𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴

• 12 •

A yawn escaped from her mouth as she mused. She looked down and ran her hands on the smooth surface of the sofa. It seemed to be extremely comfortable for her tired self. Without having any second thoughts, she laid down on the sofa, keeping a cushion under her head. She used her cotton dupatta to cover herself and closed her eyes. In no time, she had gone into a deep slumber.

Sameer came out of the car and searched for the spare keys in his pocket. He was feeling angry, over himself, over the disgusting conspiracy of Shekhar, over the deal which slipped out of his hands, and over everything. Using the key, he opened the door and to his surprise, the room was filled up with ambient lighting. Usually, whenever he would come back, all the lights would be switched off making it all dark, but today was different. He looked around briefly before his eyes narrowed on the couch. A hand was dangling out from the sofa which made him cautious. Who could it be? As far as he had noticed, Naina must be in her room at this hour.

Curiosity got better of him and he walked slowly towards the sofa. As he came by its side, he was flummoxed to see Naina there. "Naina....", her name came out as a whisper from his mouth. He sat down beside her on his knees to have a clear look on her face. Something stirred in his heart, a sensation close to warmth. This was the first time he was seeing her this close.

The dim lights of the room were giving a radiant glow to her face which reflected serenity. Sameer couldn't remove his gaze. All of his anger evaporated in air. But, he knew that she was miserable deep inside as if he could read her even in the dim lights. And why wouldn't he know? It was all because of him. If only he would have been sensible enough to deal with the situation, she won't be in that state.

He sighed and rose from the ground. Just then, his gaze fell on her sprained foot. A wave of guilt and shame struck him. 'Jaldi jaldi mein mera pair mudd gaya tha...'. "Shit.", he muttered under his breath. With that, realization dawned upon him. She was sleeping here because she wasn't able to walk upstairs. He racked his brain to do something. 'Should I leave her here? No no, Pagal hai kya Sameer, aise kaise chhod sakta hai tu usko yahan pe?' Not left with any other chance, he gently picked her up in his arms keeping his movements to a minimum so that she doesn't wake up. He carried her upstairs and opened her room's gate by his foot.

As careful as possible, he laid her down on the bed. She was literally in a very deep slumber. Checking her foot without touching it, he went to his room to bring the ointment and the crepe bandage. When he came back, Naina had turned towards her left side due to which her kurta had gotten dishevelled such that it had risen a bit from the side. He could see a very little of her skin peeking outside from the side. The deep back cut of her kurta now exposed her smooth skin which was meddling with his senses. His male hormones weren't helping him. 'God...Sameer, get a grip on yourself...' He shook his head and reminded himself of the task in his hand.

He averted his gaze towards her foot which again got shifted towards her. Feeling uneasy, he pulled the comforter on her leaving her foot out of it. With a very light force, he shifted her foot a little to apply the ointment. Touching her foot was giving him a weird sensation. This was an ordinary-couple thing. They weren't a couple, too far away from ordinary. For god's sake, they hadn't even had a proper conversation until today which too had gone miserably wrong due to his "over-smartness".

After evenly applying the cream, he carefully wrapped the bandage around her swollen part of the foot, trying his best not to touch anywhere else. He got alarmed when she stirred a little bit but relieved when she didn't wake up. On being satisfied with his job, he covered her foot with the comforter and got up. Standing there, he moved his gaze around her room as it was the first time he had come here after her arrival in his house. Some files and documents were lying on the table, maybe office-related. The dressing table was bereft with only three or four items.