Diamond Hearts (Volume I & II)

20. The Domino effect

Kuhoo :

Staring at my irregular reflection on the beautiful architecture of 'The Bean', I let out an exasperated sigh waiting for Mahil as he paid for his polo T shirts. When I visited it for the first time, a few years back, I was spellbound by the way it reflected the surroundings, literally everything and anything as far as my eyes could see. So many buildings, people, tourists clicking pictures, locals on a walk with the pets, kids playing skateboard in a far corner, the humongous, dome shaped silvery architecture popularly known as 'The Cloud Gate' mirrored it all at once and I was again lost in the charisma of this place. The crowd here partly reminded me of the crowd near India gate, could never compare the two though.

Despite visiting plenty of stores near the Michigan Avenue, I wasn't able to find a perfect set of clothes. On the other hand, true to his words, Mahil excelled in being a shopaholic. It was only a matter of time that he would ask me to hold his shopping bags.

How was it my fault that I was looking for proper Indian ethnic wear on the street popular for the Brands which only sold western wear? Maybe I was at fault because I didn't buy from the very few stores which offered Indian clothes. Although it was rare, but whenever I saw a lehenga on a mannequin it reminded me of the last time I had bought all those clothes and then my mind would refuse on buying them anymore. Every time I tried to step inside a shop, flashes of that amazing day appeared in front of my eyes and my heart would protest against the same, given to the aftermath that had followed.

"What next?" Mahil stood behind me, his tall figure appearing just as distorted as mine on the silvery convexity of the Cloud Gate.

"You appear a lot shorter in the image," I chuckled turning on my heels to face him as he scrunched the nose listening to my words.

"I'm at least a half foot taller than you," He pressed the lips in a thin line, staring at his own reflection from head to toe and then checking for my one.

"You're short. See, now I'm taller than you," I took a step closer to The Bean that added more to my height in the reflection and he frowned.

Mahil scratched the back of his head, observed the surrounding for a long moment and then smirked mimicking my action, "What about now?"

Raising my brows surprisingly, I tittered in a childish way and took another step ahead. He did the same and his figure became a little taller than my one, again.

Rolling the lips, I blew out some air throwing a dramatic look at the man beside me narrowing the orbs. He didn't back out, rather enraged me more by wriggling his brows and smirking deeper.

Grinding my teeth, I took a long step, eyes fixed on his face. He shrugged the shoulders observing our reflections, signifying I didn't succeed. That made my feet move further on their own.

"Kuhoo!" He frowned, swiftly walking in my direction. The sudden panic evident on his face made me snap at the front. My hand arched forward and eyes shut tightly as a reflex.

He tugged at my wrist before I could crash into a group of four men clicking pictures with the monument. Mahil's arms circled around me protectively, sweet and sour fragrance of his lavender-bergamot perfume wafting my senses, corners of his shopping bags touching my back. I held onto his shoulders to maintain the balance, a weird heavy weight building in my chest, probably due to the unannounced hit-miss encounter.

"Are you okay?"

I opened my eyes listening to his words and nodded at him but he still continued checking at me for any injuries.

"Mahil, I'm completely fine."

Acknowledging my words he finally let go off his hold and we started walking side by side passing magnificent stores. Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Nordstorm, you name it and Michigan Ave had all the high-end brands and yet I wasn't able to find what I was looking for.