"If she really liked him, why should she accept to come and stay with us?"
"I don't know what's going in her head. But I can tell you one thing, she loves him. And I don't not want you to act like a movie villain and stand between her and Nikhil"
"I am not the villain but he is. He is the one who cheated her. How can I trust him to allow him to go near Pooja? She is my sister."
"But if she likes him there's nothing that you could do!"
"No, I will protect her!
"Ok, this discussion is not going anywhere. Let's stop it here for now."
"Yes I too accept it but I want you to always keep an eye on Nikhil. I don’t want him to hurt her again"
"Ok…"
"I know you don’t like this Pallavi. But I tell you he is a devil in disguise. I don't know what he wants now. He never bothered to even look at her for the past so many years. Why is he showering her with all these affection now? Just because she helped to bring his father back? I don't believe it. There should be some other reason…"
Pallavi nodded quietly. Praba does have a point, she thought to herself.
"What should we do in the room sister?"
"The room has quite a few antique furniture that belong to Praba's great grandfather. It's completely covered in dust. And it's also difficult to move. We need to clean the room, varnish the furniture and move it to other rooms so that we can use them"
"So we will start with cleaning then?"
"Yes, come with me I will show you the room"
Nikhil and Pooja followed her.
Pallavi opened a bolted room. It was filled with dust and cobwebs.
"This is the room! I have been planning to clean it for some time but Praba never finds time to help me… Now Nikhil, since you are here, I believe we can finish it"
"Sure sister. It's not that difficult, we can wrap this task fast"
"Hopefully! I may not be able to stay here always. I need to cook and also take care of Akshu…"
Nikhil looked at Pooja with interest. Pooja gave a blank look and said,
"That should be fine. We can manage it!"
"Cool then!"
Nikhil and Pooja started with removing the cobwebs. There were spiders running everywhere and Nikhil got rid of them all.
As Pallavi had mentioned the things were covered with too much dust. Pooja used a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust from the floor.
In two hours the room looked much better.
"We need to start cleaning up the furniture now" said Nikhil and Pooja accepted it.
There were couple of lamps, tables and huge almarahs.
"For these almarahs, we need to start the job from the top. We have a ladder, one person has to hold it, so that the other can climb up and clean the top of the almarah. Do you want to hold the ladder or climb up?" asked Nikhil.
"I think it's better if I climb up! If I hold the ladder and if you fall I can't catch and safeguard you, but you can do it …"
Pooja stopped her sentence abruptly realizing what she was about to say.
Nikhil's eyes sparkled in anticipation.
Pooja turned her face away from him and said,
"Let's start from this one…" pointing to an almarah in the corner.
"Ok fine…" said Nikhil.
Pooja slowly climbed up the ladder. She balanced herself and started cleaning it with the duster she had in her hand. Everything went on fine for a few minutes.
Suddenly she felt as if she's losing her balance….
As she moved slightly, the ladder began to shake.
"Pooja be careful… Don't shake the ladder…"
Even before he could complete the sentence, Pooja was falling down…
She closed her eyes tight in fear…
But she didn't fall down… But two strong hands caught her and held her tight!
"It's nothing sweetheart, you are safe now!"
Nikhil's husky voice sounded very close to her ears… She opened her eyes…
Nikhil's face was very close to hers…
His eyes had a bit of concern but started to sparkle as she looked at him…
The stayed eye locked for some time… He was holding her in his arms… She had her hands in his shoulders…
Both of them didn't move even slightly.
Suddenly, Pallavi entered the room asking,
"Pooja do you need any help?" and startled the couple.
Pooja jumped down from his hands. Nikhil too moved away from her…
Pallavi looked at them for a few seconds and then a smile appeared in her face.
"I am sorry! I never thought you can have romance in a dust covered room like this!!!"
To be Continued
{kunena_discuss:686}