Kar Chalna Shuru Tu

Chapter 5

After a couple of days, Atul, Armaan, and Shilpa went to Mall Road for some shopping. They went through a few shops and Shilpa already had her hands full.

"Aur kitna shopping karogi Shilpa?" asked Atul, Armaan chuckled.

"Aap mujhpar has rahe hain, Dr. Armaan?" she raised her brows.

"Nahi nahi, main to Atul ke sawaal par has raha hai. Kya champ? Tu bhi kaise sawaal kar raha hai? Kahan shopping ki hai Shilpa ne? Ek, Do bags hi to hain!" he exclaimed looking at 5 to 6 bags in each hand, hiding his amusement.

"Tumse to paise nahi maange na maine aur na hi tumse bags utthwa rahi hoon!" she huffed and turned to collide into someone.

Her bags fell from her hand onto the ground and she expected a fall, so closed her eyes but felt someone's arms snake around her waist to break her fall.

She opened her eyes to find a familiar face looking down at her.

"Shilpa?" he frowned, confused.

"Advay?" she mirrored his expressions.

He supported her up to stand and smiled at her to which she smiled back.

"Tum yahan kya kar rahi ho?" he asked.

"Just shopping with my friends." she replied looking towards Armaan and Atul and turned back to Advay, "What are you doing here?"

"Was on duty. Flew to Shimla from Mumbai this morning. Planning to take a break and stay back this weekend before I head back home to Delhi." said Advay, smiling.

"By the way, these are my friends cum colleagues, Dr. Armaan Mallik and Dr. Atul Joshi and guys, this is my friend from school, Captain Advay Singh Raizada." she introduced.

"Nice to meet you!" Atul smiled, extending his hand.

Advay shook his hand with a smile, "Nice to meet you too!" he said.

Armaan gave a tight smile and said, "Hi!"

Advay scrunched his brow with a smile, "Hi!" he said.

Advay looked around to find shopping bags scattered and chuckled, "Kitne dukaano ko loota hai tumne, Shilpa?"

"Iski purani aadat hai kya?" Atul laughed.

"Haan. Zyada shopping nahi karti yeh, but jab karti hai to aisa karti hai ke poochho mat." Advay chuckled.

"Shut up you both." she chided and turned to Armaan and slipped her hand into his, "Chalo Armaan. Sirf tum hi mere sacche dost ho."

Armaan's lips curved into a negligible smile but his heart thudded at the feel of Shilpa's hand in his.

"Achha ji? Ab sides liya jaa raha hai." Atul complained.

"Ye sab chhodo, let's go to my hotel and have dinner." Advay invited.

Shilpa smiled. She could never stay angry with anyone for so long. She picked up her bags only to be helped by Armaan.

"Bags mujhe dedo Armaan." she said.

"I'll help Shilpa." he replied with a smile.

"Sab log help karenge." Atul announced and took a few bags from Armaan while Advay took a few from Shilpa and hailed a cab to go to the hotel where Advay was staying.

--

As they got off at the porch of the Wildflower Hall Oberoi Resort, Shilpa looked around the beautiful trees surrounding her. The smell of pine whiffed in the air. It was fresh, woody and elevating.

"I just love the smell of pine." she exclaimed with a wide smile on her face.

As Advay told the bell boy to take all of Shilpa's shopping bags to his room, Atul walked over the Shilpa and Armaan followed him.

"Waise, dating ke liye, Advay is a good choice haan, Shilpa?" Atul asked playfully.

"Champ, kya tu bhi? Kuch bhi bole ja raha hai?" asked Armaan.

"Waise, not a bad idea Atul. Ladka accha hai, handsome hai, kaafi saalon se mujhe jaanta hai. Par problem ye hai ke I'm not sure whether he already has a girlfriend or not." she said looking over at Advay who was talking on his phone.

Armaan felt uncomfortable, "Koi zaroorat nahi hai." he announced.

"Kyun bhai? Tujhe kya problem hai? Tujhe thodi na bol raha hoon Advay ko date karne ko." Atul looked over at him with a frown.

"Armaan? Tum theek ho?" Shilpa asked gently tugging on his arm.

"Shilpa, main-" he started, to be cut off by Advay.

"Come on guys, let's go to the restaurant." he called out.

Shilpa looked at Armaan with pensive eyes trying to read his body language and his thoughts but then turned to Advay and tugged on Armaan's hand and followed him inside with Atul.

--

They sat on the table with a variety of food items that'd been ordered.

"So Advay, tum pilot ho?" Atul asked.

"Haan." he smiled.

"Tum apne baare mein kuch aur batao?" Atul asked.

"Ummm, main apni Naani ke saath rehta hoon, along with my sister who is divorced and my nephew." Advay replied with a smile.

"And?" Shilpa asked.

"And, I have a fiance jo filhal mere saath nahi rehti. Shaadi ho jayegi to obviously she'll come and stay with me." he replied.

Armaan almost sighed in relief.

Shilpa pouted at Atul and then looked over at Armaan who was smiling.

"Tum pagal to nahi ho gaye Armaan?" asked Atul, noticing a smile on his face for no reason.

"Kyun?" Armaan scrunched his brows.

"Aise smile kyun kar rahe ho?" Atul asked.

"Bas aise hi. Humesha koi reason nahi chahiye hota khush hone ke liye." Armaan replied.

"That's true." Advay sided Armaan and then went on to ask him about his life.

He recited his life story from boarding school to medical school, to his internship at Sanjivani. He also spoke about his past love life, his engagement, amnesia, accident, and then about Sid and Riddhima and his move here.

"Wow! Tumhari life to totally filmy hai yaar." he looked at Armaan in wonder.

"Bilkul filmy hai." Atul said.

"So, what have you thought about moving on? You should try the arranged marriage route. I'd gone for it and it's been really good so far." Advay said.

"I think I'll stick to the falling in love route." replied Armaan.

"Will you be able to fall in love again?" he asked.

"I'm trying to and I think I will." he said positively.

"And what about you Shilpa? It's high time you move on from what happened with Shiv. It wasn't your fault and you need to let it go." Advay said looking over at Shilpa.

"I'm trying to find someone to date. But you see, there are no good guys in Shimla." she replied.

"Why don't you date Armaan? He is good-looking, a doctor so there won't be a problem with work since he will understand. It's just easy. But I can understand if you don't want to, thinking it might spoil your friendship!" Advay concluded.

"Why didn't I think of this before?" Atul wondered out loud when suddenly Shilpa's phone rang.

Shilpa looked over at Armaan who was looking away, trying to hide something.