Matters of the heart – Part 2

At the foodhall

Mriga found the boys waiting for her at the entry door.

"Oh, you guys didn't go in till now?" she asked.

"You do know how big the place is, right? If we had gone in earlier and you came looking for us, there was a big possibility that we would have finished our dinner by the time you reached us," Chiranjeev remarked.

The foodhall was geographically located in the centre of the entire Gurukul and catered to more than five thousand people at one time. It was a rectangular hall which stretched endlessly and had wooden tables and benches spread across the entire space. Self serving buffet stations were located at regular intervals and the cooks kept bustling in and out of the gigantic kitchen attached to the building.

The students were expected to rinse their plates themselves after eating, at the big sinks which were placed at the different exits of the building. Anyone who had leftovers in their plates was penalised by making them work in the humungous kitchen for an entire day.

The Admin department trainees found a place near one of the French windows (a style of windows which start at the top of the wall and stretch till the bottom).

By tacit agreement, they made Mriga and Abhirath sit next to one other. The three boys sat opposite them. In her usual style, Mriga started stuffing her face with the food. Abhirath, who had never seen her eat before this, paused mid-air while bringing the bite to his mouth.

"Are you in a hurry? Where is the fire?" he asked her, perplexed.

She shook her head in negative and that confused him even further. Impatient at his lack of understanding, she tried to speak with the food in her mouth and ended up choking herself.

With concern in his eyes, he thumped her back as she coughed violently.

"Easy there! Who asked you to talk while eating? I wasn't going to run away anywhere before hearing your reply," he said with a smile.

All four pairs of eyes swung towards Abhirath in shock. Not only did he sound gentle but also had cracked a joke.

In the past few months of knowing him, none of them had ever heard him sound like this. Looking at their expressions, he turned red and became stone faced again.

"Err…no no, don't put the cute Abhirath back in the box," Vandit said with a laugh.

Listening to his choice of words, Mriga burst out laughing as well. Abhirath, who was glaring at Vandit inevitable softened his expressions seeing the girl next to him shaking with mirth.

"I agree. This Abhirath looks way nicer," said Nirbhay.

"Actually, now that I think back, I have seen this version of him before," Mriga told everyone.

Looking at the curiosity on everyone's face, she took her time in talking ahead.

"Yesterday, one of the young girls hurt her thumb while trying to mount her bow. At the sight of blood, she started to cry profusely. I was standing at a slight distance with my own group and by the time I reached her, I heard a gentle, soothing voice comforting her. Since she was quiet by the time I reached her, I didn't pay much attention to the matter. Now I realise that Abhirath had sounded just like this yesterday as well," she told everyone.

His face flushed with embarrassed happiness. His heart was somersaulting on the fact that she had paid attention to him and liked what she saw.

Mindful of everyone around him, he spoke in a gruff tone, "If you are done analysing me, can we go back to eating now? The food is getting cold."

The others exchanged a knowing smile amongst them. Abhirath didn't realise it but he had a small smile at the corners of his lips, changing his demeanour completely.

"Ah, you started eating without us today?" Ishani's chiding voice reached them.

Mriga looked up in guilt to see a stormy looking Yash along with Ishani standing in front of her.

"I… uh, these are my friends from the Admin group. We met today after weeks, hence I decided to have a little appetiser with them while I waited for the both of you," Mriga came up with the feeble excuse.

Before Ishani could say anything, Yash reached her side and picked up her plate with one hand. Extending the other hand towards her, he waited as she got up and interlinked her fingers with his.

"Sorry guys, this is the only time that I get to spend with my girl in the entire day. I hope you don't mind," he looked pointedly at Abhirath while saying these words.

Mriga was embarrassed by his possessive behavior but also got a secret thrill from it. She quickly made her farewells and walked off with him.

"Uh huh… so that's the guy. His name is Yashvardhan. He is the son of a rich money lender and his mother is the Southern zilla chief at the moment. I have met him once with Mriga earlier as well," Vandit informed them.

"Brother, I suggest that you turn your attention elsewhere. This girl seems smitten by her shining beau. If you like, I can err, help you look for someone more suited to you," Chiranjeev told Abhirath sympathetically.

Pulling the plate closer, Abhirath lowered his head and concentrated on his food. The easy atmosphere of earlier had evaporated.

Later that night

Ishani had bid them goodnight and gone in, leaving the two love birds alone. The dinner had been slightly awkward with Yash feeling put off after seeing Mriga laughing and sharing a table with the guy who had had feelings for her for the past two years. He hadn't expected Mriga to be in touch with him now since she had quit the internship sometime back. Thankfully for him, Mriga didn't seem to have any idea about the guy's emotions and that's why he had made sure to declare his relationship in front of that guy.