"This is the last bite. Eat." Shreya pushed the spoon into Dev's mouth assertively, as he wasn't willing to eat anymore.

He complained with a mouthful, "You didn't even tell me the story."

"Which one? I just did. Didn't I tell you the story of Krishna and Trinavarta?"

"Not this one." He pouted. "The Aghasura one."

"Oh!" Shreya eyed the boy for a second. He had a good memory. She wiped his mouth and put down the plate and handed him the glass of water. "Okay, you drink the water, I'll tell you the rest of the story."

He happily grabbed the glass and eagerly looked at her, waiting for her narration.

She smiled and began, "So, when all the boys were inside the giant snake, the demon Aghasura closed its mouth and trapped all of them inside. Then all the boys started crying and praying to Krishna to save them. Having no other choice Krishna then started to expand himself inside the demon's throat." She watched the boy drinking the water from the corner of her eyes and continued, "Having Krishna in his expanded form in his throat, the demon felt suffocated. His giant eyes moved violently."

Dev gasped, "Wow. Then?"

"Then Aghasura couldn't tolerate the pain anymore. Since his life-air couldn't come out from anywhere..."

"Why?"

"His mouth was closed remember?"

Dev nodded sagely.

"Yes, so there was no way. Finally, his life-air came out through a tiny hole that was created by Krishna on the upper part of his skull. The demon was dead."

Dev clapped twice. "And the boys?"

"They came out of the dead Aghasura's mouth after Krishna."

"Are we having a story time?" Both Shreya and Dev turned at the voice.

"Hey, Tiyasha. I was just feeding him."

She smiled. "Yeah, I can see that totally."

Shreya glanced at Dev then back at Tiyasha.

Tiyasha sat down beside Dev and shuffled his hair before casually asking, "So, did Mannyu visit Dev as well?"

Shreya stiffened. "Who?"

Tiyasha glanced at her. "Mannyu. Oh, I think you don't know his name yet. AR. His name's Abhimanyu. We call him Mannyu at home. I just met him midway before coming here. I thought he must have visited Dev, since this way only Dev and Gyan have rooms. Did he-" she paused midway and studied Shreya's flabbergasted face. "Did he not? Oh- I don't know, what was he doing here then? Ah- never mind." She waved her hand dismissively.

Shreya didn't realize she was holding her breath and her heart was beating wildly and it was completely unreasonable. Why the hell did she feel self-conscious with anything related to AR. His thought alone intimidated her, and she had no idea why.

Emotional attraction is a term used to describe a type of attraction where you feel the need to know a person emotionally irrespective of their physical appearance. Unlike sexual and sensual attraction, you are drawn to that person for their personality instead of their physicality. When you feel emotionally attracted to someone, you'll want to share your vulnerable secrets with them which you're not comfortable of disclosing at all. Often, we see this type of attraction or bonding among family members, friends, lovers etc. But, in every level it has some limits. Some secrets you can share with your partner, cannot be shared with your friends and vice versa. When you're connected with someone emotionally, it is extremely important to know your highs and lows, say boundaries and flexibilities. You can be connected with several people emotionally, but sometimes, it can be hard for some people who have wounded inner child. It's difficult for people who are emotionally wounded to get emotionally close to anyone. Since there's this nagging feeling at the back of the mind, what if they'll get hurt again? So they like to keep it to themselves, resulting in them get detached from their close ones.

She sucked in a sharp breadth, AR- he-he was here? Why? Why was he here? And why didn't he come inside if he came here to meet Dev? What was going on? Was she overthinking? She must be! She shouldn't- she shouldn't... Her train of thoughts was interrupted by Tiyasha when she said, "Shreya, I came to tell you, I'll be leaving to Mumbai for an award show." She blushed. "I got nominated in the Inspiring Women Award by News of India group."

"Oh- congratulations." Shreya tried her best to appear unfazed. First, she already knew she'd be leaving, because Gyan already told her, and she didn't know how would she be able process the information that Abhimanyu was here and left unnoticed. Why?

"Yeah, thanks." She smiled proudly. "So, I'll return after Puja. The ceremony is on 31st. But I'll be needing some prior time for...you know shopping." She giggled.

Shreya nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

"I'll stay back another day for a meeting, will return on 2nd. You'll be able to take care of Dev, right?"

"Yes. No problem." She nodded.

"Thanks Shreya. You'll be paid for your overtime. Don't worry about that."

"Overtime?" That term shocked her. Was she expecting her to stay here for the next 5 days? Without going home? Her assumption was proven right shortly.

"Yeah. You'll spending 24x7 with Dev. I can only compensate you by paying more. It wouldn't have happened, you know. It is just so unexpected. I didn't even think I'd be nominated in the first place." She looked at Shreya apologetically. "I can't even imagine how hard it would be for you. To be honest with you, I can't even trust anyone with Dev anymore after the accident. I have been observing you these past few days. You're responsible and I really appreciate that about you." She flashed a half smile, "Life cannot be said good and easy when you have an autistic child. But what can I even do except accepting it and coping with it? Right?"

Shreya blinked and looked down. She didn't have any words against that, and she shouldn't judge her based on a few days of acquaintance. She didn't walk in her shoes and she never knew what her journey had ever been. So, silence was preferably the best option at times like this.

Tiyasha placed a kiss on Dev's cheek and tucked him on bed before turning towards her again. "You'd look after him. Won't you?"

"Of course, I would, Tiyasha. Not just it's my job, but because, he's a very nice child. I love him."

Tiyasha flashed a big smile. "Thank you so much. You just made me feel relieved. Now I can really focus on other things instead of worrying about Dev all the time. I hope you'll be comfortable enough."

Shreya also returned her smile and nodded.

Only time will tell whether she'd be comfortable or get intimidated by a certain someone.

~~~

A soft jerk made her snap open her eyes. She jumped up startled and hastily sat up on her bed which was at the corner of Dev's bed. The room was still dark and she didn't recognize the person standing in front of her with the phone's light pointing right on her face. Reflexively she raised her hand and pushed the hand aside.

"What? Who..." She started with a high pitch but immediately got her mouth covered. The intruder whispered, "Shh- it's me!"

When her hyperactive state stabilized, she realized it was Gyan. She plucked his hand off her face, and scolded. "What is this? What are you doing here like this? Why did you sneak into this room in the middle of the night?"

"Sshhh...shhh..." He hurried to make her hush. "I want to show you something. Can you come with me?"

"What?" She fell from the sky. This boy was crazy. She reached for her phone and saw the time. 1:38 am. "Gyan! It's literally past midnight. I'll see it tomorrow."

"No-no-no-no!" He hurried. "You can't see it in the morning. You need to come now."

This was a nice and adamant problem now. And annoying too.

"Gyan..." she started again, but he was quicker. He grabbed one of her hands and rushed her to go with him. She was annoyed but she didn't restrict him anyway.

They sneaked through the small passage until they reached Gyan's room, but instead of going there, he led her to the stairs and climbed up.

"Wasn't your room next to Dev?" Shreya asked in confusion.

"Shhh..." He eyed around fearing to locate someone. But no one was there anyway. Then he answered in an undertone, "Yeah. That's my room. But I have a separate personal room as well on the 1st floor." They climbed the stairs quietly when he added, "Only Maa is allowed in there."

Oh! That wasn't expected. Shreya followed him quietly until they traversed most of the hanging balcony and reached the end of the mezzanine balcony and stopped before a locked door.

She whispered finally, "Why am I here then?"

He didn't respond but unlocked the door first then turned towards her. "Close your eyes."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"I said close your eyes not widen them." He chuckled. His hazel eyes twinkled in the night light of the balcony.

"Why?"

"I have a surprise. Close your eyes."

She stared at him incredulously.

"Come on!" He reached forward and put his hand over her eyes then carefully led her inside his room. "Don't open them," he warned before removing his hand. She stood there unsure of what was happening. A moment later she heard a switch click, then she heard Gyan whispering beside her ear. "Now open your eyes and look up."

As soon as he said so, she opened her eyes and a loud gasp left her mouth making Gyan chuckle.

She looked up at the ceiling made of innumerable twinkling stars and clouds and a prominent waning moon. The room was still dark but ceiling was looking exactly like a starlit sky.

"Optical fibres," He announced quietly. A trace of pride laced his voice.

Shreya couldn't talk for a moment. She was so mesmerized that her mouth was literally hanging open. But a few seconds later, she gasped again, "Wow! This- this is ...marvelous!"

She could feel him smiling proudly behind her back. She took a few steps ahead and stopped right below a fluffy cloud. A faint blue light was coming out of it making it look dreamy. She didn't even notice if there were any other furniture in the room. Her entire focus was solely on the twinkling ceiling. Now that she was standing in the middle on the room, she noticed the giant television screen at one wall, in front of which, there was a floor level seating arrangement, much like his brother's. On it a laptop and several other gadgets were scattered around. She recognized most of them were video games. On a corner a small library was there with business related books, and a bean bag before it. Otherwise, the room was mostly empty and spacious.

She spun around and grinned at Gyan. "This is fantastic."

He returned her grin. "It's just a hobby. Since Maa is not here, I thought why not show you."

Her smile faltered. She dropped her gaze for a second before looking at him again. "You said no one is allowed inside your room. Then why did you bring me here?"

He shrugged before turning away and walked over to the beanbag and plopped down. A few seconds later he murmured while looking at the ceiling, "Except Maa, I don't like anyone in here, because I can't stand favoritism. But I like you. You're nice." He stopped and looked straight at her. "Do you like me?"

She faltered as her heart thrummed inside her chest. Someday he'd definitely give her a heart attack with his completely bewildering questions.

"Gyan..." she started but was interrupted by him.

"I meant as a person. Do you like me?" He was so straight forward.

"I- of course. Why wouldn't I?"

One of the corners of his mouth lifted upward, and she didn't know what did the gesture mean. He shook his head and averted his gaze. "I'm sure you're telling the truth."

~~~

29th September

"Ohmygod!" Dona shrieked.

"What?" Shreya quickly spun around putting down the milk carton on the kitchen counter.

"We ran out of paneer!" She shrieked again. "I should've checked earlier. Ritu didi's demand for tonight's dinner is paneer butter masala."

Shreya shook her head at the dramatic reaction. "So, send someone to the market."

"You crazy? Ram will go? He's the crazy ass lame boy." She looked so dejected as she whined, "I think I have to go myself. Okay, I'll go and come back right away. Can you just put the flame off after the curry is ready?"

Shreya nodded without saying anything as Dona rushed out of the kitchen in a hurry.

A few moments went by with her humming one of her favorite songs. A thousand years by Christina Perri. At one point she noticed the curry was almost done. She was about to turn the flame off when her hand froze on the knob.

"Ask Dona di to send a bowl of poha and a glass of mango juice in my room."

Seconds later, she turned around towards the empty doorway. It was him. He-he talked to her. For the first time. Her hands turned cold even though they shouldn't.

She told her for the hundredth time it wasn't her job while putting a pan on the flame. Why wasn't Dona di returning yet? And why the hell was she doing it anyway? She had no idea, but she was cooking for AR. This got to be the most absurd thing she had ever done till date. Dang it!

Since no one was home, after serving Dev alone at the dining table and asking him to eat, she took the tray with the bowl of poha and juice and went to the left wing.

She'd just put it there and leave as quickly as possible. As simple as that.

Unexpectedly, the door was open.

She entered the room and eyed around and saw no one. She was holding her breath and upon realizing that, she heaved a shaky sigh as her gaze fell on a tiny desk sitting at one corner. A bottle of water was on top of it. She walked over to it quietly and put the tray the down before turning on her heels hoping to leave the room unnoticed.

Her luck wasn't in her favor today. She heard the click coming from one of the door as it opened and closed again after a second when she was still a few feet away from the exit door.

"You have quite a good knowledge about Lord Krishna?"

Damn her heart for beating desperately faster than usual. His voice was deep as usual and monotonous.

She spun around stiffly and gazed at his way. He pulled the chair back and sat down on it before pulling the tray close and picked up the spoon.

Shouldn't she say something? Why was she acting so dumb? It was so unlikely her.

"Yeah, I mean, I read."

"Where?"

"What?"

He ate a spoonful before turning his dark eyes on her. She inhaled sharply when he repeated, "Where did you read them?"
"I have a book I bought from a temple."

He nodded ever so slightly and turned his focus back on the food and ate another spoonful.

"Can I leave?" She asked and bit the side of her cheek.

He said nothing but nodded and as he did so, she rushed out of the room in a single breath. It was hot in his room. She was sweating.