15th August 2017

L U K A

"And you never mentioned anything about it?", Juleka said and glared at me. I nervously laughed.

"Well...it's a bit romantic for a first meeting, don't you think?"

"What?"

"You know what I mean", she said and devilishly smirked at me.

"Jule... she's an Indian and we are here only for around two weeks or so, so stop it", I said and rolled my eyes. The dance performance had already ended. I told her about what happened yesterday with me and the mysterious girl who can surprisingly, speak French that too, fluently.

"Okay but, let's at least go meet her! She might be somewhere around the backstage", Juleka said and gave me those baby doll eyes. I chuckled.

As if I was planning otherwise.

"Let's go", I said.

"Yay!"

We made our way to the backstage. Mom went back to Sushma auntie's house saying that she wanted to rest but, not before she warned us three to four times to keep or phones with us at all times and return before 9 o'clock.

I froze in my spot when I saw her come out of the backstage. She was looking beautiful in a traditional golden crop top paired with a blue lehenga. Blue suited her a lot.

It makes her eyes seem more beautiful.

Suddenly someone snapped their fingers in front of my face.

"I thought she was just a normal stranger...", Juleka trailed off. I was totally caught off-guard and wasn't able to come up with an excuse.

The mystery girl hadn't noticed me yet. She was hugging the same woman who was sitting beside me during the dance performance.

"You did wonderful sweety", the woman said.

"Thanks Mom.", the girl looked up at her mother with a small smile on her face.

So that's her mom.

Another girl of her age literally jumped on her and enveloped her in a hug.

"You guys were awesome!"

"T-Thanks...C-can't b-b-breath."

"Oops. Sorry", she said and released the gorgeous girl from her tight embrace.

"Where's he?"

"Oh, he's talking to Mrs. Sharma about some- ", she stopped mid-way in her speech when our eyes finally met. She gave me a gentle smile and walked towards me.

Cute.

Stop it, Luka. You only just met her.

"Hi. Did you guys enjoy the show?", she said directing the question to me and Juleka.

"Yup! I love how every tradition in India is so unique", I said and smiled.

"It was spectacular. Luka enjoyed it a lot", Juleka said and elbowed me in the ribs. I let out a small yelp.

Why did she do that?

"Well that's good know. By the way my nam- ", she was interrupted mid-way.

"Preeti. Listen dear. I need to go back home and prepare tonight's dinner. Just come back home before 8:45", her mother told her, whilst looking at something on her phone.

So, her name's Preeti. Wonderful.

"Okay Mom."

"Aisha and... Abhinav kee- "

"Keep an eye on her at all times. We know the drill aunty. You can, without any worries go back home", the other girl, Aisha, completed Preeti's Mom's words.

Her mom smiled, kissed Preeti's forehead, and left. Preeti then turned her attention back to the two of us.

"So, my name's Preeti Das", she said and extended her hand for me to shake.

"Luka Couffaine. And this is my sister, Juleka", I said and shaked her hand. She shaked hands with Juleka as well and said, "Pleasure to meet you guys. Where are you guys from since you don't seem to be from around here."

"We are from Paris", I said.

"Cool!", Aisha said and wrapped her left arm around Preeti's shoulders.

"That's nice", Preeti said.

"My name's Aisha Joshi and this is my twin brother Abhinav." I smiled at them. Aisha was wearing a light golden crop top and a baby pink lehenga with golden border while Abhinav was wearing a sap green kurta paired with white pajamas.

"Okay guys let's go explore the fair...", said another boy, in a traditional light green kurta and white pajamas-who just came out from the backstage room- and trailed off on seeing me and Jule.

He was looking at me in a not-very-happy expression. I gave him a confused look. Perhaps sensing the tension between us, Preeti cleared her throat and said, "Hey Abhishek. This is Luka Couffaine and his sister, Juleka, both of them are from Paris. We got acquainted just now. And this is Abhishek Khanna, my dance partner."

Abhishek smiled at me and Juleka, and I reciprocated his gesture.

"How long are you guys staying at the fair? We could perhaps show you around?", Abhinav asked.

"Mom asked us to go back before 9 o'clock, so I guess we would love a small tour of the fest", I said and looked at Juleka who nodded in agreement.

"That's good. Let's go", Preeti said.

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I seriously wanted to get to know Preeti and befriend her, not just be an acquaintance. Till now, all I could gather about her was that she was an optimistic, cheerful and friendly 15-year-old. But sometimes there are sides that a person only shows to a few people only. Whenever I sparked a conversation between us, either someone would unintentionally bump into me or Abhishek would start talking to Preeti about dance, which was a subject I could not make a good conversation on. We were hopping from one stall to another, playing different varieties of games. At present we were enjoying our ice cream. Juleka, Preeti, Aisha and I were holding two scoops of chocolate ice cream each while Abhishek and Abhinav were eating their strawberry ice cream. Juleka and Aisha were getting along pretty well. They had a lot of similarities to which they could relate to. By now I had sensed that Abhishek and Abhinav were not on good terms. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Abhishek's fault cause he has been glaring at me ever since we started our little exploration, which was a bit rude in my perspective.

What's his problem?

I was brought out of my thoughts when someone nudged me by their shoulder. I looked to my right and my eyes instantly connected with shimmering black orbs.

"Follow me", she said in a low voice so that only I could hear her.

I obeyed and she led me through the crowd. Soon enough we were outside the main ground. I was wondering where she was taking me. In a minute or two we arrived at a small park which was almost empty, with only a few people walking around. There was a small fountain in the middle and trees were lined up along the border of the park. Preeti went and sat down a nearby bench and patted the spot next to her motioning me to sit. I obliged and sat down next to her.

"Are you used to crowds?"

"Yeah. I've been to many concerts before so I'm used to crowds, although I lose my way too easily", I replied. She hummed in reply.

"Jagged Stone's concerts?"

"Yup. Wait, how did you know?"

"Well I love listening to Jagged Stone's music. I can see your hair was inspired by his style", she said and pointed at my hair.

"Well, not quite. My dad used to dye his hair this way, so Juleka and I also styled our hair in that way", I said and looked up at the sky. It was lit up by a few stars and the city lights.

"Used to?", Preeti enquired.

"He passed away when I was ten", I said. The smile simultaneously disappeared from my face and was replaced by a frown. I miss him a lot. I still can't understand why he had to leave.

"Sorry", Preeti said and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her.

"But he's still here you know. In your heart.", she said and placed her index finger on my chest where my heart was.

It sounds so familiar. Where have I heard that before?

"True", I said and smiled. She smiled back at me.

"Wanna know a secret?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Hi everyone!

P.S. Juleka's pic is wt would look like when she glared at Luka 😂. Juleka's pic and the outfits taken from Pinterest and do not belong to me. Also Sidharth Malhotra and Kartik Aaryan aren't Abhinav and Abhishek. 😑 I'm just showing their outfits(if that's wt you are thinking). XD

Hope you guys are enjoying it. Don't worry...this day's gonna be a long one. 😉

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