Chapter 35

"Khau Galli."

He spoke completing her sentence and she looked at him confused.

"Why are we here? Weren't we going to zoo?"

Shrithik laughed.

"It's 14 km away from here. I was hungry and I know a food shop here which has the best food in the whole world. I thought you should also try so I dragged you here."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Best food? Even better if that your cooking?"

He nodded and spoke

"Even better than mine. Wait! You think my food is best?"

He teased and she looked away.

"Of course not. My father is definitely a better cook than you."

"Oh really? Lair."

She jerked her head towards him.

"I'm not lyin- woah!!"

She shrieked when he dragged her into a food shop.

"Order two vada pav"

Shrithik ordered pushing her down on a chair and then sitting himself.

"You are really lucky that nobody can see you. Otherwise let someone talk to me like that, I'll break their bones."

She threatened and he chuckled.

"Me too."

He spoke lowly.

"What? You said something?"

He snapped his head to her direction and narrowed his eyes.

"You wanna eat or not?"

She nodded and ordered two vada pav.

"It's looking delicious."

"Then eat and let me eat."

He said and started eating followed by Sameera.

Soon they both were done eating the delicious vada pav and were walking on the road.

When they reached the main road, exiting Khau Galli Sameera saw a puppy stuck in traffic.

"I'll just bring him to the side."

She said to Shrithik.

"There's that boy also going to do the same. He'll do it."

He said and she turned towards him.

"So? I should also go. Who knows I'll reach that pup-"

A loud pop was heard. Very loud. It was like something cracking.

Sameera turned around and what she saw gave her goosebumps.

That puppy was lying dead on the road with his skull crushed to pieces. Blood flowing like a river.

Sameera lost her balance looking at the sight. Shrithik also took a look at that dead pup and immediately turned towards her. He knew she will not be able to handle it.

She was falling backwards. He ran towards her and caught her.

Her back slammed in his chest. She breathed hard. The sight before her was terrifying. No. It was petrifying.

He slowly moved his hands and wrapped them around her waist. Hugging her from behind.

"Breath sweetheart. Breath."

She couldn't comprehend what he was saying. Soon she was turned around by him. He looked down at her taking in how her face has lost all of its colour.

She looked up at him and then lifted her hand and pointed at where the dead dog was.

"H-he died......h-h-how? I am.....I don't know. I-I....."

He took her face in his hands and stopped her from turning her face and looking at the corpse.

"Shhhhhhh. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Shh. Calm down."

"Nothing happened? How can you say something lik-"

He hugged her tightly. Not letting her speak. Not letting her see.

As she couldn't see anything she felt her surroundings changing. How? She doesn't know. But she felt it.

Soon she heard him spoke in a very lighthearted tone.

"Are you done now?"

She pushed herself away from him. Looking at him confused. She looked at her surroundings and once again lost her balance. Once again he caught her and this time locked her hands by wrapping his hands around her waist with her hands between his hands and her waist.

She was standing in the zoo!

She could swear that a moment ago she was standing on the main road near Khau Galli and now she was in the.....zoo?

How was that even possible? But she was in the zoo. Standing in front of a big net wall which prevented the lion to come to the other side.

It was unbelievable.

She turned her head and looked at Shrithik whose chin was kept on her shoulder and asked

"Weren't we at Khau Galli? And we saw that pup die?"

He looked at her.

"Khau Galli? When did we go there? I told you that we were going to zoo right? Why will we go there?"

"So.......we were here from the start? We didn't go to Khau Galli and we didn't eat Vada pav?"

He nodded.

"Of course. We are here from the start. You want to go back?"

She just nodded slowly. She couldn't believe what was happening. And for the first time in her life she felt her head aching.

Shrithik looked at her with a serious expression. How she was in deep thought rubbing the sides of her head.

She looked up at him and his expression changed from serious to teasing.

"Have you started seeing things? I have told you to not watch so many fantasy and thriller movies but no. You don't want to listen."

She snapped her head towards him and glared at him.

"Are you serious? Is it me who watches crime thriller and mystery movie 24/7 or you? I don't know how I even thought that you liked romantic movies."

She mumbled the last part to herself and once again glared at him. He shrugged.

"So? It's not like I have started seeing things."

"What do you mean? I'm imagining things?"

She snapped and he nodded.

"So? It's good. At least I'm imagining something and using my brain."

"You can't use something which is non-existent, sweetheart."

She looked away and crossed her arms. Shrithik laughed and walked around her so the she was now looking in his direction.

"You got angry?"

She nodded and he chuckled. First Sameera was still straining her brain to find out wether she was really imagining things or something really happened and then Shrithik was teasing her. Her head was aching really bad.

Suddenly he stopped. It took her a few seconds to realise that he was not walking with her. She turned around to find him looking at his reflection in the mirror of a coffee shop. He was touching his beard and jawline and turning his head side to side.

She slumped her shoulders and walked towards him. Tugging at his t-shirt she pleaded

"Let's go. I'm very tired. Please."

He looked down at her making puppy dog eyes. Not gonna work on him. He was now immune to her puppy dog eyes but agreed to her as she was looking really tired.

"Yeah. Let's just buy a trimmer. And then I'll drop you off."

She nodded and walked beside him and then spoke

"Trimmer? As in beard styling trimmer?"

"Yeah. That one. My beard has grown a little too much. I just need to trim it a little."

"Ooh."

She said and looked down. He liked Shrishti and Shrishti prefered shaved men. But Sameera preferred bearded men. And she definitely didn't want him to get shaved. Though he'll look good that way also but it's his wish.

She then spoke. Hesitant in her mind but quite confident for someone other than herself.

"You know.......Shrishti likes clean shaved me."

He looked at her and shrugged.

"That's good. But why are you telling this to me?"

He asked and she sighed. She didn't know wether he was just acting oblivious or was actually not understanding what she meant.

It was really hard to tell what he was feeling. No one can ever know wether he is joking or not. Something with according to her she was good at. But from the day she has met him, she thinks that she really sucks at that art.

"Are you really not getting it? I am saying you should shave your beard off. Shrishti likes it that way."

She said and he looked down at her. Then smirked. He was getting an idea of what she must be thinking so he spoke

"There are two things which I'd like to tell you. First, I know that I look good shaved also. But I like myself more with beard. And second, why should I care what she likes. First of all she will not even be able to see me if I shaved also."

So this was it. He wasn't shaving because Shrishti can't see him. If she could see him he would have shaved. Sameera's sad expression must have been visible to him because once again he spoke

"How will you prefer me? Shaved or bearded?"

She looked down and mumbled

"It's not like you are gonna do as I say. You should ask my friend."

Shrithik smirked to himself. Then changed his expression to serious one and spoke

"You are talking nonsense. Why will I do something that she likes?"

"Because you like her. Don't you?"

She stated in a duh tone and he grinned. Once again controlling himself he spoke

"Who told this to you? Who? I don't like her. I have absolutely neutral feelings for her. Do you understand that? Absolutely nothing."

He asked and she stopped walking. Turning to him with her mouth ajar she asked

"So you don't like her?"

Shrithik sighed.

"What was I telling you till know? Is there anybody up there? Hello brain! Are you there? Hello! Anybody home?"

He said knocking on her forehead. She swatted his hand away and once again asked

"So you don't like her?"

"Of course I don't."

She grinned. And then turned to the direction she was going in. Hopping she yelled

"That's a good news."

Now she didn't want to hide the fact that she liked him. Let him know. Let the world know.

Shrithik grinned once again. So she was ignoring him because she thought he liked Shrishti. Shrithik actually never had someone who'll feel jealous for him. He never had someone who took care of him as Sameera did.

Never once had he cared so much for himself as she did. He never had someone like Sameera. It wasn't a thing of worry to him wether she liked him or not. What mattered to him was that she should not dislike or hate him. Neutral feelings were also good for him.

Sameera was happy that he didn't like Shrishti. She also knew that he was not interested in any other girl and neither was he gay. Joy was coursing through her veins as she reached the Singhals mansion.

Raj and Shivam were parking their bikes when she saw them. Looks like they were coming back from their trip.

"Hey guys!"

She yelled and hopped towards them. Literally.

Raj and Shivam glared at her and gritted their teeth. Shivam, without wasting any minute strode towards her with a hard expression. Sameera's smile faltered. Why were they angry at her?

He took a hold of her elbow and yanked her towards himself.

"Where were you? Do you know how worried we were? We were sitting in a restaurant and Maaya called Raj. She was panicked, saying Sameera is missing. Do you even know that how much we searched for you?"

Sameera looked down. She never thought that she has to inform her friends.

"I'm sorry. I just went somewhere."

This time Raj snarled.

"Somewhere? And we were searching because we thought that an alone girl who visited Mumbai for the first time might have been lost cause she was not picking up her phone. Couldn't you have messaged that you were going somewhere?"

She looked down. He was right, she should have messaged.

"Enough. Let's go now."

Shivam once again took ahold of her hand and led her inside the mansion. She looked down and prepared herself for the scolding coming next.

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Khau Galli : Lanes with a sizable cluster of street food stalls are known as Khau Galli locally which mean 'Food Alley' in Marathi.

Vada Pav : Vada pav, alternatively spelt wada pao, is a vegetarian fast food dish native to the state of Maharashtra. The dish consists of a deep fried potato dumpling placed inside a bread bun sliced almost in half through the middle. It is generally accompanied with one or more chutneys and a green chili pepper.