20th August 2017

L U K A

A picture speaks a thousand words.

It was true indeed. My hands brushed over the framed photographs, in the living room of Preeti's home. The wonderful smiles decorating Preeti's faces in the photographs made me smile as well.

The pictures depicted how much the Indian girl had changed over the years but the way her cheeks turned a lighter shade of pink whenever she smiled and laughed, never seemed to change.

Cute.

Oh, stop it Luka.

Well, Preeti being cute was something nobody could dare to deny but still, some feelings were better kept hidden than being out in the open.

My mind wandered back to what happened last night, on the balcony of the very same room I was standing in. I jumped a little when I heard the door slam shut, and whipped my head around to see Abhishek standing at the door glaring at me as if I had emptied a bucket of water on his face to wake him up, this morning. He walked towards me and crossed his arms in front of his chest as if trying to intimidate me but only if someone would tell him it was not working.

"So, you like Preeti?", Abhishek asked with a lot of attitude and pride laced in his voice as if he was some billionaire's son and I was trying to whisk away his girlfriend.

"Uh... yes? Well not romantically, just as friends. Why are you asking me this?", I said and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, so in Paris boys just go around kissing girls who are their friends huh- French boy?"

"Wait what?"

"I saw you and Preeti last night doing something Preeti's mom would definitely love to hear", Abhishek spoke in a sarcastic tone and smirked as my face twisted in shock.

"You were the one spying on us last night?", I asked, raising my voice a little more than I intended to.

"I was just passing by this room while you to were hugging each other, and you know what happened after that. I'm surprised that Preeti didn't kick you out yet."

"And why would she do that? It was an accident", I said as my nails dug into the skin of my palm.

What's the problem with this guy?

"In India, let alone Kolkata, people have a different mindset than the western people like you. We tend to be more traditional. I'm sorry but some people aren't 'modern' like you. Boys don't go around having make out sessions with girls until they become adults at least", said Abhishek, air quoting the word 'modern'.

"Well, Preeti doesn't have a mindset like yo- "

"Why don't you just shut up and back off? Don't think that just because you kissed Preeti, you stand a chance with her cause she already likes me", Abhishek said, cutting me off and smirked.

"I- I'm not interested in making Preeti love me or anything like that... W-we're just friends and- wait are you and Preeti d- "

"No. but we will."

"She's leaving for Paris in a week or two so how will that work out?"

"You'll see~", he said and with those words, left the room.

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I slipped out through the main door to look for Juleka since Abhinav told me he had seen her in the garden. However, when I looked back inside the house, through a glass window, located right beside the door, I saw a girl wearing a white and blue outfit enter the kitchen. I immediately knew it was Preeti since she was the last one to wake up this morning. I ran inside and followed her to apologize for last night (even if I had) and ensure she didn't hold any grudges against me.

However, when I peaked into the kitchen, I saw Preeti sitting on the counter and Abhishek standing in front of her, with his hands on her knees. Preeti laughed at something he said and the next moment, I saw them locking lips. When Preeti kissed him back, something tugged at my heart which made me walk away from the scene.

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I sat down on one of the stone steps in the garden and gazed at the different coloured roses growing in separate pots. Thousands of thoughts started swimming in the endless ocean of my mind starting from what happened a few hours ago. When the real reason for being on the balcony, popped up in my head, I closed my eyes to prevent my emotions from overflowing too much. It wasn't the first time I had seen that dream. That dream used to bother me at least once every week after dad passed away. The frequency of the occurrence of the dream had decreased over the years, but last night was the first time I had seen it again. I sighed and started caressing the petals of the pink roses reminding me of a certain girl who liked...

"Hey Bro! Wts up!"

I was so startled by my sister's voice that I accidentally pricked my finger on one of the thorns of the flower.

"Hey", I said nonchalantly. Juleka sat down on another stone step, right beside me and tapped my shoulder.

"Now what happened?"

"Nothing", I said and looked at the grass slightly wet with the morning dew.

"Pfft. Who are you fooling? I'm your sister~ Remember?", she said and placed her chin in her right hand which was propped up on her knee.

"Now tell me the long story!", Jules spoke with a lot of enthusiasm and I chuckled.

I started narrating to her what happened, the night before, skipping the nightmare part while she intently listened. I also told her about the conversation between Abhishek and I this morning, along with the "kitchen incident".

"Luka...as far as Abhishek is concerned, he's just jealous of you. And as for Preeti, I think you're falling in love", Juleka spoke and my head shot up to look at her when she uttered the word 'love'.

"I-I'm not in love with P-Preeti", I stuttered out.

"Well, if not love then at least you're starting to like the Indian-French girl a bit romantically~", Juleka spoke, ending the sentence with a slight tease.

I plucked a piece of grass from the ground and started tickling Juleka in her ear.

"Stop teasing me!"

"O-okay okay! I-I'll... s-stop!", Juleka managed to say in between laughs and I dropped the grass.

"But I still do have a point", Juleka said in a rather triumphant tone while I groaned.

"You know I like Marinette. Now don't drag Preeti into this."

Juleka put her arm around my shoulder and said, "Since Preeti is also coming to Paris, you'll have a lot of time to think about it but just don't be too late, otherwise Preeti and Marinette would both slip out of your hands~"

"Whatever Jules. I like Marinette and if she likes Adrien then I'm totally fine with it", I said even though I was a bit unsure about it.

"Yeah, then Adrien and Marinette can start dating and you can ask Preeti out on a date!", she said flailing her arms in the air dramatically while I laughed at her baby-ish antics.

We walked back inside the house for breakfast. I noticed Abhishek's absence and asked Preeti about it but she said that he left abruptly and when her face fell down, I knew Abhishek must have messed up. I started talking about different subjects and cracking jokes while we had breakfast to distract her and by the way she laughed, it was evident that my plan was a success. Happiness suited her more than a sad, dejected expression.

As I left Preeti's house, one question tugged at the back of my mind, which I wasn't able to answer.

Do I love her?

~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Everyone!

Yeah. You must be surprised at my sudden updates  😂

I'm just trying to finish the book as fast as possible because only 5 more chapters are left and I have exams in February so I don't leave you guys hanging on a cliff or something 😂

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