The Eye Contact

Without further ado, here comes the fourth chapter

Aankho ki gustakhiya Maaf ho.....Aankho ki sharmohaya Maaf ho.....

~~~~Fifteen minutes later, Anamika found herself in Ishan and Tilak's shared hotel room. She was sitting on their couch with her leg extended in front of her on the coffee table and propped with a cushion. Shubman had sprayed some pain relief spray on it and the three were now sitting on the bed whispering amongst themselves while Anamika talked to Sandhya on phone.

Sandhya had simply called to get updates about the walk but Anamika let it slip about her fall and was now getting grilled by the older woman.

"Anu, baccha, why are you so clumsy? Thank God the guys were there. Warna kya hota tumhara? Where would've you gone with your sprained ankle?"

Agar wo guy nahi hota to sprained ankle bhi nahi hota, the younger one thought at the back of her mind, looking at the guy in question and shook her head.

"Chill Sandy! I'm fine na. It will be okay in a few minutes. I'll call you later...... Bye!!" She quickly cut the call, placing her phone on the arm of the couch as she saw Ishan and Shubman approaching her. Ishan took a seat at the armchair next to couch and Shubman sat next to her on the couch.

Anamika felt her heartbeats rising as Shubman placed his hand on her ankle to inspect it for a brief moment. She was brought out of her trance when Ishan asked her,  "Anu, what do you think about the concept of warrior queens or princesses in Indian history? You know like Rani Lakshmibai, Rani Chenamma or.... You know Mastani?"

Anamika stared at him for a long moment and later broke into a rant. "Seriously, Ishu bhaiya? Mastani? If this is coming from Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani, I'm not even surprised. Mastani was not a warrior princess. Yes, she was the Princess of Bundelkhand and she was married to Peshwa Bajirao as a part of a marriage alliance. Honestly, I admire Bhansali a lot for his vision of aesthetics but he messes up history so badly. I mean look at Kashibai!! She couldn't do Pinga. She had -" Anamika heard her phone ringing and was about to turn around and fetch it when she felt a hand come up and holding her face. She looked up to find the hand belonged to Shubman. His brown eyes bore into her black ones, his hand large and rough against her cheeks. In that moment Anamika realised why people went gaga over brown eyes, cause the way the sun hit his eyes made them look like molten chocolate. "-Arthritis....." She dumbly finished her sentence. A little crack brought Anamika out of the pools of chocolate in front of her. She whipped her hand towards the sound only to find Tilak sitting near the table with his hands holding her ankle. Understanding dawned on her as her eyes went wide and she realised Shubman still had his hand on her cheek. She lightly cleared her throat and excused herself to the washroom. "Their idea, not mine!!" She vaguely heard Tilak saying with his hands held up.

A few minutes later the group sat in the lounge area of the hotel savouring a cup of tea or coffee, whilst playing a game of truth and dare. Shubman found his thoughts wandering to the woman sitting right across from him, looking all too beautiful after the hectic and tiring day they had had. She looked at him and he turned his eyes before they could make any eye contact.

He still couldn't shake off the trance her eyes had put him in. They were like black holes pulling him in and letting him drown in them. Her cheek warm and soft beneath his fingertips. He had let his eyes wander a little, taking in the little mole below her nose and her soft, supple lip-

He was broken out of the trance by his phone ringing and found it to be his manager. He excused himself and went towards a corner to receive the phone.

Anamika found it difficult to keep her eyes away from the dimpled man in front of her, especially not when he had opened two buttons of his shirt and she could see his chest tattoo peeking out of it. Him sitting right across from her wasn't helping either, she noticed his Adam's apple bobbing everytime he took a swallow or how he took a bite from the cookies she had gotten for them. Her eyes followed him as he excused himself and went towards the window to talk on a call.

"What are you thinking about, Anu?" She heard someone whisper in her ears.

"Koi shaqs iss qadar khoobsurat kaise ho sakta hai?" She whispered back and later realised what she had just said out loud. Her eyes darted towards the source of the voice to find Ishan smirking at her right side. She looked to her left to find Tilak mirroring the same expression. (Heeramandi is all over my fyp these days...)

"Ishu, your turn!" The trio looked at Siraj saying that, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare" Ishan said smirking.

"Meri t-shirt hatake paseena chatega?" Shubman said while taking his seat.

"Pagal wagal hai kya!" The shorter male replied, making everyone on the table laugh. (Author's an Ishman shipper you all)

"How about you post a story?" Shardul suggested.

"Of Shubman bhai's picture" Tilak added.

"With the caption, 'Love of my life'..." Anamika chimed in.

"Chal Shubhu pose kar!" Ishan said while Shubman gave his signature pose. (Squinting eyes wala)

"....and posted." He showed his phone to everyone.

"God! The fans are going to have the time of their lives." Shubman said shaking his head.

"Okay Anu, your turn. Truth or dare?" Shreyas said, his eyes giving off a mischievous glint.

"Umm truth. " She said shrugging and moving forward to take a cookie when her hands brushed with Shubman's. They looked at each other, quickly picked up a cookie and went back to looking at the group who were trying to decide what to ask Anamika. She managed to steal another glance at him and found him doing the same.

"Okay... Anu, you call all of us Bhai or Bhaiya, right?" Shreyas asked and Anamika nodded. " Then why not Shubman?" Anamika found her eyes going wide at the question and her cheeks heating up. "I don't call Tilak bhaiya either." She said trying to cover up.

"I'm also younger than you na." Tilak said with a little smirk on his face. Anamika pleaded him with her eyes, only to get a mischievous smile in return.

"Hellooo guys!!!" They heard in the lobby and found their captain, Rohit Sharma walking towards their table. Anamika thanked God for the welcome interruption. The group greeted and hugged their captain and introduced Anamika to him. As they fell into a conversation about cricket and the sports world, the game stayed forgotten.

Anamika glanced at her watch to find it was 3 pm now. "Shoot guys, I need to leave or I'll get late." She said picking up her things and getting ready to leave.

"Are you sure you can walk with that leg?" Shardul asked concerned.

"What happened to your leg?" Rohit asked.

She explained him about the sprain and Tilak's chiropractic skills to him. Though, he did not look convinced at all to let her go on her own.

"Still you are not going on your own" He replied authoritatively . "Shubman you have your car here, right?" He asked earning a nod from the man in question. "Perfect! He'll drop you home."

Anamika looked around the table to find the guys looking at her with a mixture of emotions, some teasing while some concerned. "But I live in Malad, si-" "Bhaiya!" Ishan interrupted her. "Bhaiya. It'll be faster if I take the train." She reasoned.

"Then he'll drop you at Churchgate railway station. Final. No arguments." Anamika gestured zipping her mouth earning a chuckle from the group as she stood up to bid farewell to them.

As the two settled in the car, Anamika received another call from Sandhya asking her about her sprain and informing about an important visit happening at the exhibition tomorrow. She sounded distressed to Anamika, which was quite out of character for Sandhya.

"Can I ask you something?" She heard Shubman say while she was scrolling through the pictures she had taken today.

"Yes," Anamika responded finally looking up from her phone. Her eyes were attracted towards the web of veins in the man's forearms. Stop it, Anu! "Were you always interested in history and stuff?"

"Uh yes. I often find it interesting how mere buildings around us have a story connected to them. It's quite a bit fascinating, you know? I wish to travel around to such places and find out more in future. Fingers crossed!" She said looking at him. Shubman looked at her as they arrived at the signal and found her eyes gleaming with a passion, one he often in his teammates' eyes when talked about cricket.

"Have you ever been to Chandigarh?" He asked, starting the car again.

"No, but I might soon. I mean there's a conference happening in Chandigarh in February. I've submitted my abstract and if it gets selected, I will be visiting Chandigarh." She clarified.

"So if you do come by, I'll take you around. Return the favour, if you say." He said tentatively, not wanting to force her or make it seem too obvious.

"Sure." She said almost inaudible.

"Can I ask you something else?" Shubman asked again, this time a bit teasingly. He earned a nod from her. "Why don't you call me bhaiya?" Bringing up the question from their game, he took a quick glance at her and again looked at the road as they crossed the Flora Fountain signal.

"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Anamika said cheekily as Shubman stopped the car in front of the station and sent a little wink at him.

They both got down the car, Shubman wearing a mask and a cap with sunglasses. They shared an awkward side hug and parted. "All the best for the South Africa tour," She said and turned around to leave, shouting a thank you and bye behind her back.

Shubman kept his eyes on her to make sure she was not limping because of the sprain. However, he found his eyes drifting upwards and being captivated by the sway of her hips as she walked towards the entrance and climbed up the stairs. A moment later, Anamika turned around and waved him a bye which he returned. Damn you, pervert!

Shubman got into the car and started the engine and FM radio. As he  took the car a bit ahead, he found himself connecting to the lyrics of the song and smiled a bit.

Abhi to kuch kaha nahi,Abhi to kuch suna nahi.Abhi na jao chhodkar,Ke dil abhi bhara nahi....

---------Would love to know your views about this chapter. Also what are your thoughts about the new Wattpad logo?It seems a bit ironic to have a flower in your icon when most of the stories are about deflowering 🤭🤭...