15) Niyati proposes Smaran

Author's POV :

The party had started. All the children were entering the school one by one in new colorful clothes. All the teachers had already arrived as they had to check the arrangements for the children and the party.  Almost all the children including Divya, Gauri, Kajal, Mitali, Samar had arrived but Niyati had not come yet. 

Smaran's attention was moving again and again towards the entrance. He was watching every single student entering through the door in the hope that it might be Niyati. Suddenly he gets a call from his new job and he goes near the school entrance away from the crowd to talk. He is about to go back after talking that suddenly stops.

"Niyati, why haven't you come yet", Mitali asks her in a loud voice on the call because of the noise. On hearing her name, his attention turns towards Mitali. 

"Look right in front of you", She tells Mitali on the call as soon as Mitali looks in front, she sees her and hangs up the call.

"Come soon babe", Mitali said in excitement, pointing to her by waving her hand in the air. Smaran is seeing all this. He stands with his back to the entrance but seeing Mitali gesture he turns towards the door and is shocked to see Niyati standing there.

She is wearing a very beautiful gown in which she looks no less than a princess. He has seen her for the first time in clothes other than the school uniform, so he gets more shocked. She looks so beautiful that even though he wants to, he is unable to take his eyes off her. 

"You are looking so beautiful, just like a princess", Mitali complements her and hugs her. 

"You are looking beautiful too", Niyati gives her back compliment.

"Thanks, let's go inside now. The party has started", Mitali, pointing inwards, holds her hand and starts taking her along. 

She nodded and is about to walk with her when suddenly her heart skipped a beat. She realizes that he is all around her and as soon as she looks to her left, finds Smaran standing. She signals Mitali to leave. Mitali understands and silently blinks her eyelids and leaves from there, indicating something to her. As soon as she leaves she turns towards him. She smiles seeing him and he also starts smiling. She just takes one step towards him that suddenly Samar comes and stands in front of her.

"Hello Niyati", Samar said while looking at her with loving eyes. 

"Hi Samar", She also replies with a smile. 

"You are looking gorgeous, I have to say, that person will be very lucky with whom you would be married", Samar smiled and said.

"Thank you Samar", She replies with her sweet smile. 

"Can I take a picture with you?", Samar asks her. 

"Yes of course", Niyati replied and he starts taking pictures with her by joining his shoulder to hers.  Niyati's focus is less on photographing and more on Smaran. Jealousy and anger are visible on his face, but he remains unaware of this.

"Niyati let's go inside", Samar says this by holding her hand and forcibly takes her inside and Niyati has to go with her even though she doesn't want to. Smaran gets angry seeing all this but being unaware of the reason, he doesn't say anything and he also walks in. 

All the teachers and Students start eating different types of snacks. Smaran stands with Charan sir and a few other teachers and Niyati stands with Mitali, Samar, Bhavin, and some other friends but the attention of both remains towards each other. They were looking at each other again and again stealing their eyes.

"Niyati, I want to talk to you about something. Will you please come with me for 2 minutes", Suddenly Samar says softly to her ear. 

"Samar I come in 5 minutes now. I'll come with you after that", Saying this she goes to the washroom. 

After coming out of it, Niyati starts finding her dress a little loose. She accidentally enters the science staff room to fix it. On the other hand, Smaran also comes to take his handkerchief from his belongings kept in the staff room. As soon as he starts pushing it inwards to open the door, suddenly the door opens inwards automatically. Due to which his balance gets disturbed and he collides with Niyati which causes her legs to falter and they both hold each other to escape and then fall softly on the floor. Both of them hit the ground with each has the weight on one side, but both of them don't realize this because they get lost in each other's eyes and both of their hearts beat faster. After a few seconds, when they realize it, they both stand up in a hurry. 

"I'm so sorry, sir", Niyati says not looking at him but looking here and there. 

"Forgive me too", He says looking at her. 

"Well how are you here?", He asks.

"Sir, Actually my dress....", As soon as she says this much, he understands and starts speaking by cutting her in the middle, "Well, you don't need to explain", he says with a smile. Even she smiles back.

"What have you come here for?", Niyati asks with a little hesitation. 

"I had come to get my handkerchief. I had forgotten this in my belongings", He answers. 

"Okay", She replies with a smile.

Smaran goes inside to take his handkerchief. A war begins in the mind of Niyati. She is thinking whether she should speak her heart out to Smaran right now or not? She is thinking that suddenly she sees Mitali standing in front at some distance who encourages her to speak her heart. She nods her head. After that Mitali leaves from there and she turns towards him.

"Sir I want to tell you something", She says this with her eyes closed and then opens her eyes. 

"I also have to tell you something, Niyati", As soon as he says this, her heart starts beating fast. 

"Say it sir", Niyati answers. 

He slowly extends his steps towards her and stands in front of her," You are looking so pretty", He says with great love, looking into her eyes.  Hearing this, Niyati is briefly surprised as she didn't expect that she would ever get to hear such a compliment from him.

"Thank...Thank you so much sir", She replied being shy, and added, "You..you look s..so handsome too", She replied while stuttering.

"Thank you Niyati", He replied with a charming smile and she started losing her heart again on his smile.

Saying this he starts leaving from there when suddenly he stops hearing the voice of Niyati. 

"Sir I want to tell you something more", She says with a little fear in her voice. 

"Say", He turns to her and answers.

"You can do it Niyati, just tell him the feeling of your heart, without worrying about the consequences", Her subconsciousness said.

"I don't know what you will think of me after hearing what I want to say to you because what I want to tell you is a big thing but it is also very important for me to say this thing because I don't know whether I will ever get a chance to say this thing to you again or not.  Sir, I don't know when, how, and why all this happened but I know that it happened. I never thought that something like this would ever happen to me", She stops while speaking.  It seems as if she can't find the words to continue her talk or is thinking that how should she express her feelings to her in words.

"What thing, Niyati, and what do you want to say", He asks giving him a quirky look. 

"I have heard that some things are such that sometimes they don't need to be said. It can be found out just by looking in the eyes. Can you see that thing in my eyes? Can you read that thing in my eyes without me telling you?", She asks, looking into his eyes with hope.

He looks very carefully into her deep loving eyes and knows the depth of her love. He is shocked to know this but still says being unaware, "Niyati, what you have to say. Say it later. Everyone has specially organized this party for me so I think we should go down. Everyone will be waiting for me downstairs", He says trying to change the talk and then starts leaving from there.

"And what about what I've been waiting for so long?", She speaks in a painful voice and he stops after hearing her words.

"I know that today's party is only for you and you also know why the party has been kept for you? I don't know if I will ever get a chance to meet you again. That's why I don't want to miss the opportunity I got today because if I didn't say this to you today, I will regret it for the rest of my life after you are gone.  I will keep cursing myself.  So it is better to lighten my heart today than to repent", Saying this she picks up one of the few artificial roses lying in the table vase and moves towards him. He is silently observing her every single step.

"Niyati, I think we should", He stops saying this as soon as he sees her kneeling before him. She slowly extends the flower held in her hand towards him and speaks her heart to him.

"I love you, I love you so much", She says looking at him with loving eyes, hearing which his senses fly away.