My brother's best friend

Chapter 4

It as was two at afternoon, and yet Pragati Vidya ka Mandir was filled with excitement and buzz. The fact that the hottie Riya Patil proposed to the hero Sameer Maheshwari spread like wild fire. While the boys were cursing Sameer, since they lost their chance with Riya, the girls were either crying at the loss of Sameer or abusing Riya and her courage. Some were know-it-alls who claimed to have predicted the relationship of the newest couple, long back.

Swati sat in the classroom, muttering to herself about how she and Sameer were meant to be, and how Riya and her extremely-short skirt came between them. Naina came from washroom approximately 20 minutes later and her eyes were swollen. The day ended with everyone heading back home.

Swati kept enquiring Naina about her swollen eyes and made multiple predictions for the same, one being the spirit of some goddess coming inside her,while Preeti was busy instructing Naina to sleep properly and stop studying like a lunatic at night.

Sameer was sitting at the bike stand with his friends when he noticed Naina coming. Her eyes were red and he knew something was not right. Arjun hardly looked at her, yet Sameer excused himself from them and went to her. Everyone knew very well that Arjun and Sameer were best friends, so no one questioned Sameer and Naina's rare public conversations.
" Kya hua Naina? Kisi ne kuch kaha kya tumhe, batao mujhe." It was no secret that Naina was teased and called 'Behenji' by the whole school. Sameer did not like it one bit. She was little, cute and innocent, but not a Behenji.

Naina didn't meet his eyes. Without sparing a second glance at him, she continued walking. How can she talk to him, after what she witnessed? How could he not tell her that he liked Riya? How could he accept Riya?

Sameer was shocked by her this behaviour. She never avoided him. How can she just walk out? Had it been someone else, his ego might have been hurt, but such action by Naina made him more worried about her. He was relieved that she had Swati and Preeti. Moreover,she can't share all her problems with him, can she. This thought irked him, since he wanted to be her protector, always. She just, has to share what she has in her mind. But for now, he let it slide off.

The next day, Sameer came to school with Riya, hand-in-hand and Arjun nodding happily, seeing Mayank's expressions. However, after crying for the entire night, Naina felt an immediate urge to use the washroom and came back with red eyes.

But obviously, this was not all. Naina had to witness them sitting together at canteen, with Sameer feeding hot Samosas to Riya and everyone adoring the couple. Naina ,like everyone did not know that it was all a part of revenge that Sameer wanted to extract from Mayank.
She was confined to her heartbreak and made frequent trips to bathroom or secluded corners, earning advices from Preeti and Swati about how she should inform them, if she is suffering from a bad stomach.

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Sameer broke up with Riya a week later, leaving her in tears. He was satisfied at Mayank's heartbreak and thought that he caused him enough pain for punching Munna. He was Sameer Maheshwari. He does not care for anyone but himself. He is bad for everyone, except the people he loved or the people he truly cared about. He considered telling everyone that dating Riya was purely out of revenge, but his friends advised him against it since it would tarnish the poor girl's image. He did however, inform Riya that their relationship was out of revenge, making her even more miserable.

This soon became a game for young Sameer, who soon became a womanizer. He could not care about a woman, since no woman actually cared about him. His mother was busy with her husband and his children. The people who truly loved him, were all males. His mother's ignorance, along with the selfish nature of the many girls he had been with, made him believe that women only stay with a person, as long as she sees her own benefit. So why was he supposed to care about their heartbreak?
It was out of his morals, that he informed a girl prior to entering in a relationship, that he won't be able to feel a thing about her.

He actively flirted with girls, used them for his benefit and dumped them later. In all this, he had support from his three friends who believed that female attention could ease his pain of not having his mother around. They even looked up to him for advice, when they were interested in anyone. His Nanu, however remained unaware about all this. Sameer did not want him to know either. What would his Nanu think if he came to know that his grandson is with a different girl every week? Moreover how could he explain his point of view to an old man like his Nanu who believed in marriage, commitment, wife and most importantly, true love. So he skillfully hid his love life from him and continued what he was doing.

But in reality, despite all adoration from everyone, Sameer still felt a hollowness inside. He still longed to be loved truly. He knew all this attention was for his looks and status, and not for inner Sameer.

He had his first kiss at sixteen. But after the kiss, instead of feeling happy or contented, he felt restless and his hollowness increased. So he started being a playboy even more, and looked for other ways of physical pleasure, capable enough to cure him of his loneliness, but nothing worked. And for the record, he lost his virginity at his eighteenth birthday.

During all this, Naina distanced herself from him. She decided that they were simply not meant to be. Her love for him was immature and it would not take her anywhere. How can she even expect him in being interested in a worthless Behenji like her? He is a hero, everyone's heartthrob and she is a perfect nerdy Behenji, who had beauty, but no charms.
Moreover, she was his best friend's sister and he probably regarded her as a sister. Despite knowing this fact, She still felt her heart shattering in a million pieces, when she saw him flirting with other girls or fooling around with them. She kept her feelings to herself and no one knew about it.

A fifteen year old Swati even told her that she overheard Arjun and Sameer talking about kiss the Sameer got from Sonali in the storeroom. That was the final string for Naina, and she decided to shut Sameer out of her life completely.

The rare conversations that Sameer and Naina ever had, were mainly initiated by Naina. So it was obvious that if she decides to walk out, then there is no room for further conversation. The cricket matches, the visits to her home by Sameer ,everything soon became even more scarce than before, to the point that it happened only once or twice a year. So the only place where the two could catch a glimpse of each other was at school, where seeing Sameer's playboy side, Naina avoided staring at him since it would only add to her miseries.

As for Sameer, he simply became busy with life. He was soon selected for State level cricket championships and he also took part in musical events. He tried to concentrate on whatever the teacher was teaching, since he wanted to go in a good college, on his own talent and qualifications. He did perform decently in exams. Between all this, he was also busy with girls and his playboy antics. As if all this is not enough, he also had to look after the love life of his three buddies. How can he look after or even interact with his best friend's baby sister? He did however,steal glances of her at school, to make sure she was okay. With time, even these glances became scarce and little Naina Aggarwal lay forgotten.

He had no track of her life after he graduated and got into VJN University. He became busy with enjoying college life, playing cricket for his college team and of course, wooing hot college ladies.But, he simply didn't feel like taking a girl somewhere or making her happy or some snappier stuff like that. He didn't believe in falling in love either. He was happy off alone and he could satisfy himself, why need a caring, rather nagging girlfriend around. Whatever happened, was in college premises, or at night. He spent the rest of his day with Nanu and his three brothers.

As for Naina, she decided to concentrate on studies and getting a good career. She could never hate Sameer, or remain unaffected by his charms. But this problem was solved, when he graduated from school. Now she no longer had to see him and his playboy behaviour everyday, and get hurt in the process.

Finally, an eighteen-year-old, school topper and graduate Naina could proudly declare that she has moved on from her immature childhood first love and now she has (in her own opinion) very scarce feelings for a twenty year old heartthrob Sameer. But obviously life had other plans...