Anupama had been chatting with the ladies when one of them had informed her of Anuj 'sir' looking their way. And as she had turned to look for him, her eyes found him instantly and stopped.
Her gaze flickered over his form in pleasant surprise and before she knew, she had excused herself and was walking towards him.
Anuj, who was already entranced, was further stupefied on realizing that Anu was looking 'looking' at him.
Devika glanced over her shoulder to take a look at Anupama and smirked. Mission accomplished.
While Vanraj who had been busy with Paritosh, watched as Anupama walked past him with her gaze fixed far away. He then shifted his eyes in the direction she was going,spotted Anuj and then his eyes widened.
"Jai shri Krishna". Anupama paused few steps away and greeted Anuj. He folded his hands in kind, still transfixed. Why? How?
"Wow, Anu!You are looking lovely! Haina Anuj?" Devika who had been observing the situation till now decided that it was the time for her divine intervention and appeared from behind Anupama, winking at Anuj.
"Aren't these traditionals beautiful? I gifted them to her", Devika smirked and Anuj nodded, hiding his smile. No wonder, his closet looked a little disturbed. Courtesy her and GK.
But no matter the means, his gift had been delivered to Anu. And he was thrilled to see her in it. He silently thanked Devika and catching onto his gesture, she nodded.
"Arre Anuj!You are looking handsome too! And what a coincidence it is, Anu absolutely loooves bright red color", the L-word rolled off Devika's tongue meaningfully and Anuj had to clear his throat,afraid Anu would catch onto the changing hues of his face.
But Anuj knew now why he was dragged throughout the market. It was all worth it, if his Anu was happy.
Anupama smiled, nodding, "Devika is right. Ye rang bahot jacchh raha hai aap par. Aap par bright colours bahot khilte hain. You should wear them more often", Anupama complimented and Anuj smiled, his face growing warm and ears red.
"Thank you",He whispered and their eyes met again. His eyes brimming with emotions caught hers prisoner and in that moment of 5 seconds, neither looked away before Anupama broke the contact and turned away.
Anuj's eyes lit up following the eye contact and he scratched the back of his head, his lips threatening to turn up while Devika was left slack jawed. Did Anu....!Did Anuj....! Did they really just stare each other in the eyes...in this bhari sabha?!!
OH.MY.GOD! Such improvement!
"I'm brilliant!" Devika patted her shoulders, glad to be of assistance to her shayar and tension kumari.
"Main...aati hoon", as Anupama excused herself, Anuj nodded and stared after her retreating form longingly, his palm feeling his beats. This foolish hope!
Anupama had excused herself due to the awkward situation but had soon found herself surrounded yet again. Though the conversation was flowing, her head was clearly not in it, for it was the third time in the span of 15 minutes that she was looking in Anuj's direction while he was conversing with baapuji, devika and GK kaka.
She didn't know what had come over her, but he had simply caught her eye today. Maybe it was that vibrant red coat, but what was the coat without the one wearing it.
She had always liked red color, on men precisely and on many occasions had tried to persuade her ex-husband into wearing them too, if only for her sake. But everytime he would brush it off as a gaudy choice and call her classless for having such tacky tastes. It was funny, how like many other things, another longing of her life time was being fulfilled by Anuj. She didn't know if it was coincidence or fate, but she had to admit that Anuj was starting to make his own place in her life because if he would have been just someone, him wearing the outfit of her liking would not have bothered her in the way him wearing it had surprised her.
So lost in her thoughts was Anu, that she had not looked away from Anuj and Anuj who had an in-built sensor for detecting all things related to her, naturally felt her gaze and looked in her direction to catch her for the third time.
Feeling like a thief caught red handed, Anu quickly stole her gaze away and Anuj started to chuckle, biting his lips.
"Waah! Aaj toh tum dono ka alag hi scene hai!" Devika remarked, as she elbowed Anuj.
"All thanks to you. I can surely say that, for the first time in the days since our meeting, has Anu seen me as a man"
"A man she finds attractive!" Devika added making Anuj's smile widen.
"I think it's the dress"
"Pft! What's this coat without the man?! You should know better!"
"Don't give me hope!" Anuj replied as he looked at Anu once again, "I don't even know if I'll ever forget this visage of her, that I'm painting in my heart".
"Tch, you dream too little, my shayar friend. You are yet to dance with her!"
"That possibility coming to pass is zero. Because I will be deceased by then and the cause will be 'death by glares'!"Anuj signaled amused, and Devika spotted baa glaring at him.
"Arre, this is baa and his beloved son's favorite occupation. Unki nazar ko Anu ki 'nazar' kaat rahi hai, toh even if you were to die, I think culprit koi aur hi hoga. But you are better off holding onto your breaths or you'll lose the chance at holding hands with Anu!" Devika announced and Anuj rolled his eyes ather, "Its dandiya, not salsa that we'll hold hands!"
"Shall I arrange for that then?" Devika offered and Anuj folded his hands in front of her, defeated.
"Who am I to stop you but please don't put Anu in trouble", he requested and Devika 'awed'.
"Worry not,lover boy, aapki mashuka is in safe hands. Now, off I go to make your reality even better!" And with that Devika rushed past him while he could only shake his head.
But it would be nice if he could dance with Anupama.
"I really am getting ahead of myself. I'm acting like one of those people- ladki ne dekha nahi aur hawa main mahal taiyaar!"
"Well, mahal ka toh pata nahi, par apsara toh hai meri aankhon ke samne", Anuj mused and looked on as the couples started to dance, while Anu was simply standing on the side, smiling.
It was then he saw Devika drag Anu into another circle of GK, herself and Nandini. While the four of them clashed their sticks in rotation, Samar appeared by his side suddenly and forced him to join too.
Devika raised her brows at him, as he found himself playing with the others turn by turn.
Partner exchange, huh! Just like Janmashtmi. Nice idea!
And then as he turned, he came face to face with Anu, his face brightening. Funnily enough,by now Samar and Nandini were already part of another circle, GK was now dancing with mamaji and Devika had merged herself into the shah circle,twirling around with Pakhi.
Anuj wasn't complaining though. All he wanted was her.
Twirling around to the beats, tapping their sticks in sync while their feet rhymed, both shared smiles, and glances. Anupama had to admit that Anuj was looking mesmerizing today. He always looked handsome as Kavya had remarked one time,but right now, in this moment, he looked different, in a manner that was appealing to her on unknown levels.
Vanraj despite dancing with Kavya had his eyes focused on the laughing duo and was burning. Same was the case for baa who was missing her steps every time Anuj and Anupama were matching theirs. Kavya was looking their way too, albeit begrudgingly because they were stealing the spotlight. She could see that quite a few people had stopped dancing and were looking at them, since their coordination was nearly perfect as if they had practiced it.
Anuj liked Anupama, she knew. But seeing how Anupama had actually invited Anuj against Baa's wishes and was dancing with him, despite baa's glares, she had to have a soft corner for him too. Anupama had been a blind spectator to her and V's story but she was definitely a witness to the romance that was slowly starting to make waves.
A few songs later, both of them stopped gasping for breaths.
"Damn! That was amazing!" Anuj smiled and Anupama nodded.
"Haan, since you are such a good dancer, our steps fall in line with each other naturally".
Anuj bowed at that, "Honored to have been praised by you!"
Anupama chuckled at that and both looked at each other. Anuj looked away first realizing that under Devika's influence, he was really pushing his luck to the max today.
"Thank you Anuj" Anupama broke the silence that had dawned, as Anuj turned to her confused.
"What for?"
"There are a lot of things. But right now it's for being such a wonderful dance partner and for this beautiful dress".
"D-Dress?!"Anuj stammered as he realized that Anupama knew that he was the one who brought her this dress.
'Did devika tattle on him?'
"Nhi, Devika didn't tell me anything. There was a card in the lehenga inked; 'For Anupama' and I recognized your handwriting."
'Card? He wrote one? Then he must've forgotten. Hopefully, he didn't write something stupid on it!'
"I- I didn't mean to deceive you, Anupama. I mean—I brought this for you but then decided against giving it to you since your family won't approve of it. A-and I-I brought Devika a dress too..you see the one she is wearing today..I just wanted to gift you something on the occasion of Navratri. But I didn't ask Devika to disguise my gift as hers, trust me I would never—
"Anuj,relax!" Anupama interrupted Anuj's ramblings as he tried to justify himself.
"As far as I've come to know you, there is no deceit, no manipulation in you. I trust you. And I'm sure that this was all Devika. But I'm thankful that she decided to do this. Naseeb wale hote hain wo log jinhe koi dil se tohfe deta hai and, I could see your thoughtfulness in this gift".
Anuj found his nerves calming as Anupama placated him. "T-Then did you like it?"
Anupama shook her head in negative at that, "I love it!"
"Ah!" Anuj blushed as he started playing with his glasses. He had seen so much of her smiles and had received so many compliments today, that if one more were to come his way, he might as well drop dead from heart failure.
"Nice dance,guys!" Devika came to Anuj's rescue while he tried to ease his heart.
"Anuj, where is my dance? Matlab, now that you have Anu, you've forgotten me!" Devika mock whined and Anuj glared her way. "Kuch bhi! You are the one who is running all over the place, not me!"
"Chalein ab?"
Devika nodded and then whispered only for Anuj to hear,"Sorry"
"What?" Anuj had barely furrowed his brows when Devika who was standing between him and Anu, put her feet forward and tripped Anuj. Anuj lost his footing and stumbled forward, straight into Anupama's arms, as she balanced him. While he held her shoulders for support, her one hand had found his elbow while the other one came to rest on his waist.
Anuj heated up, embarrassed. Devika!!
He pulled away quickly, apologizing profusely, cursing the stupid carpet while he glared daggers at Devika, who was feigning ignorance by fiddling with her phone.
As Pakhi came complaining about how she was yet to dance with her mother, Anupama walked away with Pakhi leaving Anuj and Devika alone.
"Agar tu meri dost nhi hoti na, mukka maar dena tha maine tujhe!" Anuj threatened,once Anupama was out of earshot.
Devika chuckled at that, "Drama mat kar. I'm sure mann main tere ladoo aur pet mein titliyan udd rahi hai. Accept it, that you are thankful!"
Anuj gave her a stink eye at that. "Agar Anu mujhe nahi sambhalti na, mere daant aur haddiyan dono toot jati".
"Chill! I knew it that Anu will support you in a heartbeat".
"Aur agar usse lag jati toh? I may not look like it but I'm heavy!" Anuj complained and Devika sighed frustrated.
"Acha! Fine! I won't repeat this again!"
Anuj looked at her questioningly then, "Matlab, you were planning to repeat it?"
Devika shrugged nonchalantly, "Creative toh main paidayshi hu. I will think of something else!" She beamed at him and then walked away,leaving Anuj at a loss.
"What a day!" He let out and looked at his watch. It was getting late. We should leave now.
And he went to convey the same to GK. After what felt like an eternity, but was a mere argument of 10 minutes, which thankfully ended due to Anupama's intervention, did GK finally agree to leave.
Greeting the Shahs for the last time, GK walked away. Anuj was on his way out too when he felt something and turned around. Anupama who had her back to him, suddenly turned too and both of them were surprised.
Anuj waved her goodbye, not knowing what else to do and Anupama waved too, equally awkward. Anuj beamed as he finally turned away.
This had been the best D-night ever!
Enjoy your read!