Chapter5
Ahem! Ahem!
I cleared my throat with my naughty grin which shook the two of them out of their blissful trance once again.
Riyu, I can’t get my eyes off these masterpieces!
Smirked Aaru turning towards me, pointing to the paintings and I just smiled back to her innocent excitement, for she indeed was earnest. There was undoubtedly something exceptional about Shamit’s art.
Leave this gals! Let’s go out and have some Holi fun.
Shamit reacted. We immediately headed out to meet our gang and had a fun-filled afternoon with lots of dance and food.
Shamit did automatically take my responsibility of warning everyone not to pour colors on Aaru as she is allergic to them and safe-guarded her very tenderly. I have not known this extremely soft side of Shamit.
I could see their instant connection but did I feel good about it. Well, how do you expect a sixteen-year-old to act in such a situation? I felt both my friendships were jeopardized. Nevertheless, I was really happy that Aaru was here, so I just pretended as if I didn’t care and decided to shake a leg in the Holi Dhamaal. Honestly, all those emotions only momentarily clogged my brain and I shrugged them off almost instantaneously.
The two of my darlings were still busy communicating with each other more through their eyes and less in words.
As we reached home after-party, Aaru dismissed all my claims as insane. She was more engrossed in getting off all the color from her skin and rushed to shower.
Freshly out of the shower, she looked like an angel dressed in white. We were so tired, that we slept that afternoon like babies and got up in our usual playful moods giggling over the letters we had written to each other in our dairies which we had gifted each other. They were our priced possession.
In some weeks, our grade eleven classes commenced. I was overjoyed to once again tiptoe with Aaru to school and study in the same class. Our early childhood days had come back.
As we headed out of the lift of our building, we could see someone clad in our uniform around the corner. It undoubtedly was Shamit. He lived right there in the adjacent tower on the twelfth floor and sometimes we did meet at this spot to go to school with some more friends. Our school was pretty much within walking distance from home.
Hi Riya, I was waiting for you guys, we are late c’mon move faster!
He said, stealing a glance of Aradhya with his eyes gleaming, as we reached near him.
Aaru was surprised to see him suddenly on the way. Then she recalled she had walked right up to this place for Holi Celebrations.
Aaru acknowledged his greetings with her angelic smile.
After this day it became a routine for all three of us to go and come back from school together often engaging in friendly banter, laughing and giggling the entire time.
In our class, all three of us were the most studious ones, who were always among the toppers and were thus most teachers’ favorite too.
Aaru has created a great first impression on everyone through her magical write-ups which only grew by leaps and bounds with each passing day and I was so proud of her.
On the personal front, my love for Badminton and years of rigorous practicing this sport have landed me an opportunity to play at the state level championships.
Shamit, Aaru, and I have only grown further closer with each passing day and our bond was so special. I have started acknowledging the extremely evident emotional connect, the two of my besties had and I loved their puppy love which the two themselves weren’t aware of.
We were the kind of young adults whose focus was on building our futures first. Our parents had engrained it in us from as far a time as we remember and this was the peak time for us to decide the course of our lives.
Strangely enough, all three of us had poles apart professional dreams. I had decided to build a career in sports, Aaru wanted to become a doctor while Shamit has silently nurtured a desire to serve our nation by joining the Army, after analyzing ourselves a lot and of course having a discussion with our parents. It sure was going to be extremely painful when we will have to part ways to build a future of our dreams and we often discussed ways that could keep us together.
Destiny often has her own plans though. In the coming year, having won the state championship, I landed on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train under the best coaches in India and had to shift my base to Bengaluru.
My Aaru and Shamit however stayed in Pune and prepared for the competitions that entire year to the best of their abilities. While I got engrossed in rigorous training, my two loves, silently weaved their love nest back home.
In no time they became inseparable. Whenever I called one, the other one was right there with him or her, eight out of ten times. We talked for as long as my unending training schedule allowed us.
That day the competitions’ results were out. While Aaradhya has secured an incredibly high rank in the All India Medical Entrance Test, what do you think would have happened to Shamit? Were they going to be separated from each other like I got from the two of them? Life demands so much from us at times, like now, when Aaradhya waits for Shamit every day for the past seven years but her hopes don't die. Come back tomorrow to find out what happened next.
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