˗ˏˋ tender twinklings and flowery trails 'ˎ˗

➷

The universe might be against Mahika in some ways because they don't go to the farm the next day either.

But the thing is, she doesn't think she minds.

The reason why they have to cancel the plans yet again is because they had all ended up staying late watching some silly reality show (it was so bad that it ended up being entertaining), and before any of them realized, it was already past three a.m.

Okay, maybe Mahika had realized but didn't mention it.

Because although Mahika is the type to excuse herself in the middle of basically everything in the world just so she can sleep on time, her lap and her shoulder had been occupied. It's kind of funny, considering she always somehow ends up in that position. So having Sakshi's head on her lap, her eyes closed as she snored away wasn't anything new.

In all honesty, it seemed like Sakshi had reserved everyone's laps for the entirety of the trip but that was a concern for another time.

And maybe, just maybe if Amoli's head wasn't resting on Mahika's shoulder, she would have woken Sakshi up to go to bed.

An hour past midnight, Amoli had started yawning and eventually dozed off with her feet pulled up on the couch and her cheek propped up on her palm. And Mahika would be lying if she said she hadn't been glancing at her every few minutes to check whether or not she was comfortable — it certainly didn't look like a very comfortable position — and yet she had failed to notice when Amoli had shifted closer to her, probably chasing a little bit of warmth in her sleep, and put her head on Mahika's shoulder.

Mahika was a little stumped by how Amoli does it like it's a familiar gesture; something she does often. Then she had remembered that she had switched places with Naina a bit ago when she had wanted to sit on the floor beside Akash, and this might be something Amoli was used to doing with Naina.

It's almost comical how quickly Mahika had lost focus on everything else in the room after that, really.

She would have drilled herself to that spot if she had to. Was her shoulder beginning to hurt? Yes. Was her back feeling a little stiff for being in the same position for too long? Absolutely. But was she going to move?

Never.

Or, well, until Akash had woken Amoli up with no remorse whatsoever — in the most older sibling way ever — and told her that she was probably giving Mahika's body cramps all over.

Amoli looked embarrassed, but she was too sleepy and disoriented to say anything about it.

It was yet another thing that had assured Mahika's subconscious that Amoli was comfortable around her.

So needless to say, Mahika has a permanent smile etched to her face today. She had been generally happy for a while now, but today, she knows that if her eyes sparkled any brighter, she might as well pick a fight with the sun.

There's color in her cheeks when she looks in the mirror, and even the sight of her nest-looking hair isn't enough to faze her as it usually would. She breezes through her morning routine with a skip in her step and walks down for breakfast in her favorite flowy, flowery skirt, aware that she's visibly glowing when Naina gives her one glance and whistles jokingly.

"Run away with me," she says, and Akash stops chewing to give her a wry look, and then turning to Mahika with narrowed eyes, continuing to eat but now with mock aggression. He points at Mahika with his spoon.

"You better watch it. I'm not leaving this country without my wife."

Mahika throws her head back and laughs, as does Naina before she wraps her arm around Akash's and puts her cheek on his shoulder.

"I'm not even doing anything!" Mahika says as she pulls back the empty chair beside Keerti and plops down on it, propping her chin up on her palm.

"You need to tone that charm down a bit," he jokes.

"It's natural." She raises her nose in the air, almost stumbling over her next words when she sees Amoli look down to hide her smile. "Comes with the package."

Usually, there's no way Mahika would joke around with her confidence standing on the highest peak available. But since today is a good day and Mahika feels like she's walking with no gravity under her feet, she blushes only a little and bathes in the compliments that her friends shower her with.

"If you haven't thought about running across a field of mustard flowers with your arms spread out, you're either lying to yourself or you haven't watched DDLJ," Samay says when they're trying to decide where to go today, now that they have missed the chance at visiting the farm. "You can't convince me otherwise. We have to go. We can't be this close to a real mustard field and just not go. That should be illegal."

"You're so dramatic," Sakshi tells him, shoving his face away when he widens his eyes in feigned hurt, only to quickly withdraw it when he threatens to bite her finger. She narrows her eyes and threatens to hit him, and Samay cowers with a laugh, barely wheezing out an apology. Sakshi puts her hand away but says, "Put a leash on the dog inside you before I do."

"Mm, try to scare me more with your extremely questionable threats, Sak."

"Anyways," Keerti interrupts, giving them both a disturbed look. "The flower fields sound really pretty. And we're supposed to click pictures together anyway, so..."

"Yeah!" Naina chirps. "It's not even that far away."

"That's decided then," Arnav adds, leaning back in his seat and popping an apple slice inside his mouth. "We can go to the farm tomorrow."

"You're awfully quiet about this," Akash says to his sister, drawing the table's attention to her. "Everything okay? You love the fields."

Amoli nods, making sure she only meets Akash's eyes when she raises her face. "I was just, uh, thinking about something else." And then she quickly stuffs a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth and adds, "Just a little distracted."

Mahika stares at her for a few seconds, confused. Weird.

Even Akash looks a little bothered, but he lets it go and looks at everyone.

"We'll get going whenever you guys are ready. How does that sound?"

-

Turns out, even though Mahika hadn't exactly actively dreamed of running across a mustard flower field, she wouldn't exchange the experience for anything in the world now that she has had the joy of actually doing it.

"Oh, my God," Keerti says as she watches Sakshi tuck flower after flower into Mahika's hair, watching her giggle. "I don't think I have ever seen Mahi this happy in my life."

Naina stands beside her with her arms crossed across her chest, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Me neither!" Mahika exclaims, and at this point she has stopped wondering if someone had put something in her tea to make her feel this high, and given in to the euphoria instead. It's way easier anyway. And the nicer option, of course.

"Nature makes her happy," Naina says, reaching out to tuck a flower behind Mahika's ear and rolling her eyes at the wide, childlike grin on her face. "As adorable as you are like this, don't burn yourself out, okay?"

Once Mahika had been able to remind herself that this is a break from life, a break that she gets to share with her closest, most cherished friends, the giddiness had taken over everything else she was feeling.

They might never get a chance like this for the rest of their lives.

So even if Mahika had spent a little bit of her previous time at the cottage moping around, she doesn't want to do it anymore. She wants to save the rest of the moping from when they go back home.

When Sakshi is done tucking flowers into her hair until her head is barely visible under the petals, she stands back up and looks around, at the yellows and greens spread across acres in front of her eyes.

"Man," Sakshi breathes. "I wanna live here."

Akash chuckles behind her, hands steadily working on setting up the camera. "Yeah, every time we visit, I hate going back."

"We find it pretty because we don't live here," Arnav remarks casually, handing his brother some equipment that Mahika couldn't name even if she tried. "But again, we're all sick of the city bustle."

Hums of approval follow his words, and maybe they would have talked more about it if Samay hadn't looked at Sakshi in all seriousness and asked, "Why is Mahi the only one who gets to have flowers put in her hair?"

Sakshi had pulled him to sit on the ground with her after and tucked flowers into his curly hair just like she had done for Mahika.

It's a sight to behold, really.

And everyone else thinks the same, apparently, because the sounds of cameras clicking away are all Mahika can hear for the next few seconds.

"I miss Dhruv," Samay announces while he's in the middle of striking a ridiculous pose for Keerti who has her phone camera aimed in his direction, an amused smile on her face.

"Don't worry, he's going to see all of these even before we get home," she replies before tucking her phone away. "Where's Amoli?"

The question brings Amoli's absence from their group to Mahika's attention, and she looks around, only to find the said girl on her haunches just a few feet away from them. As if on cue, she stands up right then, and there's a flower crown in her hands when she turns.

"Wait, that's so cute," Naina gushes, rushing over to Amoli. "I want one."

Amoli tells her that she would gladly make her one, before her eyes fall on Arnav and she beckons him over. He sighs but listens, and the sight of him bowing almost ninety degrees for his sister to place it on his head has Mahika smiling wider than ever.

Later when they're all clicking pictures to save the day in frames for later when all of them are away from each other, Mahika feels eyes on her while she has her cheek squished against Naina's, their arms tightly wrapped around each other for a picture.

She looks away then but it's only a few minutes later when her eyes meet Amoli's, and she can't really name the emotion she sees on her face.

So instead of trying to think too much about it, she lets the corners of her lips pull back in a smile and gestures for Amoli to join them, holding an arm out in her direction.

Amoli looks a little timid when she walks over, and Mahika assumes it's because Naina, Sakshi, Keerti and her are already close-knit and waiting for Akash to photograph them, but a simple, 'Amo! Come here. Quick!' from Naina has her speeding her steps.

To Mahika's surprise, she takes hold of her stretched out hand with a shy smile before settling her small frame between them, laughing a little when Sakshi and Naina both wrap themselves around her. Keerti gestures for Akash to go ahead, and Mahika is pretty sure she has her eyes blown wide in this picture.

Because hidden behind her friends' frames, Amoli hasn't let go of Mahika's hand.

➷

a/n

bro i haven't edited this chapter........... like, at all

i'm running on a schedule so pls have mercy on me ok <3

thank u for reading mwah.
forehead kisses for all of u (with consent ofc)