The next day Shrishti headed to the house next door some half an hour early. She rang the door and eagerly waited for it to open.
'Oh. You are here.' Raghav stood in front of her with surprise on his face. And then a sweet smile came to his lips and Shrishti's mind went blank for few seconds.
'Hi.', he murmured softly.
'Hello.', she whispered softly too.
Why were they whispering?
'Who is it, bro?', they both heard Arpit ask.
Raghav waved her in. 'Nice to have you here.'
'Thank you.'
They were still talking softly, she realised and she cleared her throat as she headed in. She looked down at her blue chudidaar and adjusted her duppatta. When she had chosen it to wear for the celebration meal, it was her choice just because she had not worn the outfit for a while. But now, she wondered if she looked good. Was her hair good? Should she have worn some jewelry? Wait. Why was she behaving like this? She shook her head before sitting next to Arpit.
'The girls have yet to come.', Arpit informed her. He was dressed in shirt and trousers, looking like an office goer.
Raghav came in from the kitchen with a pitcher filled with aam panna and served it to her.
'For the brutal summer.', he explained as he left.
'Oye Veere! Get dressed. Your kurta pyjamas are boring and look too homey to suit the celebration!', Arpit shouted and Raghav waved him off. He was still heading to the kitchen.
Arpit shook his head. 'If my leg was fine, I would have stormed over and grabbed him and dragged him to get ready.' He turned to her and his eyes lit up. 'Hey! Why don't you go and talk to him? He will listen to you!'
'And why would he listen to me?', she asked flippantly.
'Trust me! He will listen to you!' Arpit said empathetically.
Shrishti frowned before huffing and walking to the kitchen. Did she really had so much influence over Raghav? She could not believe it!
'What are you doing here?', she asked the moment she entered the kitchen. She put her hands on her hips as Raghav almost jumped in shock and turned to look at her. All the dishes were half ready.
'Cooking?', he murmured.
She huffed. 'That can be done later too. Nobody will run away if you feed us late. Right now, others will come. We will be partying and taking photos! You need to be ready for that!'
Raghav blinked a couple of times before speaking, 'Do I need to be there?'
Shrishti's eyes widened. 'Of course! You cooked and you arranged this party! You are the host who invited us here! How can you skip the party yourself? Which host does that?'
Raghav shrugged slightly. 'I did not think it like that.'
Shrishti huffed. 'Raghav! Go! Get ready!'
Raghav nodded and turned to leave. He walked past her and she followed him till she saw him going up the stairs. Just then Arpit spoke up, 'You better choose the outfit for him too. Or else he would come down in his boring kurta pyjamas!'
Shrishti's eyes widened again and she ran up the stairs shouting Raghav's name.
Shrishti reached the upper floors and looked around. Which was Raghav's room? She had no idea. She knocked on each door till one opened.
Raghav stood there, still dressed in his boring house wear. 'What is it?'
'I want to see what you are planning to wear today.' She glared at him.
He stared at her for few seconds before waving her in. She followed him in and was not even surprised to find that his room was minimalist with barely any furniture in it. He was simple guy and his room reflected it. The set up was in shades of brown and cream and it felt pleasantly inviting despite lack of furniture. There was just a desk and table with nothing on the table, the bed which was made up pristinely and a cupboard that was locked up. There were no books spread on table or clothes strewn around and Shrishti suddenly felt guilty about her own messy table at home.
Raghav meanwhile opened the cupboard and once again Shrishti was not surprised to see the clothes hanging the order of colours and equally distanced from each other. It was so neat that Shrishti was sure that even clothing store would not store their merchandise better than this.
Raghav pulled out a plain looking yellow kurta and Shrishti made a face.
'Not kurtas! You wear them at home!', Shrishti cried out.
Raghav turned to her and stared at her blankly. 'I am at my home.' He may not have said it but Shrishti could see the implied statement that Shrishti was being stupid now. She rolled her eyes.
'You are at your home, where guests are coming.', she explained.
He nodded. 'But I will be cooking. I prefer being dressed in comfortable outfit when cooking.'
She huffed. 'Fine. Then change into your boring Kurtas when you go to cook.'
Raghav blinked as if he never thought about it. She rolled her eyes. 'It is a party, Raghav. Dress up, dance with us, pose for the photos. You need to look good for that. Change into kurta after that and finish the cooking and serve it to us. No one would mind! But in party, if everyone dressed up and you did not, the girls will feel awkward, the photos would look bad and the party will not get the party vibe.'
Raghav sighed, gave her a long look, then nodded and stepped aside, waving towards his cupboard as if inviting her to select his outfit. She clapped happily and grinned as she strode to the cupboard and started digging around.
After few minutes of rummaging, Shrishti triumphantly pulled out a baby pink shirt and white trousers. She set them on Raghav's shoulder and was delighted to see how well pink looked on his skin tone.
'Pink will made you look softer and less scary when you glare into the camera.', she declared before narrowing her eyes at him, 'You never smile in the photos and you look scary.'
She gave him the outfit. 'Change into it. I am waiting outside.'
She turned and walked off. Just as she reached the door, he spoke up, 'Do I scare you?'
She turned and she felt as if he was looking uncertain.
'When I don't smile, do I seem to scare you?', he asked her. Now his nervousness was clear. She felt guilty right away. She had no right to make Raghav feel bad about himself. He was a good guy. So what if he did not smile? Smile was not important. Good heart was important. And Raghav had that in spades! She shook her head and smiled at him happily.
'You will never scare me, Raghav. In all these years, even when I had misunderstood you and thought you to be a bad guy, I was never scared of you.'
The relief on his face was stark and her guilt grew.
'I ask you to smile.', she blurted out, 'Because you look handsome when you smile. You look charming. And you need that charm to get followers for your social media account.'
She turned around right after she said, wondering if she spoke too much and opened the door to walk away.
'If you think I look handsome when I smile....', he spoke up and she froze, her heard thudding in her chest, 'Then I will smile more. Just for you.'
She swallowed as her eyes widened. She ignored his words and hurried away from there. She reached the stairs and sat on the first step, waiting for her heart to calm. What was that about?
Shrishti only moved from the stairs when she heard the doorbell ring. The girls must have arrived. She eagerly rushed to the door and flung it open.
'Welcome!', she cheerfully declared, 'Come on in.'
'You act like you are the host and not the guest.' Daljeet commented as she entered the house, followed by Divya.
Shrishti felt her cheeks burn slightly. 'Sorry. I could not help it.'
'It is ok.', Arpit said from the sofa as they entered the living room. 'I am sick and Bro is busy upstairs. Megha is not home. So Shrishti naturally should become the hostess.'
'Naturally? Isn't she just a neighbour?', Daljeet asked, her eyes and voice playful. Shrishti's cheeks burned more. She had no idea why though.
'She is not just a neighbour.' Arpit shrugged. 'She is family.'
Daljeet's eyes lit up. 'Family? Is she marrying Raghav in future or something?'
Shrishti's eyes widened. 'I will go and get some juice.' She scrambled out of the room, her heart thudding in her chest. Why was she acting like this? Why were the words said by Daljeet and Arpit making her feel like this? She shook her head and focused on the juice. Just as she reached the kitchen she heard Daljeet say loudly, 'Look. Look. Look. Like a host, she went to get juice.'
Shrishti hid her face in her hands. Why was she so affected by those words?
'Stop teasing her.' Divya's voice was soft but firm.
'Exactly.', Arpit spoke up now, a little louder but strong as steel, 'Her dad and my dad were friends and her dad basically raised us after we were orphaned. She is family.'
Shrishti heaved a sigh of relief when the topic was changed by Arpit. She prepared the drinks, put them on a tray, grabbed the tray and turned around only to freeze. 'Oh.' It was Raghav in front of her, looking cute in pink and white.
'What do you think? Do I look nice?' Raghav waved at his outfit.
Shrishti opened her mouth to compliment when her friend calling her the host floated through her head. She shrugged. 'What do I know? Ask your brother.'
Raghav blinked, confused as she pushed past him gently and walked into the living room. She could feel Raghav's eyes on her but she ignored him.
By the time, Raghav came into the room, Shrishti had already taken a seat between her two female friends and was chatting with them while they all drank juices.
'Big B.' Daljeet stood up cheerfully.
'Big B?' Arpit asked confusedly.
'Your big brother! Big B!', Daljeet explained.
Shrishti and Divya shared a look and chuckled while Arpit just shook his head.
'Just call me Raghav. I prefer that.', Raghav replied in his usual monotone and nodded at Daljeet. Arpit handed him a glass of juice and Raghav sat next to him.
They chatted as they drank the juice and then Arpit opened his laptop and played some music on it. The coffee table was pushed to the side, the sofa and chairs were pushed back and the middle of the room became their dance floor. Arpit sat on the sofa, pouting while Raghav sat beside him, his keen eyes watching as the girls danced to some famous Punjabi songs.
Shrishti had a blast dancing to the tunes of latest songs with her friends. It helped that Daljeet knew the latest steps and enjoying teaching Shrishti and Divya. When asked, Daljeet explained that she had learnt hip hop as a kid. It was fun dancing with her friends, Shrishti mused. They took many photos and Daljeet posted some of them online right away.
As Shrishti danced, she noticed Raghav sitting beside Arpit. Arpit could not dance due to his leg. But why was Raghav not dancing? She shook her head and turned to the girls.
'Lets take photo with Arpit. We need some with just us four!'
'Oh yeah! Lets do it.', Divya nodded and all three of them headed to the couch. Arpit eagerly stood up to take photos and it was posing time. Most of the photos were silly with each of them making silly expressions or silly poses. It was fun and Shrishti saw her friends' playful side come out.
But there was one photo that she really loved. It was Divya's idea to make Arpit sit in the middle and for the girls to sit around him posing like some models. Shrishti got excited and Daljeet was eager too. After lots of planning, Divya and Shrishti sat down with Arpit between them and Daljeet stood behind him. Raghav agreed to take the photo and all three of them posed like some models as Raghav took the pic. Shrishti giggled when she saw the photo. While the girls' poses seemed awkward and weird, Arpit rocked the look by leaning back, putting one leg over other and smirking at the camera.
'Arpit looks so cool!', Daljeet looked impressed.
'You nailed it, dude!', Divya gave him a quick salute.
'We need to post it online. Its too good.', Shrishti commented.
'Send it to me. I will crop it and make it my profile pic. It is too lovely not to.' Arpit mused.
'You know we need to take photos with Raghav too. He is the host.' Daljeet mused. That got the rest of them excited and Raghav was soon swamped by the ladies dragging him to sofa while Arpit chuckled and got ready to take photos.
The result was Raghav staring at the camera in panic as three ladies huddled close to him on the sofa. The grins on the girls' faces with Raghav looking scared created a hilarious contrast and sent all four of them into laughter. Raghav shook his head at their antics.
'I will get the lunch. It is time to eat.'
'Wait. Wait. Wait.', Shrishti suddenly spoke up. She rushed over to him and grabbed him by his arm. 'I need a photo with you.'
She asked Arpit to take the photo and posed with Raghav. She stood close to him and could not resist from grabbing his arm and pulling him close. The result was a surprised looking Raghav turned towards Shrishti while Shrishti grinned at camera. She laughed at the photo before turning to Raghav and glaring at him playfully. 'I am posting this from your account as your first personal photo. Best prank ever!'
Raghav smiled and shrugged. 'Do what you want.'
His answer left her surprised. She shook her head. 'Forget it. Pose with me again. Let us have a good photo.'
This time, she left a gap between them and simply tilted her head sideways towards Raghav and smiled at the camera. She looked at the photo before approving it for posting on social media. But secretly, she sent the first photo of her and Raghav to her phone. She liked it for the spontaneity but mainly she liked it for capturing Raghav's expression of surprise on it. He looked so cute!