THERE FOR EACH OTHER

9. GROWING COMFORT

~friendship begins with simple talks! Then it bloom into deeper conversations and the next thing you know is that you care too much~

Yudhisthir came home with a silly smile lingering on his face along with a deep frown on his broad forehead. Reema was waiting from him to arrive, excited to know more about Kashish. She had liked the girl when she met him the first time, and now after knowing that she was the one her son was in love with, she could not be happier.

But when a confused son shared the difficulties of his prospected love story with an over enthusiastic mother, the cheerful mother transformed into a matured and understanding women.

" Beta, listen to me. There is not a word wrong with Kashish's approach. Today's generation has witnessed more breakups and nuclear families than we have in our entire lifetime. And Kashish didn't deny love. She just mentioned she is not into very much dreamy and cliche love. Maybe because she have never seen that kind of love. May be she have her own reasons to think like that. But if you show her the beauty of love, the warmth of its essence and the comfort it provides, I am sure she will embrace it with open arms. She is just a twenty something girl who have a household to run and people to look after. She is more about responsibilities than enjoyment. She is more about reality than fiction. And all you need to do is show her that fiction can be realistic too!", Reema explained cupping his cheeks and he instantly broke into a smile.

"You are right mom. I will build a fairytale for her in the reality of her life", he winked and Reema laughed at her son, and his excitement. Over the years, she had watched Yuv grew silent, but now with Kashish, he was opening up to her again, and she was liking the transformation.

Kashish on the other hand, was lying on her bed, immersed deep in her thoughts. When your mind decides to do horse riding, that too precisely at night, usually sleep deserts you! And hence, she was staring at the starry sky from her window, letting her heart and mind battle. Yudhisthir's words were ringing in her head.

Her own love story? Was it possible? Will she, be in those few lucky people who experience love of a beloved?

In her stories, love always made the protagonist a better person. Love accepts you with the flaws and helps in sealing those cracks one never even knew exists. But real life isn't about that? Or maybe it is but she doesn't know about it? Urghh! She didn't know what to think? Somewhere Yudhisthir had awoken those desires and dreams she had successfully managed to curb down. A sudden restlessness kept her awake for most of the night before tiredness took over.

The next evening, Kashish was helping a teenage girl with books when she heard a known whistle around her. Turning she found Yudhisthir leaning on a book rack smiling at her. His smile always managed to calm her nerves and make her happy.

" You?", She asked astonished.

" Yeah, you didn't tell me which book next, so I came to ask that", he smiled at his lame excuse and she gave an you-are-impossible look.

He laughed at her and the teenage girl could smell brewing love like her favourite brewed coffee. She gave them both a sheepish smile and left to issue her book. Yudhisthir and Kashish talked and discussed authors for a while before parting their ways for the night. Only, Kashish had no idea this was going to be her daily routine henceforth. Every evening, after his office, Yudhisthir came to the library to spend some time with her. And with time, he stopped giving the lame reasons and she stopped asking him too. It had been almost a week since Yudhisthir and Kashish were meeting everyday. With time, they had become comfortable with each other and even Kashish had started speaking to him.

One evening, they were sitting in a nearby coffee shop having their favorite cold coffee. Yudhisthir was looking at Kashish and telling her something about Kabir and she was listening intently when he noticed that, all of a sudden, the coffee seemed too interesting to her. She was avoiding looking up at him and he frowned at her behavior. Initially he checked his face in the front camera of his phone to look for any abnormalities but when he found none, he looked at her with questioning eyes. She looked at him and then fumbled.

"Yudhisthir, it's just that...", She stammered and he was growing impatient with her sudden developed love for the floor. That was when he noticed her stealing small glances at his back and he turned around. Looking at the scene , he could not help but burst out laughing. There was a couple, at the farthest corner of the shop but in direct view of Kashish and they were busy in their little make out session. Basically, the guy was all over the girl kissing her passionately and naive Kashish was shying at the prospected scene. Seeing her uncomfortable, Yudhisthir quickly settled the bill and dragged her out and finally she took a breath of relief.

" Seriously Kashish, you were that uncomfortable just watching them?", He again burst into laughter while she just tucked her hairs behind her ear, embarrassed.

" I am just not used to such PDA", She replied, annoyed at him.

" People do a lot more these days and they were just kissing. This is modernization", he teased her and she looked at her with open mouth.

"Do hell with your modernization. What about doing that before marriage?", She blurted out and he looked at her surprised but suppressed his smile.

" Doing WHAT, before marriage?", He asked emphasizing 'What' and she blushed deep red.

" You know what I mean...", She looked away and he laughed but pretended to be serious.

" No I don't... please enlighten me", he continued his melodrama.

" The S word", she replied slowly and he made a lost face.

"S-E-X", she spelled the word instead of saying and this time he burst into a pool of laughter.

" Seriously Kashish, you cant even say the word. Such shyness!!!!!!! My god!", He was holding his stomach while she was annoyed, irritated, embarrassed all at once.

"See, there is nothing wrong with s*x Kashish..it's just an expression of love. And it differ from person to person. The couple we saw were comfortable enough for PDA and those who are not they prefer closed doors. But we should not judge anyone or their choices based on our opinion about s*x na?", He looked at her, before explaining his point and she looked at him in awe. Everytime, his views were so contradicting from her but he was also never wrong. She smiled at him and nodded before giggling at her antics back in the cafe, herself.

Yudhisthir also laughed with her, enjoying her state and both walked together until she boarded her metro, looking forward to meet again the next day!

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