Itefaaq

Chapter 4: Awkwardness

Surprisingly, the two of them hadn't bumped into one another the next day. Both skillfully avoided one another by only exiting their rooms when they knew the other was in their respective room. Both prepared their own meals, staggered their mealtimes, and kept themselves occupied with their own devices. Mahi had finally called her mother and discovered that her mother was in low spirits. She desperately wanted to visit but both her mother and she agreed that they should give it a few more days so that Zoya and her family wouldn't be upset. Rajveer had been called down to the police station once again but returned by noon after which he answered a few phone calls from concerned friends and family, who had caught wind of his suspension. After that, he spent most of the day surfing the web or reading, with little else to do.

The next few days followed a similar rhythm. It wasn't until five days later, when Mahi had received a phone call during lunchtime, that Rajveer and Mahi saw one another. Rajveer had just returned from his second anger management class and he was slightly irritated but he froze as he entered the apartment. He saw Mahi answering her phone but her back was turned so she didn't see him arrive.

"Ji, main Mahi bol rahi hoon... Ji... Thank you so much! Ji bilkul... accha parson se? Absolutely, main parson se shuru kar sakti hoon. Ji. Thank you so much. Have a great day," Mahi said.

As she hung up the phone, she squealed, "Yes!!" and turned around, intending to go back to her meal. However, upon turning around, she met Rajveer's gaze and her feeling of happiness turned to one of awkwardness. "Hi... tum kab aaye?"

"Bas abhi, anger management class se aaya hoon. To tumko job milgayi, congratulations," Rajveer responded.

"Thanks... to tumne classes shuru ki hai. Kaise hain?" Mahi asked hesitantly.

"Bahut annoying par ghar bored baitne se accha hai," Rajveer answered with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah, that's true," Mahi agreed with a nod. She wanted to probe him further about the classes but they had only just started talking again so she didn't think she'd get much out of him anyway. Then another thing occurred to her. "Vaise pedal jaane se office kitna door pehta hai?"

"Main tumhe drop kar doonga," Rajveer said and before Mahi could interject, he added "Station ke raaste mein hi hai to it's not a problem."

"No really, tumne mere liye already bahut kuch kiya hai. Main har roz tumse ride nahi leh sakti," Mahi insisted.

"Tum-" Rajveer began but stopped when he realized tum mere saath jaogi would come out more like a demand, which she might take the wrong way. "Mera matlab, it just makes sense. Hum donno ek hi time par jaa rahe hain to main tumhe kyun nahi  drop kar sakta?"

Mahi hesitated a moment before relenting, "Okay fine. Thank you so much, really."

"It's no problem at all," Rajveer assured her.

Looking down at her food, Mahi suddenly became animated and said, "Main tumhare liye khana pakati hoon."

Without waiting for an answer, she started heading towards the kitchen.

"Nahi, main khud paka sakta hoon," Rajveer protested as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Nahi voh kuch khana bacha tha to tum kha lena. Main bas warm up kar loongi. Tum baito, main laathi hoon," Mahi said as she turned on the stove.

"It's really not necessary," Rajveer spoke again but he knew she wasn't going to listen. However, as he turned to go to the dining room, he noticed that Mahi was attempting to reach a plate from a shelf too high for her reach so he reached for the plate, stepping towards her in the process, and said, "Careful."

Both of them ended up grabbing ahold of the plate at the same time and when they noticed that the other was holding on too, they looked at one another and realized how close they were standing. Slowly lowering the plate, they set it down on the counter together before quickly stepped away from one another.

Without a word, Rajveer turned and went to the dining room as Mahi continued to warm up the food. That was awkward... Mahi thought to herself as she stirred the pot.

In the dining room, Rajveer turned on the T.V. to distract himself. Kitna ajeeb din hai yeh... he thought to himself with a sigh. Flipping through channels, he finally settled on the American channel.

"Yeh kaunsa show hai?" Mahi asked curiously as she entered with Rajveer's food.

"The Mentalist. America mein bahut chala tha," Rajveer replied as he took the plate from Mahi. "Thanks."

"No problem," Mahi said hurriedly, eyes glued to the screen. "Story kya hai?"

Rajveer proceeded to explain the premise of the show and the awkwardness between them quickly disappeared. When the episode ended, both were left a little disappointed.

"Yeh kitna accha show hai!" Mahi exclaimed. "I wish ki aur bhi episodes dekhne ko milte."

"Actually, mere paas pura set peya hai baas mauka nahi mila dekhne ko. Why don't we watch it together from the starting?"

"Sure!" Mahi exclaimed. She set to clean the dishes but Rajveer grabbed the plates first.

"Tumhara logic," he said simply.

Mahi smirked and said, "Thanks," in reply.

For the remainder of the day and into the evening, the two of them, having moved the couch in front of the T.V., watched half of season one of The Mentalist. They had ordered pizza and binged through episode after episode. Eight hours later, they were both exhausted and ready for bed.

"Okay, humein aage se thoda control rakna hoga," Mahi said as they cleaned up.

Chuckling, Rajveer said, "Yeah. At this rate, hum do hafton mein khatam kar jaayenge."

"Yeah par kitna interesting hai!" Mahi said.

Having finished cleaning up their dinner, the two of them lingered a bit longer. Despite being extremely tired, they continued to discuss the show's events, characters, and theories on what would happen next. Finally, around midnight, they both made their way to their respective rooms and bid the other goodnight.

"Main kal class ke baad ek baaje aaoonga. Hum uske baad dekh sakte hain," Rajveer added.

"Sounds good," Mahi said with a smile before they both entered their respective rooms.

Both Mahi and Rajveer were in a good mood as they got ready for bed. However, their next day wouldn't go exactly as they had planned it.