Chapter 4 - Chapter 4

Nisha sat up with a groan. She rubbed her eyes and stretched out her legs. Pain shot through her muscles and she quickly curled into a ball. Why do my legs hurt? She wondered. Then it all came back to her. Last night, that man, that unusual man, he knew her….but how? Then her mind floated back to the dance and she smiled when she thought of dancing with that man, whom she still did not know the name of. He had said before being interrupted that his name was Ash but didn't get to finish. A shocking realization hit her. What if his name was Ashok? Well maybe it was, another part of her mind reasoned, there were many people named Ashok. There was no guarantee that he was her cousin. She pictured his face, with his warm gold eyes, his dark hair, and his friendly smile-… what was she thinking? Here she was fantasizing about someone she had barely just met. She didn't even know his name.



A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.Chaya was peering around the door. “Miss? You are feeling better I hope?” Nisha realized that Chhaya was concerned for her. She flashed Chhaya her warmest smile and nodded. Chhaya let out a sigh of relief. “Miss I haven't told your mother, about last night.” She shot her a grateful look “Thank you.” Nisha's mother was out for the day. Another shopping spree most likely, Nisha grimaced. Since she had the time she might as well go out again. “I will be going out again Chhaya. When will my mother be home?”

“Later this evening miss.”

“Good. Then I will be going.”

“Please be careful miss...” Chhaya had anxiety written all over her features.



Laughing, Nisha took in a deep breath. Smells from the market wafted toward her nose. For a reason Nisha could not identify, she loved the market. Feeling like a small child again she held out her arms and spun around. “Well, well, well” A pleasant voice interrupted her enjoyment. Startled she turned around, eyes wide. It was the young man. “Gracious. Don't sneak up on a person like that.” The man chuckled. “Sorry.” He did not look at all sorry. “Are you always at the market?” She nodded. “You have amazing blue eyes. Like the blue lotus.” She flushed. “I'm afraid I never managed to say my name. It's Ashok.” Her heart beat faster. But it couldn't be, her cousin was off on a trip. That relieved her but at the same time she was rather disappointed. “Nisha.” He smiled and offered his arm. “Would you care to join me walking around?” After taking his arm, they started walking. Soon they were talking as if they had known each other forever.



“You mean to tell me you you've never had Burfi?” His eyes danced. “Well we must change that.” He strode up to the vendor and bought two squares of the delicious dessert. One he ate himself but the other he offered to Nisha. She shook her head “I couldn't.” Yet again he offered it. “Please?” With a smile threatening to show at the corners of her mouth she finally relented. She ate the Burfi and found that she liked it. “You have something on your face.” She haphazardly wiped her face with the back of her hand. Ashok grinned. “Missed it.” With his thumb he wiped alone the bottom of her lip. Nisha flushed and Ashok hastily pulled his hand away aware of the boldness of what he was doing “Sorry.” He swallowed and changed the topic. “How was it?” Nisha smiled broadly. “Good.” All of a sudden she noticed it getting darker. “I have to go.”

“What is this? Do you disappear when the sun does?” She looked up quickly and realized he wasn't angry but teasing. She turned to go. “Wait.” Hastily she turned, question in her lotus blue eyes. “Will we meet again? Can you come tomorrow too?”

“What if I can't ?”

“Then you won't get your surprise.”

“A surprise? Then I will see you tomorrow, anything for a surprise.” Laughing she turned yet again to go.



She crawled in her window just in time. Her mother came bursting in. “Hello darling. Good day? I had a great day. Shopping is so relaxing. I got some new clothes for you. Would you like to see them? Of course you would. And I know you already have a lot of saris but I just had to get these.” She lay out sari after sari. Some emeralds, crimsons, gingers, at least one golden surprisingly no blues. A breath escaped her as her mother lay out the final one. “And this one isn't much but I decided you might like it.” Awestruck Nisha looked at the sari. Not much? It was blue and silver but not like the last one she'd had. The other one had been rather plain. But this one had dazzling designs on it and instead of the silver looking more like grey, this silver shone. The blue itself had a slivery sheen to it. “This sari...you consider it to be `not much' ?”

Her mother beamed at her “You like it? Oh good. Not that it's quite my taste I find that I don't look half as good in blue as you do dear.”



The next day, Nisha's mother went out again, this time to a party. So naturally Nisha went to the market. She strolled through the market place looking at this and that. “Starting without me?” With a start she turned around “Must you always sneak up on me?”

“Is that really a question that I must answer?”

A smile curved her full lips. “I suppose not.”

“Well aren't you going to ask about your surprise? I'd have thought you would be dying to know, I'm hurt.”

Nisha laughed Throwing herself on her knees she tilted her face upward. “Please oh please oh please?”

Ashok removed the basket from his arm in which he had been carrying something. Nisha opened the lid and let out a gasp of surprise. “A kitten?! Oh, she is so adorable. I shall name her Alpa because she is so little” Ashok laughed “But Nisha it's a boy.”

“Oh. Well then I shall name him Alpesh because he is so tiny.” She held up the small white kitten. Then she caught sight of its eyes. “They're blue!”

“Nearly all kittens have blue eyes when they're little.”

“But his are different...”

“Well, surprisingly, he should have grown out of them two days ago, that's when all the others did. But maybe Alpesh will have blue eyes naturally. They are so like your own.”

They walked through the market place yet another day. They made a pleasing sight, Ashok, and Nisha with a small white kitten perched on her arm.

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