the best friend

chapter 6

After college as decided, ishita went to dushyant's home. She was feeling those butterflies in her stomach that made her laugh at her stupidity as she couldn't really understand why she was feeling that way. they reached his home, as ishita glared at the huge mansion he stopped the car in front of.

'you are rich..' remarked ishita as she tried to keep her judgement to herself when they were in the car, but how can you after seeing a f***** mansion.

'no, my parents are...' said dushyant in a flat tone that only got him a 'i-can't-believe-you' look from ishita. He parked the car and got outside as ishita was about to open her door, only for dushyant to open the door for her. (good manners are attractive.)

'thank you.' Said ishita accompanied with an awkward laugh, not used to this treatment at all.

He rang the bell and someone checked for the security system inside first before opening the door.

'arre chote sahib, aap badi jaldi aa gaye.' Remarked the servant.

'really? Great then.' Said dushyant amusingly.

'ab dono ke liye kuch le aao?' asked the servant.

'arre nahi, mujhe bhook nahi, you want anything?'

'no..'

'ok then, apne khana kha liya?' dushyant asked to the servant.

'woh khaane wala tha bas.' Replied the servant.

' kitni baar kahan maine aapko khana chod ke mat aaya karu, ab jayiye kha lijiye.' Replied dushyant as the servant nodded and left, so did ishyant climbed upstairs to dushyant's room.

They reached his room, a well-furnished, large size room but more than the grand size of the room, what catched ishita's eyes was the bookshelf. While dushyant tried to navigate through the mess that was his study table, ishita had already got hold of a copy Anna Karenina, the outer world being the least of her concerns.

As dushyant finally got hold of his notes, he was about to tell ishita, only to be lost to see someone read so intensely, he decided not to interrupt but slowly walked up to her to see the object of her attention. Only that when she looked up from the book, to keep it back, her gaze met dushyant's.

'pehle toh mujhe shak tha, ab toh pura yakeen ho gaya, tum ek full-fledged tragedy queen ho.' Remarked dushyant.

'acha literature padhna is not a sign of tragedy, it is a sign of decent taste.' Defended ishita.

'tumne yeh padhe hui hai?' asked dushyant, to which ishita nodded.

'how do u manage to read something so tragic so fondly, again?' said dushyant.

'tragedy na accept karlena jitni jaldi sekh lo, utni jaldi apko woh affect karna band kardeti hai.' Said ishita.

'main tragedies accept nahi karta, fix karta hoon..' said dushyant, for the first time being earnest to ishita, who as much as she wanted to believe that, knew better that it was a flattering lie.

' kuch tragedies kabhi fix nahi hoti.' Said ishita, even though it came from her mind, couldn't conceal the pain oozing through her heart.

'not with me, main fix kiya bina manunga hi nahi.' Said dushyant with such conviction that a smile crept up on ishita's face, how much harm could believing this lie for a minute do..

'bhai, tumhe pata tha kya mummy aane waali hain?' interrupted a voice that was met with dushyant's surprise

'mom kab aayi?'

'kambal hai na papa ko pata tha na aapko, mummy bhi badiya surprise deti hai..' replied dushyant's sister.

'yaar kriti maine kuch pucha hai..' said dushyant with a surprising sternness in his voice.

'arre abhi aa rahi hai na bro, tabhi toh puch rahi hoon..' said kriti with annoyance in her voice.

'tumhari mom kahan gayi thi?'asked ishita, trying to comprehend the situation, but as dushyant tried to reply, he was interrupted.

'arre, bahaut hi inspiring story hai. Papa ek accountant the aur mummy housewife, par mummy ke bade bade sapne the duniya ghoomne ke, toh unhone apni ek college friend ke saath ek chota sa business start kiya, usse expand kiya, aur usse paise bachaye aur ghoomne toh gayi but humara lifestyle bhi kya hi badal ke rakh diya. Badhiya sunaya na maine, bro?' finished kriti.

'oh, aur woh kab exactly wapas aane wali thi?' asked ishita, little did she know that this so talked about lady would walk in right then.

'mumma!' kriti jumped to her mother as dushyant just smiled at them, slowly walked up to his mom and give her a loving side hug.

'so good to see you.' He said as he smiled at her after breaking from the hug, while ishita standing in the corner just waved an awkward hi.

'mom, yeh meri friend hai ishita, aur ishita yeh meri mom.' He introduced them to cut the awkwardness, as ishita greeted her from afar and the lady accepted it gracefully.

'she's a lovely girl, reminds me of my old self.' Replied his mother, very subtly approving of her son's lady love.

'how about i catch up with you later and till then, you just be with the overexcited kriti...' said dushyant as he escorted them out.
'purvi, kavin, mom...like seriously, why do people think their matchmaking skills are required here?'

'anyways, do minute ka kaam tha tumhe, free mein tumhara adha ghanta waste kardiya humne, here ,your notes.' Said dushyant as he handed it over to ishita, their fingers touched a little and the dushyant who disdained everybody for thinking he had feelings for ishita just seconds ago, found himself feeling those sparks just then.

'i won't call it a time waste..' said ishita as her gaze was fixed on dushyant, as she admired his eyes, his smile, him...

'really?' he said accompanied with his charming smile.

'yeah, and thanks.' She nodded and smiled as she pointed towards the notes while thanking for them as she walked away. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to let her go.

'wait!' he yelled as ishita turned towards him in surprise.

'main tumhe, uh, drop-kardeta hoon..if u want, obviously.' He said as he was surprised at his own nervousness.

'sure.' Said ishita as she chuckled at how even he could get so nervous.

He dropped her home that day and she waved a goodbye and walked away, but he found himself still glancing at her until she was no longer visible. He found himself smiling for no good reason, and he drove away home, trying to make sense of these feelings.