Yeh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka - Redux

Aquaintance

Aman and Roshni stood awkwardly in the room they were given for the night. They didn't know what exactly to do. The sleeping arrangements was what worried them the most. There was no bed and only a small double sized mattress. If they didn't sleep on that then the only other option was the cold floor which neither of them particularly wanted to sleep on.
          A knock on the door brought them out of their thoughts and Roshni went to open the door. The old woman stood outside and gave them a bag of clothes saying, 'these are my children's clothes, they should fit you both'. RoshAn thanked her and closed the door. They opened the bag and found a few pairs of trousers and shirts for Aman and some plain Kurtis for Roshni as well as towels to dry themselves. 'Roshni you can change first, I'll turn around and close my eyes'. Roshni agreed and Aman did just as he said he would. After her, Aman too changed.
          They sat on the mattress and wondered about what to do next. They were in no mood to sleep so Roshni suggested 'if you're not sleepy as well why don't we play truth or dare?' Aman was not sure if he wanted to play but he was not at all sleepy and also getting bored so he agreed. They started playing. It was Roshni's turn to choose first and she picked truth. Aman found an opportunity he had been waiting for. As much as he knew so far, he had come to believe that Roshni was not the type of girl who would become someone's second wife despite the first wife being alive or not divorced. 'Why were you ready to marry Sameer despite knowing he was still married to his wife?' Roshni was shocked would be an understatement. She felt everything spinning around her. 'What did you say? Sameer was m-m-married? I didn't know, I really didn't know. Oh my God, what was I going to do?' She held her face in her hands and started crying. Aman didn't know what to do to, but her reaction told him she was saying the truth. His heart told him to hold her and hug her but his brain stopped him. 'So this must be why you hate me, right? You think I'm a gold digger willing to marry someone who is already married to someone else. I'm honestly not like that, I didn't even know him properly. He came to my house one day and asked for my hand in marriage and Ammi told me to marry him and I was going to do it without realising what a huge mistake I was going to do. I'm sure Ammi didn't know about it either. He must have fooled her.' Aman now realised what must have happened in reality. Salma had lied to him that Roshni knew about Sameer being married and took advantage of her innocence to make her marry Sameer. For once he decided to ignore his brain and listen to his heart and hugged her. Roshni felt a type of peace she had never felt before when he hugged her. Aman too felt as if all the emotional burdens he was carrying had suddenly gotten lighter. They both felt things neither had ever experienced before.
          'It's alright, I believe you' he assured her. 'He believes me'? The thought warmed her heart. To make the mood less tense Aman asked 'don't you want to ask me?' 'Truth or Dare'? Truth. 'Who do you love most in this world'. 'I love my entire family a lot but my Ammi is the one I love most.' he replied. 'Do you know, when my Abbu left her for another woman everyone used to blame her saying she couldn't keep her husband happy. I always used to wonder if  a husband was some kind of God for a wife to keep him happy and expect nothing in return other than his presence which is not a favour but in-fact a responsibility. I have grown up seeing my mother crying everyday for something that wasn't even her fault. It was my Abbu who did everything and yet no one in this society blamed him. Everyone only blamed and taunted my mother for not being a "good wife". You know, I am so proud of Dadi and Phupi. They supported my Ammi instead of their own son and brother. I decided that day that I would never let my sisters go through this situation. I would protect them and educate them and make them so independent that they will be able to live their lives holding their heads high no matter what happens.' Aman stopped. He was confused if he really just said all of that to Roshni when he doesn't even know her properly. Roshni understood his dilemma and said 'you're the best brother, son, grandson and nephew I have ever seen Khanbaba'. He smiled at her and asked 'Truth or Dare'. She picked dare this time. He thought for a short while before telling her 'I dare you to show me how you will propose to your hot college senior.' Roshni's mouth opened in surprise. Was it really THE WAHIYAT PRANI who just gave her that dare. She was determined not to lose and stood up and said 'Hi, I wanted to tell you something. I don't know how you will feel about this but I wanted to tell you that I have feelings for you. It is ok if you don't reciprocate my feelings. You can take all the time you want before giving me an answer.' Aman felt something inside him when she was doing the dare. 'Am I really feeling jealous of an imaginary person, but why? It's just a dare and even if it isn't we don't have a normal marital relationship. Ughhh what is happening to me?' he wondered to himself. As Roshni had completed the dare it was Aman's turn again. He picked truth again this time. 'Hmmmm, when was your first kiss?' she asked him. Aman gulped. Should he tell her the truth? Will she laugh at him? 'I - I haven't kissed anyone before.' he admittted looking down. Roshni felt secretly happy about it. 'Really, what did you do in college and everything? 'Study' he answered as if it was the most obvious answer. 'By the way when was your first kiss' he asked eagerly. I haven't kissed before either. I was not interested in all of these things so I never paid attention to any boys.' Hearing this Aman's stomach started performing somersaults in happiness. 'You weren't interested, so you're interested now?' he asked suggestively. 'No, I just said it like that.' He grinned and said 'Roshni, I know we didn't start of on the best of terms but w-w-would you like to be my friend?' He was nervous because he had very few friends as he kept most people out of his personal life as he didn't want anyone to know his reality, but she was different. He felt attracted to her like the North and South Poles of a magnet. 'Of course' she smiled happily like a small child. He held out his hand 'friends?' She took it. 'Friends.