Falling in Love - A Shivika Romance ✔

42. Tranquility

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"How many did you count?" Shivaay asked. Not so long ago they had decided on counting the stars as a way to pass the night. As boring as it was, seeing how and why the answers vary from person to person could be interesting too.

"One thousand three hundred and forty-nine," she replied. Her eyes were fixated upon the black sky shining due to the half-moon. They were no longer searching for a star in particular; she rather saw them as a whole, awing at how they all made the sky look so beautiful.

"Really?"

She nodded. "If you don't believe me, count it yourself."

Shivaay chuckled when sooner or later he understood her joke. She was certainly an amazing person to be with. Like a closed book with whom the more you talk, the more you know.

"And you?"

"What?"

"How many did you count?"

"Not as much as you, just five hundred twenty-six," he replied.

"Seriously?"

"Count them if you don't believe me," he offered.

Annika laughed seeing how he played her own card on her.

"You certainly have no sense of humor of your own," she remarked. However she would soon go on to regret what she said and taking him to be offended, she apologized.

Lack of response scared her to a certain extent while he went on to say that, "These city skies won't let you see so many stars. In books, we read that there are an infinite amount of stars. In Mumbai, you can barely catch sight of more than ten due to all the pollution. Sometimes there are none. We are lucky today"

"Silly but true, as a fourth-grader, I did try counting all of them," Annika shared.

"Why am I not surprised?" a chuckle escaped his lips.

After long, Annika glanced sideways to peek at Shivaay. She could barely see his face in the darkness around. She felt him laughing or at least giggling. When a tress of her hair fell on the side of her face, almost covering her view, she quickly brushed them aside as if it would make her view better.

A loud yawn covered her ears. Shivaay had his eyes closed. She looked for her phone to check the time. The last time she saw it was when Shivaay snatched it to decline her friend's call. Damn! She owed her friend an apology. Courtesy: SSO

She shied away when she recalled how he demanded her attention. If it were someone else, she might have argued. Shivaay seemed too cute when he did it. It was strange how all the things he did which if done by another person would have gained a different reaction from her. In three months he managed to own a special place in her heart. Only if she knew how to define that special place.

This time she yawned herself. Squeezing her eyes, she tried to see Shivaay's state, who sat beside her. He was in a similar sleepy state. Only that his eyes were closed and hers weren't. She shook him as gently as she could.

"Huh?" he looked around him to find the source of intrusion to his sleep.

"It's been late. We shall head back to our room. And do you know where my phone is? I can't seem to find it. The last time I saw it was in your hands," she said.

Shivaay meandered his hands in search of her phone. His left hand slipped inside the pocket of his trousers and he was able to find her cellphone there.