Manav

Chapter 17 - When Shlok Came Back

"Any help?" I asked.

"No, not yet." He said. "So Manav, what has been for you after I took off?"

"As in?"

"You and Priyanka."

"Oh, actually a very good thing happened. That night you showed me the way. You told me that my presence will make everything alright between me and her. And that's what happened." I said.

"Wow! That's really great. Now you happy then, aren't you?" he opened the tetra pack of Tropicana.

"I am, but..."

"But?"

"Okay, let me just ask you. Do you know about Dev and Naina?"

"Dev and who?"

"Naina. That gossip girl."

"Oh yeah, right. What about her?"

"Dev is dating her."

"What the hell! Seriously?!" he stopped pouring that juice.

"Yes!"

"Woah! Too much has happened here in my absence." He said. "Tell me more."

"So, like this was surprise to me, that how did they get along and all. And then I thought that you guys might also know her. You guys did right?" I asked.

"Yeah, like we met a couple of times."

"Yes, so I had this question, that why wasn't she there at the party that time? I mean was she invited, or she wasn't?" when I asked him this, he paused for a sometime.

"Oh...umm...let me recollect. Well, as far as I remember, I had invited her, but...oh yeah, she was busy. She said, she wouldn't make it."

"You sure?"

"Well, yes, pretty much. But why so much thinking about Naina all of a sudden?" he said. I understood he suspected that I asked him for a reason, but I didn't want to tell him the reason.

"Actually, she's in my college. And now Dev is dating her. I just had this thing in mind, that's why I thought of asking you." I covered up.

"Okay." He said. I nodded.

"So did you guys find out about those chits?"

"Well, yeah. Last night me and Priyanka shared what we had written."

"Well, I had a feeling that day. That this was gonna change your life. I'm glad it did." He smiled. And I thought, did it really?

* * * * * * * *

Me and Shlok took those snacks out in the living room and everyone jumped right into them. While we all were engrossed in eating, Priyanka asked,

"For how long are you here?"

"I'm here for a week, because, project submissions are gonna start next week." Shlok said.

"Oh, great! We should hangout this whole week!" Omkar said. And we all agreed.

After sometime, we were watching a film which Shlok wanted to see. The name of the film was 'The Usual Suspects' and I heard from Shlok that it was a hit when it released. It's basically about a murder of some guy, and then there are four suspects who are taken into custody. The film plays with your mind and at the end it is revealed who's the actual murderer. Well, I had figured out who was the actual murderer after watching half of film.

Later, we all were being quite lazy enough to get up and go home. Somehow, we manage to get ourselves up and we were almost leaving.

"Hey, Manav, would you drop me home today?" Priyanka asked. Everyone looked at me.