Chapter Eighteen
"But honestly, Friends? Friends."
⧠P R E E T â§
I was bored of scrolling mindlessly on Instagram while lying on the couch in his office. He had some important meetings and insisted on me to stay till he finishes it, and later we shall go out somewhere. I didn't have much to do so I agreed.
My phone vibrated, and it was Neava, picking it up on the first ring. I heard her say sweetly, "Hi, cutie."
"What is it?" I asked and heard her huffing. Not my problem.
"Where are you?" She asked me and I wondered for a second whether to tell her the truth or to hide it.
"Deven's office." You don't lie to your best friend. "What about you?"
"Home." She replied in a gigglish tone making me wonder what that was for.
"Molesta." Wait a minute.
There's only one person who uses this word as his coping mechanism. The one she is married to in her head but says that it's just for teasing him.
"Rushaad? I heard his voice." I asked in disbelief. I had to take a moment and sit down in confusion. There was something very weird going on between them, and at this point, leaving their best friend. The Panchayati aunty inside me wanted to know what it was.
"She's lying. She has trapped me inside my house for two hours. Neither is she leaving nor is she letting me." I heard his muffled screams as she tried to shut his mouth.
Oh, poor dude in distress. Or more like a dude with the stress.
"Exaggeration and persuasion." She replied with a new term she has learned this month. Every month, she brings something unique and later pastes it everywhere for the next month.
"If you wanted to talk amongst yourselves then why did you call me?" I interrupted after a while. Both of them were arguing about how he called her first, and then he flipped in front of me, saying she had trapped him, blah blah blah.
"Oh yeah, we were thinking about going to the club tonight. Will you guys join?" She asked. I haven't been in a club for a very long time. After that incident, I stopped drinking; practically, was
my first time, but yes, after that, I gave up the idea.
So getting drunk was not on my list.
"Not we, her," Rushaad added and I chuckled.
"I'll ask Deven and call you back."
"That reminds me, why are you at Deven's office?" The teasing was heard in her voice. I was wondering why she didn't ask me about this earlier, but it seems like she was too busy flirting with a certain someone.
"Why can't I be at his office if you're at Rushaad's home?" I retorted using the maximum percentage of my brain and my opponent got silenced at this.
"Makes sense. Now bye, let me know if you're in." I hung the call after letting out a small bye. If I were to be honest, I'm in no mood for a party right now as much as it sounds tempting and fun.
At least not today.
I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. As soon as the blackness consumed me, the scene of that chudail and he flashed in my mind, and I visibly cringed, making a face.
To avoid watching that scene again, I looked at the ceiling, blankly. Why did I react so much?
It might be a rush of emotions which just burst without my permission or acknowledgement but that didn't validate what my reaction was. I had no right to him or whatever he did. It has to be that simple.
But it's not.
A few weeks ago, I was roaming proudly calling him brother, but now that just makes me want to dig a hole and start a new life like a grasshopper there.
No, because why would I?
And that too from the past few years? Since the time I met him at my brother's wedding, I was hell-bent on making him my fourth brother. Even though he used to get very irritated at the slight mention of it, exactly how I feel now when I think of that.
My mind suddenly replayed the part where he intentionally hid the photo frame inside the drawer. An evil side of mine wanted to spy on whose photo frame it was and why he hid it from me. But the nicer side was restricting me.
Within a minute of my internal debate, whether it is right to look into someone's stuff without their permission or if it's fine because he's my husband. Let it be fake.
The evil overpowered the nice one like it always happens in the world, and I walked towards the same drawer. I hesitated a little to pull it, but when I did I could only see the back part of it.
I picked it up and turned it only to get surprised in return. Surprised, but not in a good way.
What is my photograph doing here?
It was a picture which I had taken on the day we clicked some fake couple pictures as a display of our non-existent marriage. I remember he was clicking the picture of the view, and I photobombed it, giving a cute expression.
The picture was cute but this is not the right place for it to be. Not yet.
One second.
I could be very wrong and judgy but what if...What if.
Why did he get annoyed for years every time I addressed him as my brother? It cannot be.
It suddenly struck me when I compared the two situations. One, the way I got cringed and felt weird when I now reminisce about the moments, I called him my brother. Two, how he got super irritated at those very moments.
It was somewhat similar. Or maybe I'm over-analysing it, and he doesn't like to be called bhaiya.
I mean, look at him. Does he look like the bhaiya type to you?
Look who's speaking. The irony. Funny how my opinion has changed within three weeks.
But what about the photo frame?
"Hi, hi, I'm done with the work, let's leave now. Also, Rushaad had called and he was asking if-" I heard his voice after the creaking of the door. He trailed off when his eyes fell on me holding the photo frame, which I was not supposed to see, according to him.
"What's this?" I asked with a stern look, showing him the photo frame. I didn't miss the shock in his expression which he managed to cover up quickly.
I swear I'd be very disappointed and creeped out if he did not have a proper, solid explanation for this. But it shall just make me question if I went wrong in judging him and letting my guard down.
It is not cute or cool.
Especially when we have nothing like that going on.
"Um, a cute picture of you. Haha." The nervousness was mixed with awkwardness in his tone itself. He had to pass a sheepish smile to me.
"I can see that. But what is it doing here?" He walked closer to me and let out a smooth laugh.
"I was trying to find an important picture in my gallery, and there I found this picture of that day. I found it very cute, the way you're smiling, so I decided to photo frame it and gift it to you." At this point, all the set alarms in my mind were in alert mode. So, I was a little not convinced.
"Why didn't you give it then?" I asked. I wanted to believe him, trust me. But I had some trust issues when it came to men, because of the incidents that have happened in my life.
But, again he wouldn't lie to me. He had no reason to.
"The parcel arrived just yesterday. I forgot to bring it home and decided to give it to you today. Like, right after the meeting, I must add. And I gave the office address because it was a surprise for you." He added. As I tried to scan his expression, the nervousness either vanished, or he was pretty good at masking it with a layer of a smile.
"Why do you look so stressed?" His gaze softened and keeping his hands on my shoulder, he asked me. I melted at the way he understood in seconds that something was wrong and showed immediate concern.
I could not let my overthinking win. Not in front of him.
"I just saw it randomly and, like, no offence, got freaked out a little," I replied and bit my inner cheek. It was a bit embarrassing how I was all set to question him and everything.
"I get you. It would be weird for you to find your photograph in someone's office. Like what if I am a psychopath on a secret mission to kill you?" He joked, and I chuckled, taking a breath of relief. I love the way he wasn't getting offended about it.
"Are you?" I asked him in the same teasing tone.
"Maybe. Be aware." He winked. I had a sudden urge to hug him. A very sudden urge.
"I'm sorry." He leaned forward to hug me as if he read my mind. I immediately reciprocated and looked at him with a questioning gaze."For scaring you. That was not my intention."
I wanted to do that too but he just had the guts. Brownie points.
I could smell his fragrance as I reached his neck after struggling on my toes while he had to bend down to hug me. I was that short but seems like he was very tall.
My type.
"I don't know why a thought like that occurred in my mind." My voice went low at this, almost regretting it all.
"You seriously thought that I was a serial killer?" I shook my head.
"No, more like a...um, stalker? I guess. These things with Aniketh and shit na, have messed with my mind badly. I'm starting to raise questions for everyone now. He has practically stalked me everywhere I go and at a point, it's shitty and scary." I summarised my thoughts and their root cause.
"He won't bother now. Or is he still? Should I teach him another lesson or what?"
"He hasn't. He is not bad, you know. Just a little immature to do things like this." I wondered if I should tell him that, but I decided otherwise.
"But the water is slowly getting above the head now." Deven quoted.
"But on a brighter note, at least we are friends because of him-" he interrupted me by parting a little, so he could see my face.
"Friends?" He raised his one eyebrow and kept staring intensely, later switching his gaze to our hug for a flickering second before looking back into his eyes.
I bit my lower lip and shrugged while blood rushed to my cheeks. One questionable word was enough to make me blush.
But honestly, Friends? Friends.
"I like our hugs," I admitted after gathering a lot of courage.
"Me too." He replied and parted the hug, "I think we should hug more often."
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We decided to not go to the club tonight. None of us were in the mood. Neava did whine a little now how she was so excited but I shut her up saying we'll go next weekend.
I was lying on my stomach, swaying my legs in the air, watching Emily in Paris. The boy drama had me hooked to it and so did her poor life decisions and amazing professional skills.
"What do you want to eat?" Deven asked tying his apron at the back with a spatula in his hand. I was amazed at how effortlessly good he looked in his basic olive tee and black sweatpants.
"Pach tera," He still hasn't forgotten about this, man. Because of his lack of use of this statement, I thought he did but here we go again.
"Reva do." I showed him a hand and chipkao-fied his words to him. Fixing my t-shirt after sitting on the bed, I stretched my body.
"Acha ji."
"Han ji." I grinned and stood from the bed walking towards the kitchen with him.
"Okay, what should we make?" I asked him after glancing at the grocery.
"Paratha and Aaloo ki Sabzi?" I nodded passing him a heads-up. I noticed him taking out the dry floor. "Wait, we have leftover kneaded dough."
Taking it out of the refrigerator, I also took out the bottle of orange juice. Keeping it on the kitchen counter, I turned to find potatoes kept in a basket.
"Such a wife material you are. I just wish to marry you sometimes." He mumbled fastly that it took me some time to register and understand what he had said.
"What?" I paused my work only to look at him and ask surprisingly.
"Nothing." I furrowed my eyebrows with a gentle unknown smile on my lips. He picked up the rolling pin and started making the parathas while I cut the potatoes into fine pieces before putting them up on the cooker for tadka.
"Okay, what did you think of me when you first saw me?" I asked him in between.
"First saw me, as in, the very first time or the first time here in Canada?" He questioned.
"Both."
"Okay, so the very first time I saw you, I thought um," He waited for a while and thought for a good amount of time while I got impatient.
"Say. I know you want to say something but you're hesitating." I nudged his arm from my elbow.
"No, nothing like that. I don't remember it well. It was years ago na but I can tell you about the Canada one." I let out a hmph.
"Boldo wo hi abhi aur kya."
[Yeah, say that. What else now.]
"I was shocked, surprised, amused, astonished and whatnot. Practically a 'Hey Preet' made me your husband. For a second, I was like, is she in her right state of mind or if I'm not in the right state of mind." I let out an embarrassing laugh, biting my tongue.
"I thought in my mind that this is my bhaiyan to saaiyan ban ne ka safar. It was funny." He joined me, laughing. "What about you? What did you think of me?"
"At Abhinav bhai's wedding, I just thought that you were his best friend I didn't pay much attention at that time. Therefore, I don't remember anything specific. I loved your blue eyes and I just wished to snatch those pretty eyes from you." His face was filled with pride, and he rolled his nonexistent collar.
"And in Canada, it was the moment's rush; I had to get out of the situation,so using you was the best and safest option of all."
"Tch tch tch, sharam nahi aati aise paraye mard ko use karte hue?" The mischievous Deven was back.
[Don't you feel ashamed using a strange man like this.]
"Paraye kaha ho. Apne hi toh ho." I winked at him and he looked like he didn't expect it.
"Oye hoye." He kept a hand on his heart and pretended to fall backwards. "Dil lelo aaj."
[Take my heart.]
"De do." I replied.
[Give it.]
"Aapke pass hi toh hai kabse. Lauta hi nahi rahi ho aap."
[You have it already. You're not giving it back.]
"Acha. Jis din mera todoge uss din lauta dungi." I shrugged.
[The day you'll break my heart, I'll return yours.]
"Matlab impossible hai vapis hona." I glanced at him only to have a look at his confident face. "Koi nahi. Rakhlo. That is where it belongs."
[That means it's impossible to get it back/No worries, keep it]
I smiled, shaking my head at this flirt cooking parathas in front of me.
"By the way, you can't snatch my blue eyes now but..." He took a pause awakening more curiosity inside me. "Our kids can."
I gasped at this and turned my head towards him with the same expression, only to smack his arm with my hand. He threw his head back laughing.
Damn that was so so so good. I bet I'm all red right now.
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A chapter dedicated to how men are good at gaslighting lmao.
(first half)
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