“To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.”

~ Madonna

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It was 5 o'clock in the morning and Swara had just taken a bath. There was always something so serene about the mornings, a charm that had always enticed her, keeping her captive for like forever. She was putting a small black bindi on her forehead at that very moment, when she heard a slight tapping on the windowsill of her room.

A gentle smile graced her features as she wasn’t expecting her morning guest to come to meet her, even though she was gone for months. However, she secretly wished to!

Sprinting towards the wooden table near the window, she grabbed her bag and took out some berries that she had plucked from the forests the day before. And no sooner she opened the window, a little bird flew in. Swara smiled as the bird sat on the table and whistled.

“How are you, Sultan? I’m fine. Thank you so much,” Swara chortled shaking her head. She knew it very well what Sultan’s whistle meant. All that this little one was concerned about were its berries. Chuckling, she placed those tiny blue roundels on the table and soon enough Sultan started munching them. It was a beautiful bright yellow and black colored bird, but what Swara loved the most about it was its yellow-black crest. It was very much like a crown and that was why Swara had named it Sultan, the king.

Swara had found the bird, battered and wounded, outside Home Sunshine one and a half years ago. She brought it in and treated it which took her about a week. Once healed, she thought it would never come back, but it did return the very next morning and ever since then Sultan had been Swara’s early morning guest everyday.

Taking a seat on the chair beside the table, Swara rested her head on her hand placed on the table. “You know what, Sultan, Ragini seemed pretty tensed yesterday when I met her. She didn’t even seem happy that I have come back. Do you think I should go and give her a visit?” She asked caressing Sultan’s feathers near its beak and the little one tilted its head giving out a chirp.

Swara sighed, “I also think so but I was angry with her. Actually, not was, I am still angry at her. She got herself a boyfriend and didn’t even bother to tell me. You know, she hasn’t even told me his name yet. Is that fair?” She asked but all that had Sultan’s concentration were the berries. Ever since Sultan started giving her a visit, Swara plucked these berries for it from the nearby forest. She didn’t know whether Sultan understood her or not, but letting it all out in front of it brought her peace.

“You know what. No, I won’t. She has betrayed me. I have been her best friend for last fifteen years. Fifteen years! I had even shared my dairy milk with her when we met for the first time and yet she chose someone she had loved only for a few months over me. I. Won’t. Visit. Her. At any cost.”

The decision was made and finally, her inner turmoil had come to an end along with the Sultan’s berries. And as it flew out, from behind the outline of its wings Swara could see the Sun rising, making Sultan’s wing look as if made of gold. It felt as if the sunlight was kissing all the creations alive, coloring them with the hues of brilliance.

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Unbelievable!

That was just so freaking unbelievable!

Swara mentally banged herself against the wall as she found herself staring at the old library building. She sighed. What was she going to do about herself? Even after so much of debate with her own self, she went to Ragini anyway and after so much of persuasion, all she was able to bring out of Ragini was that her boyfriend had, apparently, cheated on her and she could probably find him in the library.

What was wrong with Ragini? In the entire world, the only one she could find was a librarian? What would happen if he was someone with those huge rimmed glasses and some archeological wardrobe style? Swara shivered just at the thought of it.

She wasn’t much of a fan when it came to books and studies, so, the number of times she had visited the library were very much countable on fingers. And still there she was because of her not so loyal best friend. Why, did you ask? Because no matter what, Swara just couldn’t bear tears in Ragini’s eyes.

She was absolutely livid and had very much planned to punch that guy’s face from different angles. But what Swara hadn’t been expecting was someone who would take her breath away just with a single look. Every bit of anger she had seemed like vanishing away the moment her eyes met his. Those brown eyes weren’t just any normal brown. They had this mahogany tint that seemed like captivating her entire being and she wouldn’t mind getting lost in those depths for forever. The intensity that his eyes held radiated such an energy that one part of her own self wanted to run away from him, whereas the other part, at the same time, just wanted to embrace it and let her soul get scarred, if that was the cost.

She was all lost in those mesmerizing orbs when she heard that deep, calm voice and without even realizing she had told him her name. And that brought her back to the harsh reality. He was Ragini’s boyfriend and they had this unsaid sis-code… Never eye your best friend’s love interest. She was supposed to get angry on him instead of getting lost in his voice and his eyes.

Swara had been trying her best to get a hold of herself but all of her senses seemed like betraying her every time he spoke something and to top that his confused expression made him look too adorable for her to do anything rational. The result? She kept on blabbering from anything to everything and she had almost bit her tongue the moment she called him a criminal.

Criminal? Seriously, Swara?!!

“Cr-Criminal? Do I look like a criminal to you?” Sanskaar stuttered in utter disbelief and Swara stood there dumbfounded, trying her best to give a coherent reply but nothing that came out of her mouth hardly made any sense.

Sanskaar stared at her as whatever she said seemed like nothing more than the squeaks of a fish forced out of the water. He sighed banging his head on the librarian’s desk… literally. “God! You’re just unbelievable.”

“What? What did I do? You are the one who is unbelievable,” Swara finally managed to break off his enchantment and get her voice back. “She loved you with all her heart and what did you do? Cheat on her? I want you to come with me and apologize to her. Like right now.” She took a deep breath after letting it all out and Sanskaar shook his head.

It was so not his day!

Taking out his mobile phone, he started typing something furiously and once done, a message was sent to Laksh,

Before I finalize my plan to kill you, get your stupid self back to the library. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

That would be enough for getting Laksh back in here in a few minutes. Now, all that was left was to control this crazy little thing for the time being. But what was he supposed to do? The way she was throwing daggers at him, escaping was just out of question. Rubbing both his palms on his face, Sanskaar decided to give it at least a try. Moreover, there was nothing to be afraid of. He wasn’t a criminal, right?

“Where are you going?” Swara narrowed her eyes the moment she saw him getting up from his seat. “I…,” Sanskaar began thinking of some excuse that might look genuine, “I feel I should just go and take a round.”

And just when he thought he was all set to make his way out of the deadlock, Swara grabbed his hand and started pulling him all the way towards the main door of the library.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Where are you taking me?” Sanskaar almost screamed pulling himself in the opposite direction, successfully garnering the attention of almost everyone present in the library at that very moment.

“To your girlfriend. You need to apologize to her,” said Swara whilst pulling him back and Sanskaar almost curbed the urge to throw the book at her head. “You... You crazy woman, just let me go.”

And that stopped her that very instant. Glowering at him, she pointed at finger at him as she took a step nearer. Sanskaar instantly stepped back as she came even a step nearer, “Two things. First, I am not crazy. And second, I am not a woman yet. I am still a girl. I am just twenty three years old.”

Sanskaar huffed. She was crazy! Undoubtedly!

“Um… alright. Fine. I will go with you but… but I can’t leave before the library closes,” Sanskaar finally said in a feeble attempt to buy some time. There was no use in convincing this crazy woman, so, that would be the best option for now.

“Alright,” she said and Sanskaar sighed with relief, silently praying for her to leave as soon as possible. But all his prayers went unanswered the moment Swara opened her mouth again, “I will wait in here unless and until the library closes.”

All of a sudden, Sanskaar felt like crying. Why? Why? What did he do wrong? Why couldn’t God have some mercy on him?

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With his head still buried in his hands, Sanskaar took at deep breath looking at the clock for the umpteenth time now. It had been almost twenty minutes since he messaged Laksh, but still there was no sign of him. And finally glaring at him for those torturous fifteen minutes, Swara had finally decided to, maybe, explore the library.

He sighed with relief, but his relief didn’t last long enough as hardly a couple of minutes later the whole library echoed with a thunderous sound, that shook him to the very core.

Running in the direction of the sound, Sanskaar almost felt his head reeling the moment he realized what had happened. What was wrong with her? Swara had been trying to get a hold of a book and in her attempt she had knocked a whole shelf of the books down and now those poor books laid sprawled onto the floor, begging for mercy.

Sanskaar dashed in her direction getting a hold of the book she had been aiming for, before she could wreck anymore havoc in the library. But what he failed to realize how close he was to her as he grabbed the book.

Swara’s heart did a summersault the moment she felt his chest brush against her back for a brief moment. What was he doing here? Hardly an hour of meeting him and he was already messing up with her head. These unknown feelings tugging at her heart made her act like a way she had never before. He might be thinking that she was crazy, but how was she supposed to say what was wrong with her when she didn’t know herself!

Oh, how she wished he was not Ragini’s boyfriend!

Taking a deep breath, she turned around abruptly and regretted her actions the next instant as she felt his breath caressing her forehead. Being almost a foot shorter to him, Swara was glad he could not see her eyes, otherwise he would have witnessed her turmoil.

“What are doing?” Swara shouted pushing Sanskaar away and he rolled his eyes. “I was saving the library,” he said, shrugged his shoulders and walked away just like that without even giving her a second glance.

Excuse me? Did he just ignore her?

Swara stomped her feet and followed right after him intending to ask when he would be coming with her to Ragini’s house.

“Wait a second…”

“Swara?”

Her talk was cut in between just as she had started. Turning around, she found Laksh standing at the doorway, absolutely horrorstruck.

“Finally!” Sanskaar exclaimed in relief and sprinted off in Laksh’s direction with the library keys in his hand. Handing over the keys, he glared at him and spoke in a low frustrated voice, “Dare not ask me for any help if that’s regarding your girlfriends… Especially, when they have such weird best friends.”

And without even waiting for Laksh’s explanation Sanskaar walked past him and Swara instantly ran after him, shouting, “Laksh, stop him?”

Laksh held her hand, just in case if she was planning to run after his friend, “What did you do, Swara?”

“I haven’t done anything. We need to stop him first. He needs to apologize to Ragini,” she spoke as she wriggled to get herself free from Laksh’s hold, and her statement caught Laksh by surprise. “Why does he need to apologize to Ragini?”

“Because he is her boyfriend and he cheated on her,” she said and Laksh slapped his forehead. He couldn’t even dare to imagine what all happened in here in last couple of hours. How was he supposed to save himself now?

“Um… Swara. He is not Ragini’s boyfriend.”

“Then… who is?”

“I am.”

Wait! What?!

And Swara could almost feel herself fainting. What had she done?

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A/N

Hello everyone!

So, here is the next chapter. Proof reading and editing for this one is still left, so, please ignore the typing and grammatical errors, if any. I hope you would have liked it.

Also, I would request you all to give some constructive feedback instead of just writing ‘amazing’, ‘super’ or ‘hahaha’. Honestly, I need to know how the story is proceeding and if I need to change anything.

See you all soon. Till then, stay blessed, stay safe and happy reading!

With love,
Stella ❤️