Chapter 19 — He Takes A Leap

He could barely walk; that was not something that happened a lot, even when he was drunk. His mind was sober enough, but his feet wouldn't comply with him. Sanaya had held him when he tried walking alone and tripped.

Now in his apartment, he leaned on the wall while Sanaya turned the lights on and chucked her tongue to make a 'tch' sound.

"Why so stuffy in here? And why so pale and dark?" She whispered to herself, but her whispering was loud enough for him to hear.

She held Aryan's hand again and walked him to the bedroom as he showed her the way. He held on to her hand because pushing away and being fiendish wouldn't be a logical thing to do. He had been alone all his life. Once in a while, someone holding his hand when he was drunk didn't feel that bad.

"No bed?" Sanaya asked him. He shook his head, which was throbbing with pain.

While pulling him, making him steady to sit on the futon, she tripped on her own dupatta and fell down beside him with an oomph.

"Careful." He whispered, closing his eyes.

He couldn't see what Sanaya's reaction was, but he could hear her mumbling something.

"Where is the drinking water?" She asked.

"Kitchen." He said irritatingly. 'As if it would be in the bathroom.' He thought.

Sanaya walked out and came back before he could count up to 60. She sat down beside him, opened the cap and passed him the bottle. He glared at the bottle for a minute. There was absolute silence in the room, just the sound of their breathing and some random noise coming from outside.

"Drink it." She said softly.

Aryan sighed. He could have just done it himself. She needed to leave; she had no reason to be there with him.

"You should go." He said, taking the bottle.

"I forgot my keys."

"Back to the party."

"Not feeling good."

"You seemed absolutely fine a few seconds ago!"

She kept quiet before breaking the silence again, "You noticed?"

He nodded. There was no need to be lying about something so mundane as that.

For the first time, he actually looked at her face to see how she looked. Maybe the whisky was taking a toll on his mind.

She was looking down then, her eyes shaded with silver and black eyeshadow. She had taken time to do her eye makeup. Lined it with black eyeliner and had used something to increase the volume of her lashes.

The makeup, other than that, was neutral. The lipstick was a light shade of pink. For the first time since Aryan had come back, she was wearing black. Even he was also wearing black, but the difference was that he always wore black. Sanaya barely did.

Another difference was that she was wearing a Salwar.

"That would be the longest conversation we had." She smiled suddenly.

Aryan looked up with a frown. Everyone knew he didn't talk much. The only people he had had actual conversations with would've been the small kids in the orphanage or in his apartment in Mumbai... and Sanyukta.

Even thinking about her hurt. So Aryan gulped down another spill of water and closed the cap.

"You talk too much." He said.

She laughed, "You aren't the first or only person to say that to me. I have heard that since the day I actually started talking."

"Should have."

Sanaya smiled. The silence prolonged, but she didn't move away. Sitting at a few feet distance from him, Sanaya was most probably thinking. Otherwise, he hadn't seen her so quiet. He wasn't a kid; she was not going to take up his case as something she had to fix. He wouldn't let her.

"You should go to sleep." She said, looking at the time display on her phone.

Aryan rolled his eyes but didn't argue. He walked to his wardrobe slowly, took out his sweatshirt and pants, walked into the washroom to change. When he came for the first time since he had moved into the apartment, the windows were open. Not all of them, but most of them.

"It was too suffocating in here. I just thought the air would be nice," Sanaya mumbled back, looking at him for a second. He realised he had been giving her a sceptical look which she might have noticed.

"Okay." He answered and went under the covers on his futon. It had been a long time since he had slept on a bed. Maybe at the last hotel that he had stayed in?

Sleep wasn't effortless for him. Most days, Aryan suffered from insomnia. Once in a blue moon did he fall asleep before midnight. The pounding in his head said otherwise, so he just closed his eyes without falling asleep.

Knowing that someone was there in his room didn't let him fall asleep. The last time he had shared his room was when he was in the hostel of high school. In college, he stayed alone as a PG in a small one-room flat, but that was all he had needed.

The last time he had shared a room with a woman had been with his mother before he went to the hostel and on rare holidays.

He still closed his eyes tried to fall asleep.

Aryan didn't know how much time had passed when a distinct sound of cheerful music — probably a phone's ringtone — broke the slumber he had seeped into. He didn't open his eyes, but he could clearly hear the feminine voice talking with someone over a call.

She seemed a little distressed. But Aryan was deep into sleep by then. So he fell asleep even though he knew someone was standing there by the window of his room and talking to some other person.

* * *

The following morning he woke up early. It was six o'clock, there was a slight pounding in his head. Beside his pillow, there was a strip of aspirin kept with a bottle of water. He didn't know who had placed that, but he decided it was better to just take the pill than to suffer from a hangover the whole day.

'I didn't even have aspirin at my house.' He frowned at the thought.

'Wait, a second,' his frown deepened, 'Is she still here?'

He looked around; she wasn't there. Her purse was, however, kept beside the window. The place where she had been standing before he had fallen asleep.

He walked out of his room and saw that there was a figure in the other room. The room where there were a desk and a chair along with shelves. Sanaya was sitting on a chair, her head places over her hands on the desk as she slept.

'That is an awkward position to sleep in for a whole night.'

Aryan walked up to her. She had her eyes closed, some of her kohl smudged on the sides. He touched her shoulder to wake her up. She didn't wake up.

"Sanaya." He gave her a gentle shake.

She mumbled something in her sleep; Aryan growled.

"Sanaya." He said in a gruff voice this time. She was startled and woke up with a start.

"Ouch." She yelped, and her hands flew to her neck.

"Damn, I shouldn't have slept that way. This pains so much, argh! I am damn sure I pulled a muscle or something. God! Why this punishment?" She talked to herself.

Aryan cleared his throat.

"Oh! Hey! How's your head now? Hangover? Did you get the aspirin that I kept?"

"One question at one moment, Sanaya." He grumbled. 'She is weird on a very different level.'

"Oh? Do you have a hangover?" She asked again.

"No."

"Did you get the medicine?"

"Yes."

"Where you drunk yesterday?"

Aryan's jaw ticked, "Somewhat."

"Can..." she cleared her throat, "Can I use your washroom?"

Aryan frowned, "Sure."

"And I think you should start talking in full sentences; one-word answers are really creepy to listen to."

Aryan rolled his eyes. 'She should mind her own business.'

When he walked back to his so-called bedroom (which didn't even have a bed, so it was ironic to call it a bedroom), Sanaya had come out of the bathroom, her face washed and dripping with water. She was using her dupatta to dry her face off while she talked to someone on her phone. She hadn't noticed that he was standing there.

"I am sorry, Sanyukta," Sanaya said in a clear, regretful tone, "I can't come today."

"...I know, I will talk to uncle. I'm not feeling well enough." She pressed her lips together, and he knew that she was lying. What was she lying about?

"No! You and Randhir have to go! I'll join you guys, I promise. Yeah. Thank you. No, tell Brute I usually hate him, but since today is special, he is forgiven." She chuckled.

Aryan stood still. Why was she doing this?

She disconnected the call and looked out of the open window again, closing her eyes, "Sometimes you just have to do something without reason, and for a person without knowing why you are doing it." Sanaya mumbled to herself. She still hadn't noticed him.

That was the exact moment Aryan knew he was about to take a leap and at least have an acquaintance in his life. It had been so long alone, but an acquaintance with a little bit of mutual support would not be a bad thing, right?

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Do you think something is changing?
Let's see what happens.

Also, this is one of those stories which will be on the realistic yet cliché side. So yes! Happy reading!

Love,
Dee.