the shower, a few seconds later. The power went off. Aisha stood there in the dark,
as warm water continued falling down her naked form. She suddenly panicked, wondering if there was a power failure. She could barely see anything, as she decided to stay rooted to the spot, incase she slipped and died in the bathroom. A few minutes later, the lights came back to life, as she sighed in relief. She quickly washed off the remaining strawberry scented conditioner in her hair. She stepped out, wiping herself dry, putting on her pink dotti print pyjamas. Although she was 18 now. She would still wear her fave pjs to sleep, no matter how old she would get.

She returned back to her room, as she placed her stuff into the cupboard. She kept her towel, drying her damp hair. Shreya was snoring loudly, when her snores were drowned out by a knock on the door. Aisha wondered who could it be at this time? Was it Sister Hitler. Perhaps she was here to assure her that the power failure had been fixed and that they could sleep in peace now. Aisha went to open the door, only to find herself staring back at a male outside her room, in a girl's hostel at the most inauspicious hour.

Aisha's eyes almost rolled out of her eyesockets.

"Tum?"

"Surprised?"

"Very!"

Armaan observed Aisha's damp hair, while struck upon her pyjamas that never ceased to bemuse him. Aisha had finally become a woman, yet the child in her seems to never leave. Not that he had any complaints against her.

"Nice pyjamas, woman child."

"I'm not sure if your complimenting me or your insulting me?"

"How about both?"

He winked at her, while Aisha was pinching herself.

"Wait! How did you know where my room was? And how did you get here without getting kicked out? Boys aren't allowed to be here at the hostel, unless your my cousin or brother. Which you are obviously not."