Night Changes

CHAPTER 16

  "When did you break up with Shreyas?"

I saw this coming. I knew the first thing Ritz was going to do is call me and throw literal bundles of questions when I return home.

"Hello? Why are you silent? Wait.. are you cheating on him?"

I rolled my eyes.

I'm not like you, Ritz. 

I thought and regretted instantly.

Nothing is proved yet, Aly. Don't jump to conclusions so soon.

"You aren't speaking..does that mean- oh. My. God. Does Jassi know about this or are you cheating on him as well? Look Aly, Jassi is one in a million, you don't find such good boys nowadays. Don't break his heart-"

"Ritz, please! Hear me out first!"
I sighed. What a mess.

"Listen, I er- broke up with Shreyas but Jasprit doesn't know we had something. So..don't- mention it to him, okay?"

"As you say, Aly. But always be cautious not to hurt Jassi in any way. When I say he has a golden heart, I mean it,"

"Yes, Ritz, I'll keep that in mind," I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.

As my cheeks touched the soft fabric of the pillow, the day's recap played in my head. I never considered myself with Jasprit before. He's a nice guy, I know that. A good friend. I really didn't want to risk my friendship, considering the fact that even Ritz feels distant now.

As I felt drowsy, I found myself fiddling with the ends of the pillow and imagining the time we both came so close, Ritz thought we were kissing. But what if we actually did? What if my lips actually came in contact with his? I could imagine his soft lips pressed against mine, my fingers tugging at the root of his hair, his hands tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. His caramel eyes closed, his face looking absolutely mind blowing up close.

My phone buzzed and I received it, with drowsiness evident in my voice, my eyes half closed.

"Jasprit?"

"Em..Alayna? It's me..Rohit,"
Rohit whispered from the other side of the phone.

I sat up immediately, realizing what I was doing all this time.

I cleared my throat.
"Hey, Rohit. How's everything?"

"How's it supposed to be, when I got to know this morning that Ritz changed her password?"

So Jasprit told him about that.

"I'm sorry,  Rohit. But we'll keep trying,  I promise,"

"Yeah," he paused and added,
"Well..Jassi told me that you guys were just pretending then-"

I felt a bit irritated as I didn't want to talk about this issue for the hundredth time today.

"Yeah, he's right. I hope you believe us,"

"Uh- yes, I do. But I have a piece of advice if you don't mind, "

"It's okay. What is it?"

"Jassi is a really good guy, you know. You might want to give this thing a shot,"

I bit my lips and kept quiet.

"I told him the same. You guys could actually get along quite well,"

He doesn't know about Shreyas, and I can't reveal it, so there's no point in telling him that I'm not single.

"Rohit, I don't think I'm ready for this at the moment. I have a lot of things to focus on. My life, my career. I don't think I can afford distractions. But I see your point. Thanks for your concern,"

"I understand. It's fine, good luck,"

I smiled and wondered why Shreyas had not called me once today. He usually doesn't do that.

I decided to call him after ending Rohit's call. He picked on the second ring.

"Exactly 21 hours, 8 minutes since we last talked,"
He said as he received the phone.

"Hello, Shreyas. Could we exchange greetings at first?"
I remembered Jasprit doing the same that day on flight and smiled.

"You sounded just like him now," I said subconsciously.

"Who's him?"
I swear I could see him lift his eyebrow.

"Jassi. He said something like that during our return flight,"

"Jassi? I think you mean Jasprit. You guys definition aren't that close to call him with a nickname,"

I rolled my eyes.

Possesive boyfriend mode on.

"Yeah, whatever. How are you doing?"

"I was waiting for your call all day. Counting how much time you could actually spend easily without talking to me,"

Shit. He was testing me.

"Um..the thing is, I was busy today so couldn't spare time. Sorry,"

"Really? What did you do all day?"

Shit 2.

"I was with Ritz and uh- she doesn't know about you,  so I couldn't call you then," I lied.

He didn't seem to buy it but he let it go.

"Anyway, my mom's not going to be home for a week, so the dinner needs to be postponed a bit. But I wanted to ask you out for shopping and post shopping lunch. Let's do it tomorrow. You in?"

After all this drama and mess, I really didn't have the energy to go out. But we barely went to a date after the start of our relationship, and I wanted to strengthen my bond with Shreyas, so I agreed.

I sat in my balcony and played some music.

I've been watching you for sometime,
Can't stop staring at those ocean eyes..

Music always has such calming effects on me, I have already acknowledged it as my number one stress management technique. I sinked in my soft cozy chair and closed my eyes.

You know you wanna make me cry, when you give me those ocean eyes..

A picture of Jassi's perfect pair of eyes appeared before my eyes. Those puppy eyes and that look of empathy the day I told him about my past. Those innocent smiley eyes when he played with Sam. Or those curious eyes when he asked me what happened next in DARK. Those nervous eyes at Ritz's house today. Those eyes which expressed thousands of emotions without saying a word.
Beautiful.

What is the color of your eyes?

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