Only Mine
Chapter 11: Confused Feelings

The day of fair dawned bright and clear, and there was an undertone of anticipation in the air. The weather had started to be milder already even though it was still just the beginning of February; the wind felt less cold, the sky looked clearer. Naina stood at the balcony drawing a deep breath of the clean fresh air, and thought about the day that was starting. Fair…!! Just the word made her feel excited, after so many days of efforts finally they would be seeing the vision come true this evening.

The full day was reserved for fair; preparations in morning and then the actual fair in evening since 4pm. Rides had been installed in the big area near St. Peters, gaming counters were set up, food stalls were ready to open already. Students from both the school had tried to put in every effort to create the best fair. And personally also each of the students were putting in thoughts and effort too to get ready for the evening, for most of the students especially from PVKM it was a rare event to get permission to stay out until so late. Preeti and Naina were no exceptions as they selected the best of their dresses for the evening; they had planned to get ready in St. Peters itself as they won’t have time to come back home and then go again.

As she happily cycled to Sameer’s school later in the morning, she didn’t think as to why she, who usually wouldn’t spend even two minutes to think how a dress looked on her, had spent so much time on deciding about her dress and look this evening. She had even mixed water in her hair oil so that her hair would look sticky enough to Taiji, but when the water dried her hair would look normal as the proportion of oil was less. The tube of lipstick in her bag was hidden in between the books at the last moment, and she had even packed a golden beaded bracelet. For the first time in her life she wanted to look good and was ready to put effort to get ready, but she didn’t think as to why she was doing all that.

When she and Preeti reached St. Peters, Sameer entered behind them honking twice, and Naina immediately turned to be blessed with a broad grin from him. He parked exactly behind her, and wished, “good morning!”

She smiled, “good morning… ready?”

His eyebrow quirked, “for what?”

“For fair”, she replied, “what else?”

“What would I know?”, he teased, “maybe you wanted to ask me out for a date.”

“In your dreams Mr. Maheshwari”, she rolled her eyes and started walking. Preeti also moved on with Munna and Pandit.

Sameer chuckled, “if I dream of a girl, it wouldn’t be of a date.”

She frowned, “then what?”

He removed in sunglasses, eyeing her with mischief, “maybe a kiss…”

“Ass”, she muttered and looked away, not understanding the nervousness she felt at the mention of a kiss. He laughed aloud, but missed the fact that she didn’t utter her trademark gross this time.

The morning was extremely busy as everyone rushed around trying to add the final touches to the fair-ground – putting up banners, twisting ribbons, tucking decorative flowers, spreading colorful clothes over game counters, checking the bamboo barricades, making sure the name of two schools were visible all throughout the ground. Packed lunches of sandwiches and samosa were arranged for the students along with cream rolls and biscuits. Naina kept sorting the gaming gifts with one hand while she ate a cream roll with another hand, Sameer saw this and sat beside her to help her, but as he did so she automatically held out her hand to him thinking that he was there to eat. He smiled at her absentminded state, but held her hand lightly, biting into the half-eaten cream roll, and used is other hand to wipe the crumbs that were stuck to her lips. Surprised she looked up at him and grinned, somehow not at all finding it odd, and he too smiled back gesturing her to eat while he helped her.

At around 2pm the teachers asked the students to get ready and be back by 3:30pm so that all of them are there to open the fair. Naina still kept working, saying she didn’t need so much time to get ready, but Sameer left sharp at 2pm, eager to wear the new shirt he had bought specially for the fair. By the time he came back, dressed in a shiny new purple silk shirt, Naina was arranging the ketchup and mint sauce bottles at a food counter. He looked around for her, and then immediately went up to where she was arranging stuff, calling out for her, “Naina!”

She hummed still occupied, placing squeeze bottles of ketchup, and didn’t look at him. He waited for a moment, hoping she would look and appreciate his new shirt, excited to see her reaction, but when she didn’t look he lost patience and grabbed her arm, turning her to him.

“Wh…what…”, she stammered as she was pulled and turned suddenly, and her eyes squeezed shut in fear of falling, but along with that her hands also clenched on the bottle, unfortunately squeezing a large amount of ketchup on Sameer.

He yelped and left her hand, stepping back, but the damage was done… His neck and the front of his shirt were covered in ketchup; some of the red liquid even smearing his sleeve. He looked down at himself in dismay; his brand new shirt soiled with ketchup, and felt the haze of red anger swim before his eyes. A few students tittered from back, laughing at his state; the mocking voices seared through him and he missed the gasping apology from Naina.

He glanced up at her in anger, and yelled, “what is wrong with you? Can’t you hear and see?”

“I… Sameer…”, she stammered, “I am so…”

He didn’t let her finish as he continued raging, “I have been trying to call for so much time, but you are hell bent on being the perfect student… Now look what you did… This was a new shirt…”

She tried to speak again, but he interrupted, “if you don’t want to get ready for evening then so be it, what was the need to spoil my shirt?”

She gasped in outrage, “stop yelling at me… It was not my fault. You pulled me.”

He threw his hands up in frustration, “oh great now… it was my fault again… if you are expecting me to apologize for disturbing your precious work then you are mad. I am not going to apologize, but you wait and see what I will do…”

Naina tried to calm him down as he looked about for something, she didn’t know what, but she wanted to explain to him that she hadn’t done anything on purpose. However, all her words were in vain as he didn’t hear anything in anger, and to her shock he grabbed an egg from the stall, and cracked it on her head. She stood frozen as the smelly slimy liquid dripped from her hair to the side of her face and onto her uniform. The people around them laughed harder now, more than they had laughed at Sameer, and Naina came out of her petrified state, realizing what he had done to her. She pulled out her handkerchief, trying to get rid of the smelly liquid dripping all over her face, and her eyes watered in mortification and disappointment. She had never imagined that Sameer would humiliate her like this. Trying to blink her tears, she looked at him, and asked, “what problem do you have with my hair? Why do you always spoil it?”

He didn’t understand what she meant by always, but the tears in her eyes disturbed him, and his anger was slowly replaced with realization of his act, and he could hear the people laughing around them. He had felt angry when they were laughing on his state, but now he felt rage shoot through him because he understood they were laughing at Naina. Turning around he glared at a few of them, and snapped, “shut up! It’s not an entertainment show… Leave us alone.”

By this time Preeti, Swati and Kamya had come over to Naina, and were helping her clean up using some tissues, and to his dismay Naina was still crying silently. He gulped, feeling as if something had clogged in his chest. God… why couldn’t he just control his temper ever? It was just a shirt… he could change it… Yes, he had wanted to wear this specific shirt, but still… Anyways he looked good in whatever he wore; it shouldn’t have mattered so much. What was the need to be so angry as to spoil her hair like this?

An egg… Really Sameer? Could you have humiliated her any more than this?

He inched towards her, intending to apologize and tell her that he knew she hadn’t spoiled his shirt on purpose. But, her friends glared at him, and Kamya said, “don’t cry Naina. It will wash off.”

Naina hiccupped a bit, still valiantly trying to control her tears, “it might wash off… but the smell… Taiji will kill me.”

Sameer felt his heart lurch at her words… Who was her Taiji? And why would she be so angry about the smell? His unasked question was answered by Preeti, “she is right… you know we don’t eat eggs. It will be a big problem… she will hit Naina.”

He couldn’t stop himself from speaking, “what the hell! No one will hit Naina… I will speak to this Taiji of yours, whoever she is…”

Swati fixed her solemn but serious gaze on him, “you have done enough damage already. Now stay away.”

He ignored her and began to speak, “Naina…”, but Kamya interrupted, “Naina, listen… my papa is going to come to pick me up because I am getting ready at home. You also come with me, wash your hair at my house, no one will mind egg’s smell. And I have good shampoos that can get rid of the smell too.”

Naina looked up with hope in her eyes, “really? Will it be gone?”

Kamya nodded, and then took hold of her arm, “c’mon let’s go.”

Munna and Pandit came up to them, but the girls ignored them and walked away. Puzzled by this Pandit asked, “what’s wrong with them? Kamya was paying heed to my advances and now she is again not looking at me.”

“And what happened to your shirt?”, Munna asked.

“I messed up”, Sameer muttered, dragging a hand through his hair, “I messed up bad.”

Sameer didn’t talk much to Munna and Pandit, but gave them an overview of what had happened, and then felt that rather than moping around with a ketchup smeared shirt he could just go home to quickly change and come back. He kept on cursing himself as he drove back home, wondering if he would ever stop messing up things in anger, and he didn’t understand why he was thinking so much about his anger issues now when before this he had never been bothered about it. Usually he was very particular and choosy about his clothes, but today he didn’t even pay much attention to what he was grabbing from the cupboard, his mind still on Naina’s teary eyes, he pulled out the first shirt-pant he found and dressed up after a quick shower.

At the other end in Kamya’s house Naina had taken a long warm shower, washing her hair thoroughly with a fragrant shampoo that Kamya had bought from her trip to Mumbai, and surprisingly after three washes the smell of egg was indeed gone. She had even washed her body meticulously with honey scented soap, a luxury she had never experienced before. Trying hard to keep her thoughts away from Sameer, she wiped off and dressed up in the pink-gold long frock she had chosen for this occasion. It was a frock that she had bought for her elder sister’s wedding function, and she felt that it was perfect for this festive day. Also it was the only festive costume she had that was not a salwar-kameez. As she sat in-front of the mirror and hooked a delicate chain around her neck, somehow her eyes watered again…

You would not know if Sameer liked your dress.

Her own reaction puzzled her. Why was she thinking so much about Sameer? Why did she want to know about his thoughts on her dress or how she looked? Why did it matter to her? He had humiliated her today, yet she was thinking only of him.

Because you know he did it in anger.

And that was her pathetic heart which always kept finding the good in Sameer… But not today. Today she won’t listen to her heart. Today she wouldn’t forgive him. She dragged a deep breath and decided that she would not pay attention to Sameer and enjoy the fair with her friends. Determined she began to tie up her hair, but Swati stopped her, “what are you doing? You can’t tie your hair when it is wet.”

Naina frowned, “it will take long time to dry and we can’t just sit around till then.”

“I have a hair dryer, but it isn’t working since some days”, Kamya sighed, “still trying to find someone who can repair it.”

Preeti chirped in, “why don’t you leave it open?”

“Open!” Naina gasped, “Taiji will…”

“Taiji is not going to see”, Preeti interrupted, “just tie up before we go home… simple.”

It was simple indeed, thought Naina, and looked at herself in the mirror. Could she leave it open? Her hair was still styled in the way Preeti had cut it last year, and open hair did look good. She smiled and nodded at her sister, combing her hair, and letting it hang open in thick waves. At Kamya’s insistence she applied eye-liner and some colored powder blush on her eyelids to make them shine, and also pink lipstick. She looked different even to her own eyes… This was the first time she had got ready outside of a family function. Kamya’s father came to drop the four girls, and all the time in car Naina tried to stop herself from thinking that all her dressing up was waste as she won’t be spending time with Sameer.

Sameer had arrived fifteen minutes ago, and had immediately started searching for Naina, but she and her friends were not there. He even asked Munna if he had seen them and he answered in negative. He walked through the entire ground, ignoring Tanvi who had dressed up in some kind of short skirt and off-shoulder top, her bare legs didn’t make him stop and stare at all even though she had more of her legs visible than Naina ever had. Finally after ten minutes of searching he concluded that Naina hadn’t arrived yet.

Another fifteen minutes later when he was talking with Munna and Pandit near a game counter, he had a sudden uncontrollable urge to look towards the entrance, and he did… His heart leaped, eyes widened, mouth fell open, and the papers he had in his hand dropped uselessly to the ground. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing… Naina was entering the grounds surrounded by her friends, she was wearing a long flowy pink dress, strappy sandals, and her open hair was bouncing in the wind. She laughed on something Kamya said, and the musical sound reached his ears making some tingling sensation spread along his whole body. And then she looked straight meeting his eye… It was as if all his blood cells went numb, he stopped breathing, the atmosphere around him also froze and then as she looked away suddenly his breath left his lungs in a whoosh, some electrical charge zinged through his body, and the frozen surroundings was noisy and lively again.

What’s happening to you Sameer?

He didn’t know… All he knew in that moment was that Naina looked absolutely beautiful; in fact she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen… How was it possible? Maybe this was not Naina… this could be some duplicate… Hadn’t he seen it in movies…? One innocent looking girl would have a more beautiful, smarter, and modern twin. Ya… this was an apt scenario. But then what were Naina’s friends doing with her? Couldn’t they tell the difference? His Naina was simple and sweet, with oily hair and socks till knees; this duplicate Naina was beautiful to look at, fashionable, and wore strappy sandals. For God’s sake she has even applied lipstick… Nope, this surely wasn’t his Naina.

Your Naina… Sameer, what is that?

He didn’t pay attention to the question in his mind, because there was a more serious matter at hand. Someone had replaced the original Naina with a duplicate, and he needed to get to the root of this impostor. He looked around for his friends and saw that they were also staring open-mouthed at the bunch of girls. Inching towards them he discreetly whispered, “did you see that?”

Pandit nodded, “yes… she is looking hot.”

“Stop staring at Kamya”, Sameer reprimanded.

Pandit blinked and looked at his friend, still dazed, “I am talking about Naina.”

Sameer felt an irrational surge of anger, “don’t call her hot… and she is not Naina.”

Munna tore his eyes away from the girls, and stared at Sameer in confusion, “what do you mean that is not Naina? Are you blind? It is her… and Pandit is right… she is looking hot.”

“I said don’t call her that”, Sameer seethed, “if someday Naina looks hot, I will tell her that… not you two… not anyone else… but that”, he pointed at the pink clad girl in distance, “that is not Naina… she is an impostor… My Naina doesn’t dress up like that.”

Munna and Pandit glanced once at each other, and then Pandit slowly asked, “your Naina?”

Sameer stiffened a bit… Had he said that aloud? Trying to divert his friends, he said, “that’s not important… look at her… we need to know who is she.”

Munna shook his head, and patted his friend’s back, “you have gone mad… if you feel that’s not your Naina, go and check.”

Sameer glared at his friends, and thought they were mad to not believe him, but then decided to check for himself. He walked over to the bunch of girls chattering animatedly with Mansi, and tapped Naina’s impostor on her shoulder. She looked back at him, and scowled, then turned to talk to the girls again ignoring him completely.

Yep… not your Naina… else she wouldn’t ignore you.

He smiled in relief at the deduction but then remembered that she was angry on him, so he reluctantly tapped her again.

She turned to glare at him, “what?”

He frowned and asked, “who are you?”

The remaining girls looked puzzled, while the impostor glared even more, “who am I? Really? The egg cracked on my head… why is your brain affected?” Then she thoughtfully added, “oh wait… there has to be a brain in your head for any effect… I forgot that the top floor is only full of useless temper. Go away Sameer, I don’t want to talk to you.”

His eyes widened… Oh my God… This was Naina… His Naina… Only well… she didn’t look like his Naina. Hesitating a bit he asked again, “are you sure?”

She dragged a deep breath as if trying to calm herself, and then folded her arms, “yes I am sure I don’t want to talk to you.”

Her movement of arms drew his gaze down, and he gulped… the way she folded her arms accentuated her breasts, and dear God… they were… they were… No No… He should not be thinking of such things about an impostor. So he moved his eyes up again to her face, and asked, “no… I mean… Are you sure you are Naina?”

She rolled her eyes, “who else do you think I am?”

He looked at her, trying to reconcile her features with the Naina he knew… her lips looked different because of lipstick, her hair was oil free, her whole face looked softer and more appealing because of open hair, when she blinked he could see the eyeliner and something shiny on her eyelids, but her eyes… they were the same whiskey brown… big and pretty… and his last thought was, they were just as hypnotic yet, as he found himself lost.

Naina stood there wondering why he was staring at her so intently, she fidgeted a bit, but then his gaze locked with hers and just like few other times she forgot everything around her except him. A loud bang from a nearby game stall brought her out of her senses. Someone had burst a balloon… A teacher scolded he boy asking him to fix a new one as guests would start to arrive soon, and everything should be proper.

Sameer ignored the teacher and other students, his attention still focused on the girl in-front of him… Good God… This was Naina. He was sure now because he had never lost himself in anyone else’s eyes. Only her hypnotic eyes had the capability to do that to him. Damn… She looked so… Hot…! Yes! She did… He could have never thought she could look like this… The dress fitted her like second skin, the pink and gold color complimented her skin tone, and the v-neck was just… well… eye-catching… And who knew she was hiding a pair of breasts like that under her frumpy uniform. And her hair… How could she turn from plain and innocent to beautiful and hot just by leaving her hair open… What kind of mystical powers did she possess?

Shanti madam called from a distance, “let’s go kids… the sponsors will be here soon. We need to welcome them.”

As the girls started to leave, Sameer caught Naina’s hand, “Naina…”

She stopped, but so did the other girls. Usually he would have stayed quiet in-front of others, but today he didn’t bother, because he knew he had been wrong… If he had humiliated her in-front of others, he ought to apologize like that too. He dragged a shaky breath, and said, “I am sorry…”

Her eyes widened in surprise, and he knew she understood the magnitude of what he had done. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something but Preeti grabbed her hand and pulled her away. His only solace was that while walking away she turned back to look at him one. He smiled… He knew she hadn’t forgiven him yet, but he also knew that she would… because she was Naina… she understood him like no one else ever had.

“Did you just say sorry in-front of a bunch of people?” Munna asked as he came up to him along with Pandit.

Sameer knew his friends also understood, and so he ignored the question, “forget it… look, the sponsors are here… let’s go.”

Within thirty more minutes the ground was fairly crowded. People came in with kids, eager for this off-season unexpected fair, and the students of PVKM and St. Peters were delighted to see the turnaround. There was still a lot of time left in evening which meant that more people would come in… they could easily see that the fair was already a success. People wandered around, enjoying and the students also finally let go, hoping to have a fun-filled evening. Sameer kept following Naina around, and when she stopped for a quick drink of water, he went behind her, and whispered, “I am sorry Naina… please.”

She choked on her drink, coughing, and he immediately took the glass away from her, patting her back. Regaining her composure, she stared at him furiously, and as if in a trace he lifted his hand to wipe her mouth. But she swatted his hand away and wiped her own mouth, careful of not smudging the lipstick. Then throwing an angry glare at him, she walked away, while Sameer watched her, thinking where did she learn to sashay her hips like that. And why was her every feature so enhanced today? He had never seen her like this… Her legs yes… but today he felt as if he could go on staring at her face, and assorted other body parts as well.

He kept on following her and apologizing whenever he got a chance… Sometime later near a gaming counter, he wondered if he should go up or not as Swati was there with her, but then he saw her surreptitiously looking around, her head barely turning side-to-side and he grinned, understanding that she was looking for him.

He sauntered up to her, and whispered, “missing me?”

She jerked on hearing his voice, but quickly composed herself, “of course not…”

“Liar”, he smirked.

She turned to look at him, and poked a finger on his chest, “you listen to me Sameer Maheshwari… I am so mad at you that I can crack a flower pot of your head, or better yet put you as a target when I have the rifle in my hand. So, stay away from me.”

He caught her finger, rubbing his thumb over it, and not letting go even when she pulled, and softly murmured, “tough… you are looking so beautiful today that I can’t seem to move my eyes away.”

Swati giggled from beside her, and her eyes widened on his words, a blush automatically creeping up her cheeks. “Stay away”, she muttered again, but not with much conviction this time, and when she pulled her finger away, he let go, understanding there was still a bit of time for her to forgive him completely.

However, before he could continue seeking apology, he saw Sanjay Tebriwal tagging along with Naina wherever she went. He hoped she would get rid of him, and he saw that she tried too, repeatedly telling him to leave her alone, but the guy was like a leech. At one point while Naina was walking away from him, he saw Sanjay trying to go behind her and hold her hand, and that was enough for him… He positioned himself near a counter, and when Naina crossed by, he extended his leg… and soon enough Sanjay rushed behind Naina and tripped on Sameer’s leg, falling on the ground face-forward with a loud yelp. Sameer immediately blended in the small crowd, putting up an innocent expression, but when Naina turned her gaze immediately zeroed in on him and she knew who had done it. Struggling to keep her smile from blooming, she turned away again and left.

Few moments later Sameer started to follow her, but now he had a trouble of his own as Tanvi had found him, and was doing her best to cling on to his arm. He kept shrugging her advances, but she was persistent. When she gripped his arm tight, he scowled at her, “what are you? A handbag? Why do you always have to cling on?”

She smiled flirtatiously, “oh c’mon Sameer… don’t act so boring… look at me; I got ready especially for you. Won’t you come with me for some rides? And maybe win me a big teddy bear?”

He rolled his eyes, trying to tug free, “not interested Tanvi… not in teddy, not in rides and definitely not in you.”

He thought that this much insult would have been enough for her, but he was wrong… She still kept on trying to gain his attention. He was almost on the verge of losing his temper once more that day, he closed his eyes and clenched his fists trying to control and he still needed to pacify Naina. Just then he felt a soft pair of hands hold his hand, and his brows furrowed… This wasn’t Tanvi – the touch didn’t irk him, rather it calmed him, and he opened his eyes to look down at a pair of whisky brown eyes… Naina!

She smiled up at him, “Sameer… what are you doing here. I have been looking for you near the food stalls. Come let’s go.”

At a loss of words he let her drag him away, glancing once at Tanvi to see her furious expressions, and suddenly he grinned. When they were a considerable distance away, she left his arm, and frowned, “there… you are free…”

He grinned nonsensically, “you came for me.”

She shrugged, “you got rid of Sanjay for me, I got rid of Tanvi for you… Favor returned.”

“You call that getting rid!” He gasped incredulously, “you didn’t get rid of her; you just dragged me away.”

She indignantly asked, “so what else should I have done? Tripped her, like you did to Sanjay? That was so not subtle, anyone could have spotted what you did… my method was better.”

“But it was no fun”, he replied, “at least you could have fought with her… you know… catfight over boyfriend.”

She shook her head, “over the top melodrama… I am sorry the rescue wasn’t up to your expectations, but you see, I have got some class… Pulling hair and screaming in public for a boy is not my style. And… you are not my boyfriend.”

He smiled intrigued, “then what’s your style?”

She huffed, “when the time comes the right man in my life would know about all my styles.”

As she tried to leave he caught her hand, and apologized again, “I am sorry Naina.” She didn’t reply, and he was getting desperate, the fair was no fun without her, so he proposed an idea, “listen… look over there… Sanjay is back and is again looking for you… Tanvi will also not leave me alone. The only way we can keep those two at bay is by sticking together in the fair.”

She glanced over in the direction he was pointing and saw Sanjay roaming around, when she looked the other way she found Tanvi near some food stalls peering here and there… Sameer was right… these two won’t let them enjoy… And more than that, even though she hadn’t yet forgiven Sameer, she still wanted to spend some time with him as she realized this might be the last chance to do so before board exams and after that who knew where she would be. So she relented, “alright… but don’t forget, I am still angry.”

“Fine”, he nodded, and smiled, “what do you want to do first?”

“The carousel”, she supplied.

He looked surprised, “the horse one? It’s for kids…”

“Then it should suit you”, she immediately quipped. He frowned, but didn’t argue, figuring she still was angry, and just wanted to have some fun at his expense. Sameer Maheshwari sitting on a wooden horse carousel has to be a matter of joke for people who would see him. He sighed, giving in to her wish, still not sure why he was ready to do this just to make her smile.

She gracefully sat sideways on a white wooden horse, and he stared suspiciously as his own horse, but she gestured him to sit… He obeyed her, straddling a brown horse, sure that soon people would start laughing. But to his surprise, no one laughed, and he wasn’t sure if he enjoyed the ride or not, but he surely enjoyed the dreamy smile on Naina’s face as she held on to the supporting bar and looked around.

They went to a couple of more rides and then he said he was a bit hungry, so she suggested ice-cream. He liked the idea but he also knew that she wouldn’t relent yet, so he bought just one chocobar, and offered it to her. She frowned, “where’s yours?”

He shrugged, “I am so used to sharing that I didn’t think of buying two.”

She hesitated a bit, and then said, “I will go buy one.” He grabbed her arm, stalling her, and looked at her, his eyes narrowed, “I get it you haven’t forgiven me and I am not asking you to… but don’t test my patience so much… eat.”

She stared at him for a moment, and then unwrapped the bar, licking the chocolaty layer. Hesitating only a bit, she raised her hand up, offering the bar and he smiled, holding her hand and taking a bite out of the cold ice-cream. Together they shared the ice-cream, and along with the bar, her anger also melted a lot. Naina saw Tanvi glaring at her from a distance, and cheekily grinned at her as Sameer finished the last bit of ice-cream from her hand.

“I will just wash my hand, it’s a bit sticky”, she said and moved to the nearby food stall.

A group of Sameer’s classmates came up to him and asked, “hey Sameer… what’s wrong with you today? Why are you dressed so… formally?”

He frowned, glancing down at himself, and that’s when he noticed that he was indeed wearing a formal trouser with light pink shirt. It was part of a suit he owned. But how had he not noticed what he was wearing at home? Of course… He was still focused on Naina. He sighed; this was probably the first time that he was dressed inappropriately for some event. He looked up at his classmates, and chuckled, “I was just trying something different… Anyways it doesn’t matter… I am still the same Sameer Maheshwari, and will still have the same effect on girls.”

The boys laughed and patted him, and then went away. Naina had overheard the conversation, and wanted to ask the real reason, but didn’t. When she came back, he suggested, “shall we go on the ferris wheel?”

She nodded, and they lined up for the ride. Sanjay saw them and approached the barricade to speak to Naina, but Sameer who was standing behind her placed a hand on the bamboo railing, and inched closer shielding her as he glared at Sanjay and said, “she is with me.”

Naina looked up at him in surprise to find him looking furiously at Sanjay and felt a funny fluttering in her heart on hearing his possessive tone. The queue turned, and Sameer kept shielding her until they were out of Sanjay’s reach. A red seat stopped for them and they slid in next to each other, and the man secured the bar in-front of them. She loved ferris wheels, the height, the feeling of vertigo, and the sudden lurch in stomach as it would roll down; it was an amazing sensation. And somehow the enjoyment increased for her just by having Sameer at her side.

Sameer stared at her as she laughed, he wanted to hold her hand, talk with her like usual, but she had still not forgiven him. So he desperately tried once more, “Naina… I am sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but I was so angry. I had bought that shirt especially for this fair, and I…” He sighed and sheepishly confessed, “I was waiting for you to see me in it.”

She looked at him with a smile, and to his surprise placed her hand over his on the bar, “I know you are sorry… I am not angry anymore. But, I had felt really bad at that time. Just like you wore a special shirt, I had applied less oil in my hair. You need to control your temper Sameer… not everyone will recognize your heart and understand that you didn’t intend to hurt.”

He turned his hand over, interlinking their fingers, “I promise I will work on my temper… And I am truly sorry. You are looking so beautiful today, and I made you cry.”

She blushed a bit again on hearing the praise, and asked, “why did you wear these clothes today?”

He laughed softly, “I didn’t notice what I was wearing.”

She was puzzled, “how is that possible?”

“I was thinking about you”, he accepted without hesitation, “I noticed my own clothes only when those guys asked me.”

She was surprised, and her gaze softened as she said, “you are looking much better in this shirt than that purple shirt.”

“What!?” He exclaimed incredulously, “are you mad? That was special party wear… this… this is formal…”

She chuckled, “I know… but rather than that shiny shirt, I like this one better… this whole look… it makes you look like a professional… Successful businessman Sameer Maheshwari.”

His eyes widened, and just then the ferris wheel stopped at the top. He looked over at the distant view of city and then after a moment he smiled, “Sameer Jayprakash Maheshwari. I have always thought that’s how I will be known in business world. With my Nanu’s name once I am successful.”

She gazed at him as he looked at the horizon, and asked, “did you talk?”

He turned to look at her and nodded, “yes I did… I also apologized, and Nanu was very happy that I explained my perspective to him so clearly. He said he will agree to whatever plan I will make for myself as he knows that I will think thoroughly.”

“I am glad”, she smiled. He held her small palm in between his two palms, stroking her smooth skin, “and I am so glad that I splashed that water over your cycle that day and you decided to take revenge. Else all this wouldn’t have happened.”

They gazed into each other’s eyes, their fingers interlinked, the wind sifting through their hair, as they only saw each other and forgot the rest of the world. And from down below Nanu who had just arrived to the fair, saw them and mentally patted himself on his back for his brilliant idea of bringing these two schools together for the fest.