Exposed (Part 2)

Gurukul, Chandragarh

Somebody was panting, was that her? Him? Both?

His face was so close to hers that she could see his sharp features in the peripheral line of her vision. Somehow in the past few seconds, she had become aware of his body's scent. Was this how he had always smelled? Argh, why was she thinking this? What was wrong with her? She had never paid attention to such things earlier.

This was Abhirath, her nemesis, the big bully, and now her friend. She had never thought of him as a guy!

The stillness of the night didn't help the matters. Her senses were heightened abnormally. The wall behind her was cold but his hand's heat was keeping it warm.

Was this the late onset of puberty's side-effects in her? Something like when girls apparently became excited too soon at the slightest temptation? Gawd... was she trying to recall her biology lesson in the middle of this?

To be honest, her first instinctive reaction to his confession hadn't been exactly averse. And if she hadn't rejected him immediately, did it mean that she was done with her attachment towards Yash? Was she willing to look for new affection? Damn, she needed time to examine her feelings.

This guy was showing a side of him which she hadn't even imagined, existed. And it wasn't letting her think clearly.

Get a hold of yourself, Mriga!

Telling herself to remain composed, she finally looked up to meet his eyes which were burning with intensity right now. While her gaze had been roaming all over the place, he had simply been soaking in the tiniest nuances of her face.

Mriga could feel a nervous energy coming out of him and surprisingly, that was what helped her calm down.

"Didn't you say to only breathe and let it sink in for now? Then, why are you climbing all over me at this point? What is with this aggressive posturing?" she demanded in a shaky but loud voice.

SHIT!

Abhirath's mind went into an overdrive when he heard the second sentence spoken by her. In fact, he didn't hear anything she said post that. His eyes were fixated on her lips now which had parted slightly after speaking. She was trying to blow a tendril of her hair which was stuck to the side of her mouth.

The sight made him lose control of his rational side, completely. As if in a dream, he saw his index finger loop itself around the errant lock of hair. He rubbed it with the pad of his thumb to feel its texture before hooking it behind her ear.

Mriga's limbs was frozen as she took in the tenderness and awe visible on his face. When his thumb brushed her ear, she drew in a sharp inhale of breath. That sound seemed to bring him out of the stupor.

"Not the right time! What am I doing?" Fighting hard to banish the carnal images from his head, he finally paid attention to the voice in his head.

Clearing his throat, he gently extracted his hand from behind her back and took a few steps back from her. As if in tacit agreement, both of them shifted their eyes elsewhere. Now that there was some distance between them, it was easier to speak.

"Go back to the dorm and sleep. It's really late. I will see you tomorrow night at the same time. Be ready for a high intensity session," with that, he turned and walked away.

Mriga slid down on the ground against the wall, the rough surface creating a rustling sound against her dress.

"Sleep? Hah… is he joking? Wait, what does he mean by high intensity? Oh man… am I going to look for innuendos in everything he says henceforth?" she muttered crossly before groaning and ordering her tired body to stand up.

The moment Abhirath turned the corner, he collapsed against the thick tree trunk. Craning his neck backards, he wanted to be sure that Mriga wasn't coming down this path before he sank down fully on the cold surface.

He raised his hands and saw them tremble. Bringing the palm to his lips, he bit viciously on one of the fingers.

"Argh, no, definitely not a dream!" He reassured himself.

A loony grin spread across his face and he put a hand on his mouth, lest a passer by mistake him for a nutcase. Sitting on the ground, so late at night and laughing wildly, didn't exactly inspire confidence in others about the mental condition of the person.

"Did I just propose to her? A terrible one, but I did it! How am I going to behave normally when I see her next? Wait, how many hours before I get to meet her...?" He remained in that state for quite sometime.

Himprayag

Shaurya had spent the last three days and nights with only five hours of sleep in total. Though he was bone tired, his senses remained sharp. He had trained with Bela specifically to endure such situations. Upon reaching the lodge where he had been staying, he whistled sharply, standing near the window of his room. The eagle which probably had been sunning itself at the roof, flew down and sat on the window ledge.

"Aren't you one handsome fellow?" Shaurya smiled at him.

He wrote the note for Bela quickly and tucked it under the eagle's feathers. Shaurya stepped back to see if the flattened parchment could be seen from this distance or not. Satisfied with his handiwork, he stroked the head of the eagle, which meant that it was free to fly away now. Once the eagle disappeared from his sight, he took off the dirty robe which he had been lugging around for the past many hours.

He pulled the fake hair off which had been attached to his own since last night. Shaurya had cut the mane off of a poor horse stealthily the previous evening in the marketplace.