Page 34 of 12 Years
‘Yes, sure,’ she said. She slid her slender body towards the window to make space for me.
‘Is it really true?’ I said as I sat next to her.
‘What?’ she said, turning her face towards mine.
‘That you’ve never been kissed?’
‘Oh, that,’ she said, making a silly face. ‘Yes. It’s true. Rather stupid in this day and age, isn’t it?’
I looked at her, maintaining eye contact. I leaned forward, our faces mere millimetres apart. Her breath quickened. She turned her gaze away and then looked back at me.
Somewhere in the background, the song reached its crescendo.
‘Okay?’ I whispered.
She gave me a brief nod.
Gently, I held her chin with one hand and kissed her lower lip as softly and slowly as possible. A moment into the kiss, I increased its intensity, and felt her respond. She shifted her body closer to mine. Never in my life had I felt so much from a kiss alone. The world seemed to have receded somewhere into the background. Minutes passed. The song ended. Two YouTube ads, one for a detergent and another for an anti-dandruff shampoo followed, making the most mood-killing first-kiss background track ever. However, we didn’t really care. We just continued to kiss, our lips fused together.
When we finally broke apart, Payal leaned her head against my chest and hugged me. A second or two later, I felt a wetness on my chest where her eyes touched me.
‘Payal? You okay?’ I said.
‘Yeah. I’m fine,’ came her muffled reply, her head still buried in my chest.
‘Are you crying?’
‘No.’
‘Payal?’
‘Just a bit.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know … a part of me had started to believe that something was wrong with me. That nobody would ever kiss me.’
‘What? Are you crazy? Who wouldn’t want to kiss you?’ I said.
‘Thank you,’ she said softly, lifting her face from my chest to look at me. ‘Also, one more thing,’ she said.
‘What?’ I said tenderly.
‘Can we skip these Surf Excel ads and put on some real music?’
Both of us burst into laughter. I selected the next song and hit play. The opening strains of ‘Saajnaa’, from the filmLamhaa, filled the room.
‘Such a soulful song,’ she whispered.
‘So, how do you feel?’
‘You mean after my first kiss?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m okay, I think. A part of me was like, “Wow. This is finally happening.” Another part was like, “This is it? This is what the big fuss is all about?” And then there is that nasty part, spoiling things as always.’
‘What nasty part?’
