I was really upset by the response yesterday. Somewhere I feel bad because it is really tough for me to write something taking time from my studies and shirt exams. I hope u all understand and frankly tell me if you are losing interest in this ff I will stop it. Everything is in your hands.
~~Competition~~
Sanskar’s pov ~
I stood at her doorstep, thinking whether I should ring the doorbell or not. It was quite possibly Swara’s last day in town. I was sure to do everything I could, to change her mind. But all I could think of, was her decision at the end of the day.
I found some courage and rung the doorbell. No one answered. My impatience started to kick in, as I rung it again and again. I could hear some shuffling from inside, soon, the door opened.
“Hi!” Swara said. She was in her old baggy pyjamas and an oversized tee which happened to be mine. I remembered her burrowing it on the day of the accident. Her hair was tied in a messy bun. It looked like she was just out of bed.
“Hi. How are you ?” I asked pulling her in a hug. She embraced me back and smiled.
“Better. Please come in.” She said and moved out of my way. Her mother was sitting in the couch talking to someone over the phone. I waved at her who gave me a smile and I walked upstairs with Swara.
She led me to her room. The moment I stepped in her room, my eyes popped right out of their sockets with surprise. Her room was worse than mine. . .actually no. Mine was horrible. But still. . .Swara with a messed up room, was something none of us could imagine. She had OCD.
“What just happened here ?” I asked in pure horror making way through the clothes and the books and the shoes sprawled over the floor.
“Packing. . . .?” She smiled sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and smiled.
“I can pack my stuff better, you’re a mess.” I said taking a seat on the bed.
“Oh puh-lease! You literally stuff all your clothes in the bag. And then I have to stand on it and sit on it and do what not to help you close it.” She laughed. I chuckled.
“Yeah. Anyways, do you want me to help ?” I asked. She looked at me amused. Of course she was not expecting a helping hand. From me to be precise. But since we had to go get going and we were running out of time, so I didn’t think twice before helping out.
“You don’t stop amusing me. Here.” Swara said snapping out and threw a pile of clothes at me.
“Fold them.” She instructed. I did as I was told.
As I was folding her clothes I couldn’t help but notice three same kind of tops with different colors. But girls will be girls. . .even with a wardrobe full of clothes they will complain that they have none. I kept those clothes aside when one particular thing grabbed my attention. It was one of her bras.
“uh Ahem. . . .do you want me to fold this as well ?” I asked innocently, holding it up. Swara took one look at it, surprised, and snatched it from me.
“No I think I’ll manage that.” She muttered stuffing it in her bag. I chuckled and continued to help her.
It took us one whole hour to pack everything she needed. I wondered how she was planning to do it all on her own. Even that one hour was tiring for me.
“Ugh! Done, finally! Now go, get changed fast.” I said. She sighed and pouted cutely.
“Do we have to go ? I mean can’t we stay back and chill.” She said. I kinda saw this coming. This lazy bum was never going to take any efforts.
“Yes we have to go.” I replied folding my arms across the chest. Her pout became cuter as I started melting even more. I knew her tricks and I kept myself from falling. But what do I do ? She was capable of making me fall in love with her again and again.
I suppressed my smile which was creeping up my face.
“Please ? Sanky I’m tired.” She whined batting her perfect eyelashes. I chuckled and looked away shaking my head.
“No.” I said. She frowned.”Go get changed. And how are you tired anyway ? I did half of your work. You just passed around.”
“Hawww. You are so mean!” She pushed me gently.
“Well you’re meaner!” I pushed her back. “Please go now. You look horrible.” I teased. She huffed and playfully hit my chest, before walking in the bathroom to change.
It didn’t take even whole ten minutes for Swara to come out. Unlike the last time when I took her out for dinner, with Ragini and Laksh. God I had to wait for an eternity then.
As she came out wearing a ripped jeans and a casual tee I couldn’t help but admire her chic style. No make up, no high heels. She wore sneakers instead. She took zero efforts yet looked beautiful. ‘Now that my Swara.’ I thought.
“Chalein ?” She asked. I nodded and hopped inside the car after her.
As I drove down a very familiar lane, Swara kept on bugging me with her questions.
“Where are we going ? Batao na.” She said.
“It’s a surprise.” I replied.
“Woh theek hai. But at least tell me what’s the surprise!” She whined like a five year old kid. I chuckled.
“What’s left in the surprise if I reveal it to you now ?” I said and switched on the radio. I didn’t say a word about where I was taking her. I just wanted to make the day memorable for her. I had to win her back. No matter what. . .
Swara’s pov ~~
Oh how I dreaded surprises . . .
Sanskar hadn’t said a word about where he was planning to take me. Being a curious person I’m, I must have asked a thousand times. But all he said that it was a surprise I was going to like.
But he had a point. Surprises aren’t meant to reveal.
Suddenly the car came to a halt. I looked outside the window to see a market. Not just any market but Mumbai’s famous ‘Bombay market’.
“What are we doing here ?” I asked.
“Tu chal toh sahi. You’ll see.” He smiled and for out of the car. I followed him.
As I got down I took in the amazing aroma of aloo vadi that were being fried in a shop. There were so many little roadside stalls lined up, all of them specialised in different food items. Somewhere, a group of friends hung out at a tea stall. Somewhere there were old women bargaining with the vendors for vegetables.
The whole scene was so familiar to me. The place used to be like our adda, where Sanskar and I hung out with our friends after school. My eyes automatically looked for that one little shop which sold my favourite gol gappa. I couldn’t spot it anywhere though.
“What are you thinking ?” Sanskar asked me and nudged me, snapping out of my thoughts.
“This is amazing! I missed this place.” I smiled.
“Me too.” He replied.
I looked around once again for those gol gappa. But since I couldn’t find the shop anywhere, I assumed, that it must’ve closed down.
“So don’t you want to eat your favourite gol gappa ?” Sanskar asked. My eyes beamed at the mention of the delicious food. I nodded vigorously causing Sanskar to laugh. I tugged to his arm, as he led me a little far away, at the end of the road. That’s when I realized that the shop hadn’t shut after all.
We sit in front of this little shop. Now you don’t really get gol gappa in London. And even if somewhere, you find it in a restaurant, where the taste of it sucks. No one and absolutely no one could beat the taste of Mumbai’s gol gappa.
What amused me there, was that, I wasn’t only one to eat them. Sanskar had decided to join me as well.
“I thought you hated this.” I stated. Being the fitness freak he had always been, I never expected him to eat roadside junk. But by gladly accepting a plate, he had thrown my expectations straight out of the window.
“I never hated them. I was too much of a fitness freak back then. I can work this out tomorrow.” He said. I nodded, picked up one from my plate. Just as I was about to eat it, Sanskar stopped me.
“How can you forget everything ? That’s not the way we eat gol gappa.” He said with a tinge of disappointment. I was confused.
“This, my love, calls for a competition.” He added.
Ah. . .no way. . .
I sighed and smiled lightly. “Nope, just eat it, yeah.” I said.
“Oh. Why are you scared Miss Swara ?” He smirked raising his eyebrows up and down. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t just sure whether I’d be able to eat even a plate. But obviously his words stabbed my ego and I couldn’t say a no to him.
“I’m not scared. I can easily win.” I stated.
“Speak for yourself.” He rolled his eyes.
“Alright! Let’s do this.” I said as he provoked me even more. Sanskar flashed a smile, raising his brows in amusement.
“That’s the spirit! Ready ?” He asked. I nodded as he counted one to three.
As soon as he said three the both of us attacked the plate and started eating like we were starving since ages. The gol gappas never tasted so good. I had almost forgotten the taste of it. And oh that spice. . .my mouth was on fire. Being a Bengali I was not one bit used to eating spicy stuff, it affected me. But nevertheless, I was not the one to give up. I ate as much as I could.
Soon I was done with one plate. So was Sanskar. No words were needed to say how we felt. I was just craving for more and I guess, so was he. We asked for one more plate and ate in the same speed. In no time we had finished that as well.
As the number of plates increased on the table our speed decreased. I was staring to feel the grumbling in my stomach, which indicated that I was full. Nine plates of gol gappas. . .that’s how much I had consumed. I was currently eating the tenth one with the speed of a turtle. My eyes watered due to the spice. And I could see Sanskar’s condition was no different.
I stared at the one last gol gappa on my plate. I could see Sanskar too also had just one left. If I ate it before him, I would win. If I failed, I would lose. It was a do or die situation. I wanted to win so badly. But I was full. Stuffed. I felt heavy and I could barely move. Still being the stubborn one I had to pick up the last one from the plate.
I stared at it disgustingly, not wanting to put that in my mouth. No matter, however yummy it was I just couldn’t. As I was about to eat the last gol gappa, I had a nauseating feeling washed over me. It was clear — I couldn’t eat. I heaved a deep sigh and kept the gol gappa back on the plate. Meanwhile, Sanskar ate his very easily
I lost to him. . .
“I can’t eat anymore.” I said.
“So you lose ?” He asked. I nodded unwillingly. That moment he cheered and got up from the seat to do a little victory dance. It caused him to get weird stares from the people around. I quietly giggled to myself.
“Okay. Now stop dancing. what are you, ten ?” I asked pulling him down.
“Maybe. But you lost and that’s something to celebrate. I mean, remember how you used to win every time in this competition ?” He asked.
“Yeah dude. It was me and that guy — Raghav. You guys used to bet on us. And you always thought I would lose.” I said.
“That’s right. I have lost 200 bucks because of that Raghav. Now finally I can brag about how I won against Swara Roy.” Sanskar beamed.
“Whatever suits you.” I muttered as he led me to the car. Just when I thought that we would head home he surprised me by saying that there was another surprise waiting for me.
I was excited. But I was also scared. Sanskar’s surprise sometimes included ‘out of the world’ things sometimes. Like a date on roller coaster or a dungeon. He was too much into that sort of thrilling stuff. I just buckled up and let him take me to ‘wherever he had planned’. . .
**
Did you like Sanskar’s plan of stuffing Swara’s stomach so that he stops her from getting on the flight. Because 10 plates, her poor tummy won’t be able to handle that 😛
Next surprise . What do you think it could be ? Well its . . .
Next update : Back to School ~~
And yes. Check my new ff Swasan : Fix You if possible 🙂