Page 5 of That Same Old Love

“You know… you should thank god that I even acknowledge your existence or even talk to you, you nerd,” she muttered.

“Hmm. I’m going to write a thank you note to god very soon,” he replied nonchalantly.

She turned her head towards him with narrowed eyes, and then felt… confused. She had always felt that way around him. Samrat was nowhere as good looking or even as charming as Sidhu. In fact Samrat looked dangerous with his eyebrow scar, a default scowl and his rugged face. A sane girl would never find him cuddly or have soft romantic feelings looking at him.

But she felt something, some sort of weird unwanted attraction. Maybe it was the sarcastic way he always spoke to her or the chilling calm when he warned her about teasing his sister in the college. Or maybe it was simply the fact that he didn’t fawn over her like others usually did.

Irritated, she watched his profile, “Why are you even here?” she demanded. “You have never come to any of the parties before.”

He was quiet for a few seconds and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he finally did.

“I’m the designated driver for someone.”

She scoffed rudely. “Well… aren’t you the ever helpful nice little boy! I know you would rather spend a Saturday night stuck in your room, building some nonsense with your cardboard boxes and a broken radio or something. Everyone in the neighborhood thinks that you look like a fool, trying to fly those things on your terrace using your remote control.”

Actually everyone in the neighborhood including her was fascinated by those flying things, but the already arrogant Samrat didn’t have to know that.

Samrat turned to look at her. “I didn’t know you were so interested in my work or that you spied on me. Maybe I should keep my curtains closed from now on,” he told her with a slight smirk on his usually serious face.

That damn smirk hurt her pride, and she was more than a little annoyed. “Ohh puhleez. I should be the one worrying. I’m sure you have tried to look into my room with that shanty telescope you have on your balcony. Well… I hope you enjoyed the view, because that’s the most excitement you’ll probably get until you are married. No. Wait. Actually, even then, knowing your type—which is a boring repressed prig by the way—you’ll pick someone wa-a-y-y younger than you, a nice pretty little innocent, and have a five-minute fumbling that will result in a child within the first nine months. And then, the both of you will continue to live a virtuous life while you invent your nonsense,” she said, making air quotes for invent.

At her rant, he cocked his head in amusement, rather than anger. “That’s quite a speech. For someone who is supposed to be in a loving relationship with her boyfriend, you seem to have thought a lot about my future wife, my sex life and even my child. That’s concerning.”

His nonchalance challenged her and drove her mad. She had always wondered why he couldn’t fall for her, just a little bit.

Maybe it was time to bring out the big guns, and see his facade crack a little. She knew that no one was immune to her charms for too long.

Slowly moving closer, and leaving only a few inches between them, she smiled at him. “Actually… yes. You should be concerned, especially because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. You are all I think of these days,” she said huskily.

He looked amused at her display. “That is very concerning… but not for me, just for Sidhu. I thought both of you are getting married in a few years.”

She shrugged. “Who knows what will happen in a few years.” And then, she changed her smile, making it more sultry and seductive. “But aren’t you curious about the thoughts I have of you… Samrat?”

He watched her quietly for a few seconds. To her satisfaction, she could see the amusement vanishing rapidly from his face.

“What do you want Mahi?” he asked with a deliberate slowness.

His voice caused every fine hair on her neck to rise in awareness. Low, gravelly, it sounded as if he was growling.

“What do I want?” she repeated, forcing out a laugh and feeling out of sorts. “You are pretty direct. But that’s what I like about you.”

Rising to the challenge of wanting to unnerve him in return, she slowly raised her hand, and ran a finger across his thin eyebrow scar, and was about to trail it lower to his square jaw. But he caught her hand and jerked it away from his face.

“Don’t embarrass yourself Mahi. Let it go. Drop your pretense. You can’t get me to be interested in you… now or ever. I would never be interested in someone like you. Get it?”

Shallow, arrogant, bad influence and many more such descriptions that followed behind her over the years rang in her head.

But she focused only on his rejection and her hurt pride. Directly her fury towards him, “You arrogant idiot,” she hissed. “Do you really think you can talk to me like that?”

She tried to slap him with her free hand, but he stopped her, and held both her hands. She struggled furiously, to free her hands, and to claw his face for making her humiliate herself.

Watching her grimly, Samrat waited for her to calm down.

And that’s how Sidhu found them.

“Mahi?”

When Sidhu looked at them questioningly, she struggled again to free herself from Samrat’s hold. That time he let her go.

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