Ummeedein

Do you?

"Accha dance kar rahi hai na?" A voice came.

"Haan", he said dreamily and suddenly noticed that he had blurted out something. He turned to see Zain and Abhilash smirking beside him.

"Tu... kiski baat kar raha tha?" Randeep asked hesitantly to verify.

"Ashi ki. Kya dance kar rahi hai yaar. Waise, tune kisko dekhkar haan bola?" Zain countered, putting Randeep in a state of surprise.

Randeep just shook his head and shrugged, not preferring to answer anything.

Zain continued, "waise bandi hai toh badi kamal ki. Kya moves hai. Hum toh andar baithe kab se wahi dekh rahe the. Hai na Abhilash?" They were trying to execute their plan.

Abhilash knew that Randeep wouldn't want to hear the answer. So he delayed his response and waited for Randeep to intervene and so he did.

"Bro, tum dono kya taadd rahe ho kya usko?" A change occurred in Randeep's voice.

Zain looked at Abhilash with a smile, thinking that probably their plan might work. He said, "arey nahi, taadenge kyun. Lekin haan. Achchha khasa entertainment toh ho raha hai."

Randeep couldn't digest that his friends found Ashi as a mode of entertainment. He pursed his lips and swallowed an unknown anger. He still tried to keep it casual, "saalon, tum dono ko sharam nahi aa rahi kya aise dekhte hue?"

Abhilash interrupted him, "chill yaar. Bass uska dance hi dekh rahe hai. Koi galat nazar se nahi dekh rahe." He saw Randeep becoming silent and added, "ohh, toh hum Ashi ko dekh bhi nahi sakte? Oops... bhool gaya... teri ex-costar hain na woh. Achchha, baat kar sakte hain uske baare mein?"

Randeep felt getting caught in his own words. He said while lowering his voice, "please bro. Mera woh matlab nahi tha. Aur jyada yaad dilane ki zaroorat nahi hai ki woh meri kya hai."

Seeing Randeep's silence, Zain and Abhilash started talking to each other about Ashi, knowing that he wouldn't say anything now.

Randeep kept on drinking but he couldn't bear the talks going on about Ashi, even after his kind-of warning to his friends. He said irritatingly, "yaar mat karo na aisi baatein. Please."

Zain replied, "kya yaar. Take it easy man." And they continued. They were talking in low voices in their Bro-code which only boys could understand, sharing giggles and sometimes giving a hi-five to each other.

Randeep made his grip tight on the glass. It wasn't like his friends were using a rough language for Ashi, but still he knew what they were talking about and again he couldn't tolerate that he was standing there listening to everything.

He couldn't resist himself after a point, finally stopping them and almost shouting, "bass karo yaar. Bola na mat karo aisi baatein." He furiously smacked the glass on the small stool there and left.

Randeep stepped in the hall, grabbed his keys which were kept on a wooden showcase and left from there. It all went unnoticed by the group of people dancing there, because of the loud music. But there was one girl, who had stopped dancing after hearing a raised but familiar voice, which she was habitual of listening to since past two and half years, and also as she was standing near the glass partition; Ashi. She also didn't miss to notice the anger on his face and felt that something might have happened between the friends. She was concerned but when she saw Zain following Randeep, she got relaxed thinking that they would resolve it themselves.

This was also noticed by Abhishek but he thought that they would come back after some time as he knew Randeep wouldn't leave without informing. Also Abhilash was still there. So he continued what he was doing.