Riya

I looked into Ruhi's all-knowing eyes as she watched me from the bean bag she sat on. I wanted to melt on the floor.

I picked up a pillow and threw it at her face. "Can you stop staring at me?"

"I can, but what's the fun in that?" She said, dodging the pillow gracefully. She was sitting on Sia's study table in the corner near the window, her left leg over her right. Her hair was perfectly straightened, not one out of place—a contrast from my coffee-stained pajamas and messy hair.

I was at Siya's place, sprawled on her bed as if I owned it and rotting into it since I came here. After Abhay dropped me. After taking me out for a night out. He must be at his home, playing with Veer.

I tried not thinking about it.

"Did she move?" Siya asked, leaning against the door and sipping coffee. She was in her sundress, ready to go out.

"Threw a pillow at me," Ruhi said, still looking at me.

"Why are you both so dressed up?" I groaned, pulling up the blankets over me.

"Because it's Monday and we have shit to do." Sia sassed as she walked towards the table and kept the cup down. I clutched the blanket tighter, knowing what was coming. She tried snatching it, and I held it tighter.

"Let it go, you dumbass." she groaned as we both pulled at it.

"No," I screamed.

"I'm friends with wild animals," Ruhi said, gingerly taking a sip from Siya's coffee cup. She winced, possibly at the taste. "You're going to have diabetes the way you're going."

"Stop being judgmental and help me out." Siya gritted out, looking at her.

"No, thanks." She said. "Let her be."

"Are you serious? Her mother called us both a thousand times. What am I supposed to say?" Siya said, flabbergashted. It was weird to see Siya being worried about responding to people. But weirdly enough, she had this urge to not disappoint my mother.

"Why is she calling you?" I groaned, getting under the blanket.

"Because she's worried. You've been moping around for the whole weekend, and it's Monday." Ruhi replied. I didn't want a reply.

"You don't even mope around a like normal human being. You cleaned my whole damn room and washed the dishes." Siya made a disgusting face.

"Can you also mope around at my house once in a while? I need help." Ruhi's said, picking up the cup again.

"Put that down and come here." Sia glared at her, and Ruhi finally decided to get up and harass me.

They both sat around me, looking at each other and having a silent conversation.

"Why don't you pick up your mother's call and talk to her," Ruhi said, calmly.

I stared at the ceiling and the painting I made. "I...I will." I slowly sat up. "It was too humiliating. I don't want to go over that again."

"Hmm. but you need to at least tell her you're fine. She's worried. She called my mom." Siya said, and I groaned. It was like high school all over again.

"Fine. god!" I sighed, picking up my phone that I was avoiding. I unlocked it and my eyes widened at the WhatsApp msg I got. I froze at the single msg that asked where are you?

A smile tugged at my lips and my heartbeat got a bit faster. Sia peeked in and whistled.

"Well, well, well."

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." She smirked.

"I don't think we talked about your night out," Ruhi said.

"Yes, we did," I replied, looking at the text. "It was a pity thing. He saw his friend's sister crying and decided to help her out." I ignored the pang I felt at my own words. But that's what it was. No matter how peaceful it felt. No matter how easy it felt to just reach out and hold his t-shirt.

"Why do you always do that?" Sia frowned.

"At least she's accepting she likes him. Remember how she went into denial in school." Ruhi added.

They both giggled, and I glared at them.

"I don't think it was a pity thing," Ruhi said when they stopped laughing at me.

"That's what it was," I said with finality and more bite in my tone than I intended.

"Fine. If you say so."

"He's kind of intimidating though, isn't he?" Siya said thoughtfully.

"A bit." Ruhi agreed, and I recalled a worried Abhay buying tea for me and urging me to eat. I recalled his soft eyes as he listened to me talk about my dreams.

"No, he's not," I said a bit too quickly for my liking.

"You were the one who said that remember? You said he was a bit scary when Dhruv started hanging out with him."

My eyes widened. I did say that. My eyes went to the msg again. Abhay did not change. He was still the same. What changed was my perception of him.

"Maybe I was wrong." I thought out loud. "About him."

"No, you were not," Sia replied, looking at me thoughtfully. I remembered Rudra talking to him at the cafe.

I turned to her, "How do you guys know him?"

She shrugged, "Smaller circle. Socializing is a necessity in our lives. Appearances and images."

Oh right! We were from two different worlds. He and I. My shoulders dropped, and I pursed my lips. A sting in my heart which I ignored. What did I even think was gonna happen?

"Rudra and him have known each other since they were kids. Rudra told me to not make an enemy out of him when I joked about killing him." She rolled her eyes. Abhay being that person, seemed a bit far-fetched now that I knew a side of him that he probably didn't show much. The elder brother caring for his younger brother. Spending time every weekend. Shaping beautiful art with a gentleness that surprised me. But I could not forget the other part of him was a guy everyone was apprehensive of.

I squashed the urge to text Rudra and ask him how Abhay was when he was younger. Was he less guarded? More carefree? I wanted to know everything. But it was dangerous territory I was stepping into. A territory that I was not supposed to even think about.

I didn't reply to his text.

"I think I should call my mother," I told them, opening my call logs. "I'll go home."

After the call with my mother, I got dressed and returned home. Trying to forget the incident because my parents were hell-bent on pretending that didn't happen. I decided to go to college the next day because my mother was also hell-bent on taking me to Dhruv's place. After all, he was home. But that was not happening. I was not going to think about it. Family or not.

I didn't reply to Abhay's text even if each cell in my body screamed to do so.

That cowardness made me hide around the campus the whole day trying not to bump into him which turned out to be futile as they were out for some game.

It was almost five. My mother was going to Dhruv's place around five. She had asked me, and I promptly declined.

I sat on the counter of the cafe in my brown t-shirt, listening to Angie as she narrated the whole thing.

The cafe was empty apart from a group of students in the corner who were howling quite a lot. They had already broken a coffee cup and had gotten a warning from Angie. I think their behavior had gotten worse since she scolded them. We promptly ignored them as Sam instructed.

"Dhruv's absence is going to cost the team." She said, shaking her head. I guess that was expected. He was the star player of the team. I didn't know how Dhruv was going to take this.

"How's Dhruv taking this whole not playing thing?" I asked.

She looked at me for a second awkwardly before responding, "He's...not taking it well. Angry."

"Expected." I shrugged. I wanted to ask her what did she see in him. But I didn't. Maybe he was kinder to her. He might've seen a part of Dhruv that I wasn't aware of. Maybe he was a better partner than a brother. As humans, we all were bad at something.

Abhay's place stayed empty. But not for long.

As the clock struck five, the chaos poured down in the cafe. The chaos brought in Abhay his overwhelming presence.

As he stepped inside the shop, the beat of my heart sped up with each of his steps. As he sat down, it took all of the strength inside me to not look at him. To not remember the way he smelled and his kind eyes as he bickered with me about Bollywood movies. I tried not to think about the peace I felt in the moment. And tried not to think how badly I wanted to go back to that moment.

I focused on the line of students in front of me instead. As I gave everyone their orders all while feeling the weight of his eyes on me. Was he going to be angry? I wanted him to be angry, so I could get an excuse to hate him.

The crowd in the corner was becoming too loud. The cafe was a place where students came for peace. This was not peace. I glared in their direction.

"Espresso," Abhay said in his husky voice, and I jumped. I fumbled around, nodding.

Calm down.

Deep breath.

In and out.

Another loud laughter rang from the corner, and with it came the noise of a cup breaking. Yeah, they were doing it on purpose. They looked at me as if challenging me. Assholes.

"Hey, stop breaking things." In my haze, I snapped.

"It's just a fucking cup." One of them shouted.

"This is the second one you broke." I gritted out, clenching my fist. Angie came out, hearing the commotion. The people in the cafe were glancing and then going back to their conversation.

"Sorry babes. Apologies. I'll get you one with a heart on it." The other one smirked. This was the part of this job that I didn't like. Once in a while, we would get someone like this who would rile us up as if they were getting paid for it.

Before I could say anything, Abhay turned towards them. Their laughter died a fast death.

"You should watch how you speak to her." He said casually. The unmistakable threat hung in his tone. The entire cafe fell silent as if everyone held their breath as if awaiting a collision with a truck.

The boy's eyes widened. He looked nervously at his friends and then back at Abhay.

"We were joking." The boy replied, brows furrowed. They looked spooked as if they would've dashed outside the moment they were given a chance.

I couldn't see Abhay's face, but the way his body was coiled, it didn't seem he was interested in apologies.

"You should leave...on your two perfectly healthy legs," Abhay replied in a collected voice.

They didn't need another word. They all hurriedly got up and promptly left the cafe.

Abhay turned around, waiting for his espresso, and the chatter of the cafe slowly and awkwardly came back after pausing for a second. I rummaged around, thinking about the fact that he just threatened a bunch of people.

This was the Abhay that also existed. The one I knew before I knew the other part of him.

I turned around and handed him his cup. His fingers brushed mine, and I resisted the urge to reach out and touch his hands again.

"You didn't reply." He said, looking into my eyes. His eyes poured all the anger he had, and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"I...I didn't see." I replied, looking around and picking up a random cloth, pretending to do stuff around.

He stood there for a second before adding, "Is that what we're going with?" My hand stopped midway at his words. I looked up to see him watching me intently.

"Yes," I said. He nodded and turned back towards his table. My heart broke a little at his retreating figure. I wanted him to stand here and demand answers. But why would he? There was no reason to do so.

Going out to roam around was a bad idea. It messed up my head too much. I felt a friendship between us, and I wanted to save that sapling of friendship from the torrential rain inside my head. The truth was I couldn't go back to a phase where I could pretend that he didn't exist. Nor could I go back to hate him. Especially, after feeling the warmth of his company.

I looked at him again and found him busy working on his laptop. Guilt came back in waves, but I crushed it and went back to work.

It was fifteen minutes after seven. The café was quiet now, the last customers gone, leaving only the faint scent of espresso and vanilla behind. I rolled my shoulders, stretching out the ache from hours of moving between tables, pretending not to notice the weight of his gaze on me.

Abhay was still here.

He had been sitting at that corner table for hours, typing away on his laptop, doing god knows what. The empty cups of coffee were spread around him. I didn't have the strength to go and pick them up, but now I would have to.

Now, with the doors locked and chairs stacked, I didn't have the option to ignore him. I dragged in a slow breath and walked over, pressing my palms flat against the table as I stared him down.

"You do realize we're closed, right?"

Abhay leaned back in his chair, his dark eyes flicking up to mine. "Didn't realize that applied to me."

Of course, he'd say that.

I huffed, dropping into the seat across from him. "You don't own the place?"

His lips twitched like he found the question amusing. "I might. Who knows?"

I rolled my eyes at his reply.

"You didn't come to pick up your flower." He tilted his head slightly like he was trying to read me. "It's still at the shop."

My stomach twisted.

I had almost forgotten about it. Or maybe I had forced myself to forget. I didn't need a reminder of that day, of the way my fingers had trembled as I shaped the clay, of the way his hands had been steady when he worked beside me.

I glanced away. "I didn't think it mattered."

Abhay was quiet for a while. "It did. I'm sorry I made you feel like it didn't."

A normal apology. And yet, my throat went dry.

I didn't answer. I didn't know how to. It felt as if he wasn't only talking about the clay. My mind was playing a lot more than usual. But I wasn't a fool to bring it up.

The silence stretched, heavy, thick with something unspoken as I looked into his all-knowing eyes. The world around me melted as I tried to think of an answer.

Then he said, as if letting me off the hook, "You didn't go see Dhruv either."

I stiffened, but before I could say anything, he shook his head.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not telling you to go." His tone was unreadable. "I just thought you should know he's not expecting it."

I blinked. "What?"

Abhay's fingers drummed once against the table before stopping. "He doesn't think he deserves it."

I stared at the empty coffee cups, a thousand things twisting in my head.

My throat tightened. "Good."

I expected him to challenge that. But he didn't. Instead, he just nodded. Like he understood.

I nodded and got up. "I should get back. And you should leave." I tried adding humor to my tone. Then turned around.

"The shop's open till six," he said. "In case you decide to pick up what's yours."

I paused, fingers curling at my sides.

I didn't look back. I didn't trust myself to. But I felt his gaze on me as I walked away. Unmoving. Like he knew I would.

And the worst part? He was right. 

----

What do you think will happen when Riya finally goes back to the pottery shop?

Do vote and share your thoughts<3