Neel snatched Arorhea's bag from her hand and threw it on the sofa. Soon, he returned from the kitchen with a half filled Rooh Afza bottle in his hand.
(Rooh Afza is a concentrated squash)
He turned on the tap and emptied the bottle into the bucket. Rhea tried to run away but he grabbed her hand. She tried to free herself but he was too strong.

And soon, he picked up the bucket and emptied the entire bucket on her head as she tried running out of the bathroom.
"OH MY GOD, MY UNIFORM!" She yelled.
"You reap what you sow!" He yelled back at her.
"SHUT UP! YOU DESTROYED MY ENTIRE UNIFORM!"
"BACK AT YOU, BITCH!"

She tried slapping him but he grabbed her hand, "Keep those meek hands for wearing bangles,"
She groaned as his grip tightened around her wrist, "Why are you such an ass?"
He left her hand,
"How am I an ass? You are the one who always attacks me first," He said, "And ew, you're so sticky and gross," He moved his fingers away from her, "Go home and take a shower. I'll take one too,"

He went into his room and got a towel. Rhea just looked at him. He was acting as if nothing had happened. He looked at her, "What? You wanna shower together or something?" He smirked.
"No!" She grabbed her bag and stomped out of his apartment, "Bye!"
He chuckled, "Fucking idiot,"

Once she was home, she quietly tiptoed her way into the shower and washed her uniform, "The stains aren't going away!" She groaned, "Mom is going to kill me!"
"Arorhea?! Why are your shoes wet?" Mrs Laghari shouted from outside. Rhea flinched, "I...I fell into a drain,"
"They smell like Rooh Afza,"
"WHY ARE YOU SMELLING MY SHOES, MOM!?"

"What are you doing in there? Open the door!"
"I'm not taking drugs!"
"OPEN THE DOOR!"
"I'm undressed!"
"I'M YOUR MOM!"
"SO?! THAT DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE 'WATCHING RHEA NAKED' PASS!"

"OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!"

. . .

In the evening, Rhea stood at her balcony with her reddish uniform hanging on the nylon ropes before her balcony. Neel stood at his balcony with a fruit yogurt in his hands, "Wow, can't really wear that uniform now, can we?" He taunted her.
"You just made my hands go through extra effort of trying to clean that," Rhea said.

"We can easily bring your hands to a better use," He looked at her.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"You like painting, don't you?" He asked. Rhea looked at him, "So?"
"One minute," He walked into his room and soon, brought a canvas stand with him, "You can take it. I don't need this anymore,"

He also had with him, a plexiglass case. She looked at his fingers and he pulled out a white, watercolour brush. It had white, silky bristles. The heel of the brush ended into a gold ferrule, ending into a glass handle. It looked beautifully crafted, "Why are you giving this to me? It looks very expensive,"
He smiled, "I makes me think of things I'd rather not think about,"
"Things like?"

He looked at her face, "Abandonment trauma,"
"What is that?"
"Something that will lead you to sabotage your relationships as a way to affirm your fears,"
"Huh?"

That night, Rhea lay on her bed and looked at the glass paintbrush. It looked delicate, as if it would break if she was not careful with it. The ferrule was shining golden. The canvas stand stood before her bed, peeping at her through the translucent curtains covering her window. She moved the her arms in the air as if she was painting on the clouds. She looked at the canvas stand, "Maybe, I should get a board,"

She kept the paintbrush inside the protective case and got up, jerking off her laziness. She applied a clay face mask on her face, "Tomorrow, I'll meet his crush!" She washed her hair, blow dried it and prepared her clothes for the next day. It was a white lace top and a light brown long skirt extending to her ankles, with black shoes. She knew he would dress up for his crush. Therefore, she wanted to make sure she looked good too! Wait, but it's Ember and his crush's date, why was she looking forward to it, she wondered. With these thoughts in her head, she soon fell asleep.

Next morning, Rhea woke up too early. It was seven in the morning, a Saturday morning. Truth is, she couldn't sleep properly at all. She took a cold shower and got into her clothes. She wore a necklace and a pair of earrings. She looked at herself into the mirror, "Man, I look so overdressed,"
She wanted to be dressed up, but she didn't want him to notice that she was dressing up any differently from usual. She decided to tie her hair into a high ponytail and removed the necklace. 

"Alright, no, now I look ugly,"
She undid her ponytail and decided to make a low pony instead. She stared at herself in the mirror for a good one minute, "Why do I look especially bad today?!" She looked at all the frizz at the top of her head and decided to undo the pony and redo her hair, "Nevermind the hair, I'll do some makeup first," She applied some foundation and wrapped a pink lipstick on her lips, "Okay, this doesn't match my outfit," So, she wiped the lipstick off and applied a nude shade of lipstick next, "Why do my lips feel so dry?" 

She applied some moisturiser on top of her lipstick, "Okay, now they are too shiny," She pressed her lips on a tissue. She applied some kajal and looked at herself in the mirror. It was hot and her foundation felt like cake over her skin, clogging her pores and making it hard for her to breathe.

"Alright...Where is my makeup remover?"
She washed her face and decided to start all over again. She decided to skip foundation and get to just lipstick. Her kajal had faded into a light shade under her eyes. She looked at all her imperfections she had never noticed before. Her imperfectly aligned teeth, the open pores, the texture, the hyperpigmentation around her mouth, slightly darker lips, her disruptive hairline and frizzy hair. She brushed her hair thoroughly and decided to braid it instead. The hair at her back braided properly, but the one on the front was a mess. 

"Why can I not look pretty today?" She looked into the mirror, "Whatever, this is how I look. He's gotta deal with it," She wore her mother's cologne and put on her shoes. She looked at the clock hanging before the main door, it was twenty minutes to eleven, "Ma, I'm leaving,"
"Jasi won't pick you up?" Mrs Laghari asked.
"No, she asked me to wait for her at the metro station,"
"Okay, do buy a good suit for me,"

"I'll see," Rhea walked out. She took a rickshaw from her apartment and within fifteen minutes, she was at the metro station, waiting for her cousin and Ember. They weren't there yet, was she too early. She felt nervous. She didn't want to show that she was looking forward to it.
"Yoohoo!" Jessica was there in the next five minutes with her boyfriend, Raj, "You look so sheek!" She complimented her.

Jessica was dressed up in denim shorts and an off shoulder top. Raj was slightly taller than Rhea, if not the Qutb Minar and slightly muscular, if not a beast. He had a well groomed beard and blonde highlights on his brown hair. He wore a simple black Adidas T shirt and blue jeans. He smiled at Rhea, "Hello Arorhea,"
"Hello,"
"How's school?"
"Pretty alright. How's college?"
"Ass,"

"Oh, and there comes Ember!" Jessica pointed and Raj pulled her hand down, "Don't point at people,"
"Buy he waved at me first!" Jessica looked at him.
"You're such a baby,"

Rhea turned and looked at Ember. He was walking on the pavement beside the road, disappearing and reappearing between the Ashoka trees. Rhea analysed him from afar. He wasn't particularly well dressed that day. He wore simple blue sneakers, ripped jeans and a white shirt with 'Gucci boy' written on it in cursive font and a shiny golden colour. He had no earphones around his neck that day. He just wore that silver thread like necklace around his neck and a dusky golden earring on his left ear, much darker than his shiny blonde hair.

Rhea looked at Jessica, "Where is his crush? That girl?"
"Oh yeah, she fell sick so she called it off," Jessica looked at Raj and he gave her a half smirk, "Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what happened. But it's alright, you can give him company so that he's not very sad,"
Rhea looked at Ember who was right behind her by now, "Hello Rhea," He smiled.
"Hello...Ember," She looked into his blue eyes.

He looked at her clothes and her hair, "Well, aren't you dressed up for today?"
She stuttered, "N-No! I'm just...My mom made me wear this, I would never-"
"You look cute, nonetheless," He chuckled. She stopped speaking at once at looked down at his shoes, "Thank you,"
He smiled as he looked at her scalp.

"Ahem, can we go now?" Jessica and Raj covered their grins with their palms.
"Oh yes, of course," Ember smiled and walked ahead. Rhea walked behind them. They got into the crowded metro and looked outside the glass windows. Ember stood opposite to Rhea, on the other side. She looked across the metro, at different faces and hands, but every time she'd stop, she'd find herself looking at him. 

She'd look at the little details on his face. The blonde freckles on his pink skin, like sweet autumn clematis flowers resting on a clear lake, reflecting a cotton candy pink sky and yellow mimosa trees surrounding that lake, eyes as vast as the sky and how whenever he smiled or laughed, his skin stretched around his cheeks, gathering around his eyes as gentle wrinkles, the red spots all over his pale fingers and pink nails ending into a white distal edge seemed like baby pink ocean waves, collapsing on rocks at a seashore and turning white.

But then, conscience would hit her and she would immediately look away. Holding a downward gaze, she'd feel tempted to look at him again. He would look at her while she is looking down and before he could notice, he's shifting his weight side to side while standing. He'd stop and take a few steps back and then move forward again. When he'd feel like she's gonna look at him,  he would scratch his head and look away. Awkwardly, he'd start picking at his skin and turn his head away to avoid staring forward. 

She look at him again and finally their eyes meet. They quickly look away with a pacing heart that whispers that both of them are in trouble and that music starts to play from a band no one else has discovered, in a city without seasons, listening to thunderstorms inside their chest and sun over their heads, their senses feel hazy, like a young hay fever among cold breezes of a hot summer, in a room sweetly scented with autumn clematis and youthful eyes.

Like the arrival of spring in the burning summer of passion
Where everyone is in love,
And so are they.

-To be continued

Arorhea Laghari
Can't I Touch Your Heart?