A Complicated Love Story

Chapter 05 ~ Friends?

"Sat sri akal, Mumma." Prachi whispered, feigning a happy mood.

"Prachi Di?!" her little sister's chirpy voice rang out from the phone. Tears rolled down her face as she remember the way her twin used to do the same. Sure it was only a vague memory, but still was a memory. One of the few that she could still remember to this day.

"Yes, Maahi. Now, go and give Mumma's phone to Mumma please." Prachi requested politely.

"No! I want to talk with you. Mumma and Papa miss you a lot, and I do too. But guess what? We're coming to Mumbai to meet you, tomorrow! Papa managed to get earlier tickets and we've made arrangements for staying there too now! We'll be living with you in Dehli for 2 months!" Maahi revealed, and Prachi could easily hear the smile in her voice. It made the thing she was about to ask her family even more difficult now.

"Maahi, please give the phone to either Mumma or Papa. I need to talk to them about something urgent. I promise I'll speak with you after I've finished talking them." Prachi asked her younger sister and Maahi reluctantly gave the phone to her mother.

"Prachi, beta! How are you?" You know how tensed me and your father were! Didn't we tell you to go to the nearest landline and call us as soon as you made it to Mumbai? How could be so careless? You know how your father is. If god forbid he thought anything had happened to you, the whole world would be in a lot of trouble right now." Avleen chided.

"Mumma, please calm down! I'm fine. There wasn't any landline available nearby. And I need to talk to you about something important Maa, is your phone on speaker?" Prachi fiddled with her fingers, wondering how her father would react if he ever came to know that those people had made fun of her in college.

Avleen frowned at the nervousness in her eldest's voice, "No, it's not. But why? Is there something you want me to know? You are okay na?"

"Mumma, calm down. I'm fine. I was just wondering that maybe you should delay your visit to Dehli. I miss you, Papa and Maahi a lot but the people in the hostel are very strict. The rules state that we need to be here at least one month before requesting for a leave, unless it's an absolute necessity, and we're not allowed any visitors until a week has passed," Prachi explained and was thankful that these rules actually did exist. Otherwise, she knew it be impossible to convince her parents, especially her father, not to come.

Avleen scrunched her face in confusion, "But I thought your father had already taken special permission from your warden already?"

Shit. Prachi hadn't thought of it and quickly made up an excuse, "Mumma, the warden here is extremely strict. She doesn't even allow us to be on our phones past curfew, so I doubt she would've permitted Papa to come here. Even if she did permit it, she made an announcement saying that no visitors are allowed until a week under any circumstances at all."

"Oh, ok. But make sure to video call us every week. We're already beginning to miss you. Have you made any friends yet?" Avleen asked.

"Yeah, there's this one really nice girl. Her name's Shahana." Prachi smiled, feeling slightly better.

"Is she Hindu?" Avleen asked and this instantly returned her sombre mode.

"Mumma, I'm well aware that Papa would react rashly if I ever befriended someone's whose Hindu. Do you think I would even go near them unless it was for a college assignment?" Prachi lied, knowing well that her parents despised everyone who was Hindu.

Avleen sighed in relief, "Yeah, I know you wouldn't. I was just making sure, you know."

"Bye Mumma, I need to work on an important assignment now. Love you," saying this, she hung up the phone.

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Mishti impatiently stood outside the hostel, along with her brother, who she pretended to glare at. The warden soon came out and attended them.

"Mam, could I please meet the new 2nd year that transferred here from Punjab?" Mishti requested.

The warden frowned, "No visitors are allowed here until next week. If there is something urgent you need to discuss you must request for an early leave."

"Oh! Um, actually the thing is, I needed to work on an assignment with her and I forgot to take her number but the assignment is due tomorrow and I can't contact her in any other way," Mishti quickly lied.

"Very well, please tell me the name of the person you would like to meet," the warden asked.

Mishti felt stumped. She had no idea what her name was.

"Prachi. Prachi Sandhu." Ranbir spoke up, recalling her name from maths class - though he had never forgotten it.

"Ok. I'll go call her." The warden left to get her and was back within moments, along with Prachi, who surprised and tensed she had a visitor - thinking it might've been her family. However, she was even more surprised when she the girl who had stood up for her yesterday and Ranbir.

The warden left and they began their conversation.

"Aap? What are you doing here?" Prachi asked.

"Actually, Prachi, I wanted to apologise for my friend's behaviour yesterday. It was disgusting of her to make fun of you for something that's clearly caused you to trauma, especially when she knows absolutely nothing about you." Mishti apologised.

Prachi smiled, "You don't need to feel apologise. In fact, I'm thankful that you supported me yesterday too. It was really nice of you."

"So you're not mad at me? In that case, friends?" Mishti extended her hand.

Prachi shook her hand, "Friends."

"By the way, who's he?" Prachi gestured towards Ranbir, who was a silent spectator until now.

Mishti sighed, "He's Ranbir Kohli. My brother."

Prachi decided to offer her friendship to him too and ignore Shahana's warning. So she did the same thing Mishti did.

"Look, I may have apologised to you that day when you bumped into me but I am not interested in any sort of friendship with you. I am not friends with.... weaklings," Ranbir replied instantly and tried to ignore the pain he saw in this girl's eyes when he called her a weakling.

Mishti quickly intervened, "I'm sorry for my brother's rash behaviour, Prachi. He's not really known for being nice."

"It's ok. Strangers words don't affect me. Besides, I kind of expected this. I just thought that maybe Shahana was wrong about your brother. Turns out, she was spot on." Prachi replied, not noticing Mishti and Ranbir's reactions when she said Shahana's name.

Mishti glanced towards her brother and felt shattered when she noticed the pain he was going through. If only he would tell someone, or let her and Rishi ask for help.

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(1100+ words)

I know I've updated after a long time, so sorry for that!

Anyways, I have a very important question. Who do you guys want portraying Prachi's parents as they'll both play a kind of grey role here and I don't really think Sriti and Shabbir will be suited for the roles that her parents are gonna play in the story.

Until Next Time!

~ Riya Sharma