At lunch one day, amidst the general cacophony, comprising mostly of Jaddu's fresh set of Jamnagar miracles, Tani noticed Shivam, who was sitting beside her, staring at Siri silently.
Funny that they never talked, thought Tani, and so she murmured to him, "You do realize it's never going to work if you don't talk to her?"
"What?" said Shivam blankly. "What do I say to her?"
"Say anything you want to," said Tani, exasperated. "Conversation will sustain itself!"
"Oh, ok, all right," said Shivam, looking like he was trying to make up his mind.
Siri looked over and saw Shivam talking to Tani and felt a sudden stab of jealousy, which annoyed her.
But why on earth did Shivam never speak to her when he was capable to speaking to girls?
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Hardik descended upon the girls' room one day in the evening and said, "I bet none of you have ever visited a nightclub, have you?"
"No," said the three of them.
"I've got VIP passes to the nightclub next door," whispered Hardik dramatically. "Want to visit tonight?"
"Yes!" said Neha and Siri.
"Yes," said Tani after a while.
"Great," said Hardik, pleased. "Now don't go telling any of the others, not even Jassi or Yuzi, and certainly not any of the seniors." He handed a pass to each of them.
"I have to ask my mother, though," said Tani.
Hardik looked at her like she was mad. "And do you hope your mother will allow you?"
"I can't go if she doesn't," said Tani firmly.
"As you wish," sighed Hardik.
Tani called her mother and asked, "Mom, can I go to a nightclub with Neha, Siri and Hardik?"
She listened in silence for a minute and then said, "Ok, ok, I expected it anyway."
"Your mother knows about us?" asked Neha.
"She refused, right?" asked Siri.
"Yes," said Tani. "Sorry guys, I can't go."
"What did you expect?" scoffed Hardik.
"Well, my mom said it's unsafe," said Tani defensively. "So I don't think any of you should go!"
"Don't you influence them!" warned Hardik.
"We'll not get influenced," assured Neha. "When do we leave?"
"11:30, say. We need to make sure no one sees us leaving," said Hardik gleefully.
Siri and Neha felt quite excited at the prospect of an adventure like this.
However, later that evening, when Siri's mother called, Siri, who couldn't hide anything from her parents, told her about the plan.
And expectedly, her mother flatly refused as well.
"I didn't ask for your permission," said Siri, sounding outraged. "I just happened to tell you!"
Tani and Neha waited in anticipation.
But after nearly an hour of argument, Siri said ungraciously, "All right then."
She cut the call and said, "I'm staying back too."
Neha was scowling deeply. "What's the point of telling them when you know they'll refuse? My parents wouldn't refuse me anything even if I told them, though."
"I don't think even your mom would allow it. You'd better ask her," adviced Tani.
"I don't need to!" said Neha, getting mad and leaving the room to find Hardik.
When she told him, he whined, "I'm not going if Siri is not going!"
Neha glared at him. "Yes, you are. We're going!"
"It's no fun just two of us going, let's do one thing, let Rahul come back, then the three of us can go," said Hardik.
Neha, who for some reason was in a very black mood, said rudely, "I don't need you to go with me."
She stormed away from him too.
Since her parents allowed her everything, why shouldn't she enjoy her life more than Siri and Tani, with their overprotective parents?
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"Are you and Hardik going?" Tani asked Neha before going to sleep (she had begun to go to sleep at normal hours recently).
"No," said Neha, lying outright. "Hardik wouldn't go because Siri wouldn't!"
Siri laughed as she laid down, which of course made Neha madder than ever.
Tani, for some reason, woke up in the middle of the night, and saw the bed next to hers empty.
Straightaway she knew Neha must have gone to the nightclub.
"Siri, Siri!" said Tani, shaking her. Siri didn't wake up, of course, so Tani ran out to Hardik's room and banged on it, hoping that Hardik had gone with Neha, but unfortunately Hardik opened the door after a while, yelling, "THIEF THIEF THIEF!"
"Yes, thiefs knock before entering," said Tani, worry making her disagreeable. "And you're in your room, which means Neha must have gone alone, and I'm sure that isn't safe at all."
"Where?"
"And sure, you don't know," said Tani in disgust, and since she wasn't allowed to go to the nightclub as per her mother's instructions, she went and knocked on the next door which happened to be Rohit bhaiya's.
Hearing Tani's urgent shouts, Rohit opened the door reluctantly and said, "What?"
"Neha went to the nightclub next door alone," said Tani grimly.
Rohit took a moment to process it and then said, "Where did she get the idea from?"
"Hardik," said Tani, because Hardik was looking totally unremorseful. No doubt he hadn't grasped it at all.
"I'll deal with him later," said Rohit furiously and went out hastily. "Are you coming, Tani?"
"Mom refused, sorry, bhaiya," said Tani.
"Maa ki chamcha," said Hardik snidely.
Tani glared at him and said, "After you let her go to a freaking nightclub alone, you dare to..."
"Sorry, sorry," said Hardik at once. "Will you come in?" He offered courteously, since they were both standing.
Tani accepted and went and sat on the couch; she knew she wouldn't be able to go to sleep before Rohit bhaiya came back anyway.
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Neha was thrilled with the place at first. The atmosphere was cheerful and friendly, like a thousand Hardiks were squashed in the same room, but then she felt furious at the mere thought of Hardik.
Catch her talking to Hardik ever again!
Though she knew it wasn't right, the thought of Tani and Siri's mothers' warnings and Hardik's refusal to accompany made her reckless, and she went to the bar counter and demanded a strong alcoholic drink (or what sounded strong to her, she didn't even know the names).
After she had drunk two shots, a guy slunk up to her and said, "Can I get you a drink?"
"No thanks," said Neha.
"Come on, let me get you a drink, and we can escape this place, I have some good stuff back at my flat," he said.
Neha could hardly believe people like this could exist.
"Who do you think you are?" she demanded.
"Why are you getting angry, hottie?" he said and closed in on her.
Neha tried to step back, but she hit the wall, and the guy leaned over against her.
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Rohit entered the club, his eyes narrowed in disgust at the atmosphere. Trust Hardik to choose a place like this!
After a few minutes of roaming, he abruptly spotted Neha and a random loafer looking guy trying to force himself on her, and Neha clearly trying to fend him off.
Rohit was there in a millisecond and pushed the guy off and punched him on the face hard enough to break his nose.
"How dare you touch her?" shouted Rohit, looking absolutely furious.
"Rohit bhaiya," said Neha, sounding both scared and relieved.
Rohit took her arm in a vice-like grip and demanded fiercely, "Did he hurt you?"
"No," said Neha.
"Good for him," said Rohit. "Now wait outside."
"Rohit bhaiya..." began Neha.
"Wait. Out. Side."
Neha went out without another word.
After a minute, Rohit came back, having found out the details of who the boy was, took Neha's arm and began to pull her to the lift. Neha wasn't resisting.
Once they were out in the fresh air, Rohit swung her around to face him and said, "Why did you go in there?"
"I...I..." said Neha unsteadily.
"Did you drink?" asked Rohit in disbelief.
"A little," she admitted.
"You're unbelievable," muttered Rohit.
"What's wrong with that?" said Neha, with a touch of defiance.
"What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that?" repeated Rohit. "Didn't you see what could have gone wrong with that? Who the hell goes to a nightclub alone? And without informing anyone... do you have any idea how worried we were? Don't you have any sense, Neha?"
"Why are you questioning me like this? My parents don't forbid me to visit a nightclub!" said Neha.
"Yeah? Well then, I've got some bad news for you. Since you made the mistake of coming here to stay with us, we're your guardians too, and I forbid you," said Rohit dangerously.
Neha blinked and stared up at him silently, and Rohit swore if she dared to defend herself again he would lock her inside her room for one week.
Unexpectedly, though, Neha said, "Ok."
"What ok?" asked Rohit, still sounding annoyed.
"I'll not visit a nightclub again," said Neha with unusual meekness.
Rohit started to walk back to the hotel. Neha followed him silently.
They found Tani and Hardik waiting outside Rohit's room.
"There you are," said Tani, not showing the relief she was feeling.
"Yes," said Neha.
"Did you drink?" asked Hardik, sounding a little shocked himself.
Neha pointedly ignored Hardik. Rohit and Tani exchanged an amused glance.
"Maybe you'll feel like talking to me tomorrow," said Hardik hopefully, and when he didn't get any answer, he sighed and went back to his room with a mournful, "Good night, Rohit, Tani."
"Are you coming, Neha?" asked Tani.
"Yes, one minute," said Neha, turning to Rohit bhaiya, and Tani left quickly.
"Are you still angry at me, bhaiya?" she asked tentatively, her eyes tearing up suddenly.
Rohit noticed it and cupped her cheeks tenderly.
"Neha... I'm not scolding you, kiddo, you're allowed to have fun, but at least don't do things so thoughtlessly," said Rohit, sounding a lot more gentle.
"Why...why..." said Neha. "Why do you care when they don't?"
"Who doesn't?" asked Rohit.
Neha seemed to realise what she had said, and she hastened to say, "Nothing... nothing."
Rohit didn't needle her about it because she was already crying,
"Stop crying and go to sleep, and from next time please inform me before leaving," said Rohit.
Neha nodded.
"Now smile for me, please," said Rohit coaxingly. "Please?"
Now that Rohit bhaiya didn't seem mad anymore, Neha was happy again, and the grin was automatically back on her face.
But she had genuinely made up her mind not to do anything like this again, because she felt like she couldn't defy Rohit bhaiya, no matter what...because he was probably the only person who had ever cared about her.