Not You

Chapter 25

"Hey..."

Aditi didn't look up. She knew Mads would come up here to check on her. She was sitting on the sole bench on their building terrace, staring into space. A few seconds later, she sensed Mads easing into a sitting position next to her and put her hand in the crook of Adi's arm.

"What's up?"

Aditi took a deep breath and sighed. She could not shake off how she was feeling. She didn't even have to close her eyes to take her back to the scene.

She had looked into his eyes. Then, she just wrapped her arms around him tight and buried her face in his chest, breathing slowly. He had chuckled lightly and engulfed her in a warm hug. He kissed the side of her head sweetly and tucked his head above hers.

The hug felt like a combination of old and new feelings. It felt like a new home. She took in another deep breath and said, "You smell foreigny."

He had asked confusedly, "Pardon?"

She had hugged him tighter and replied, "You know...the fragrance you get from stuff you get from abroad. They're all fresh and yummy smelling."

She had heard him laughing deeply as he had said, "That is one of the oddest compliments I've ever received. But I'll take it."

Before she could say anything, his phone rang shrilly between them. He groaned and pulled back to look at the screen. He gestured for her to wait, let her go and walked into Mads' room. He emerged with a pendrive in his hand, still talking on the phone.

Aditi had stuck her hands in her pocket awkwardly and waited for him to finish. A few minutes later, he had walked up to her and said, "Sorry about that. I have actually lined up all my meetings this week. If I could reschedule, I would but..."

She nodded and said, "I know. It's okay."

He smiled and said, "There is so much I want to tell you. I don't want to say it in a rush. Nor do I want to rush you into saying anything. So here's what I'll do. I'll wait for your call."

He was about to go. She hadn't known what to do. She had felt this heavy sinking feeling in her stomach. She had wanted to stop him, hug him, kiss him. But instead, she had watched him say bye and walk away. She was so overwhelmed.

She then snapped back to the present as Mads asked, "Adi, honey what's wrong?"

Aditi took her friend's hand and turned around to face her to say, "Mads...there's something I need to tell you."

She must have looked really distressed because Mads smiled slightly and said, "You like Aditya..."

Aditi looked away, turning slightly red in the face and asked, "Is it that obvious?"

Mads giggled and replied, "Even Vikramaditya and Kajal could see it and they had just met you guys. Only the two of you seem to not know."

Adi raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh he seems to know, alright."

Mads asked suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

Aditi looked at her feet, focused on a toe nail and said in a rush, "Uh...we kissed."

Mads widened her eyes and said, "Oh my God! Spill all the details!"

Aditi looked at her with an odd expression on her face. Mads rolled her eyes, much like her brother would and said, "I'll pretend he's not my brother for a minute. Now tell me. You forget you're my best friend. You're supposed to tell me these things."

Aditi looked up at the black sky and scratched the back of her neck, trying to find the right words. She then said, "I think I may have broken your phone screen."

Mads looked at her incredulously and asked, "I may regret asking you this but what on earth did you guys do?"

Aditi guffawed and replied, "Oh God! I just heard how that may have sounded to you in my head." She giggled and continued, "Um...I was holding your phone when he...came upstairs. And I kind of...Anyway...I dropped it."

Mads had this infuriatingly know-it-all grin that only best friends seemed to possess in such situations on her face. She asked, "That good, eh?"

Aditi shook her head in amusement and replied, "Stop it!"

Mads nudged her in the shoulders and urged, "Oh come on! Tell me!"

Aditi hugged her knees and sighed, recalling the kiss with great ease. She then said, "Yes it was phone droppingly good. I...wish it didn't have to end so soon."

Mid smile, Mads frowned and asked, "What? What happened?"

"Work came up. For him."

Mads nodded and said, "He always does this. Saves all the work for the end of the trip. I used to think it was a good thing. Now I'm not so sure. Anyway, it sounds rather romantic. So why do you look like a lightning hit you?"

Aditi bit her lip and said simply, "Purab."

Mads looked at her and bit her lip, lost in thought. She then asked, "How did this happen again?"

Aditi smiled weakly and said, "Beats me dude. Beats me."

"So what are you going to do?"

Aditi tossed her feet in a fit of restlessness and kept her head on her friend's shoulder. Mads lightly patted Adi's cheek.

Mads asked lightly, "Well, how do you feel about Adi?"

She smiled slightly and thought for a minute. Then she replied in a soft voice, "You know, I love our home. I've always loved it and the feeling I get when I come back here after a long day's work. For the last 3 weeks, that feeling kind of got ecstatic. You know? I would subconsciously look forward to seeing him sitting on my couch with that teasing smile of his. I'd get butterflies in my stomach when I actually saw him. I know it's new but I play our conversations back in my head and smile like a goof. Being with him now feels like an extension of our home."

Mads couldn't stop herself from smiling as she heard her friend perfectly describe her feelings. She then looked down and played with a twig before asking, "What about Purab?"

Aditi replied thoughtfully, "He's a great guy. I don't think I'd have found someone like him even if I'd actively gone looking for a guy. He's super smart, witty, cute and refreshingly mature."

Mads laughed and asked, "So what's the problem?"

Aditi shook her head and said, "He's not Adi."

An hour later...

Aditi looked at her work mails and found a trail mail from a few days back. She clicked on it and smiled, reading the answers to the game she had played only a little while ago. She then hit reply and began typing in the mail.

"Can we meet?"

She hit send before she could chicken out. She shut the laptop and turned out the lights. She curled up inside the blankets and shut her eyes. Her phone chimed moments later.

She blinked open her eyes to read:

"I'm glad you emailed. And of course! When and where?"

She chewed on her lip and typed:

"Under the library?"

She got back:

"It's a date."

Author's Note: Hola people! First of all, thank you so much for waiting for almost 3 weeks for the next chapter. I would have sat and grumbled in a corner if someone had done that to me. So I totally get it if you're grumbling too! :P In order to make up for the long absence, here are 4 chapters back-to-back. I request you to wait until I put up all 4 and then only read all of them together. I do a final proofread in order to avoid as many typos/grammatical errors as possible so I don't want that to get in the way of your reading. So if you've read this one already, wait up until I put chapter 29. You'll see why, trust me! Much love – S