THE BRIDGE

A New Beginning

I woke up with Sid's "good morning" text. That made me smile for some unknown reasons. I replied back with "good morning Sid, ykw I got selected for a job". I kept my phone aside and dressed up for the new beginning. I hugged mom and had breakfast with her, she was very happy with the news and now she was preparing dahi shakkar for this beginning like she used to do when I used to go for examinations as a kid. She beamed with delight as she watched me adjusting my fit. The door bell rang, mom opened it, "Oh Sid..come in" I turned back to see it's Sid. He sat on the sofa while congratulating me for the new job, he insisted on dropping me since my workplace is near my previous workplace i.e, his workplace. I agreed to it, we sat and drove while Sid played Rafi sahab's songs, it reminded me of the day at that bridge, it was beautiful. I felt happy that Sid still stuck around me although I treated him rudely at times, he's a very nice person. He stopped near my office and bid me farewell by saying "I'll pick you up after work and we'll go for lunch" before I could say anything he drove past me. I went inside, the office was cool, my new boss was nice too not cringe like the previous one to be specific, my colleagues were friendly too, I worked my ass off to impress everyone in the office and I did, boss praised me on the first day itself. I was done with my work meanwhile Sid texted me that he's waiting outside for me, I packed up and sat in his car. He played some new romantic hits this time, he used to look at me from the corner of his eyes like he did that twice but I pretended that I didn't notice it. We reached a dhaba, it was the same dhaba me and Ivaan went to on the New year's eve, that kinda made me sad but I didn't want to ruin Sid's mood. We sat on the charpai, meanwhile he mentioned that this is his favourite dhaba and the food here is amazing, for once I was happy looking at him because he had innocence in his eyes. We continued eating meanwhile he asked me about my first day in office. Such small gestures made me feel special, I felt wanted.
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He dropped me home, mom saw us, she knew Sid is a nice guy, I hurried inside after waving back at Sid. Mumma asked me how my day went, I told her everything including that Sid and I went to a dhaba for lunch, mumma has always been a close friend to me, she playfully asked me if I liked Sid, I explained it to her that I like him as a friend. I jogged into my room, shut the door behind me and sat on my bed with my phone. I saw Sid online also I saw Ivaan online, I decided to delete our conversations although they weren't that great but still I wanted to get rid of his thoughts, Sid texted me goodnight.
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Next day was Sunday, Sid came to my house for stay because mom was out of station for a few days. We binged a lot of movies, cooked food together, I used to annoy him occassionally but he found it annoying in a cute way. He's always been a nerd, he told me about his college days, how he used to get bullied in school. In these few days we had become so much more than "just friends", we used to fight, plan life together even hug each other. We both realised that this is heading towards a relationship but this time he asked me, "So now you're my girlfriend?" I shyly nodded. Mom called me that she'll be back by Monday so I'd told Sid to go back home by Saturday, so that I can rearrange my house. She was always friendly with me but I didn't want to inform her about us this soon.
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Mumma asked me if I'd any guy in my mind for marriage because she could notice Sid and me getting closer to each other. And my 25th birthday was approaching too, she never forced me for marriage like I'd said earlier but I know she was concerned. I always denied when she talked about marriage and Sid. One evening she called Sid home, I had no idea about it until I saw them gossiping and mom showing my childhood pictures to him, I felt nervous, our eyes met again this time it was intense, I could see mom staring at us from the corner of her eye so I broke the eye contact. I had no idea what they were talking about since I'd just returned from the market. Sid stood up, walking towards me slowly, he pulled my cheeks in an awe, I was stunned, he did that in front of my mom, now I was getting curious to know what actually happened when he marched towards the door bidding us a goodbye.
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At the dinner table

"What were you guys talking about mumma?" I suddenly questioned her. She ignored my question, she did that for the first time, I was shocked. I didn't bother to ask Sid the same because I knew if mom isn't saying that to me even he won't.

PS: Ignore any typos or if I cringed somewhere.