Chapter 21
"Uh…let's not." Vidya stuttered, Sagar smiled slyly at her condition.
"Kyon? Seeing me and Krish together can't possibly affect your decision, can it?"
"I'm not ready to see him." She said.
"Why?" Sagar asked, quietly.
"I don't want to, okay?!" Vidya exclaimed. Sagar stopped the car, and smirked at her.
"Mhmm…" He noted.
"I can't handle him being around me. I don't want him to be in love with me….I don't want this many guys in love with me!" She yelled.
"You thought it was just me?" Sagar smirked.
"You think it's so funny, let's see how funny it is when you're an usher at my wedding." She said, grinning.
"Wait, a Christian wedding?" He asked, Vidya
nodded. "Krish and I are Christian, works out nicely
nah?" Sagar rolled his eyes.
"Wait, you're serious?!" Vidya threw her head back and laughed.
"Whatever," He sighed. "Let's go to Mahi's."
"Bothering the married couple," Vidya sighed. "Whatever." She mirrored.
When they arrived, they noticed the three other couples were already present.
"What is this, private party?" Vidya said, leaning on Mahi carelessly.
"Yeah, we didn't want CERTAIN people here," Mahi said, glaring at Sagar.
"Mahi, be nice." Vidya said, hugging her arm.
"What are we supposed to do? It's Sunday and I'm bored." Niharika exclaimed.
"I don't care, you skinny people are bothering me." Suhani complained, "Except my Ishu, him and his pot belly." She giggled. Ishaan frowned, pulling his shirt off.
Staring down at his abs, he frowned, "I don't have a pot belly."
"No one wants to see you without a shirt," Niharika complained, Vidya rolled her eyes, "I second that."
"I do!!" Suhani complained.
"Definitely not as good as Angad's." Mahi smirked.
"I second that too." Vidya laughed. Sagar frowned, "Oh yeah?" He asked, competitively. Angad raised an eyebrow, "Yeah." He replied.
"Prove it." Sagar said. Immediately, he pulled his shirt off too. "I swim." Sagar says, countering his action.
"Dude, you guys are ridiculous." Niharika laughed.
"Seriously, I have too much integrity for this." Vedant said, proudly.
"So says the boy that wanted to be a stripper." Vidya
rolled her eyes. "It was a joke." He defended.
"Sure it was."
"Let's play a game." Ishaan suggests.
"How well does your better half know you?" Suhani joked. Ishaan glanced, "Why not?"
"Okay, well we can ask a question and each of us can answer?" Niharika asked, everyone agreed. They were too bored to think of anything better to do.
"Well, what's your most common or dumbest fear?" Niharika asked. "Mine is the smell of burnt crayons."
She said.
"Clowns." Vedant shuddered.
"Mirrors at night." Ishaan said.
"Angad leaving me for someone else." Mahi frowned.
"What?" He asked, pulling on her waist he said, "You know I'd never." He kissed her slowly, it didn't take long till both were immersed in a deep lip-lock
session.
"Ahem." Vidya said, politely, uncomfortable at Mahi and Angad who sat beside her.
"AHEM." Niharika repeated louder.
"She said AHEM, you bunch of freaks!" Suhani yelled, annoyed. Mahi blushing pulled away, "Wow." She said.
"Get a room you little nasties." Ishaan said. Angad grinned.
"It was a figure of speech dude." Vedant corrects.
"Moving on." Angad said, clearing his throat. "I'm afraid of being mobbed by fans…" He said, quietly. "Or Vidya." Vidya laughed, "Jiju." She laughed. "You're funny."
"Yeah." He said. "What about you?"
"I'm afraid of being in a room alone with Sagar when he's mad." She said, quietly. Everyone knew she was but no one expected her to say anything.
"Uh…." Sagar started. Mahi glared at him, Vidya lightened the moment. "And I'm afraid Mahi and Niharika will murder Sagar some day."
"Same." He said, sighing. "I'm afraid of Vidya marrying Krish." He said. "Who'd you lose your virginity to?" Sagar asked, like to the true one tracked minded idiot he was.
"Mishti." Angad said.
"You too?" Sagar asked.
"Speaking of which," Mahi said. "Vidya, your bhai is getting married." She said.
"What?! Bhai's getting married?! I talked to him yesterday and he never mentioned it.
"What does that have to do with Mishti?" Sagar asked.
"He's marrying Mishti." Angad replied. "Dang." Sagar said.
"Did you say me too?" Angad asked.
"Yeah, mine too."
"Slut." He muttered.
"Shabd." Mahi answered.
"Vedant." Niharika answered. Ishaan and Suhani glared at Vedant, he whispered to her, "This isn't the greatest time to mention this you know."
"But anyways, her name was Shweta." Vedant started.
"Shweta, from camp?!" Niharika yelled, he nodded. "When?"
"Two summers before you." Niharika rolled her eyes.
"Vir." Suhani answered. Everyone looked at her with
wide eyed, cricket chirp silence.
"Dude, it was once. Chill."
"At least you know his name." Ishaan said.
"Matlab?"
"I don't know her name but she was damn gorgeous."
Ishaan said. "I met her at a concert; she had something weird tattooed on the back of her neck…Like a crescent moon or something." He said, deep in thought.
"And she had a beauty mark on her cheek?" Angad asked, Ishaan nodded.
"And she wears really thick eyeliner." Sagar added.
"Yeah. Don't tell me that was…" Ishaan asked, sighing.
The three completed at the same time, "Mishti."
"God, she's everywhere." Sagar sighed. Angad nodded, "Yup."
"Uh….next question." Mahi said, uncomfortably.
"Well," Angad started, "What's your favorite flavor slushee?" He said, "Mine's…"
"Raspberry…." The four girls answered at one.
"How do you people know that?"
"Vidya told us." Niharika and Suhani said.
"Uh, president of the official Angad Khanna fan club, ask me anything…." Vidya said.
"What's YOUR favorite flavor?" Angad asked.
"Blue Raspberry…just like yours…." Vidya sighed, gazing at Angad. Angad shifted, smiling at her, boasting to Mahi.
"Dude, back off." Mahi growled. Vidya growled back. They got into a growling competition. Angad looked
scared and backed away quickly, "Ladies, ladies, there's enough of me to go around you know." He laughed, the two glared at him, "Just kidding." He added, scared.
"Vidya we need to talk," Sagar said, seriously. Vidya glanced at him, with her glare fixed on Angad. "What?"
"It's important." Sagar chided. Right at that moment when Vidya was about to have a sarcastic reply, her phone rang. She picked up, reluctantly.
"Hello?" Vidya asked, still glaring at the two.
"Vidya, It's me." An obviously male voice said, through the phone.
"Oh, umm…Krish, hi." She said, nervously as everyone's eyes fixed onto her. She gulped, "Do you guys mind?" She said, taking her cell phone with her into the next room.
"Hey…" She said, lamely.
"Hey." Krish said, sounding exhausted. "Me and Sukhi broke up…"
"That sucks." Vidya said, immediately regretting it. He sighed, "I guess it does." He said, plainly. Vidya was, nonetheless, very much afraid of his tone. She felt fear rise in her blood, her temperature, her heart rate. She let out an overly dramatic sigh.
"Let's cut the crap, Vidya." He said, plainly, sensing her discomfort.
"No, no. The crap is fine….I'm fine with the crap." Vidya replied, nervously. Krish laughed in his deep voice. Vidya sighed relief, Krish spoke again.
"I wanted to know…."
"I know you do, I don't know what to tell you, Krishna." She said, biting her lip at usage of his full name.
"Say yes." He urged.
"Krish, I love Sagar…"
"Well, he's treated you too badly to forgive. I can't let you waste the rest of your life over him."
"Krish! Mind your tongue. Sagar can and will keep me very happy, I've forgave him…" Vidya said, stubbornly biting her own tongue again.
"Vidya, stop that." Krish commanded.
"Kya?" Vidya said, letting her tongue free of her molars.
"That lip curly, tongue biting thing you do, stop it. You're going to hurt yourself…" He said, expertly.
"I'm not doing that," Vidya argued childishly pouting. If there were two people in the world that could predict her every move, they were Suhani and Krish. Being cousins made it complicating yet simple to outsiders, Suhani and Krish were like the same person with different genders and degrees of meekness.
"Stop pouting, it's unattractive and immature." Krish says, smirking smugly through the phone.
"Krish, I'm leaving." Vidya sighed, defeated. She wondered why she was so predictable and Krish was so….not.
"Nahin nahin nahin." He said, pleading quickly, "Okay sorry."
"You're forgiven." She said, quietly. She was always seeming to say that phrase.
"Krish?" She asked, absently. "Yeah?" He asked, he was tapping his fingernails impatiently as Suhani had the terrible habit of doing. He stopped angrily, "Pregnant women are terrible influences." He muttered.
"Kya?" Vidya asked, impertinently. She cleared her throat awkwardly, "Whatever." She added.
"Tho what were you saying?" Krish asked, absentmindedly.
"I was asking…." Her voice cracked a bit, "Are you in love…."
"Vidya, must we have this conversation?" He groaned, idiotically.
"Yes or no." She asked, firmly.
"I've no clue, honestly." He answered, half heartedly.
"With me…?" Vidya added, gently. She didn't want to sound conceited or push him too far.
"Vidya….yes." He answered.
"Uh….why?" She answered, and asked at once. It had taken her so long to come to terms with the fact that there existed someone that could love her, the one and only Sagar. How long would it take for her to accept it for a second time?
"Vidya," He sighed, nearly groaning. "I have to explain why I love you? I've loved you since…" He paused a moment to gather his thoughts, Vidya interrupted.
"Please don't." She urged.
"Tell you how long or love you in general?" He asked, fully amused.
"Either if you can help it."
"I can't." He said, truthfully.
"Well, then…" She sat in thought, "don't say it."
"Vidya," He said, amused.
"No." She said, noticing his tone. He was going to say it again to bother her, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"I'm not going to bother you." Krish sighed, finally. "So you're marrying Sagar…" He said, disappointed.
"I don't know…" She said, unable to decipher her own feeling.
"I do. I know. You will and you'll have an entire cricket team worth of children, none of whose names Sagar will remember, you're going to drop out of school and never become the lawyer you've always dreamed of being and Sagar will always bask in his successful, born with a golden spoon in his mouth glory." He said, dryly.
Vidya rolled her eyes, knowing his overly pessimistic view of everything. He wasn't born rich, he worked for it. That was one of the things that set him apart from everyone else she knew. Everyone she knew was so much at ease with their status in society but Krish? Krish was one of the few exceptions; he had worked since he was 13 and pulled his entire family's weight. He educated himself and his younger sister. He was a man of responsibility, which was admirable, but not something she could fall in love with.
"That's a rather dreary assessment of my future, don't you think?" She asked, rather sarcastically.
"Well, I'd like to hope so. I want you to be happy wherever you are, but my heart doesn't say that's with Sagar. I swear, I can't stand you and him…" His tone got angry.
"Why are you so convinced? Krish, you know I love you too but…"
"Not that way, I know. You don't need to tell me. I know you well enough." He said, laughing.
"Why do you know me so well? Why don't I know you that well? Am I a bad friend?" She thought out loud.
"Of course not, Vidya. You're an amazing friend. You know me like a book, you just don't know you know me. If that makes any sense."
"It makes sense. Just not right now at this moment to me, it…" She started, they both completed, "takes some time to register."
"Don't do that, Krish." She said.
"You can do it, too. You just don't want to." Krish said, laughing at her immaturity.
"You're right. I don't want to. I don't want to talk to you right now." Vidya said, annoyance dripping from her voice.
"Fine. Don't." He said, genuinely angry. "Go marry Sagar, see if I care. And when you wind up in the hospital again don't you DARE cry when I say I told you so." He said, hanging up with a clack.
She sighed with intense frustration, throwing her head back. Resuming her perky self, she walked back to the game in the living room.
"Hey." She said, overly chirpily.
"Oh God." Suhani called. "She's happy, really happy."
"What happened?" Sagar asked, "What did KRISH say?" He put a harsh accent on his name, making him sound like a deplorable animal.
"He's mad at me." She said, flatly. "But forget him." She said, happily. "The game?" She inquired.
"Did you tell him no?" Sagar asked, Vidya shot him an angry glance.
"No." She said, hoping no one would question her further.
"YOU SAID YES?!" Sagar exclaimed, she glared at him again this time with such obviousness it was pathetic.
"I'm leaving." Vidya said, grabbing her coat. She checked her pocket for car keys but realized, she had come in Sagar's car. She sighed.
"Can someone drive me home?" She said. Sagar stood and
Vidya glared at him, "Anyone besides him…" Vidya said.
"I'll take you." Ishaan said, rolling his eyes.
"Ew, never mind, I'll walk." Vidya said, disgusted. Suhani and Niharika chuckled, and Suhani grew a sudden awareness. "Go." She said, angrily.
"Ugh. Fine." Vidya said.
Following Ishaan to his green Mercedes, Vidya sat reluctantly in the car as Ishaan smirked, "Hey Mrs. Mehra." He said, obnoxiously.
"Shut up, jacka**." She said, rolling her eyes. He scoffed, "Oh, so its Mrs. Singh." He said.
"Listen," she said, turning to him, "You know we have a history together."
"Yeah, so?" Ishaan said, turning the ignition.
"So, according to that, we should at least be civil." Vidya said, she banged her head against the car seat repeatedly, "I'm so f***ing stressed and I don't want to handle your sh**." She sat, frustrated. He
chuckled, out loud, glancing away from the road.
"You must be, so much cussing. Sometimes you sound like a guy to me." He said, "Lord knows you act like one."
"A guy that's been proposed to by two other guys." Vidya sighed, "I'm trying really hard to be nice but you're making it really difficult."
"Why?" Ishaan scoffed, "No one said we had to be civil. That's an assumption; I don't want to sit here with you if my pregnant wife and angry sister forced me to come here, I've no interest in talking and/or being civil with you."
"Stop the car." Vidya said, her voice cracking at the last word, she wiped at her cheeks, as Ishaan refused to glance at her.
"Stop crying!" He said, angrily. She wiped angrily at her tears again, opening the door and, fell onto the moving road. Wiping herself off, she found herself minorly scraped up but she walked on. Ishaan brought the car to a screeching halt; he got out, turning red.
"What are you, dumb?! Jumping out of a moving vehicle? Dammit, Vidya." He said, walking behind her. She unbelievably, left a trail of blood, "What is this?! Are you TRYING to kill yourself?! More Suicide?" He scolded, rhetorically to a scraped Vidya.
Suicide, the word rang in her red ears as she glared at him, nearly attacking him with her burning gaze. She turned on her heels and moved in the other direction.
"Oye! Your house is the other way!" He yelled authoratively. She turned and smiled coldly, "I'm going somewhere else." She said.
"Where?" He grimaced. She turned and began walking in the opposite direction, over her shoulder she called, "To jump off a cliff, fun nah?"
"Cliff diving." He said, "thrilling." He mused, when his tone turned angry. "Get in the car." Vidya opened her mouth to argue but Ishaan interrupted, "NOW!"
Reluctantly, she sat in the car. The damp, humid silence silence that had settled within minutes was broken by Ishaan, by his roaring chuckle. "You'd rather jump out of a moving Mercedes than sit and talk to me." He tittered.
"I don't like being with you." She admitted. His face fell in seriousness. "I miss my dumb jock," She added, "What happened to him?"
He grimaced, "He got married, and he's having his first daughter? I don't know Vidya? He grew up?" Vidya rolled her eyes, "Yeah, grew up."
Ishaan raised an eyebrow, "You wanna tell me what happened to my geek?" Vidya cocked an eyebrow, "She grew up?"
"BS. You know what happened to her." He scoffed, she glanced at him, "What?" Vidya asked, as his eyes turned distant. "She turned into a sad, broken weakling."
"Not everyone is you, Ishaan." She muttered.
"Well, it's my fault to expect better of you, at least." He said, tightly gripping the wheel.
"Don't you dare, Ishaan. Don't pretend like it mattered to you, of all people. Alls well that…." Vidya sighed, her voice trailing off.
"Ends well? Did it end well?" His voice was tired and her name was stinging on his lips as much as it stung to her ears. Vidya smiled weakly, "On the brighter side, I don't have much more I can lose….No one knows, please don't tell." She pleaded, he was ready to change the subject.
"Do you even know what you did, Vidya?" He asked, she looked down with no response.
"You isolated all the bad things you fear and condensed them into one guy and then you went and fell in love with him, do you know what that makes you?"
"An idiot." She muttered.
"That too, but an emotional idiot."
"I can't help who I fall in love with, Ishaan. You, of all people, should know that."
"Do you even remember what you're asking me to hide?" He asked when Vidya frowned.
"It was a LONG time ago and you've no right to tell anyone." She said, stubbornly.
"It's fair that you're not telling them?" Ishaan inquired.
"Ishaan, we shouldn't be talking about this." She said, tears burning at the back of her lids. Ishaan glared at
her, "Vidya, I want you to stop crying," Vidya opened her mouth to argue, "You're a sucky shrink." She sniffed. Ishaan looked stern, "I'm not charging $50 an hour. This is free." Vidya needn't think of a counter, "Me and Niharika have had enough shrinks to last us a lifetime. I don't need the favor." She scoffed.
"It's not a favor. People NEED to know." He urged.
"No one needs to know. Why do you want to ruin my wedding? Is it wrong for me to be glad right now? Am I supposed to mourn for the rest of my life? Can't I, for once, be happy?" Ishaan sat in complete silence.
"You say they need to know, but what about afterwards? What after that Ishu? His parents, what will they think? What will HE think? Nobody'll want me around anymore."
He sighed. "Yes they will, Vidya. They'll love you no matter what. Besides, it was never your fault." She glared daggers at him in tears, "Wasn't my fault?! How dare you try to even say that? That night was not supposed to happen! But it DID. And it was our fault."
"Our?" He echoed. Vidya wiped her tears with vigor with the back of her hand. "Okay Ishaan, you're right. MY fault. Happy? Forgive me for thinking that you were still here for me." She said, slamming the car door behind her. Ishaan didn't dare ask where she was headed, he already knew. "Let me take you there." He sighed. Vidya called over her shoulder, "I don't ride with strangers."
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Comments (2)
heey....when are you continuing ....I know ur busy buh please continue soon
17 years ago
OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG ISHAN HAD A "past wid Vidya" omgg bad Ishan...and Sagar learn sum mannerz,,,lol AK/Am need 2 get a room lol...awsum part please continue soon
17 years ago