Chapter 18: 16

Chapter Sixteen

"Why is everyone I've ever liked turning gay.."

✧ D E V E N ✧

How can someone go from being a total stranger to suddenly being the person you've loved for years? Let it be from a distance, from a side, and from afar.

The answer is, I don't know. I just don't. I'm still figuring it out for years. Six years, to be precise.

The first day my eyes fell on her, there was this weird chemical reaction going on in my body, a thing I've never felt before. I sided with it by thinking that it was pretty much nonsense and just kept joking about it, wanting it to get away anyhow.

But the more I thought about getting rid of it, the more it wanted to make a place in my heart.

If I'm very honest, I was never the man who would stick with one girl for a long time. I used to get bored very frequently. I had only two serious relationships in my entire life; the rest were all very flings and hookups.

But then, one sudden night, I walked into a house, my eyes fell on one specific person, and I knew I was home.

It was that random.

I just knew in the back of my mind that if it's not going to be her, it's going to be no one.

The feeling was very weird and something I've not felt before in my entire existence. But it felt like I was just waiting for someone like her to arrive in my life.

Not someone like her. Her.

Preet Randhawa.

My best friend's sister, my now fake wife and roommate.

The day she randomly came up to me, announcing me as her husband, I was shocked.

Meeting her was just a mere coincidence.

Coming here to Canada was not.

It was an opportunity and I grabbed it. Then Aniketh turned out to be my neighbour, and her shifting to this house with me staying like a roommate made me think that, finally, god was on my side.

The tiny seed of hope in me was slowly turning into a plant because all of that was accidental. It felt like it was God's plan. Although the plant did lose a few leaves every time, she thought that this was all lies and fake.

It might be, but just from her side.

What is from my side is pure love and I'm not even hesitating to accept it.

I did not wait six years to become her fake husband. I wanted to be the real one. And I will be the real one.  the

"Deven." Her sweet voice captured my attention. The way my name sounds from her mouth without any additional shit, like bhaiya, is what I'm living this life for.

"Yes, wifey." I glanced up at her, and automatically, a smile laced my lips. She's way too surreal to exist in the same world as me, and I'm too lucky for that.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She whispered in my ear and added, "I mean, he knows a lot of stuff about me, and if by any means he gets things right, then there will be a problem."

She was correct but I wasn't doubting myself on this. That man knows things about her because she told him. I know stuff about her because I wanted to.

That is the major difference and that is solely where my confidence beholds.

I might not have exactly stalked her but the stories Abhinav has told me about her till now, the things I have observed from my own eyes and the stuff I heard and penned down in my mind when she was talking to someone else would weigh more than the ones he remembers from six months or a year, something.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that." A smug was present all over my face.

I hate to accept, but I was triggered when he straightaway said that it's seen she doesn't love me, and she never will. It hit the wrong chord of my consciousness.

What does he even know about love?

If he loved her even a cent of what I do, he would have left her alone the moment she said it out loud. At least, after seeing the dislike in her eyes. I would do that only.

I'd rather not see her rather than see the pure dislike in her eyes for me.

"This sounds fun," Neava said, excitement dripping from her voice. Preet was about to open her mouth and say something but she was dragged by Neava to a corner.

"Let's do it." Aniketh glared at me.

"Only on one condition." I added, "If I win this, you will never be seen near Preet again, let alone disturb her."

"And if I win-"

"We don't look into the consequences of things never happening," I replied trying to refrain from sounding very angry. Rule number one, don't let the opponent know that he succeeded in triggering you, even if he did.

"Burn!" Neava yelled as background music from behind and I loved the reaction on Aniketh's face. My eyes matched Rushaad's, and that guy looked as clueless as ever, probably wondering where he had landed himself. "Okay, you guys go to the bedroom while we discuss the question."

"Why are you making this dramatic?" I asked Neava and she just shrugged.

"It's fun and exciting." She replied and pushed me to the bedroom, doing the same with Aniketh. The next moment, we were inside the bedroom and I heard someone locking the door from outside, probably Neava. "Don't kill each other."

I looked at Aniketh, who happened to take a tour of the room, walking from one place to another, noticing my and Preet's things. His eyes fell on our photoframe and he let out a hmph.

"Nazar lagana band karo mujhpe aur meri biwi pe." I scoffed.

[Don't cast your evil eye on me and my wife.]

"How did you two meet?" He asked me, folding his hands below his chest and taking a step towards me.

"How does that concern you?" I countered while stepping ahead.

"I'm curious. I've been keeping an eye on her since last year, but you were nowhere to be seen-" What the fuck?

"You've been stalking her?" Did you not?

I asked him in disbelief. I guess the question itself was the wrong one, the way he flew from India to Canada proves a lot about him. I might even consider that he loves her if it was seen in his actions.

His actions are nowhere near love. So what I guess is that he is just very fond of the idea of her and cannot let her go. And that makes him think this is love, while it's not. At least I cannot see it.

When a person is in love, it's visible like a rainbow to others. Very enchantingly.

"How shameless are you, Aniketh?" His silence was enough for me to get my answer. He halted in his steps while I was mad enough to tower him further.

With the anger taking over me, I couldn't realise when my leg tripped below the mattress while my upper body leaned towards him. As I completely lost my balance within a second or so, I fell on the ground with this wanna-be lion underneath me. Our bodies were almost sticking to each other and so were our faces.

Chi, Chi, Chi.

Ew.

God, when I said I want romantic moments in my life, I meant it with Preet not with this jhingur.

"Ouch." He whined as his back hit the ground with my weight on him as well.

As if my luck was contradicting today, the door flung open and the three of them stood there looking at us with utter shock. Preet had covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

"Oh," Rushaad said in a low voice.

"My," Neava added.

"God." Preet completed, still in shock while the other two burst out laughing.

"Utho toh sahi mere uper se," Aniketh said I got out of my trance. I stood up in my place and dusted off my clothes with a nonsense expression.

[At least stand up.]

Even Aniketh was standing by now but not beside me. Preet, Rushaad and Neava were still staring at us with widened eyes.

"Guys, we just fell-" I was going to justify myself until Neava interjected.

"For each other? I told you guys not to kill each other, but you were all set to kiss...Preet look at your fak-" Rushaad flung a hand at Neava's mouth and covered it before she could complete it. Thank-fucking-god.

The way she was looking at him clearly said that she was smiling, looking through her lashes practically flirting with him. He immediately removed his hand and made a face at her.

Preet, who still looked traumatized but came out of the zone, walked towards me; holding my hand, she dragged me to the side opposite Aniketh.

"It happens. Accidents happen. Now let's go outside." Rushaad added. He's my only saviour here. He kept his hand on Aniketh's shoulder and took him outside, his other hand holding Neava's and dragging her out too.

"Why is everyone I've ever liked turning gay." I heard Preet mutter this to herself.

What does she mean? She likes me?

Oh my god, I'd throw a party inviting the whole city, give offerings to the god, I've gotten the blessings of all the vrats I've kept over the years--

Everyone I've ever liked.

Or she's speaking about this langoor.

Yes, it makes sense, she is speaking about him and not me. She would have used the present tense if it was me.

Disheartening.

"Aap uske sath kya romance karne lag gaye the." She folded her hands and raised her head to glare at me. Shawty.

[Why did you start romancing with him?]

"Arey-"

"Ladka mil mil ke bhi Aniketh? Bro code todd diya-"

[And the guy is Aniketh? You broke the bro code-]

"Kuch bro vro nahi hu main aapka." She pressed her teeth on her lower lip in irritation.

[I'm not your bro or anything.]

"Also why are you only getting the guys in life, first Connor and now Aniketh? Ho kya raha hai? " I narrowed my eyes and shrugged.

"I don't know why I've started attracting men, but wait, are you jealous over Aniketh?" I asked the question as soon as I digested her previous words. Her tone did sound a little weirder than usual because she's not the one to get mad for unnecessary reasons.

"Gym karne se dimag ka vikas nahi hota na." She scoffed first and I looked at her, completely offended yet confused.

[Gym doesn't help you develop your brain.]

"Stupid man, I'm jealous over yo--" She immediately halted in her tracks and her voice trailed off with every second as the consciousness hit her.

Finallyyyyyyy

A smile tried to appear on my lips and as soon as I tried to hide it, it expanded. Caught you.

So at least I'm not doing all this for nothing. The fire is igniting at the other side of the door as well.

"Jealous over me, uh huh." One step ahead.

I'm so thankful now we are over the bhaiya phase. That was the worst.

"Bullshit. I'm not jealous at all, why would I be? It's just that what will he think? A married man would do all this with another...man?" She tried to cover up.

"Whatever helps you to sleep at night." I put my hands in my pocket and started walking past her making my way to the dining room, lowering my head and hiding my happiness.

I stopped when I reached beside her and whispered in her ear. "Catching feelings or what, wifey?"

Walking away, covering my face with a very confident look, I stopped and turned around after I was at a certain place where she couldn't see me, but I could.

I squealed and punched my fist in the air like I'd won an achievement. As soon as I saw her turning around, I composed my demeanour and immediately started walking towards the dining room, grinning my way back.

"So, do we start this competition or whatever sorta thing or looking at the situations we do not continue it further?" Neava asked; I couldn't figure out whether it was sarcastically or genuinely.

"Shoot it," Aniketh said, unbothered. I don't even consider this guy as my competition.

"Preet, ask the questions we've prepared," Neava told Preet who just didn't look like she wanted this to happen. She hesitated but further when Neava said something to her through her eyes.

"What is...my dream goal?" I knew the answer to this very well.

"Give yourself the life you've been dreaming of," Aniketh replied and Preet nodded but didn't look satisfied.

"Make your own film." Once, her sticky note flew towards me and it was written 'Written and Directed by Preet Randhawa' in double quotations and a small smiley face was drawn at the end of it.

Apart from that, the way she goes to her shoots efficiently and is always ranting about how it matters to her so much was enough for me to guess that.

"That's correct." Preet looked astonished as if she didn't expect me to give the right answer.

"How do I deal with stressful situations?" She questioned.

"Umm, You sleep." Brother?

He was so confident about this? This?

"You try your best to figure a way out by yourself because you don't like taking anybody's help. And just in case you don't succeed, you blame yourself for everything, create a tsunami of mess in your mind, overthink everything and can't sleep at night. You also pounce back on anyone and everyone, let it be the person who helped you, but then when you're back to normal, you regret every bit of it. " I explained and later looked at Aniketh to catch his expression. He did look a little taken aback. "You also keep touching and kissing your emotional support locket now and then."

'I've loved her, I know her better than anyone else.'

Angoor.

"Damn," Preet said. "That's also right."

I have no idea why, but all this while, Neava kept staring at me with her face, telling me she had questions; I don't know what related to what. She looked like a complete detective.

"Now, the last question, what's the one silly thing I'm used to doing and I love it." She asked.

I was kind of starting to question her questions. But later, I guessed that she was probably asking these to help me if I've noticed the things and stuff she does. She thinks that if she asks me something else, like her favourite childhood memory, song or anything, then I wouldn't know.

Although, I do. At least, I try to guess.

"Um..." The room grew silent as Aniketh mulled about this question. He clearly couldn't think about anything. After a minute or two of giving him some time, I spoke up with pride.

"You love to ask ratings about things. Like after a movie, you'd ask how it was on a scale of one to ten. After dinner, you'd ask for the ratings and are interested in knowing other people's opinions on something. You are interested in seeing what the world looks like from another perspective in simple words." I kept staring right into her eyes.

She had asked for a rating every time we ordered food from outside, watched movies, and discussed shows we'd watched. She also sometimes asks me how my day has gone after I come back home. She loves this rating thing.

And this was the top one, I knew a lot of other things like how she loves to roll her eyes at almost every statement she finds annoying, how she scrunches her nose cutely when she's trying hard to think about something, how she does her quick little dance when she's too happy; I might have just mistakenly seen that one day when I entered the room.

In these two weeks with her, I got to know and observe so many things about her. Ten times more than what I knew in these six years. And what makes me more happy is that somebody didn't tell me, I learnt them on my own. I finally got the opportunity to get to know her.

I had the time of my life in these two weeks with the woman of my dreams.

That's the only thing I'm thankful for to this tingoor.

"Right." My challenging gaze shifted to Aniketh who looked disappointed with himself. I hope this gives him the realisation that he doesn't love her, but he just wants her. And he stops the drama he's been doing.

Although I have every reason to hate the guy, I don't. He's just a twenty-three-year-old who thinks his life is going to end without her in it. He loves the idea of her, but unfortunately or fortunately he doesn't love her.

But his one problem is he acts like he is some mafia, has a lot of ego and is so full of himself. That irritates me.

Boy tried to threaten me in the parking lot while I was laughing my ass off right in front of his face. He thinks he can scare me when her very brothers fail at that.

However, he did irk me that time by saying a few things.

"Now, as per the deal, the door's that way." I showed him the door with a very sweet smile on my face. He dejectedly glanced at Preet once who just turned her head aside.

That's my girl.

Not yet but she will be. Someday.

When? When? When?

"Aniketh, I'm humbly telling you for the last time. This is it; I don't know what more it will take you to believe that I'm in love and married to someone, but please, now, let's stop this. It's anyway getting awkward and messed up." Preet told him, he just passed a slight nod and left.

I feel bad for this guy sometimes.

The air was filled with utter silence, a hell of an uncomfortable one where we all kept looking at each other awkwardly. Preet excused herself to the room saying that she had to use the restroom.

Neava slid closer to me and asked me seriously in a low voice. "How long?"

I looked at her, confused. "How long, what?"

"Come on, she might be dumb but I'm not. I won't tell her. How long?" I finally understood the meaning behind her words. Just to confirm, I looked at her, raising my eyebrows and she nodded as an affirmation.

"Six years," I replied and her jaw dropped.

"Are you serious? Six years?" She exclaimed, and I nodded with a meek smile. "Six years means..."

"Abhinav's wedding." Her expression was full of amusement.

"My my. That's a lot of time, Deven." I nodded.

"How did you? I mean... I'm so amazed and speechless right now." I've heard that a lot.

"Just don't tell her," I said and she passed an evil smile. "Pipadiya, you won't."

"One quick question, how do you remember her surname?" Rushaad interrupted in between, clicking his fingers.

"It's very simple and unique. You'll get used to it" I replied and patted his shoulder. "By the way, what's up between you two?"

"Lie-"

"Before he replies with LiEs , let's not get there." Neava mimicked his exact time, and placing a hand on his face,  pushed him behind refraining him from continuing.

"Also, I'll need something in return to keep your secret, Mehrotra." Rushaad tried to sway her hand and come closer to hear us but she once again did the same.

They are cute.

"What?"

"Another date with him. You're going to convince him." She whispered keeping a hand near a mouth.

"That seems imp-"

"Possible. Every impossible has a possible in it."  Neava shrugged and Rushaad was successful in removing her hand from his face.

"Molesta." My brows furrowed when I heard him say this in a foreign language.

"He knows only one word of Spanish and it's this. His sobo girlfriend told him on their first date when he was seventeen." Neava explained, rolling her eyes while Rushaad glared at her.

"You were not supposed to tell people about that." He said and turned to face her, folding his hands below his chest.

"Oh I wasn't? By the way has anyone told you that you look patakda?" I chuckled at the Gujarati slang she used for attractive or hot.

"What's that now?" She just showed her teeth.

"You'll never know."

"What's that, Deven?" He turned towards me and I shrugged.

"I don't know." I winked at Neava and we shared a hi-fi while Rushaad just shook his head.

✧

So finally, Deven's pov. Did you like it?????

I spend more than 5 hours on this chapter (I'm too lazy) I NEED some good response please or I'll jump off a cliff now.