invisible string ✓

twenty two

With bafflement adorning my face, I accepted the bag from him and went to my room. Sitting on my bed and placing the bag next to me, I saw that there was a cloth box and two shoe boxes. I took them out and opened the cloth box first.

Spreading the dress open, I found myself adoring a powder pink floral knee-length dress; a type of dress I never had in my lifetime and had bookmarked on Pinterest. I kept it aside and opened the first shoe box, seeing a pair of powder pink strappy heels with a Post-it inside. Taking them, I read out the message.

I'm not sure what kind of footwear you'd like, so I bought the heels and sneakers. Wear what you'd like. Save the other for later.

— I

Putting the pair of heels aside, I took the second shoe box. Not because of that I would wear them, but I wanted to know how they look.

A pair of powder pink sneakers along with a Post-it was inside it. Anticipating a new message, I read the message and was halfway through it when I realised it was the same message I had got from the heel box.

Closing the sneakers box, I unboxed the heels box and placed them with my dress, preparing to take a bath.

***

I knew that Ishaan had a great imagination and taste as I wore the dress and twirled in front of my mirror to see how airy my dress was.

After makeup and hairdressing, I walked to the main hall and saw Ishaan watching Brooklyn Nine Nine in a matching powder pink satin shirt tucked in with its sleeves folded up to his upper arm— flaunting his muscular biceps— and grey checkered pants. As his eyes fell on me walking to him, I could sense the world outside us blurring. His rainforest eyes, wide out of some abstract feeling, lured me into his ethereal forest.

“Wow!” His raspy tone alerted my ears and made the blurry world in HDR quality. “You look so…” He paused and looked around in a full circle, asking, “Where's the dictionary? I need to find a word to describe you.”

I chuckled out loud, covering my face with my hands in a bid to conceal the darkening shades of crimson adding to the blush powder. I took my hands away from my face when radioactive heat left my cheeks and replied, “Thank you so much for the dress.”

“Anything for you, Mia Anima.” He stepped an inch closer to me and tucked a lone strand of my hair behind my ear. He snaked to my ear and whispered, “How do you manage to steal my breath? All. The. Fucking. Time.”

“I learnt those skills from my boyfriend,” I whispered and turned to his face, tempting me to water his dry lips with my wet ones.

“Are you ready for it, baby?” I felt his hot breath hitting my face as he spoke. Lost in those thick canopies and greenery that resembled a pool of emerald in his eyes, I nodded a yes while he flaunted his teeth with a smile as he exclaimed, “Perfect! You wait here, and I'll set the table.”

Before I could alert myself, I felt his dry lips against my blush powder-covered cheek and him walking away from me. Even thirty seconds after his departure, the invisible mark of his lips rested on my cheek, making me blush darker than my baby pink blush powder.

***

“Where are we going, Ishaan?” I questioned in a whiny tone, us being around two kilometers away from my house. “Please tell me, Ishaan.”

Unlike an anticipatory, “You'll know it,” from him, he stopped riding the scooter and got down. “We're here,” he suggested, standing next to me while my eyes shot up at the board of the building we're at.

The Ahluwalia's Abode

I squinted my eyes, wondering if I was hallucinating, and looked at Ishaan, who was standing next to me with a smile on his face. I covered my O-shaped mouth with my hands despite the shortage of oxygen around me. Confused whether to laugh or cry, I looked at Ishaan again, trying to bring in words to my mouth.