Chapter twenty

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'I didn't know that you could cook,' Paula says one night in the kitchen.
'There's a lot you don't know about me,' Shaan says.
'For example, the fact that you cook?' She asks.
'I can, actually. But I don't usually do it. Just like I enjoy playing basketball and reading the word of God. So, yeah.'
'That's nice,' Paula smiles.
'Why aren't you asleep like everyone else?'
'I couldn't sleep with all the noise you're making,' she says.
'Really? I'm making noise?' He asks surprised.
'Lol, no, Shaan. I was just being silly. What are you making?' She laughs.
'Beef and chicken curry and flatbreads. I hope you're hungry,' Shaan says, as he touches one thing or the other.
'Not really. But because my brother has prepared it, I'll definitely try some,'  she says, earning a smile from Shaan.
'I bet I cook better than you,' Shaan smirks.
'Oh, yeah? Well, let's find out,' she says.
The competition gets heated when Shaan accidentally drops flour on Paula. She retaliates by rubbing flour on his face as well. The two get not only a flour bath, but also a good laugh.

After they finish preparing the meal they sit to eat and talk about the most random things, but each time Paula sees that he's very different from anyone she has ever met or spoken too. Definitely not like all the boys that courted her back in her highschool. He spoke with power and control. An unusual authority, like he controlled every word that came out of his mouth. And that to her makes him stand out in ways she can't  express.

To be honest, the next few days in the house got better and better for Paula. Finally, she got the family she's always wanted. And when Ranveer told her about all the things that Shaan had gone through in the house ever since he was young, she was surprised at his ways of reacting to all the situations. How he forgave all Nevedita, Chanda and a Madhu's plotting and hate. All that made room in her for reflection. And the hate she always kept towards her mother for never actually being her mother, for some reason is something she doesn't want to hold onto anymore. It makea her laugh and smile at how much Shaan is rubbing off on her.
They actually enjoy each other's company. And she gets to learn more about the religion she always ignored. She starts to feel as if she wants to be just like him. Even when she got into a fight with the woman behind the till for something that the woman did wrong, Shaan solved the matter righteously.

She loved how he would just stop to give random people money on the streets and be humble about it. The horse rides they have when ever she tells him that she wants to tour the fields. Everything seems to have fallen in perfect place in her life. Well, except when Putchki comes and kidnaps Shaan.  But her only consolation is that she knows that Shaan doens't believe in the love between a man and a woman, keeps her assured that no matter how much Putchki makes it obvious that she likes Shaan, Shaan will never see her differently. But how does that make her feel in regards to herself? Knowing that Shaan will never see her as anything that's not a sister. Does this thought that is constantly playing around in her mind prove that Paula has fallen in love with Shaan?

YEH TERI GALIYAN (Avinash Mishra and Marlene Favela)Where stories live. Discover now