"Hi, do you want to go for dinner tonight?" asked Mallika cautiously over the phone.
"I don't mind" replied Daksh with a small smile. Mallika jumped silently in delight. Daksh continued, "I will pick you up at 8 then?" - "Sure" replied Mallika.
Daksh was walking out of college when Mallika had called him, as he hung up, he felt a light tap on his shoulder, he turned around to see Tia smiling at him brightly. She greeted him and engaged herself in a small talk with him. There was something about this man - Daksh - he was so matured, smart and distinguished in a certain way - someone she could flaunt with pride in her eyes - something that would make other women jealous of her - he was humorous too, but polite at the same time - he could sweep people of their feet with just a few chivalrous gestures - Tia was smitten by him. Shivay didn't stand a chance before him. Conversing with Daksh wasn't difficult either, he could easily keep a free flow of conversation and Tia just needed to look gorgeous. After half an hour and a cup of tea from the cafeteria, Daksh said he needed to get going. But there were dark clouds in the sky, he glanced at the sky and looked at Tia, "Hey Tia, do you want me to drop you? The weather seems to getting rough" Tia flashed a glamourous smile, "Oh Daksh, how sweet of you. Actually I am very scared of thunders you know. It would be great if you could drop me." Daksh smiled, "Sure, come with me"
When they almost reached Tia's hostel, she looked at him with a smile, "Hey Daksh, I want to thank you properly for dropping me safely. Do you want to do dinner with me tonight?
"I would love to Tia, but you see, I have already made plans with a friend tonight. Maybe some othertime?" he replied. Tia was slightly disheartened, but well he didn't say no, he just deferred it. "Cool" she replied.
When Daksh reached Tia's hostel, he was surprised. Tia and Mallika stayed in the same hostel? He turned to Tia and smiled, "As it so happens Tia, the friend I have dinner plans with, she stays here too!" Tia was surprised, "she?" did he have a girlfriend already? She decided to probe, "Here? In my hostel? What's her name? I may know her!"
"Mallika" he replied. Tia gasped as understanding seeped in.
"Mallu" is your friend? Oh my God, such a small world. She is my roomie! We are very close you know! We are like sisters!! Oh I see, you mentioned you're Anika's family friend right? Aah so you are bound to know Mallu!" she laughed in relief - she knew Mallika was mentally engaged to somebody since childhood, that meant Daksh was just a friend for her. Great she thought.
Daksh was taken by surprise by this revelation too. True he had agreed to dinner with Mallika, but he didn't want to say no' that's why - he honestly felt Mallika might take it as a date and he didn't want her to assume so early. He now had a plan, to make the dinner truly friendly, maybe he could invite Tia too? That way all their plans would work out. Mallika would get her dinner, and Tia could thank him and also he could subtly make Mallika realize that it wasn't a date - Mallika was matured, she would take the hint.
"Hey Tia, that's great you know! If you guys are best friends, then why don't you join us? Mallika would love it too!" asked Daksh with a smile, and Tia readily agreed!
As she got out of the car, Daksh called out, "I will pick you guys up at 8 okay?" Tia smiled and walked towards the hostel, all the while dancing internally. Then she brought out her phone, and sent a text.
5:17p.m. [Hey Shivaay baby! Sorry, too tired after all the travelling. Can we re-schedule dinner to some other time?]
In another five minutes, a reply text prompted her,
5:22p.m. [I understand sweets, some other time it is!]
***
Anika sat by Shivay and looked straight ahead. The sky started getting steadily darker. Shivay looked at her unreadable face and sighed. He couldn't dive straight into the topic, it might get worse, so he begun,
"I didn't know you liked Marvel comics Anika, mostly girls hate these stuff nah" he asked casually. Her eyes shine momentarily and then it went back to being dull and unreadable. "I like them since childhood. Initially I didn't, but Daksh made me read stuff like League of Shadows, Marvel stuff, and I realized I love them" Shivay's face puckered at the mention of Daksh. One day back there was no Daksh in his life, and in one day, no matter what he spoke about, Daksh's name did come up. But he was curious, "So, how do you know Daksh from childhood?" he asked cautiously. "He is a family friend" she replied curtly. "A family friend you find very attractive and had planned a movie date with tomorrow that we are incidentally gate-crashing" laughed Shivay loudly, though he could feel how hollow it sounded.
Anika's eyes narrowed, how she wished she could tell them it was Mallika who loved Daksh not her, but she remembered her promise to Daksh, to not reveal anything, so she kept mum, instead she remembered Tia's friendly advances from the afternoon, "Tia - Your partner for all intensive purposes seem to find him very attractive too." She gave back.
Shivay's hand gripped his steering tighter, both at the memory of Tia flirting with Daksh in the afternoon and at Anika choice of using the word - too - after her statement. Tia too found him attractive?!?! But he kept quiet - he realized he couldn't wade in light water when he was with Anika. It was better to get to the point.
"Anika, I am sorry about Friday, I didn't -----" but Anika didn't let her complete.
"Don't bother. It was my bad that I couldn't differentiate between politeness and a genuine invitation" replied Anika crisply. Shivay stared at her in blank incomprehension. Politeness? Well she wasn't exactly wrong, only Om had genuinely invited her, he was only being polite, but that didn't mean he left her back on purpose. He tried again.
"Listen it was a confusion, I thought Somu was going to get you and she thought I would. And...err..no of us got you. I am sorry."
"Don't be. And someone did get me. Daksh did. He dropped me home that night." Replied Anika coldly. Now she was testing Shivay's patience without really realizing it. Daksh saved her? He took her home? While, him - Shivay was circling around the city like a maniac?
"Well, Daksh is quite the superhero huh? Well Anika, were you expecting him there? I guess you were. In that case what was the fuss all about eh?" He knew he was being rude and he would regret, but he had had too much of Daksh in a day, and this had come come out - he continued, "Oh. I would imagine someone as sensible as you would at least bother to call up and let us know that you're hooking up for the night! In that case I wouldn't -----" but he stopped seeing Anika's white face - did he really say that? He didn't mean to of course. "Listen, I didn't mean-----"
"Stop the car." She whispered hoarsely.
"Listen Anika, I really didn't mean it" tried Shivay now panicking
"I said, stop the car. Now." there was an eerie calmness in her voice.
Shivay stopped the car. He looked to face her, "Listen Anika, I was mad at you for not informing me that you were left behind. On that your phone was unreachable, and then we realized -----"
Anika didn't wait for him to finish his statement, she unlocked her door and walked out into the poring rain outside. Shivay sat there stunned for a moment and then reflexively opened his door to after her. He caught up with her and grabbed her by her elbow and pulled her, but she struggled to keep walking.
"Anika, get into the car. It's raining to hard, you cannot be out now - it's not safe - plus you're drenched."
"LEAVE ME ALONE" she screamed. Shivay stopped abruptly. From her voice he could make out she was crying, but the rain didn't let him see her tears. He felt terribly guilty. He gently held her by the shoulder and tried again.
"Anika, listen I am sorry. I didn't mean it. And the memory of that night made me angry because you never tried to contact me for help. What if Daksh wasn't there that night? You know how worried Somu and I got?"
"You didn't care! Don't need to lie, now even Somz doesn't expect you be my friend I guess, so there is no obligation. And Somz didn't care either - if she did, she wouldn't have refused to take me back with them" she screamed again.
"It was a confusion Anika! Of course Somu cares for you! She is immature! Who knows it better than you? And for me, of course I care, why do you think I drove back in the middle of the night to the club again? Can you imagine what I felt when you weren't around? You weren't taking my calls? I drove around the entire area searching for you, and I was out there searching until and unless Somu called to tell me you reached home!" screamed Shivay desperately.
Anika was stunned, was this true? Shivay had come to search for her? Shivay continued, "I tried meeting you the next day to clarify this but you weren't around, not even on Sunday. I asked you to come in early today, you didn't do that either, you didn't sit with me either, you didn't talk to me at all! How was I to clarify Anika?"
"I didn't know all this" she managed to stammer. That infuriated Shivay. After hearing everything, that's what she had to offer? She didn't know? All her faults are washed off at that? Couldn't she call him? Shivay lashed out in anger once again, "How will you know? You were busy with Daksh all weekend weren't you?" then he bit his tongue again.
Anika who was softening for a moment, didn't miss the accusing voice he used and turned stone faced again. "Thank-you for trying to help me Shivay. But I assure you, you wouldn't need to try again - because I wont hang out with you any longer. You don't have to pretend to be my friend any longer - neither you, nor Somz. You are free from your obligation now." With that she shoved his hands away from her shoulder and started walkng away, completely drenched by now.
Shivay had reached the tip of his patience. He couldn't stand it any longer. He used all his might and pulled Anika towards the car. How much ever Anika tried to pull away, it was futile. He pushed her into the car and put the car on child lock. He turned to Anika and told her, he wasn't letting her travel in this weather alone - she could very well hate him and not be friends with him, but all that would prevail after he dropped her home safely. As Anika realized there was no escape, she sat inside the car with a stubborn face and leaking eyes.
***
When Tia reached her hostel, Mallika was busy selecting her dress for the evening, Tia helped her select an indigo top and told her to pair it with a beige slim-fit trouser. Mallika sqealed in delight, she always liked Tia's sense of dressing. Then she turned to see Tia looking for a dress too, she asked if Tia was going somewhere.
"Yes Mallu! I am going out with you! Daksh invited me too!" she replied chirpily.
"Daksh invited you? How do you know him?" asked Mallika confused.
"We are class mates yaar, and we hit it off quite well from the start. So he invited me" she replied happily. Mallika's smile faltered. She thought t wold be just her and Daksh, but Daksh didn't think that way. Then Mallika tried seeing the positive, maybe Daksh wanted to form a group with her, with common friends, it definitely seemed like a good thing to do - to hang out together in the future. She smiled, though a little let down, she was happy thinking about the positive tone this brought to her relation. Then she smilingly joined Tia in selecting her dress.
***
When Anika reached her house, Somz opened the door. He was shocked to see how drenched his bhai and Anne were. "What the hell were you upto Anne??? You both look -----" but Anika lashed out at Somz before she could complete. "What the hell was I up to? Why should that be any of your business Somz? Why don't you sit with you brother and imagine I was hooking up with random men out in the rain!" and before Somz could open her mouth, she ran to her room and locked it. Somz was shocked beyond her wits. Anne was never like this, she was always so timid and docile - he turned to look at Shivay questioningly. Shivay then explained everything to a stunned Soumya and left her place shortly. Somz didn't bother Anika for the time being. It was best that she was left alone he thought.
At night, Somz knocked at Anika's door, there was no answer. He slowly opened the door to see she was lying on the bed with books scattered by her side. He walked inside to call her for dinner, he had had enough, he wasn't fighting with Anika anymore. But as he approached the bed, he could feel heat waves radiate towards him. He went ahead and softly touched her forehead - she was burning with fever. He gasped, she didn't seem conscious even, should she call Mallika? No, she would freak out, she would call daadi, she would be able to help her. Daadi told him the right kind of medication and cold water compression treatment. He sat by Anne, giving her cold water compressions, after sometime Anika woke up. He knew this wasn't the right time to indulge in explanations - he beckoned Anika to silently eat her food and sleep off, which she did - She didn't seem to have the energy to argue.
Coming out of her room, he called his bhai, he was drenched too.
"Hello bhai, are you okay? Do you have the fever?"
"Hi Somu. Fever? No. Why?"
"You were also drenched nah?"
"So? Forgot daadi's magic? I made the khada and had it after coming home" smirked Shivay.
"Oh great, this Anne here - she has very high temperature, I had to give her cold compressions to bring her back to senses." Replied Somz
"Oh" Shivay's voice sounded grim. "Let me know, if she needs something" and then he hung up.
Shivay was feeling bad, had he not been so miserably mean with her, she wouldn't have walked out of the car, that Anika he sighed, he could never figure her out.