Abhay’s P.O.V
I stood in the middle of the market place, admiring a couple who stood in front of a colorful bangle shop. The man wore a white tunic with loose fitting white cotton trousers and a rainbow coloured turban on his head while the woman was wearing a bright yellow and red ghagra choli. Her dupattawas hanging off of her head and that’s how I knew she was unmarried. The man was courting her and he was buying her a set of yellow and green bangles to go with her ghagra.
Taking my camera out of my bag silently, I turned the flash off and took a few quick snaps of the couple as the man placed the bangles into his girlfriend’s awaiting hands and she accepted them with a delighted smile. Surrounded by a backdrop of so many colours, they looked magnificent.
“Shouldn’t you be asking permission before you take someone’s picture?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin at that half-whispered question by my ear and my camera slipped out of my hands. I yelped and went to catch it but another person beat me to it as she plucked it out of mid air and held it in her hands to examine it.
“You came!” I sighed in relief, which was soon replaced by nervousness. God, how long will I be this intimidated by her?
“I promised, didn’t I?” She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, which was a darker shade of blonde than her silvery hair.
“Yeah…” I scratched the back of my head nervously. I hadn’t actually expected her to show up today at all. In fact, I had a feeling that she didn’t quite like me for some reason and I felt desperate to prove to her that I wasn’t as bad as she thought I was.
However, since I had no idea if I’d run into her tonight, at all…I wasn’t exactly dressed my best. But I guess that didn’t really matter, because she had already seen me in my worst, sweaty and patchy self the day she helped me find my way back to the village.
“Nice pictures.” She said as she went through the gallery. “You’ve got talent.”
“T-thank you.” Damn it! Me and my stupid nerves.
She looked up at me with her ocean blue eyes with a knowing look. Her lashes were long and dark and her lips were a natural pink that many women would envy. Today she wore a ghagra in the same colour as her eyes, the blue of the ocean on a sunny day and it was adorned with several large round shaped glass ornaments that caught the light and scattered it in all directions.
“Here,” she held out my camera towards me. “Don’t worry; you aren’t the first person to find me intimidating. It happens to a lot of people.”
My eyes widened in surprise. Was she a mind reader too? How did she know what I was thinking? Or did everyone have the same reaction to her like I did?
Realizing that I was stalling, I stretched both my hands to take the camera from her and one of my fingers brushed against hers lightly. It was the faintest of touches but the electricity that zapped through my arm felt like a thousand volts. I was lucky that I was still holding my camera after the zap I experienced.
I thought that I was probably the only one who felt it but when I looked at her, I realized that she might have felt it too. Her eyes were wide, just the tiniest of a fraction, but the surprise on her face told me what I needed to know.
There was definitely a connection there and we were both feeling it. It gave me more confidence in myself and I promised not to be such a blabbering fool around her.
“D-did you have dinner yet?” I asked her, realizing that I still needed time to build up my confidence around her when it came to chit-chats. And I wanted to change the subject so it didn’t feel awkward between us anymore.
“No.” She shook her head and kept her hands behind her back as she looked at me casually. “Did you?”
“No.” I shook my head with a small smile. “Do you want to go grab dinner? You can choose the restaurant.”
“Sure. My treat.” She shrugged but I instantly denied.
“No, I can’t have you paying for my dinner!” I told her because that was just how I was raised. A gentleman never makes a woman pay for her meal.
“Let’s just say…this is to make up for leaving so soon yesterday.” She shrugged her lean shoulders. “I don’t like to keep dues.”
Was that an insult or a compliment? I couldn’t tell from the tone of her voice but I chose to go with it. After all, it’s very rare that a girl I like shows interest in me. And Mikalya was more of a woman than a girl. Somehow, even though she looked to be in her mid-20’s, she felt older, like those old soul people you hear about but rarely get to see.
“Come on, let’s go.” Mikalya started walking towards a dhaba and I followed behind her silently, realizing later that it was the same restaurant that we had had lunch in yesterday…well, I had lunch and had to awkwardly ask the waiters to return the rest of the dishes since my company had left me.
I also realized that probably, and I hope I was right about this, Mikalya felt bad about leaving me alone yesterday and decided to show the people here that I wasn’t dumped or humiliated or rather, she really had an emergency which caused her departure.
Or…I was an utter fool and she was about to humiliate me once again. Let’s hope my luck with women had improved in that aspect…or I was going to have a hard time trusting women from now on.
“How’s your spice tolerance?” Mikalya asked out of the blue, catching me off-guard.
“Huh?” I had to blink several times to grasp her sudden change of subject, before it registered in my brain. “I can’t really handle spicy food…” I told her awkwardly as I scratched the back of my neck.
“Oh, come on! Live a little!”
Well…I would love to…but my stomach would vehemently disagree…and I couldn’t really say that to her, now could I?
When I looked up at Mikalya, she was smiling as she placed her hands under her chin.
Something about her aura felt different than yesterday. She seemed to be in a playful mood. I don’t know if it was the change in her mood that made me say it or the relaxed atmosphere that gave me the confidence, but I just blurted out what was on my mind. “Will you model for me?”
The reason for my question was very simple. Mikalya was a stunning woman and I wanted to capture her beauty with my camera. And it wouldn’t be for the public eye. I knew I was being selfish and both national and international brands would go wild to have a woman like her model for them, but I wanted to keep her hidden. I wanted her to be just my model, my muse; no one else’s.
Mikalya’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at me in awe. But something told me that she didn’t seem completely opposed to the idea. “I’ve never modeled before.”
“Why?” I was genuinely curious. “You are stunning! It’s impossible that no one has ever scouted you before! Especially with your unique looks.”
She gave me an almost rueful smile. “I don’t want attention. I just want to disappear from sight and be left alone. I’ve never been an extrovert.”
“I think I understand what you mean,” and oddly enough, I felt like I did. “You don’t seek attention, attention seeks you. And…I like collecting pictures of beautiful…extraordinary things. If you want, your pictures will be safe with me. Of course, I’ll give you a copy of all photos I take.”
“So you want me to be your personal model?” Her lips tilted up in a teasing smirk. “Kinky.”
Damn! I could feel my cheeks heat up from embarrassment instantly. “No! God no! That’s not what I meant! I’m not that kind of a person, I’m-”
Before I could finish my sentence, Mikalya burst out laughing. It wasn’t the shy, slow giggles that I had heard some women use, but a full on throaty laughter that made you want to smile along with her. Her face transformed from beautiful to drop-dead gorgeous as she laughed, making a few heads turn towards her in interest.
“I’m sorry.” She said, wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. “But it was fun messing with you. I haven’t laughed like that in ages.”
“I see.” I still felt warmth on my cheeks but I was smiling too. I don’t know what this woman was doing to me, but I didn’t want it to stop. Because I hadn’t felt like this in ages either.
Something about her made me want to keep her close, to see her smiling like this forever. I had no idea who she was, other than her name, Mikalya. I had strange dreams every morning and they oddly made me remember her. And when I was close to her, when I looked into her eyes…it made the whole world stand still.
I’d never believed in love at first sight until I met her and even now, as my heart raced in my chest as we all but enjoyed a simple dinner together and chatted about absolutely nothing important…I felt like I never wanted this moment to end.
It was like…I could almost picture us together, in that faraway snowy land, holding hands and staring into that waterfall…
I had no idea where that thought or that image came from, but it was so vivid and real that it took me a second to respond when she finally spoke to me again, when we had almost neared the end of our meal.
“Alright. Tomorrow then.” She told me suddenly.
“Tomorrow?” I asked, confused, having to suddenly snap back to reality.
“Let’s have your kinky photoshoot tomorrow.” She smiled. “I would like to get to know you better.”