ANIKA

"Gul, are you okay now," I nudged her on her upper arm with my palm.

"Hmm, I will be, don't worry. Thanks Nik."

Abruptly Gul got up with an impish grin on her face and switched on the TV. She casually tuned a random music channel and approached me with her naughty smile.

Suddenly realizing, I bleated foolishly, "Oh No! The dance."

"Oh yes my darling," she said dramatically.

In spite of my reluctance, I got up and stood in the living room petrified while Gul was moving her body in rhythm. I was a very bad dancer and whenever I attempted it, the audience laughed their hearts out.

But Gul was worse than any audience.

It was such an amusing sight to her that she would somehow made me do it and would utter full-throated belly laughs. After becoming fully satiated with her laughter, she would imitate me so that she could have her second dose of delight.

This time was no different. I hated her for making me do it. But at the end, it was rejuvenating for both of us.

Tired, both of us lied down on the couch and Diwan respectively for catching our breaths.

"Now let's get some beauty sleep, my sweet lollipop," I teased.

"Grrr! Don't call me that," she grimaced.

"Lollipop, Lollipop, Lollipop!"

Sighing she sat on the floor carpet making a sad pout. Looking her flustered expressions, it was my turn to cackle. Sitting beside her, I laughed gleefully and smacked her thigh to which she frowned and rubbed her sore spot.

If you are wondering what was it all about, then it's another story to be told sometime later.

Just when I switched off the lights of our room, my phone rang and though on vibration, it was visible in the darkness.

Ketu calling.

I was about to pick the call when abruptly she snatched it and teasingly ran out of the room.

After a chase of approximately ten minutes when she was fully satisfied avenging me, she clutched her stomach aching from continuous guffawing.
She sat on the floor still giggling trying to catch her breath. I seized the opportunity and plucked my phone from her hand.

Due to her pranks and my inattention, I forgot to hit the 'send' symbol and the message that I typed remained unsent. When I looked at my mobile, I was astounded to find it was already 10 pm and there were 9 missed calls.

As my phone was set on vibration, I couldn't register his calls. My heartbeat quickened. I made him wait for two hours.

So I did the least I could.

Quickly I dialed the phone, pulled it to my ear and said, "Hello."

Sweat accumulated in the palms of my hands. The anxiety of his reaction making me nervous and blocked my mind.

"Why didn't you pick up my calls? Are you okay?" Ketu asked from the other side and I could perceive a genuine concern in his voice. My fears subdued but lingered.

His imperturbable nature and exquisite personality complemented his divine looks and made him all the more irresistible, to girls.

I wished to spend more time with him but our limited interactions were slackened by our life's priorities, or should I say my priorities.

"I am at home, don't worry. Something came up at the last moment and I didn't realize it's already 10 pm."

Meanwhile, Gul recovered from her laughing fit and perched on the bed beside me; the comical smirk not leaving her face.

Oh God! Save me. What ludicrous prank is it next?

I was sitting cross legged with a pillow under my arms. I chortled inwardly and tightened my grip on the pillow, adjusting it's angle for the perfect hit. She wouldn't expect it and I would thoroughly enjoy it.

I sensed something was tickling my right foot and straightening my legs, I saw a big beetle biting my finger.

I stood upright. Alarmingly, my phone slipped out of my hands and I started jiggling my leg, to toss the insect aside.

"Ughh! Leave my leg, you filthy animal. LEAVE. MY. LEG."

Alongside me I could see Gul tittering, attempting to repress a subdued, turbulent cackle which seemed to surface any time.

"You stupid, remove it. Can't you see, it will sting me," terror suffused my voice and I croaked as the beetle moved from my finger towards the ankle and appeared to reinforce it's grip on it.

I wriggled my foot but all went in vain and I rumbled.

I almost got a heart attack when I heard Gul guffawing uncontrollably. She was rolling on the bed with roars of laughter emanating from her. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes from the uninterrupted laughing.

Oh my God! Another mischievous act.

I was so dumb to not guess it. I pulled out the almost real looking but fake insect by my shaking hands and hurled it into the dustbin.

"Wait, you are soooo gonna pay."

I grabbed the pillow from the floor to hit her but heard the faint, concerned noises from somewhere near. I was confused. Was it another hoax?

Then I heard a male voice calling my name repeatedly.

Shucks! I was so dazed by her jokes that I thought I might be going insane.

"PICK UP THE PHONE, DUMBO," Gul almost shouted twitching my phone in her hands and it took me a few seconds to comprehend, that I was talking to Ketu.

Impetuously blushing I grasped the electronic device from Gul's hands and pulled it to my ears.

Still panic stricken and goggling my surroundings carefully, to not miss another trick, I managed to stutter some words, "H-hello, sorry about that."

While I was looking here and there every few seconds, my erratic activity gained another guffaw from Gul.

"Wh-What happened? What were those noises? Is there any thief or something? Shall I come over?"

"Calm down, it's me and Gul. Hey listen, can we talk in person?"

"Ahh! Thank God. And about the personal meeting... would loooove to spend time with you," he said teasingly, emphasizing the word 'love' in a sing song tone.

"Uffff! What do I do with you?"

He chortled, "Just tell me when are we going on the date?"

Gul wasn't enough for me that God provided me with him as a complimentary accompaniment.

A new restaurant opened nearby and I suggested it, "Tomorrow lunch time at the new restaurant 'The Volcano'."

"Sure. But this time I will pick you up," said Ketu.

"I will manage Ke...," before I could complete the sentence he interrupted, imitating my tone, "Ufff! What do I do with you."

I chuckled, "Okay, pick me up tomorrow at 12:30 pm, my work place," and I could hear him smiling over the other side of the phone.

"Thank you."

I couldn't say anything more and cut the call with a smile on my face. Though he didn't enunciate about him waiting for two hours, but he wasn't mad at me. That made me glad.

As I plopped down on the bed engrossed in my thoughts daintily, Gul came and sat beside me.

"Gul, what do you think about Ketu?" I asked.

"I think you should say yes," Gul said chewing fennel seeds.

"Uh! umm, may be you are right. But, you know..."

"Ugh! Oh come on Nik. What's wrong with you? Ketu is a good guy, he is nothing like your Uncle." Gul frowned, sitting beside me and gave me a handful of fennel seeds, "I get it that you don't trust people easily because of the physical abuse you and Daksha underwent. But at least don't stop loving. It will make you a better person, not them. If it makes any better, I must tell you that Ketu told me to stay away from Lalit. Think. If he values your friend, he surely keeps you on priority."

Whenever she took the role of a well wisher, she spoke with such serenity and calmness that I listened to her refined observations for imbibing them in my life.

Listening to her words, nobody could say that she was laughing like a maniac a few minutes ago.

Gul was as indifferent as before.

No trace of humor. Only earnest sincerity. She understood me too well and must have grasped that something was troubling me.

"Nik, what's troubling you?"

"N-nothing."

"Ahh! I have another cockroach, if you want some motivation to spit the truth," she fluttered her eyelids, levity gleaming in her eyes.

"Jeez, Noooo. Alright you win," sighing, I confessed avoiding her gaze, "I didn't meet him from the past three weeks."

"What? Why?"

"Umm ac-actually he proposed me for marriage so..," I was framing words to continue when I was interrupted by Gul, "So? You are avoiding him? You are a blunder Anika."

I gave her a questioning look when she blurted out my full name. She did it whenever she was mad at me.

"What? You are screwing up the good happening in your life, of course I am mad at you," Gul fumed.

"I am not ready for it, Gul."

"Nobody is, ever. It's your conscience which guides you for making decisions and supports you in difficult times."

"Hmm...," was my thoughtful response to which she giggled and said, "Even your serious face is waggish."

"What? You found amusement in my face too," I exclaimed to which we both laughed.

"Okay. So talking humorlessly," she said winking, "now can I expect that tomorrow when you meet him, you will keep your biases aside and be nice to him?"

"Don't worry. I will act good and you are staying a few days with me. With all this I can't let you stay at your room."

"Okay Boss," she saluted me with her right hand and then tossed it in air, in her usual dramatic style.

Time with Gul flies, leaving only it's memorable imprints behind.

Of course in my mind, so that I could replay them whenever I missed her company. Or whenever I needed a whimsical dose of motivation.

I had not ascertained my response to him but I believed some matters should be left to that moment's impetus.
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