[Steel]

Ishaan stayed an hour, filling the kitchen with chatter, praising her cooking, dropping flirty jabs she deflected with playful scolds.

"You're a trouble, Ishaan," she said as he headed for the door, her tone teasing, light.

"Only the good kind, aunty, Byee" he grinned back, stepping out slowly.

She shook her head and followed him to the patia, waved at him and took out few bills from the mail box, bringing them inside the home along with the daily newspaper. The door clicked shut, and Madhuri leaned against it with uneven breath. Ishaan's energy lingered, bold, young, stirring her. It reminded her of the stalker, that same electric pull but too sweet.

Her alt buzzed in her mind, silent, ignored, and the ache grew, her fingers itching to break free.

She pulled out the old phone, and typed fast. "Still scared, stalker? I'm waiting." She sent it, her pride bending under a need she couldn't name, pulsing hot beneath her skin.

Ishaan on the way back saw the message pop up and smirked. 

He flipped to her main account, where she'd last snapped, "You know nothing about my life."

"I know everything, dear, you're really gorgeous in blue today." Madhuri's main buzzed, and she scoffed, the sound sharp in the empty kitchen.

"How'd he know?" she wondered and quickly scanned her surroundings, looked outside the windows to find no one. "Ughh.. I shouldn't have stepped out. He must be somewhere around here."

A secret smile tugged at her lips, buried fast under a scowl as she stared at the screen, window left opened, and she was caught between fury and a flicker of something darker, something alive.