Cold Love by Amieya Prabhaker

second instance grabs her by her wrist.
    “OK…take it!  Uff! Crazy!”,
she twists her wrists with a large grin on her face, having won this round of
the battle. Riya is enjoying the pranks and mischief with Arjun. She suddenly
realizes that in the tussle on the bed, a few knots of her blouse at the back
have come off. She comes near a mirror to look at her back. In the meantime,
Arjun has already started the laptop, and is typing quickly.
    “Arjun! Will you please tie
these for me?” Arjun ignores her and continues working. “One minute… Hello… I
am talking to you!” Riya gestures with her eyes to her back. Arjun eventually
walks over to her. Riya removes her long hair, revealing her bare white back.
Arjun gently ties the threads, nimble with his fingers, conscious not to touch
her smooth skin. Riya smiles to herself as she sees Arjun’s reflection in the
mirror, sensing his shyness in tying the threads on her seductively beautiful
back. He returns immediately to his laptop.
    “When will you come
downstairs, Arjun? Everyone is waiting for you.”
    Arjun doesn’t respond and
continues working on his laptop.
    Riya responds with a deep
sigh, “Uff! You are just impossible!”
    She pulls a chair by his
desk, puts her chin on her palms and blandly stares at Arjun, smiling gently.
Arjun turns his face to look at her, but ignores her, continuing his work. Riya
continues to stare at him for some time, until Arjun shuts down the laptop with
a big noise.
    “All right! C’mon let’s go!”
    “Yes! ...Should we go
downstairs please! So you are not angry with me anymore?”
    Arjun couldn’t help but shake
his head. Riya smiles cheerfully and grabs his hand to lead him downstairs.
    The events earlier in the day
had immensely perturbed Arjun. But Riya’s sweet playful ways had calmed him
down. Just like good old times, they had always fought with each other, but
always held hands subsequently to move on. Today was just another day in the
saga of their friendship.
    After coming downstairs,
Arjun joins the festivities, forgetting all about the incident. Guess it was a
stray incident after all to be put behind for good.
     
     

The Picnic
     
    It is early morning just two
days prior to the court hearing day. The houses of the Sinha and Saxena
families are buzzing with activity. Puja and Riya have organized a picnic to a
nearby resort. A few other family friends also plan to join them directly at
the venue.
    After a couple of hours’
drive, they eventually reach the picturesque picnic spot. Long stretches of
green grass, rolling hills and a distant waterfall adorn the beautiful
landscape. The elders are seated on the grass and chairs, while kids have
already got up to their games, playing badminton and other ball games. Arjun,
his childhood friend Rakesh and a few others lie lazily on a grass mat enjoying
a cold beer.
    “OK, listen everyone!” Puja
suddenly shouts out to get everyone’s attention, “We are now going to play the
next game - treasure hunt. All those who want to participate can you please
come over here?”
    Everyone starts coming
closer. Arjun is still lying on the mat on the grass with his hat on his eyes
to cover the sun. Puja throws a ball that knocks his hat off as she gestures to
him to join in. Arjun nods and moves slowly to join the others.
    “What are the rules and
what’s the treasure, Puja?” Rakesh asks inquisitively.
    “OK. Listen everyone! There
are five routes to reach to the top of the waterfall up the hill. We will have
five teams and along each route there are clues. At the top of the waterfall
there is a treasure box that can be opened by the code from the clues.
Whichever team gets there first and opens the lock wins. Simple? The teams’
selection will be done by chits and we will group one guy and one girl in each
team. OK?” Everyone nods and chuckles eagerly to try the new game.
    Riya, standing next to Puja,
gently whispers in her ears, “Puja, can you please get Arjun and