All Strings Attached

Chapter Three

"I'm good," she says. "How are you?"

"I'm good, too," I answer, and look up at Sita, trying to appear nonchalant, as if I hadn't checked her out just a few minutes ago. "Sita."

"Reddy," she responds, forcing a smile onto her face. I narrow my eyes at her, slightly. Would it kill her to ask of my wellbeing?

Dhruv laughs, leaning forward to hug Sita. "I would've loved you if you were like Sita," he says to me, pulling away from her. Would he, though?

"How are you, Sita?"

"I'm good, Dhruv," she says, her eyes flitting to me for a tiny second. "How are you?"

"I'm as fine as I can be, with a brother like mine," he says, making her chuckle.

"Sorry," she mumbles, coughing into her fist to cover up her laughter.

"And you, Nitya?" Dhruv asks, hugging her from the other side as she remains next to me.

"I'm good, Dhruv Anna," she says. "How's Dhriti?"

"She's good too," he answers, "she's here tonight, actually. I was going to find her."

"Oh. I want to say hi too!" Nitya squeals, jumping to go with Dhruv. "Is Siddharth going to be there as well?"

"How do you know Siddharth?" Sita asks, her eyes furrowing quickly.

"What do you want with Siddharth?" I ask at the same time as Dhruv says, "Yes, he is."

"I'm going to go," Nitya says, smiling sardonically. "Okallaki iddaru thayaaru ayyaaru," she grumbles to Dhruv, walking away with him and leaving her sister with me. [(Telugu) she's got company now]

"Entha pogaro," Sita complains, huffing. [(Telugu) She's so arrogant]

"Oh you do see me," I say to her, sarcastically. "I thought I was invisible to you."

"I only wish you were invisible," she says, mimicking her sister's smile.

I rub my jaw, wanting to get back at her, but not having anything to say. "Sure you do."

"I do," she confirms, smiling sweetly, making her full cheeks lift, causing her round eyes to become smaller. "I'm going to go now, don't need people thinking and saying things."

I look around, trying to notice if anyone's looking at us, and true to Sita's words I find a couple of glances thrown our way every few seconds. "I'll see you around."

Sita looks at me, waiting a hesitant second before she nods, and begins to walk away, but I try to grab her attention to keep her from leaving without speaking her mind. "I am free later."

She turns around, her eyes widened. "I- I- I- I wasn't thinking that-"

"Weren't you?" I ask her, leaning down just a bit to tease her.

Sita's face flushes. "I... you-" she closes her eyes for a moment, and I take the few seconds to observe her features; the long eyelashes, straight nose, full lips, round, pinkish cheeks, and the cute chin.

Why is her chin so cute?

"But we're in Hyderabad," she says, looking up at me with her round eyes.

I shove my hands into my pockets, rolling my lips in to hide my smile. "So?" I raise my eyebrows to accentuate my question.

"So nothing," she says. "We don't even speak to each other in Hyderabad."

"Ah! It's Dhushyanth and Sita!" Someone exclaims, making me turn to look at them. I recognise him as Bhanu Prasad, a senior executive at a pharmaceutical company.