The heavy breeze filled the air and made all the trees sway to its beats. The rustling of the leaves against each other along with the sound of the wind made the whole garden feel like a symphony performance. And Adam was there in the middle of it staring at nothing in particular. He stood there and just listened to the sound all around. It gave him a sense of peace. There were few people here and there. But not much.
But his alone time of interrupted when he felt someone put their hand on his shoulders calling him out. He turned around and was met with Shreya's concerned eyes.
Adam was the only other level headed person in the group other than Shreya herself. Zack was good when it came to strategies and stuff but he also had a short temper. So you can't really call him level headed. But Shreya and Adam were different. They thought long and hard before they ever said anything. That is why somehow they were always the first people to notice anything wrong with anyone around them.
They were observant. Guess it comes with not letting their emotions rule them.
That is why Shreya also knew something was not right.
"What's up, Adam?? What is wrong??" Shreya asked him concerned.
At last, Adam also let him guard down and leaned on Shreya's shoulders. The downside of level-headedness was also overthinking.
From the moment he heard Preethi won't be in the hospital for a couple of days and realizing he won't have the opportunity to meet her again, Adam was driving himself crazy with overthinking.
Since he was no good with romance, he did not really know how to gauge his own emotions. He did not know why he felt so lost and sad and disappointed at thought of not being able to see her on a daily basis?? He knew where she worked, so he should be able to visit her if need be… he knew that… but why?? Why did he want to meet her??
Shreya ran her hands over the back of her head comfortingly but stayed quiet. She knew he would start talking when he was well and ready.
After a while, they were both sitting side by side on the park bench. They were in the hospital garden. As soon as the finishing eating, both idiots fell asleep snoring on his bed all over again while Zack left because of some work. Adam came out to get some quiet while Shreya just followed him out concerned.
"Dr. Preethi is on a vacation. I don't know if I will be able to see her before discharging!!" Adam said straight out of the bat in a very soft voice that was barely audible.
Shreya looked at him and asked, "And??"
"I like her Shreya. I don't even know if she is available or if she reciprocates it or if she will ever give me a chance. I don't even know if this is what 'like' feels like. But the thought of not being able to ever see her or talk to her, it is not sitting well with me" Adam confessed once again without beating around the bush.
Shreya's brows scrunched as she listened to him. She looked at him confused and asked, "Don't you think you are confessing to the wrong person??"
Adam turned towards her sharply and looked at her as if she grew a horn or something and asked, "I can't just go and say all this to HER??" He gave special emphasis to the term 'her' to make sure Shreya understood there was only one 'her' and it was Preethi.
"Why not??" Shreya asked once again confused and he could see she was not being comical.
Adam just looked at her completely dumbstruck.
"How can I Shreya??? She doesn't know me?? I just saw her maybe 5 times and didn't talk two sentences straight each time?? What if she ends up thinking I am some obsessive freak or worse a pervert??" He asked blinking at her vigorously.
Shreya, of course, looked at him as if he was the king of idiots!!
"So you are going to just let things go??" She asked arching her brows at him.
"No… of course not," Adam said instantly but did not know how to continue that sentence.
"Then what are you going to do??" Shreya asked once again.
Adam puffed a sigh and slouched defeated.
"I don't know…" He mumbled after a while.
Shreya rested her arm on his slouched back and ruffled his hands a little bit.
"You can't know her if you're not going to talk to her. You are definitely not going to know what it is that you feel for her without spending time with her." She said slowly.
Adam just nodded his head agreeing with her.
"I am not asking you to make any promises or profuse your undying love for her. Just go talk to her. Don't just keep eyeing her with intense stares. You should be able to do that right??" Shreya asked giving him an amused look.
Adam smiled and nodded at last. When she actually put it like that, all his overthinking and nervousness and the lost sleep…. All of it felt like a joke in retrospect. He felt slightly stupid even but then Shreya always had that effect on people around her all the time. How it came to be, no one knew. But she just had that effect on people.
"How did you do it??" Adam asked curiously. He never really questioned her about her boyfriend. No one really did. They were all so astonished that she had one at last that they never thought of asking all these questions nor did she come to anyone for advice.
How she managed it was a mystery since she was as oblivious to the term romance as he was. She was someone who did not really know how to act coy or talk sweet. She was always very straight forward with her words. He knew that better than anyone. So he was suddenly curious as to how she was able to woo Charan.
Shreya then started describing their first meeting briefly.
"And then before getting out of the car, I just told him I like him and gave him my number." She finished with a proud smile.
"You are telling me you just told a guy you liked him straight to face after spending two hours with him?? And that too after getting an hour's worth of sleep in between??" Adam asked looking at her dubiously.
"Yep…" Shreya said bobbing her head. Her smile never faltered.
"And you dragged him to the roof right after meeting him??" He asked once again.
Shreya nodded again. But a frown formed on her brows not understanding why he was repeating everything she just said had happened.
"Something wrong with that??" She asked.
"Nothing… nothing is wrong with that except for the fact that you must have probably scared the crap out of him…" Adam said rolling his eyes.
In western countries, this was probably not a big deal. But in a country where 90% of the marriages are arranged by the families and where sometimes the girls are not even allowed to talk to the guy before the marriage, what Shreya did was just… Let's just say it was disconcerting and perturbing.
Here, a relationship starts, it had to end up in marriage. Though things are changing but not by much. But still love marriages are a luxury only a small section of families allow and even fewer give the liberty to their kids to explore and know what kind of a person they want in their lives.
So you can see why Adam was so nervous to approach Preethi or why he was looking at Shreya so weirdly. Because here a guy approaching a girl is a shame for her and some presume that it was somehow her fault that he was provoked.
He just silently prayed the Preethi was not from one such family.