Chapter 10
Another bomb burst out and Swayam jerked from his bed. Even after putting on his headphones with music bursting at full volume the noise still boomed in his ears. It was past midnight and Swayam couldn't sleep at his cousin's place. Why you may ask? Simple. His younger cousin's wanted to burst firecrackers because diwali was around the corner. Swayam liked fireworks; they were fun to watch with all the colours and lights coming out of them. They would lighten the place like a candle but with a bit of flair and for quite some time. They were something that always fascinated him. But there was one thing he couldn't figure out, even after years of wondering was 'why the need to burst bomb?' They weren't spectacular to watch and made an awful lot of noise. Do people like the sudden shock the body feels when they burst out or the deafening sound it makes? So, he was trapped in his room trying to think ways of reducing the noise and hopefully sleep. Travelling was fun but it was always tiring at the end, especially when you have two energetic five year olds with you in the car. Swayam sighed and removed the headphones from his ears because they weren't helping and was possibly causing a headache. He got up and went down to the kitchen feeling his stomach demanding for food. After raiding the kitchen he returned back and thought of ways to pass the time. As he ate Sharon's name crossed his mind. He smiled when her face came in front of him. The day was so hectic that he hadn't had the time to contact her or well even think about her. Suddenly he had the urge to hear her voice. He looked at the time and frowned. It was almost 2 in the morning and she would most definitely be sleeping but there was a very small chance she was still awake typing on her laptop. It wouldn't kill to call her right? With that thought in mind he hit the call button.
Sharon stirred in her bed trying to snuggle into her pillow and go back to sleep but the mobile phone kept on ringing. She made a disapproving noise and sat up. She cursed the mobile and thought of how peaceful the world would be with the rectangular object. Everyone was obsessed with it and one of its signs was that every time she walked on the road someone or the other would be into it without any sense of the surrounding. They were basically an accident waiting to happen. She shoved those ideas aside to check her phone which after a series of rings had stopped buzzing. She was tempted to just go back to back but all of her sleep was now gone and she was wide awake and also she wanted to know who in the whole world would wake her up at such a time. When she looked at the name she wasn't shocked but what shocked her were the emotions that she went through after seeing them. She felt angry first and then elation followed by fear and then irritation. When she thought about how Swayam had caused a stir of emotions by just calling at the middle of the night she was baffled. Honestly, she never felt like that. When she used to hear people saying that they went through a range of emotions only by listening to the name of the person they loved, she never quite believed it. She wanted to but somewhere in her mind it never made sense. She always thought humans to be logical first even if they were emotional most of the times and more so herself. Throughout her entire life she was always had her emotions clear but Swayam had just randomly mixed all of the emotions and made her fuzzy inside, like it always happens in novels between people who love each other. In that moment Sharon's eyes grew larger. In all of the thought process did she just admit she was in love with Swayam Shekhawat? Yes, she did and with that her heart starting beating faster.
Swayam just stared at his screen wishing for her call to return and then he smacked his face with his hand. Of course she was asleep! What sane man would stay up till 2 when they had work at 7 in the morning? He sighed in disappointed and winced at the noise of more firecrackers going off. As he stared ahead at the wall planning his next move to shove away boredom, he felt his phone vibrate in his hands. When he saw her face on the screen he quickly swiped it and placed it on his ear.
"Hell.." He began before he was cut by Sharon yelling at the other end.
"Do you know what is the damn time? You just disturbed my peaceful sleep and a very good dream so you better have a bloody good reason for calling me." She said.
"Uhmm... well I.. " Swayam began but hearing the tone of Sharon's voice he knew he was in trouble and well him getting bored was not quite a 'bloody good' reason to call her in the middle of the night.
"Go on Shekhawat. Tell me the reason or should I wait till dawn for your answer?" Sharon said.
"Ijustgotbored." Swayam said as quickly as possible.
"What?" Sharon asked in disbelief.
"Ijustgotbored." He said again quickly but a bit slower than last time.
"What the hell? You... I heard you alright but if you don't admit it loud and clearly I'm going to slaughter you." Sharon said seriously but deep inside she was enjoying hearing Swayam so scared of her. It almost, almost made waking in the middle of the night worth it.
"Ok Sharon please don't kill me. I'm at my cousin's place and there are children her and they are crazy about diwali and something has possessed them to burst firecrackers in the middle of the night. I can't sleep, can't listen to music, can't read a book without jerking every time they burst one of those tiny little evil things. I don't know why I called you. I know you were sleeping and you have an early morning schedule and you aren't a crazy person like me. But I just saw the phone and remembered how I hadn't talked to you and I decided to call you and then.." Swayam stopped rambling when he heard Sharon's laugh on the other end.
"Oh... my...god." Sharon said in between her laughs.
"Well the tables turned now I guess." Swayam mumbled.
"Indeed they have and I am enjoying every second of it." Sharon said after sobering up from her laugh.
"You just rambled away. How did you even manage to fit all of that in one breathe? You went from begging me not to kill you to how you were scared of firecrackers or wait, should I call them 'tiny little evil things'." Sharon said chuckling.
"Laugh all you want, I'm denying that I'm afraid of them." Swayam said.
"Oh deny all you want it won't change a thing and also don't deny you're rambling was not funny." Sharon replied.
"Well yes it is." Swayam said as he started laughing too.
They both laughed and stayed in silence as their laughter subsided.
"So, what were you dreaming about?" Swayam said breaking the silence.
"Nothing." Sharon said.
"You just accused me of interrupting your dream, so I want to know about the dream. Wait, were you dreaming about me?" Swayam said wriggling his eyebrows.
"Don't get your hopes high Shekhawat. I think the night is making you delusional." Sharon said.
"I'm not delusional, you're being secretive." Swayam replied.
"I'll be as secretive as I want to be. I don't have to share my dreams with you." Sharon said.
"Well you must and you will. Haven't you talked to somehow in the wee hours of morning talking about your secrets, hopes and dreams?" Swayam said.
"What movie did you take that from? And to answer your question, no I haven't. I love my valuable sleep." Sharon said.
"What a boring life you must be leading my child! There is a first for everything, so go on reveal all your desires." Swayam said in a deep voice.
"You won't let this go. Okay, well I don't clearly remember what I was dreaming but I do remember being on top of a mountain looking at the view." Sharon said chuckling at Swayam's poor impression of a deep voice.
"Interesting. Have you ever been to any mountain or such?" Swayam questioned.
"I had a chance, but no never. But I'd love to. Just the feeling of being so high above land is so, I don't know kind of magical and the scenery is so wonderful." Sharon said.
Swayam listened quietly. Sharon was quite passionate about whatever she did and this was one of her dreams and unconsciously Swayam decided to fulfil this dream of hers too. He was deep in thought when he heard Sharon yawning.
"Sharon you're sleepy, go back to sleep. I'll meet you I guess on Friday?" Swayam said.
"Yes, maybe I should." Sharon said with a little disappointment.
"Good night Sharon." Swayam said.
"Good night and well I should warn you about Friday." Sharon replied.
"Why?" Swayam asked.
"No major reason, just my best friend coming on the sets." Sharon said.
"That would be interesting then. Good night." Swayam replied.
"Good night Swayam." She said and placed her phone back on the table.
She felt good, incredibly good. Swayam was right, talking in the middle of the night could be interesting. Now she was sure that waking in the middle of the night was fully worth it.
And that's the update. More of a filler I guess😛
This is inspired by A.M by One Direction😛😛
So, hoped you all liked it. :)
And thank you for all the comments 😳
Swayam sat alone at a coffee shop not far from the studio reading a book. Few people came here and that's what made it special. All the people who came there regularly or even once a week had some special connection to the place, a sense of familiarity and a feeling partially like home. The thing that bound him to the place was his grandfather.
It was during one of his many visits to the theatre as a child that his grandfather showed him this place. Since then it had been his second favourite place, the first being the theatre. The place could get overwhelming sometimes with all the memories that it held. Whenever the memories hit home, close to his heart he avoided the place for a few days. He couldn't ignore it for more that few days because something always pulled him back.
It was a quaint little place and the silence it provided was refreshing amidst the noise of the city. Swayam would close his eyes and listen carefully. Even if it felt silent, a little observation would tell you that the surrounding was bursting with life and that's what Swayam loved to observe. The birds that sang, the cats fighting for food, puppies playing around , the wind bristling through the leaves of trees and of course the little chatter of humans that one couldn't escape. He must have spent hours here either observing or reading along with sipping a good cup of coffee.
He was so engrossed in the book he was currently reading that he failed to notice Sharon sneaking behind. Sharon enjoyed troubling him, it was sort of a payback to the times he irritated her. As she thought of ways to surprise him she had flashbacks of times she spend with the boy in front of her. She realised he had changed since the time they met and more so she had changed. She slowly learned to trust people with her secrets, the importance of dreams and mostly to believe in your dreams.
"Hey what are you doing?" Sharon said. Swayam jerked up in his seat visibly shaken only to see a smiling Sharon.
"Sharon! You scared me." Swayam replied keeping the book aside.
"I thought you might have noticed me. Didn't you once say you could sense people around you?" Sharon said with a smirk. She was smirking a lot since she met Swayam, one of the many effects he had on her.
"Umm...No, not ringing a bell." Swayam said.
"Oh look at you lying so easily. Deny it all you want Shekhawat. Now will you ask me yo sit down and accompany you in this beautiful little shop." Sharon said.
"Like you need my permission." Swayam replied. Sharon just stared blankly at him.
"OK well please Miss Sharon Rai Prakash have a seat and do me the honours of spending time with you." He finally said sighing. Sharon could get very weird, very quickly sometimes.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Sharon said sitting down. "So what were you reading?" She asked.
"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." He replied.
"I love that book!" Sharon started saying but was interrupted by Swayam.
"OK but please do not give me any spoilers. I just started reading." He said.
"OK OK!" Sharon said holding up her hands. "Well you should know that Mr. Hyde is..." Sharon continued.
"No please don't." Swayam said plugging his ears shut.
"Huh! Look how the tables have turned. You did the same to me when I didn't watch the finale of PLL and you did." Sharon said accusingly.
"How do you remember all this stuff? I said sorry, didn't I?" Swayam said.
"Yes you did." Sharon said after which they sat in silence for a few moments with Sharon busy thinking about what she could eat and Swayam admiring her.
"How did you discover this place?" Swayam said breaking the comfortable silence.
"Sorry, what?" Sharon asked.
"How did you discover this place? I mean this is shop is so difficult to find and people often fail to notice it." Swayam said.
"I'm not like most people Swayam. I guess I was just walking to get my mind of the workload and lo behold I found this magical place. There was something about it I couldn't shake off and also the coffee here is amazing!" Sharon said enthusiastically.
"I'll agree with you on that. In that case we should have a cup of coffee." Swayam replied.
"Of course. Always ready for caffeine." She said as Swayam got up to order. After Swayam left, Sharon looked around to realize how beautiful the place really was. Within the crowded city it was a place of solace. She felt it amusing when Swayam said that people often fail to notice it. The smell of fresh coffee brought her back from her thoughts.
"Coffee for the lady." Swayam said as he handed one cup to Sharon.
"Smells great. Thank you." Sharon said taking a sip of her coffee. Swayam also sat relishing his drink himself. Whilst drinking Sharon kept stealing glances of Swayam. His hair falling on his forehead somehow fascinated her. She was tempted to gently remove them from his forehead. She tried to shake off the idea but it kept coming back. The only way she could think to stop those ideas was to start a conversation and she knew exactly what to converse about.
"So Shekhawat tell me about your love life." She asked. Swayam widened his eyes clearly not expecting such a question.
"What?" He asked.
"Your love life. You know almost everything about mine so it's only fair that you share yours too." Sharon said taking another sip of coffee.
"Life isn't fair Sharon." Swayam said.
"Don't use quotes on me. I'm not backing down." Sharon said as she glared at him.
"Stop glaring, you look scary." Swayam said trying to concentrate back at his coffee which was getting colder.
"I'll take that as a compliment this time." Sharon said as she continued glaring. "Okay fine. There's not much to know. Well I don't think I have ever been in a relationship." He said.
"Never? Swayam you aren't allowed to lie." Sharon said but secretly hoped it was true.
"It's the truth. I was always that sincere little student in both school and college, but I did have this crush on a girl." Swayam replied. As she heard this Sharon felt a pang of jealousy inside her. She didn't want to feel jealous, it may have happened years ago but her mind betrayed her.
"Oh." That's all she could say.
"Aw... Don't be jealous Sharon." Swayam cooed.
"Who said I was jealous? There is simply no reason for me to be jealous." She said feeling her cheeks burn.
"Your face says it all. Anyway it was years back." He said smirking. Sharon felt slight relief but that hint of jealousy was still instilled in her mind.
"What about now?" She asked as meekly as possible. Swayam resisted from saying that she was the one who makes him crazy each day. The three words were hanging at the tip of his tongue but he remained silent. He couldn't say anything. He couldn't tease her and if he lied he was sure she would realise he wasn't being truthful. When she didn't get any answer from Swayam two possibilities swamped her mind, either there was someone he liked or he never heard a word she said. She hoped it was the latter option.
"Enough of this love story talks, it's getting too girly." Swayam said.
"Okay. Yes of course. What else can we talk about?" Sharon replied
. "I have run out of topics." Swayam said finishing his coffee.
"Oh... I totally forgot to tell you. The crew members are planning some sort of picnic before the start of the semi finals, so do you want to come?" Sharon said. "I'd love to. Are you sure they'll allow me, technically I'm not a part of the crew." Swayam asked.
"Of course they will. Everybody is like a fan of you." Sharon said. "That's good to know." Swayam said with his usual smirk.
"Don't be so flattered Swayam." Sharon responded. Before Swayam could answer they hear Sharon's phone ring. Sharon saw Ankita's name flash on her screen. As soon as she picked up she heard a frustrated yell.
"Sharon Rai Prakash. Where the hell are you?"
"I'm at this coffee place with Swayam." She replied with a confused expression. "So now your crush is more important that your best friend?" Ankita said.
Sharon blushed at this statement but at the same time was utterly confused at Ankita's strange behaviour.
"Why are you yelling?" Sharon asked.
"You forgot. Sharon what day is it?" Ankita asked.
"Friday. Why?" Sharon said.
"Does that ring any bells?" She asked.
"Friday.. oh I totally forgot. How could I forget?" Sharon said.
"Exactly. Now I need you here in 5 minutes." Ankita said.
"Where exactly is here?" Sharon asked embarrassed.
"Outside the theatre." Ankita said with a sigh.
"I'll be there in 2 minutes." With this Sharon kept her phone back.
"What happened?" Swayam asked totally confused hearing the one sided conversation.
"Remember I said Ankita would come to the theatre on Friday?" Sharon said. "Yes."
"So, I totally forgot about it and now she is waiting for me and clearly she will kill me today." Sharon said.
"I don't think so." He replied.
"You don't know like I do Swayam and she absolutely hates latecomers. Now don't just sit there. Let's go or else you will see a dead corpse today." Sharon said dramatically.
Swayam obeyed her and followed a very impatient Sharon. He could clearly sense that whoever he was going to meet was going to be as crazy as Sharon and if that was good thing or bad, he didn't know.
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I finally update.🥱
Hope you all like the chapter😳
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