Shrishti Reborn

Chapter 25. Party Time - Part II

'You know, Pari, I am confused. Can you solve my confusion?', Arpit spoke up as they all sat down to eat. Shrishti of course happily grabbed aamras puri right away and was amused to see Arpit do the same. Meanwhile, Divya had gone for the bisibele bhath and seemed inclined to praise Raghav after every bite. Daljeet and Raghav were eating the hara bhara kabab that Raghav had made as starters. Shrishti, Divya and Arpit had taken a piece of the kabab to try it but once eaten, all of them chose to eat their favourite dishes.

'What is it?', Shrishti asked, as she continued to ladle herself another cup of aamras. 'The quantity of elaichi added is perfect. This is lovely.' Shrishti complimented Raghav before focusing on Arpit.

Arpit smiled at her. 'Here is my question. Why did you not come to eat lunch these past days?'

Shrishti's eyes widened as Raghav murmured Arpit's name. Arpit shook his head. 'No, no, Bhai. Don't stop me. I need to know. Pari! You promised to make my bro's account his brand. You wanted to promote him. What happened?'

Shrishti looked down, unsure how to explain things.

'She needed break.', Raghav spoke up just then. Shrishti looked up. Raghav was serving Arpit as he continued to speak, 'My food is rich in fat. So she asked for a break.'

Shrishti could not believe it. Raghav was lying for her!

'Errr. Yeah. He is right.' Shrishti mumbled, 'I became a bit diet conscious. Silly me. Getting worried about silly things like gaining weight.' She shrugged and looked down at her food. She focused on it totally hoping that Arpit dropped the topic. Sadly, he did not.

'Then why skip cycling? Bhai was teaching you how to cycle. That would have burned your extra calories easily! Why skip that?'

Shrishti winced. How to reply to that? Then she had an idea.

'Oh. You did not understand. My thighs were paining due to cycling. So I took a break from that. But no exercise and only eating would have made me put on weight, so I skipped coming over totally.'

That was such a lousy excuse, she scolded herself. But what else to do? Should she explain that Raghav was starting to make her feel things that she was not ready for or not interested in?

She focused on eating, not noticing Arpit's narrowed eyes focused on her.

'So now you are not diet conscious? Eating like this?', Arpit asked and Shrishti looked up to see all her three classmates look at her. She felt like she was put on a spot and wondered how to reply to it.

'Leave it!', Raghav spoke up just then, 'Stop harassing her. So she took a break for few days from everything. Doesn't she have the right to do that? And why should she explain the reason to you? Who are you, her Pappa, her Mumma or her brother?' Raghav glared at Arpit and Arpit shrugged and began to eat again. Daljeet and Divya seemed to be whispering something to each other. Shrishti heaved a sigh of relief and when Raghav looked at her, she mouthed him thank you. He gave her a smile and her heart fluttered again. She bowed her head and focused on eating.

'Don't you see?', Daljeet suddenly spoke up, 'Her thighs were paining, she took a break. She put on weight, so she took a break from eating too. Now she is mentally prepared for it, she will surely come back to cycle. After all, exercise is good for health.'

Shrishti's eyes widened. What was Daljeet saying? She looked at her friend only to see that her friend was smirking at her. Shrishti blinked. What was happening here? She turned to Divya only to see her smile impishly while giving Shrishti a knowing look.

'You will come again from tomorrow, right? To eat Raghav's food and promote it? And later, to learn cycling from him?', Divya was one asking now.

Shrishti swallowed. They put her on a spot and she had to be a fool to say no now. She was trapped and she knew it.