"Do you know anything about this?", she carefully questioned Siddharth who stood clueless.
"What! Of course not"
"God, now it finally makes sense, why you were so interested in getting to know me on our first meeting."
Siddharth itched his forehead, what was she implying?
"What do you mean?"
"Because my mom tried to set you up with me!!", she stated the obvious.
Siddharth gave her a horrified look, "The hell?"
She saw how he was as freaked out as her, his face indicated, he didn't know what the hell was going on.
"Wait... so you really didn't know about all this?"
"A part of what? I don't even know what you're talking about?", he leaned against the door frame trying to make sense of her words.
"I think..my mom forced this partnership to make us try and date", she put out awkwardly.
His face turned blank, "You're telling me that, this whole partnership is based on some condition that we'll end up together?"
Roshni moved her head in affirmation.
"I figured maybe that's why you were trying to get to know me..and why you were being so annoying and persistent"
It took a while for Siddharth to process, what Roshni was trying to say and when he did, he got the urge to burst into laughter. How did she think, that he was hitting on her?
"Crap I can't believe you thought I was trying to date you. That's why you got so defensive when we first met.", he chuckled.
"Have you ever even been on a date? Don't you think it would be obvious if I was trying to go out with you? Like, you're not even my type, no offence. I mean, you're beautiful and all but your personality..."
"What's wrong with my personality?", she snapped hard.
"Ummm", he knew he touched a delicate topic.
"Nothing, it's just not for me."
"Yeah...and did I ask? I'm not dying to date you either. She could've at least chose a decent one, out of all the guys in the world, she found you"
"Ouch", he feigned being hurt.
"I don't even want to get married"
"Alas, one thing we have in common", he cheered. Siddharth wasn't the type to have a lot of girlfriends or even commit, for that matter. He was potrayed as a womanizer in the media, but he could never.
"Now that we've established that this will never happen. Let's go talk to our parents, shall we?"
"Oh no, my mom probably knew about this too, didn't she", he face palmed himself.
"What do you think? They were high school best friends. Who knows what they're up to"
"Either way, this partnership is already done so we can't go back. We'll just have to deal with it"
Roshni stayed at her desk, she did feel betrayed. Her mom might have had good intentions, but she could've been more open about it. What was this bullshit of settling down?
She had made it clear, she didn't want to do any such thing. She didn't need to be bound to any man, just to end up getting hurt again. Why do all the people in her life, lie to her?
She rubbed her head repeatedly.
"Look... don't worry we'll sort it out later".
"Not later, now!!", she rushed out of the office along with Siddharth calling his mom to meet them at Roshni's house.
"I'm driving", she called out as they both got into the car driving home. Siddharth was silent throughout the ride, he was cautious around her mood. He could hear her low curses, at the slow drivers in front of her.
One thing he managed to learn about her, is that her rage got the best of her. Plus she wasn't the only one feeling betrayed by her mom, he was too.
"Why are you so quiet?", she glared at him. He was usually the chatty one, so for some reason, it made her feel uneasy to see him sitting there like an obedient child.
"What, you think I have a dying wish? Who knows, you might crash the car and kill us both if I say something"
"Again .. you're not funny Siddharth".
"Oh I see, you like hearing my voice", he wiggled his eyebrows.
"Pfft you wish", she scoffed.
They both arrived at the penthouse, and Roshni stormed out of the car, slamming the door shut. She had that death look.
Siddharth on the other hand, walked out with his hands in his pocket, like it didn't effect him.
"How can you be so calm?", she eyed him up and down.
"Mostly every brown parents these days, think 'marriage' is the definition of happiness for their kids, so this doesn't surprise me at all."
"Aren't you the least bit annoyed that our parents were so sneaky about it?"
"Of course I am Roshni, but I'm choosing to stay calm. What's being angry going to do? It's only going to make it worse"
She hated to admit, he was right. But all these emotions she has suppressed in months, tend to come out in the most unhealthy ways. Meaning, whether Siddharth was calm or not, today her mom would face her bad side.
After all, how could she lie to her? Fake all those numbers... just to get her to be with someone else.
"Mom!", she desperately disturbed the two mothers who were sitting down and discussing what could be the reason, SidNi called them.
"Ah yes Roshni, we were just talking about you two. Come in Siddharth", she gave Siddharth a mini hug.
Simran saw a menacing type of calmness in Siddharth, as he rolled his hand into a fist and breathed out heavily, unleashing his hands back freely.
"How could you do this mom?", he shook his head in denial at her.
"Do what beta?".
Roshni only scowled at her mom, and DD knew a storm was awaiting. "What's going on? Why do you both look like you've just seen a ghost?", she patted her shoulder.
"We found the red file. You guys can stop lying to us now", she tensed her jaws.
Simran and DD gave each other an anguish look realising they left the real file at the desk yesterday and proceeded to explain to both of them, why they had done it.
"We can explain..", DD started.
"Explain what? I thought you changed mom, but like every single time you have this need to overpower my life, to make my decisions. What the hell was the need for this?"
"I just wanted you to be happy", she felt dejected.
"So you thought, having a boyfriend would make me happy? Is my career not enough for you? Am I not enough for you", she lowered her voice at the end, but everyone seemed to hear it anyway.
Her mom knew where this was going, the pain in Roshni's eyes, yelled for help and reassurance but her body language screamed otherwise. A hint of the same betrayal flashed in front of her eyes.
She wanted to hug Roshni, but she pushed away physical love, it only made her feel weak.
"Maybe we should have this conversation later, you're angry right now and..."
"I don't have time for later."
"Roshni beta, listen to your mother.", Simran walked further to her.
"No She lied to me again. Everyone just lies to me OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN".
Siddharth's head shot up at her, the same vulnerable glitch in her expression was there. The same one he saw at the party when he talked to her. The painful struggles of her words coming out. He didn't know why but he didn't like it one bit.
"What did she mean by everyone lies to her?', he thought.
There was no way Roshni was this furious at just the lie. He could sense a deeper meaning behind her words. This wasn't just about the merge was it? She was channelling an unknown rage inside her.
"Your career isn't everything Sweetheart. You are going to have to learn there is more to life one day. How long are you going to keep protecting yourself?", she distressed.
"This makes me happy!! Working everyday makes me happy, I don't need your validation in my life"
"Stop shouting!", she used a warning tone.
"It's okay DD. Let the kids be angry, but they should both realise we did this for their own good", Simran glanced at him.
"You didn't even bother asking us what we wanted..You just presumed, we would meet each other, fall in love, live happily ever after... That's not how life works. I was well off by myself", he uttered.
"Can you blame us? We're your mothers for gods sake. We would never do anything that would affect you both, we thought it would bring happiness in your life"
"You thought wrong mom. Plus just admit it, you didn't do this for us. You did it for yourself", he glowered.
"Well it's done now, we can't change it. I hope one day, you realise whatever I did, I did for you Roshni. For the sake of love", she carressing her hair lightly.
"I don't believe in love", she pronounced every single word with determination.
"I'm sorry aunty, but I will never love your son", and with that she dashed upstairs to her favourite spot leaving two stressful mothers.
Their hearts were broken too, they were only trying to make their children happy but it backfired on them.
"Siddharth, son can you go see if she's okay? She won't talk to me right now" tears escaped her eye.
"Of course", he already had in mind he would quickly check up on her before he went. His insides didn't feel right just going, knowing she was in pain. Especially hearing her broken voice earlier as she spoke.
Before leaving, he shifted his head to Simran and worded, "It wasn't the idea that sucked, it was the fact that you both lied to us"
*
Roshni glimpsed at the broken tree branches, its leaves and roots torn apart, just laying there. This type of hurt, could only be caused by someone who she loved. Could she not even trust her own mother now?
Her body was captured with the blustery, winds, flowing back and forth as she stood on the wide terrace. "How long are you going to keep protecting yourself?"
It's a question that arose a countless amount of times, but she disregarded it each time. She was protecting herself, and she believed it satisfied her. But sometimes what you believe in, isn't your true reality.
"Heyyy", a soothing voice came beside her.
She reclaimed her upright position and coldly asked, "What do you want?"
"I'm going back to the office, do you want a ride?"
"No"
"Sure?"
No reply.
"I know there's a lot of work left at the office, I'll take care of that. You can stay here if you want, it looks like you have some sorting out to do with your mom"
"Don't do that"
"Don't do what?"
"Pretend we're friends, just because we walked home together yesterday, doesn't make us friends"
Siddharth reflected on her words and how unbelievable she was. He was just trying to help.
"It's called humanity"
"I don't care", she shrugged copying what he usually does.
"You need to realise not everyone is your enemy"
"I told you. I.do.not.care"
"Well I do"
"You're never going to understand what I'm feeling Siddharth. You take everything so lightly. I don't think you know what pain even feels like. All you know is how to make jokes and distract people."
Siddharth was a little hurt by her words, and delicately grabbed her hands to turn her around to him, "I keep telling you that I know it's only been three days we've known each other, but I'm actually freaking trying here. The first meeting was a bad start, fine but I'm not saying we should be friends, I just thought maybe we could at least act civil like humans to each other."
"Just because you're upset or you have issues, doesn't mean you can say whatever you want to others", his tone continued growing exhausted.
She rebuked,"Why are you even trying then? Get one thing straight Siddharth, this, whatever our moms were planning. It's never going to happen"
He faked a smile, "Thanks for telling me, I didn't know that. And here I was sooo desperate to be with you."
"Well that's what it looked like"
"I was trying because we work together, for someone who calls herself a professional woman, she's sure being very childish right now"
"I know those tricks, you say that and then two days later, you're going to try and hit on me"
"Have you fallen on your head? Wait no, Have I fallen on my head? That you think I would flirt with you? It's not just you that doesn't want a relationship."
Talking of relationships, he got reminded of a question that had been bothering him since downstairs, "So you don't believe in love huh?"
"None of your business.", she bitterly added.
"I was just going to say, there's only two type of people who don't believe in love, one, someone who went through a crap childhood and two someone who...", he noticed how intently she was listening.
"Who what?", she internally begged that he wouldn't say what she thought he was going to say.
"Someone who's been heartbroken", he gently continued.
The red flush in her cheeks, was completely obvious to Siddharth, he didn't leave his eyes on her for a minute.
She was a real adamant girl, someone who refused to feel anything as well as refuse to even acknowledge that. She shut her eyes abruptly and opened them back again showing no emotion.
She turned back to facing outside, and sighed. He didn't know what to say or what to do, he kind of wanted to hug her and tell her it was okay to feel. But how could he do that, when she didn't even consider them friends?
He was almost sure now, there was more to her than what she appeared to be. His first impression of her was a terrible one, stuck up, show off, and a spoilt one who thought she owned everything.
But his eyes softened at her now, realising she had pain hidden underneath those thousand layers.
"Go away Siddharth", she hissed.
"No."
"Why?"
"You need someone right now"
"I do not"
"You do"
"I don't!!"
"You keep saying that, but here's the truth. You do need someone, you do need comfort, you do need reassurance, every single person does Roshni. And you not being able to admit that, doesn't change it"
"I told you once before, you don't know me enough to say these things. You just can't..", she stopped when he motioned slightly closer against the terrace barrier, putting his hand on the wall beside her, making direct eye contact with her. His eyes too screamed many things, and she felt too vulnerable to resume staring at them. "And I've also told you once before, you're not the woman you pretend you are, you call me immature, but you're the one who can't face her own emotions".
"Get out", she commanded showing him the door.
"You just proved my point. See you in the office", he left.
♡
Siddharth is such a softie 🥺 anyways, Roshni is really hurt, her trust has been broken by someone again, who knows what she might do in the next few chapters? Will she listen and open herself up, or this time, close herself up forever? We'll see...