TRUE LOVE (PART 2)

part 2

I saw Avika walking towards us.
"I was looking for you guys everywhere. Come, we need to have dinner" she said.
"What about Rohit sir? We had plans for dinner together."I asked panicked.

"See the time, dear" Avika asked noticing.
"12:30 a.m," Aly replied even before I had the chance to
see or ask.
"He went to sleep. We will have dinner tomorrow." She
promised.
"Oh, I'm famished let's eat." I release my hand from his
waist; pulled myself out of his embrace and replaced it with Avika.

I walked in with her and he followed us.
"Where is Pankaj?" I asked her and I looked at Aly with
the corner of my eyes; his jaw was clenched again. I ignored him.
"I saw him eating." She replied thoughtfully.
"Ok thanks."

We took plates, and I filled mine with all the things I liked
and walked towards Pankaj; I turned to see where Aly was;

He was standing with my girls and talking to them. It made me grin. I walked towards Pankaj; he was with other boys.

"Hie Pankaj can we talk?" I asked.

"Sure." We walked at the corner, away from others.
"Tell me" he said; having a bite of his food.
"i'm sorry," I said quickly.

"Sorry for what?" he asked confused and stopped eating at once.
"For dancing like that and giving you wrong signs." Now I
actually felt awful.
"Oh, for that? Don't bother I enjoyed it," he replied casually and continued with his food again.

"No, I meant; I'm sorry, I did that because," I stopped;
embarrassed. I was ashamed to admit the real motive.
"You did it because you wanted to make Aly jealous,
right? Don't worry I know that." He said it like it was a normal thing to do; he continued eating.

What's wrong with him, I wondered?
"You knew?" I confirmed, shocked to hear his answer.
"Obviously, everyone knows you're in love with him. It's
clear from your eyes." He said smiling.

"Oh"I didn't know what else to say; I took a bite of my food, thinking.
Then he continued.
"And for what it was worth, even Aly loves you the same
crazy way you do." He said narrowing his eyes as if thinking about what he said.

"What?"I asked. Refuse to accept what he was saying
Aly was not in love with me. I was sure of that.

"Come on, Jasmin. That man is totally into you from school days. Don't tell me you can't see that. He gave us a hard time in school because of you. He gave all the boys' warning to stay away from you and told us if anyone would hurt you, he will hurt them back." He said irritated as if it still bothered him.

I choked on my food and coughed. Pankaj pats my back. I looked at Aly; It was like he was about to run towards me to catch me. I raise my one hand to stop him and assure him that I was fine.

"What the fuck, are you talking about? Don't joke with me I will kill you." I hissed and gave Pankaj a warning looked.
"I swear jas, it's the truth. He loves you more than he lets
on, trust me." He was certain.
"Why didn't you say anything before?" I asked confused.

"When we came together, I thought you and Aly were only friends. I assumed only he had feelings for you; It never occurred to me that even you could have feelings for him.
So, when you told me you couldn't feel love for me, I knew it then that you loved him. So, I backed down. I didn't feel like to be that person who comes in between others' love."

"But he left."I cried and continued.

"If you would have been with me, it didn't mean that you
were in between my love for him, it was his choice and he left" I said, trying to reason with what he was saying
"Yes, he did, so let's assume; if we were together, would you have stopped loving him?" He asked:

I refused to answer; But then he smiled, and I knew what he said made sense. It was the truth, and it was the same reason I said no to Pankaj at the first place because I knew I only loved Aly.

"Nope, I wouldn't stop. Because I couldn't," I answer with a sigh.
"Nor did I , the day I knew you loved him I never lose hope on you both getting together nobody belongs together more than you both. From that day I was rooting for you guys," he said earnestly, and to my surprise, he said happily.

I don't trust him" I whispered looking down at now my untouched food.

"Good! Don't do, trust no one apart from yourself," he
answered.
"i'm sorry if I hurt you ever." I meant it. I hold his shoulder.
"Nope, it's ok." he tried to assure me; patting my hand.

"Can I ask you one more thing?'" I asked, suddenly
remembering.
"Yes," he said with a mouth full of food.
"When you saw Aly today, you dropped my hand why?
Are you scared of him?" I was curious.

He stopped eating at once, swallowed the remaining food, and with wide eyes he answered.

"Obviously, Man, looked at him he is so huge." He whispered still traumatized.
Listening to his tone, I chuckle.
We both laughed, and I looked at his direction. He was still talking to my friends; smiling.

"Thank you." I hugged Pankaj with one hand.
"Welcome." He gave me a kiss on my cheeks and I walked towards Aly.

"Hey jas" Pankaj shouts as I almost reach near Aly.
I turned and so did my friends and Aly.

"Remember, if you need anything, let me know I will always be here for you" he said loudly; making sure everyone could hear him and there was no doubt that they didn't, and then he winked.

I knew what he was trying to do, and it made me smile.
"I know" I answered him back. Smiling widely and decided to sit alone.

I was still smiling as I took more Roti's and went to an empty table to sit alone and eat my dinner.

Nidhi, Avika, and Bharti came at the table after they were
done with their dinner. They each hugged me and wished goodnight and went to their rooms. it was 1:30 a.m. I sat quietly and ate slowly. Aly had already left for the room, that's okay; we were in the same room, so no need for goodbye, but he did wave at me while leaving.

I grinned. I took my phone from my track pant and
earphones. I always carry them along just in case and
plugged it and searched for a song to play. Now I wanted to hear something old, so I selected,

They can't take that away from me, from the dirty dancing'

This song still gives me chills every time I watch the movie.
I closed my eyes at the music and ate peacefully.