Sunday meant family day at the Shukla's. All the elders had planned to cook and spend their last day together in Mumbai and then rest a little before the train journey. Whereas Ajay suggested, he took everybody out to show around the city.
"Dad, Marine drive? Yeh itni common jagah ho gayi hai na, mai toh isko ab tourist spot bhi na bolu." Advait shook his head. He had been at this place for like a hundred times.
"Beta, iske liye Mumbai famous hai!" Ajay replied, amazed with the sunset. This scene would never be boring. He held his wife's hand and the two started to walk together.
"Tujhe yaad hai, mai yaha pehli baar kab aayi thi?" Shehnaaz asked Sheena with a smile, asking her to recall.
"Kaise bhool sakti hu!?" Sheena answered and two laughed in their own inside joke.
"Kab aaye the?" Advait asked.
"Wake up Sid ki shooting chal rahi thi. Ranbir Kapoor aane wala hai sunke, hum college bunk karke aaye the." Sheena excitedly told him.
"Wo na shayad waha pe khada tha!" Shehnaaz pointed at a spot a few meters away from them as if she had an eidetic memory.
"Toh Ranbir aur Konkana sath me aise walk karke aaye, baatein karte karte. Fir ek aur scene tha jisme dono baarish me bheegte hain! It was my first time watching a movie shoot and it was so special! Mai literally heroine ki jagah apne aap ko imagine kar rahi thi." She added, describing what all she got to experience.
"Hum shoot khatam hote hi chillane lage, Ranbir! Ranbir! And then he waved at us! Like usne hum dono ki taraf dekha tha! Usne mujhe notice kiya tha." Sheena said.
"Yeh thoda zyada ho gaya, Mickey." Sidharth commented.
"Mai jhoot nahi bol rahi Montu, sach me Ranbir Kapoor ne mujhe dekha tha. He waved at us." She tried to convince him.
"Ha, aur wo aaj bhi teri yaad me marine drive aata hai." He joked.
"Montu!" Sheena pushed him away, looking away because he was getting into her nerves.
"Wo moment humare liye sach me bohot special tha." Shehnaaz spoke, defending her friend and walking over to Sheena.
"Ofcourse. Not denying that." He replied.
"Ye boli toh ofcourse.. hm.." Advait slowly said, looking around the sky. Hiding his smile from people and trying to mask his expressions.
"Kya? Fir se bol?" Sidharth asked him, suspiciously eyeing his nephew.
"Kuch nahi." Advait shook his head.
Shehnaaz's ringing phone caught their attention, she told them it was her mother and excused herself.
"Ha Mummy?" She answered the call.
"Kaisi rahi shopping? Teri dress ki photo dekhi maine, badi sundar hai!" Madhu, her mother, told her.
"Badhiya rahi mummy. Lekin aap abhi call back kar rahe ho? Kal raat ko call kiya tha maine! Aap bole busy the." Shehnaaz asked her mum.
"Beta.. gussa mat karna. Tere Papa ko doctor ke pass check up ke liye lekar gayi thi. Unki khasi badhti ja rahi hai." Madhu replied.
"Arey!? Mujhe pehle kyu nahi bataya!?" Shehnaaz got worried. Her father was asthmatic and winters didn't suit him, his condition would generally be like that every December-January.
"Tere Papa ne mana kiya, kehne lage humesha iss mausam me tabiyat kharab hoti hai. Wohi medicines likhwa kar le ayenge doctor se." Madhu answered and her daughter remained silent. She knew her father did that and hid stuff from her because he didn't want anybody to worry and they really disliked that habit.
"Lekin Sana, iss baar doctor ne bohot sare tests likhe hain. Bola reports dekh kar dawai batayega. Mujhe thodi tension hone lagi, tabhi tera call aaya toh inhone mana kiya batane se. Kehte hai bina test huye hi pareshan hone lagoge." Madhu added. How could she not worry about her husband who was a heart patient and had developed asthma over the years. But he was a tough nut to crack, he would never admit that he was in pain and not let anybody console and sympathize with him.
"Mummy, mai aa rahi hu. Aap tension na lo, thik hai? Mai aati hu." Shehnaaz replied, deciding to make a quick trip to her place. After she hung up, she began to look for flights from Mumbai to her home town. It was just 5 now, she was hoping if she could catch a flight tonight.
"Chalein?" Preeti asked everybody.
"Um, didi. I'm sorry, mujhe ghar jana hai. Papa ki tabiyat thodi thik nahi hai, Mummy se baat hui abhi." Shehnaaz was straight to her point.
"Kya hua uncle ko?" Sheena worriedly asked, she knew a little about her friend's father.
"Wohi cold and cough, lekin iss baar doctor ne kuch zyada tests karwane ko kaha. Mummy tension me hai." Shehnaaz replied.
"What are you planning to do now?" Sidharth asked her.
"Luckily, aaj raat 8 baje ki direct flight hai. Mai usi ki booking kar rahi thi." She answered, feeling bad about ruining the movie plans they were having tonight.
"Okay, let's get you going." Preeti nodded and all of them got into the car, making their way towards the hotel so that she could pack her bags.
Then they went to the Shukla's. Shehnaaz wanted to talk to Anju and Rajiv about it in person. The two were her guardians and she didn't want to leave without seeing them. She even apologized to Rita Ma for leaving so suddenly.
Sidharth could see why Sheena's family loved her so much. Even when she was worried about her father's health but she didn't fail to inform everybody about her situation, thank his family for their hospitality and apologize for the sudden change in her plans.
"Arey yaar! No!" She said, opening her backpack immediately in the car.
"Kya hua beta?" Rajiv asked her. Sidharth looked at her through the mirror, he was driving them towards the airport.
"Uncle, mera phone almost dead hone wala hai. Subha charge nahi tha, dhyan nahi diya maine." She replied, worrying that her phone was not going to last for even the next few hours.
"Here. Mera power bank lelo." Sidharth said, going through the dashboard and pulling out a power bank and its cord.
"Lelo. Zyada mat socho." He added, knowing that she was going to hesitate a lot before giving in.
"Thank you." She mumbled, connecting her phone to charge.
"Tension mat le Sana, time se ghar pahuch jayegi tu. Thik hai? Call karna." Rajiv told her, dropping her off at the airport.
"Hanji." She nodded, took a deep breath and hugged him. Oh she so badly needed a hug right now.
"Aram se jana." He told her and she nodded in response.
"Thank you Sidharth." She smiled. How could she not thank the guy she made this trip for!? Well, not initially but it was him that this trip was worth the weekend leave she took.
He just smiled back, he might have said something funny or flirted a little to lighten up her mood if Rajiv was not around. He could see how tense she was.
"Travel safe." He added.
She nodded, her eyes moving back and forth between Sidharth and Rajiv. She didn't know why it felt all the more awkward to talk to Sidharth in front of anybody, as if she was stealing something.
"We are now inviting those passengers with to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and.." they heard the announcement and Shehnaaz held her suitcase and adjusted her backpack before she turned to leave.
That was it. Sidharth didn't know why it didn't feel good. Maybe because she had left in such a hasty manner in unfavorable circumstances. Maybe because she was worried about her father. Maybe because he didn't know that they were not going to get more time to spend. As if they were even spending some time together!? They were always surrounded by people and she was always with Sheena.
What the heck!? She was Sheena's friend. Best friend to be precise. And Sheena was a little sister to him. God, this seemed inappropriate at certain points while exciting at some. He should not think about those little flirty conversations they had, they were definitely random and meaningless.
On the flight, Shehnaaz couldn't sleep. A huge part of her was worried about her father. That man was detected with a weak heart since she was in school. It was one of the reasons she wanted her parents to move in with her to Delhi, another reason was his extended toxic family.
She landed in Chandigarh when it was half past 10 at night. She booked a cab home and made her way out while texting people about her whereabouts. She texted Sheena and called Rajiv while she waited for her cab to arrive after collecting her luggage. She thought for another minute that Sheena's family must have left for the hotel. Just to keep up with the formality, she texted Sidharth as well.
'Reached Chandigarh. Thnx for ur power bank again!'
She had already tapped on sent when she contemplated if she should have used the exclamation mark or not. Was it making her look desperate or something more than a casual text?
She sighed, deciding to delete the message and sending another decent one when she saw blue ticks on his WhatsApp. He had seen her text within a few minutes.
'Its urs now.' he had replied. There was a smile on her face when she pushed her phone back into her pocket and noticed an uber approaching her.
She recalled how she couldn't hold back her urge and had looked back to see Sidharth leaving the airport with Rajiv. She knew she was going to see him again during Sheena's wedding and a part of her was excitedly waiting for that day. She was so stupid, even after knowing that it was not right, it was something she'd regret, she had still developed a crush in him.
Dressed in a plain and wrinkled salwar suit, a middle aged Madhu was standing on the porch outside her house waiting for her daughter.
"Haaye, mujhe baad me kharab lag raha tha ke tu itni raat ko akeli aa rahi hai meri wajah se!" Madhu said as soon as she opened the gate.
"Mai humesha ki akeli aati-jati hu. Chill mummy!" Shehnaaz replied, hugging her mother.
"So gaye Papa?" She asked.
"Baatein sun rahe the humari! Mujhe daant lagayi aur ja ke TV dekhte baithe hai, tere intezaar me." Madhu replied as she chuckled.
"Papa!" Shehnaaz called out loud, almost running into her house and hugging the man as soon as he came into her vision.
"Meri soni putt, aa gayi." There sat another middle aged man, his hair was all grey and his face wrinkled poorly. Still he managed to look good for a man in his late 50s but his deteriorated health had managed to take all the charm away. Jagjit Singh Gill, her father.
"Chal kuch kha le, bhook lag rahi hogi na?" He asked her, caressing her face. He pulled his hands back to cup his mouth when he coughed a little.
"Hmm. Chalo, mere sath baitho table pe." She replied, getting up with his hands in hers.
During the course of her dinner, she entertained her father and told him about how the shopping went. The lehenga she picked, the one Sheena picked, their hotel stay, Sheena's rude and mean aunt, Anju's friend Rita Ma, their history together, the Shukla family and of course Sidharth. Not that she told them everything about him but a sweet introduction was a must, she wanted them to know how nice he was.
"Itna kuch hua in 3 dino me!?" Madhu was surprised to know what all was going on in her daughter's life.
"Ha! Bada maza aaya Mummy! Shopping hi inti mazedaar thi, shaadi me double maza aayega. Aap log jaldi aana Delhi. Mai toh bolti hu, abhi flight ki tickets kar deti hu. Sasta padega!" Shehnaaz replied.
She was narrating how this short trip had turned out to be, she kept noticing how her father coughed every now and then, she tried her best to not point it out and worry all the more because he wouldn't like it.
"Arey ruk ja meri Ma, itni kya jaldi hai!? Ayenge na hum." Jagjit laughed but then coughed abruptly. Madhu immediately passed him a glass of lukewarm water.
"Hm. Chalo, mera khana ho gaya! So jao aap log bhi. Kal subha clinic jana hai." She said, picking up her plate towards the kitchen.
Back in her room, she changed into her nightwear and freshened up before getting into the bed. Settling comfortably under the blanket she grabbed her phone and surprisingly found an unseen text from Sidharth, he sent it an hour ago.
'U reached home?'
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Hello there!
I know some must feel how significantly less amount of Sidharth and Shehnaaz's interactions are there.. but just think.. how are you supposed to talk to someone you secretly like when you're out with a big family?
Baby steps okay.. baby steps! I promise it'll be worth it..
How about the caring side of Sidharth we got to see today??
How about Shehnaaz finally accepting her crush on him!!