His Angel, Her Treasure (UNEDITED)

Chapter 2

A couple of months later, just as the last leaves fell off the trees, making way for the conifers to stand out with their snow-clad coats, Sharanya made her way to her best friend, Sanjana's house. It was one of those days in fall that was perfect enough for a walk down the streets: neither too cold, nor too windy. Added to the perfect fall weather was Sharanya's music.

As she absentmindedly made her way down the lane to Sanjana's house, Sharanya failed to notice something right in the middle of the footpath. It was then, when she hit the fabric-wrapped pole-like structure, that she came out of her dream world, back to earth. A sudden breeze of wind made it slightly chillier, yet perfect.

"Well, hello there, stranger," the pole-like structure spoke.

"Hey Adi, why are you here?" Sharanya questioned curiously.

"Umm... I live here?" Aditya replied, although it came out as a question.

"Oh shucks! I'm so sorry!" Sharanya started, but eventually her laughter cut her sentence midway. This made Aditya contemplate whether she was sorry that he was living there or... Sharanya noticed his facial expression and laughed again. She eventually clarified by saying, "I'm sorry I forgot that Sanj and you are neighbours."

"Oh! So you came to meet Sanjana?"

"Yeah."

"But you do know that she left for Florida like 3 hours ago, right?"

"What?" Sharanya exaggerated as she whipped out her phone to see the date, as well as a reminder popping up that said, Sanjana was leaving for Thanksgiving break with her family.

"Oh well," she sighed and turned to leave after bidding bye to Aditya.

Just as Sharanya turned around to walk back home, a comparatively huge flake of snow fell on the tip of her nose, right below her rounded glasses. Another fell on her phone, followed by more and more humongous snowflakes.

"Adi, come on in!" a woman, probably in her late-30s or early-40s, called from the doorstep.

"Come on, let's get in before the snowfall gets heavier," Aditya said as he grabbed Sharanya's hand and pulled her into his house. It happened so quickly that Sharanya didn't have enough time to process the changes in her surroundings.

"Wait, what?" Sharanya questioned as she suddenly became aware of where she was.

"Adi?" someone called, making both of them turn and look. As soon as Aditya saw the look on his mother's face, he knew he had missed something.

"Mom, this is Sharanya, my school friend. She came to meet Sanjana, but the Kashyaps have already left for Florida," Aditya explained to his mother about the presence of an unknown girl in their house.

"Oh!" Aditya's mother exclaimed. "Well, come on in and I'll get you guys something warm to drink."

"Oh no! Thank you, Mrs. Mohan, but I really should get going," Sharanya said.

"You seriously won't get anywhere in that nasty snowstorm hitting out there. And no need to be formal either! My name is Sneha, so you can call me anything but Mrs. Mohan," Sneha, Aditya's mother said with a smile on her face.

Aditya and Sneha took Sharanya into the living room, and she had just sat down when her phone rang. She excused herself and answered her dad's call.

"Yes Appa... No, I'm inside... Sanjana isn't home... I'm at my friend's house... No, it's OK... OK fine, I'll call Mumma right now... No, she's back. I left for Sanjana's after she came... Yeah, OK. Take care... Bye."

After talking to her dad (in Kannada), Sharanya called her mom to inform her that she is at Aditya's house. When she sat back in her seat, she was greeted by a shocked Sneha.