Lights of Eternity
Part - 7: You & I are Chemistry

The month of September arrived with a shower of unexpected rains, that made the plants look greener, left several under-construction roads in a pool of water, and made people crave a cup of warm tea. The muddy ground didn’t deter a group of boys from snatching few minutes to play before their school started for the day. The orange basketball rose high in air, then raced to the earth compelled by gravitational pull, splashing in a puddle of water and the man walking nearby yelped as the muddy water soiled his pristine white shirt. The boys rushed forward to apologize immediately and the middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, smiled, forgiving graciously.

A detestable harsh sound shattered the tranquility of the morning as Rakesh sir rode in on his antique blue scooter and yelled at the playing boys, “aee… andar jao sab log. School hai yeh. Jab dekho tab bas khel-kud.” His annoyance increased as his eyes fell upon the man, who was standing near his parking place, trying to clean mud-stained clothes, “Idhar kyun khade hai? Kaun hai aap? Aur yeh kapde kaise gande ho gaye? Dikhta nai kya kichad?”

The man looked up, taken aback by the impolite tone, “Ji main woh Sameer Maheshwari…”

“Achcha to yeh sab Sameer ne kiya. Awara ameerzada kahinka”, interrupted Rakesh, “Aaj to main iski achche se khabar leta hun. Aap fikar mat kariye bhaisaab, chaliye mere saath principal sir ke paas”

The man tried to say something, but Rakesh took his arm and guided him through the corridors continuously assuring him of the several punishments he would dish out to the bigdail baalo ki dukaan.

Naina was pinning up a sheet of paper on the noticeboard in the corridor, when she saw her father almost dragging a man, the man was still trying to say something. “Kya hua papa?”, Naina asked concerned, more for the stranger than her father.

“Papa nahi sir. Kitni baar bola hai ke school me main sirf sir hun. Khair woh sab chod, chal mere saath principal sir ke paas”, Rakesh ordered thinking he can leverage the head disciplinary monitor to lay out the truth better.

“Sir… yeh dekhiye kya ho raha hai school me subah subah”, Rakesh sir voiced furiously, “ab to aapko kuch karna hi padega.” Principal sir looked up confused, and a flash of irritation crossed his face. “Haanji ab kya hua Rakeshji?”, he was getting tired of the librarian’s constant complains.

“Kya hua… ab bhi aap puch rahe hai kya hua. Dekhiye uss ameerzaade ne kya kiya”, Rakesh sir pulled the man in-front, “yeh bhaisaab ke kapdo pe kichad uda diya. Hamehsa itni speed se bike chalata hai par aap kuch bolte nai ho. Uss din to mera pair bhi jal gaya uske wajah se fir bhi aapne use koi sazaa nai di.”

Naina stilled, confusion turning into derision, understanding that the matter was related to Sameer, she wouldn’t support her father against him, not anymore. Rakesh sir was so eager to punish Sameer, that he himself asked the peon to get him from the classroom. Principal sir tried to pacify, “par Rakheshji ab aapka pair bike pe lagke jal gaya to usme Sameer ki kya galti thi”, then turning his attention to the stranger he asked, “Aap kaun hai? Aur yeh Sameer ne kiya hai?”, indicating his clothes

“Ji main Manohar Joshi. Asal me main to Sameer…”, the stranger started to say only to be cut off by Rakesh again. “Sir, main keh raha hun na yeh Sameer ne hi kiya hai, inhone bataya mujhe. Aur Naina bhi thi wahan”, he said knowing his daughter would never defy him.

“Naina, tumne dekha kya Sameer ko wahan, inke kapde kharab karte hue?”, Principal sir asked believing that Naina wouldn’t lie.

Naina took a deep breath, “Sir main to aapka diya hua notice laga rahi thi, mujhe nai pata yeh sab kaise hua.” Rakesh turned in shock, he opened his mouth to yell at her, when a loud knock sounded. Everybody turned to see an amused Sameer standing at the door.

He stepped in after seeking permission, he had been watching the drama since the last minute and was amazed at the way Naina had spoken up instead of meekly accepting what her father said. He had known she wouldn’t complain wrongly about him, but he had not been prepared for the outright defying of her father’s statement. He had a pretty good idea how much courage she must have gathered to do that, yet she had done it for him, he wanted to hold her hand right there, lend her some support, but instead he turned towards the stranger, extending his hand, “Good Morning Mr. Joshi. Aap itni jaldi yahan par? Maine to dopahar me bulaya tha aapko.”

Mr. Joshi shook his hand, bowing slightly, “Good Morning Sir. Actually, yeh contract urgently bhejna padega hume”, he juggled a couple of files, “main aapse hi milne aaya tha lekin bahar kuch ladke khel rahe the na to unse galti se mere kapdo pe kichad udd gaya. Main kabse yahi batane ki koshish kar raha hun, lekin…”, he trailed eyeing Rakesh in annoyance.

Sameer barely suppressed a smile as the man handed over a file of documents to him for his signature. It was the contract of the recent business deal he had clinched during his Mumbai trip, his first independent successful deal, Nanu would have been proud. Naina watched him proudly, she knew how important this success was for him, he had changed so much since she had first met him; gone was the careless boy, this was a man who knew what he wanted in life and worked for it. His brow furrowed as he read the legal jargons, he still had the habit of slightly biting the corner of his lip when concentrating on something, he stood with a confidence that told her he knew exactly what he was doing, when he stretched out his hand a pen was automatically uncapped and placed in his upturned palm; convenience, respect, and he had started earning his share of it, just like Nanu wanted him to. Sameer scanned through the terms and signed on the dotted line, while Rakesh looked on with a dejected expression at not being successful in punishing him. “Do you have the other file I had asked for?”, Sameer enquired, the man nodded, handing over another file and cheque book to him. Sameer signed those papers as well, and then wrote out a cheque for a sum substantial enough that had Rakesh raise his eyebrows in surprise. The clincher to Rakhesh’s embarrassment however was when Sameer handed over the cheque to principal sir for buying the new electronics and sports supplies required for their school.

Since he had taken up the reins of Nanu’s business, a couple of other responsibilities had tagged along with it, and one of them was that he was now a student as well as a trustee of his own school. As the cheque exchanged hands, a camera would have been the most appropriate to capture the varied expressions in the room – gratitude and happiness on principal sir’s face, misery and barely controlled anger on Rakesh sir’s face, but Sameer only had eyes for the pride reflecting from Naina’s eyes and the loving smile on her lips.

As they walked back to their classroom together, he couldn’t resist brushing his fingers along her hand, and she couldn’t hold back the shiver and blush, a sensation from his touch.

Sameer tossed and turned on his bed at night, lost in his thoughts, a notepad with scribbling etched across it lying nearby. Just like the changes in him, his room had also undergone some changes, the desk was more organized and had several files along with books, Julia Roberts still adorned the walls, but so did pictures of Nanu and him, his bedside table now held a golden bordered frame with Naina & his photo from Mt. Abu. He picked up the photo frame, recalling the beautiful trip, “soch to liya tumhe surprise dunga, but kuch samajh nai aa raha ke kya karu tumhare birthday pe”, he sighed placing the frame near him, then finally fell asleep holding the pillow.

He had thought of and discarded many ideas; gifting her lots of flowers, buying a special dress for her, maybe even a piece of jewelry, taking her out for a movie. He could do all of these for her, but they were all common things, he wanted to do something extra special. The special idea however hadn’t graced his brain yet. Munna and Pandit were equally clueless, though they did give the idea of asking Swati and Preeti, but Sameer rejected it, thinking they won’t be able to hide it from Naina.

Exactly a week before her birthday, Naina gave him a rare day off from after school study session. On such days, the whole gang would spend time in school together and the boys would bring some snacks and cold drinks from outside. Today however Sameer had sent all of them off to buy snacks, so he could spend some time with Naina. He walked along the corridors looking for her, still at fail to come up with any proper idea, his worry was now turning into frustration. He wanted the day to be extremely special for her, but he was unable to think how to go about it. A faint sound of glasses clinking caught his attention, and he spied Naina fluttering about in the chemistry lab. He sauntered in, “what are you doing here?”

Naina barely held on to the test tube that was about to slide from her nerveless fingers, “Sameer… you scared me. Knock to karte.”

He grinned, taking the fragile glass piece from her equally fragile hands and placing it in the rack safely, “did I scare you? Come let me calm you down”, he pulled her into his arms.

Naina smiled, her face pressed against his chest, “Sameer, leave me. Someone will see us.”

“School is over, everyone left. And no one comes into chemistry lab now, except my Miss Topper”, he affirmed not letting her escape from his arms.

“I was just setting things in place, Sir asked me to do it before I leave”, she tentatively draped her arms around him snuggling closer.

Sameer hummed, not feeling the need for any words, he just wanted to soak in the feeling of holding her close. It had been quite a few days now since he had held her like this, he picked up one plaited lock of hair, and rubbed the silky strands between his fingers.

“Naina, what do you like the most?”, he asked, thinking it might give him some idea for her birthday.

“You”, came the sound of her voice muffled against his chest.

He chuckled, “anything else?” She tilted her head back to look at him, eyes narrowed in suspicion, “why are you asking?”

Uh oh, not good. I can’t let her suspect anything. Aloud he said, “I was just talking to distract myself from kissing you”, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

Her eyes widened, and she slapped his arm lightly. He laughed, tucking a loose fluttering strand behind her ear, then dipped his head and placed a quick peck on her cheek.

She blushed furiously, turning around to organize the apparatus on the table again. Yes, she had kissed him first, then she hadn’t let him pull back, but she still felt extremely shy at the thought. She trusted him, completely, its just that she didn’t know how to deal with what had happened. After that day, they hardly had any time together, their friends were always with them, but now they were here, just the two of them, her heart was racing, she felt shaky.

Sameer looked at her adoringly. He remembered how she hadn’t let him step away, how she had kissed him back with equal fervor, he had been completely swept away by her boldness. Yet there still was this side of her, she was blushing, so shy that she wasn’t even meeting his eyes, he knew what was going through her mind, after all this was the first time they were meeting like this after that day. Well, he shouldn’t let the opportunity slip from his hands, he thought, and moving forward placed his hands on either side of her on the table, effectively caging her in his arms. He could kiss her now, he knew he could, she wouldn’t stop him, but he wanted her to come to him, to give herself without holding back. He knew what he needed, after all it was all about chemistry – a careful eye, patience, and a low flame – the essential for a successful experiment.

Naina stiffened for a moment, her heart almost stopped beating, then she felt his warm breath against her neck as he simply placed his head on her shoulder. He didn’t kiss her, didn’t hug her, just stood like that letting her calm down. He was completely attuned to her, observing her minutest reactions. Eventually, she relaxed, leaning against him, he wrapped one arm around her, still leaning on the table with his other hand, and she placed her trembling hands on top of his, her fingers tightening on his warm wrist. He could see her breathing heavily, the delicate red still adorning her face was tempting him, so he nuzzled closer and let his lips touch the skin just below her ear. His heart was beating violently, desire a slow burn inside him, just that simple touch from her could set him on fire.

Her heart was thundering now, she kept waiting for him to kiss her, to pull her to him properly, but he didn’t. He just stood there like that, his lips warm on her skin, his hand spanning across her waist. Minutes stretched, warming her blood by degrees, until she surrendered, turning in his arms, pressing herself to him. Sameer smiled, turning on the spot to sit on the edge of the wobbly table, the conical flasks teetered clinking against each other. He pulled her in between his legs, holding her against him, her palms warm on his chest. The pungent smell of acetone was replaced with the clean sweet fragrance of her, and he inhaled deeply, the energy real and unforced, the magic of their bond making his pulse thrum to the tunes of her melody.

Patience, Sameer reminded himself. But the flame wasn’t as low as it had been. He took her hand linking their fingers. Something in his touch and in his eyes, made her skin tingle, as she watched him lift her hand to his lips, kissing each of her finger.

Her eyes lowered, she pulled back her hand, returning it to its resting place on his chest, “tum bahot bure ho”, she murmured.

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “jaanta hun.” She could hear the triumph vibrating in his voice at having her exactly where he wanted to. But she didn’t look at him, not until his hand was on her cheek, urging her to.

It was just as it had been the first time. And yet it was nothing like it. This time she knew exactly how she would feel, how she would want, when he kissed her. She knew he would touch her hair before he drew her close. She knew her mind would cloud, and her pulse would quicken.

She knew, but it still stunned her.

He felt as though he had waited forever. As if it hadn’t been merely weeks since he had first kissed her. She had been under his skin, inside his heart, for as long as he could remember. A dream, a half-formed wish that had only taken one look at her heart-broken tears to click solidly into place.

It was so right. Somehow it was exactly right when his mouth found hers. He framed her face, drawing out the moment, so that they would both remember. Her hands on his chest balled into fists, gripping his shirt. His lips on her were gentle, persuading, savoring. Here was the serenity and sweetness that he craved for.

“Idea!”, Sameer exclaimed suddenly lifting his head, as the extra special idea clicked in his clouded mind.

“Wh…what?”, her dazed eyes opened in confusion.

He looked at her and realized he had spoken aloud. “Uh… I was just… ermm…”, he stammered trying to think of a way out. She kept looking at him, blinking, the haze of the kiss was clearing from her eyes, he gulped, then grinned impishly as his brain landed upon an escape route.

Lowering his head, he returned to her mouth, “I just thought of several different ideas to kiss you”, he whispered against her lips. Without waiting for her reply, he captured her lower lip, sipping at it, making her shiver, her eyes closed again. He kissed the corners of her mouth repeatedly, her grip on his shirt tightened, holding on. He showered her with quick kisses, that had her lift on her toes, searching for more. He explored her mouth, leisurely, softly, deeply, thoroughly, until her arms wound around his neck, her fingers burying in his hair, and she trembled. The slant of the afternoon sun reflected off the glass apparatus, birdsong trilled outside, the quick leap of hearts, the slow sound of mutual pleasure, a reaction from contact, as their lips sought and surrendered, two souls, two substances forever intoxicated.