Wanting to share this with someone, she turned back, doing a double take at the sight that greeted her. There was Rian, eyes closed with his palms joined in supplication, a mask of calm upon his handsome face.
As though he felt her staring, his lids cracked open and met her curious gaze. He tipped his chin in question when she didn’t look away.
“You pray?” she asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her tone.
“Occasionally. Why?”
“Didn’t take you for the religious kind.”
“I'm not, but I do enjoy some aspects of it,” Rian explained. “I find it peaceful. Like meditation.” He self-consciously shoved his hands into his pockets as she kept watching him.
“You’re not at all how I thought you would be,” she admitted after a moment.
“How did you think I would be?”
“Cold. Aloof. A jerk.”
Rian's lips thinned at her reply.
“You’re using this as an opportunity to call me names, aren’t you?”
Caught, Aditi grinned unrepentantly, one hand coming up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “In all seriousness, I think you’re a genuinely nice guy,” she said, trying to placate him. She followed a couple steps behind Nanamma as they performed their customary circumambulations.
“You don’t even know me.”
“Of course I do,” she replied, her voice low so as to not disturb the prayers around them. He kept pace with her, wanting to hear what she had to say.
“You’re Rian Shetty.” She cast him a wink and kept walking. Just when he thought she had been teasing him, she continued, “You’re a man who keeps his promises even if it inconveniences him. You put up with the presence of an unwanted stranger in your house because you’d given word to your grandmother. You apologise quickly when you realise your mistake, granted in a roundabout but charming way. I know that from experience. You're a big softie—a man who has a running tab at the store around the corner to make sure the children from the nearby slums get something to eat everyday. You’re kind to the people around you, but especially to those who work for you. You’re the sort of man who’ll cook and pack meals for his driver all week when he lets it slip that his wife is visiting her hometown and he’s all alone. You are surprised that I know all this, but I promise you, I am not a stalker. Simply observant.”
They came to stop in front of the main dais but instead of looking at the Lord, Rian couldn’t move his sights away from Aditi. Her insight into him felt personal, like she saw more of him in a short time than others had in years.
“You’re also the kind of man who blushes when he gets complimented,” she added with a tiny grin. “How cute.”
Rian felt heat flood his face, completely and utterly silenced by this woman. Horrified, he almost touched a palm to his forehead, feeling faintly feverish.
Upon hearing their names being called, Aditi turned away and Rian finally let out a relieved breath. Never had he been more glad for someone to have interrupted a conversation. He couldn’t remember if anyone had made him feel shy before. He’d been barely able to meet her gaze without feeling like he was stepping onto a hot pan.
Directed by Nanamma, Rian and Aditi received their blessings from the priest, humbly accepting the sugar candy that was being distributed to all devotees asprasad.
“It’s so good to see you bring your young family members,” the priest said, complimenting Nanamma and waving towards them both. “The temple needs the devotees as much as the devotees need the temple.”
Aditi and Rian turned to see each other at once. Her eyes widened and his nostrils flared. Unable to hold back a snort, he raised a fist to cover his unholy grin as his shoulders began to tremble.
Pink and embarrassed, Aditi smacked his bicep as if she had every right over his person. Unthinkingly, she pulled him away from the line, walking towards the exit together. At his continued amusement, she threw him a dark look.
“Behave yourself! You’re in a place of worship!” she hissed, the sheepishness in her tone ruining her effort to sound mad.
He snickered harder, his eyes crinkling at the edges as he gasped for breath. “You’re the one who put the words in my head. Temple, devotees, and you being a lonely goddess.”
“You heard what you weren’t supposed to.”
He spun to face her, walking backwards just so he could tease her. “You were being loud.”
“Was not!” she shot back, swiping some sugar candy from his hands.
When she tried to steal some more, Rian held his closed fist high above his head, wordlessly taunting her for being shorter while she attempted to jump up and pull his arm down.
An almost giddy Nanamma shrewdly observed the natural ease between Rian and Aditi from a distance and smiled to herself. Pretending not to notice their playful flirting was the least she could do, hoping once more that Rian took the opportunity to grab a happiness that was quite literally walking alongside him.