Chapter 16

Beautiful
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Ri blew warm air into her cupped  hands, fixing the hoody she wore, and glared at the silvery sky. The sunrise was still pending, she had been waiting for almost an hour to capture the moment when the first rays of sunlight glittered over the fresh snow. For the umpteenth time she wondered how Omkara had convinced her to reassume her passion for photography – he had managed to do it in a matter of hours – and here she was, freezing in a hill top. He snatched her hand and sandwiched it between his warm palms, wordlessly, his eyes on the sky. 
“How much longer?” She complained. 
“Patience is a virtue, child,” he chuckled at her expression. “Wait a little.”
“You’re having fun, aren’t you?” Ri huffed. 
“Umm – just a bit?”
“A bit huh? Wait for it,” she scooped a handful of snow and threw it at him, hitting square on his nose. “How is that, Maza aaya?” She laughed at his expression as he wiped his face. 
“You little brat!” He hissed polishing off a larger ball of snow on her face, holding her still with his other hand behind her head. “Take that!”
The moment he let her go, she stumped farther from him possible, grinning wickedly like a child and scraping more ice from the ground. 
“You’re not going to get away with this Omkara!”
“Come and get me,” he challenged in return, puffing off the extra snow from his palms. “What are you waiting for Gauri?” A  large snowball hit him, blinding him for a moment and freezing him in mid laugh and it was followed by Ri’s laughter. “Ah!” Omkara twirled in the spot, rubbing his eye. “You got me in the eye yaar, I can’t see –“
Her laughter died after a moment, watching him stumbling around closer and closer to the edge, still rubbing his eyes and complaining under his breath. She held him back from the elbow, stopping him on his tracks. 
“Ghir jaaonge,” she said seriously and wiped his face with the corner of her muffler. “Sorry, I didn’t –“ 
Cutting her sentence off abruptly, he tripped her and they both crushed on to the snow together, Omkara pillowing her fall as they rolled away from the edge on the ice. 
“That was a trick? You – freak! I was – guilty for a moment – God! I feel like strangling you!” Ri gritted her teeth, trying to catch her breath and hitting his chest with her fists. Omkara watched her amused and frozen, basking in the glory of her laughter that he caught hold of her wrists a long after and rolled over, so that he was atop her. She was still laughing, oblivious to his eyes drinking her hungrily, or their faces so close together. 
Then their eyes met and her grin dimmed a little under his dark gaze. When he shook his head, flakes of snow stuck on his hair escaped and landed on her cheeks and eyelids, making her blink them. He stretched out a lazy finger and brushed a bit of snow off her tracing a line down her nose tenderly. 
“Don’t stop,” Omkara muttered. “You look beautiful when you laugh.”
“How do you do that?” She whispered back, lacing her fingers through the hand he used to wonder over her face. “How do you make me laugh?”
Around  her, the snow was turning into a crisp golden; the rising sun created a halo of brilliance around Omkara’s head. She had missed the sunrise but she did not care, his bottomless dark eyes looked far more alluring. 
“You stay awake at night yet make sure I don’t have nightmares – koi itna achcha kaise ho sakta hai?” There was a wonder in her tone as she ran her fingers over his face. Omkara closed his eyes to her touch, silent to her questions.
“I’m not good Gauri, achchi toh tum ho,” he said after a long while. “You’re so good – too good that no one can truly deserve you.”
She sighed, laying back on the snow, her eyes closed to the crisp sunlight.
“Kitna meetha jooth bolthe ho tum,” Ri said wistfully. “Kissi ko baatho hi baatho mein phasa lethe ho.”
“Tum phas gayi ho, Gauri?” He asked keenly. 
“Nahi,” she shook her head and he stood up, stretching out an arm for her to take. She took it gingerly and he pulled her to her feet.
“Good,” he said dismissively. “Don’t fall in love with me, I’m not worth it.”
Leaving her on that snowy hill to ponder after his words he walked away, hands buried in his pockets and breath rising in swirls of mist. 
“Kisse dua mange 
Tu ne humein kuda bana dala
Kud ko zaamin -  humein aazmaan bana daala
Apna tujhe hum maan ne lage the
Tu ne humein pal bar mein 
ajnabi bana dala”
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