I Knew You Were Trouble

two

"This?"

"Nope"

"Then, how is this? It's cute and pink too!"

"Nope"

"Samira!" she exclaimed, looking slightly miffed.

"What!? Bae, you can't buy every damn thing that is pink." I pointed it out.

I was busy helping Sakshi buy her clothes as she and her husband Dhruv were going on a trip next month, and my friend, like always, is over-excited and ready to buy everything pink.

"Why not?" she asked, as if there was nothing wrong with doing that. This girl is seriously a lot of work. I should salute Dhruv for bearing with all her tantrums.

"Girl, I understand your favourite colour is pink; I really get it! But please, I'm requesting that you look for things in other colours now. Enough with your pink obsession shopping for today," I said, pointing at her shopping basket, which is filled with various pieces of clothing in pink.

"Fine!" she said, stomping her feet, and turned around to look for some more outfit options. I hope she chooses some in different colours this time, Lord.

Sakshi married at a young age because she and Dhruv had a 5-year age difference, and they were so much in love with each other that they married as soon as Sakshi completed her graduation. Now Dhruv is the head chef at one of the most famous restaurants in the city, while Sakshi recently opened her own beauty salon as she always wanted to pursue a career in it.

To be honest, it's quite an irony how I and Sakshi met. We met through Aditi. Yeah! You are right, Aditi as in Aarush's love..Aditi. Aditi and Sakshi were roomates at one point, and we met at a mutual friend meetup and clicked together.

I got up to look around, though I'm not really in the mood for any shopping right now but I really need to do something to clear my mind.

Oh right! I have a meeting with my manager today, I completely forgot about it because of Aarush. I pull out my phone to text Arun, my manager to postpone the meeting because I know Sakshi, this is just the begining of her shopping spree.

I unlock my phone and see that I have a text from Aarush. I'm surprised..

💬 Hii!! I hope the talk we had today at the cafe remains just between us.

💬 I haven't even talked about this with Abhay, so you know how important and hush-hush it is.

💬 I will be waiting for your answer.

This boy is so smart, man. He didn't tell Abhay about this because he knew that Abhay would say no right away and maybe even beat him up for coming up with such a stupid plan.

I don't understand how a person can be so clueless. Does he really not see how I feel for him? Or is it the universe that I should be cursing here because this is too cruel, don't you think?

Now that this is somewhat a hush-hush thing (Aarush's words, not mine), I can't ask Sakshi about her opinion on this.

Oh, Lord, help me! I really don't know what to do. Should I agree? but than what about..

"Hii drama queen! back to mother earth, please." Sakshi clapped her hands to gain my attention.

"Yeah, yeah"

"What is bothering you, Samira?" she asked.

And suddenly I came up with the idea, "I want your opinion on something."

She gave me a nod to say 'go ahead' while she went through a rack of bralette tops to choose from.

"See, it's like this: there is a girl who loves a boy, but that boy loves someone else, and to woo that girl whom he loves, the boy plans to make the girl whom he loves jealous, and to do that, he asks the girl who loves him to be his fake girlfriend, so should she—I mean, the girl who loves the boy—she should say yes or no to the plan of the boy whom she loves made to woo the girl the boy loves?" I asked her all this in one breath.

Sakshi first looked shocked (even I am shocked as to how I spoke all this rubbish in a breath), then she gave me a blank look, and soon her face expression changed as if she was thinking. She pulled out a few tops and checked them out one by one, front and back, before deciding whether they should be included in the pile of clothes to try out or whether to let them be.

After about 2–3 minutes, she said, "See, if I were in place of that girl, I would have said yes."

I asked her the reason for her agreeing to the boy's plan if she were in that girl's place, and she answered, "Because of that plan, at least he will pay attention to me, and maybe I will have a chance with him."

She picked up the bag of try-out finalist outfits and went to the trial room.

"Girl, you are not buying even a single piece of pink cloth from that pile. Not even a scarf. I'm telling you," I warned her as I went through what she said just now in my mind.

I don't know why, but what she said just is making a bit of sense to me. Maybe I can have a chance with Aarush because of this plan.

It would be like a dream coming true.

Or maybe it will backfire. What if it works out in his case like it should and he is able to make Aditi jealous and get her?

It would be a nightmare for me because what about my feelings than?

So I asked Sakshi about it. "But what about that girl's feelings if it backfires?"

"backfires?"

"What if the plan works out in favour of the boy? Then what about the girl's feelings?"

"See, even if she says no, that boy is already behind that other chick, so she is going to be hurt in both situations, so why not go with yes, which has hope of maybe, rather than no, which will lead to nothing?" she said in her obvious tone.

"You know, You are right. It makes sense."

"And by the way, why are you asking me this? Who are the girl and the boy in this scenario, actually?" she asked suspiciously as she came out of the trial room and put aside all the rejected clothes with the other tried and rejected pile of clothes.

"I am reading a book on Wattpad, and this is how that book's plot looks till now, so..." I lied and gave her a shy smile.

She gave me a disbelieving look, said, "I'm done here," and went to the cash counter to pay the bill.

So now I have my answer. I hope I don't regret it afterwards.

With that thought in my mind, I text him...