Serendipity

VII

♪♫ So gayi hain ye saansein sabhi

Adhoori si hai kahaani meri

Phisal jaayein bhi to darr na koi

Ruk jaane ki zaroorat nahi

Kaagaz ke parde hain

Taale hain darwazon pe

Paani mein doobe huye

Khwab alfazon ke

Kho gaye hum kahan

Rango sa ye jahan...♪♫

____________________

"So, how is your pretty neighbour doing?"

Neil glared at Ishan—his childhood friend—but answered nonetheless. "Maybe busy planning how to kill me in my sleep."

Ishan chuckled.

They were in Neil's apartment. Both finally got some time from their busy lives and decided to meet. Why Ishan had decided to bring up Evara was beyond him.

"It's been two years, man. Why are you still rooting for her? Move on, there are a lot of other women who'd kill to be with you."

"What if I had said the same for Harshi?" Ishan had always been in love with Harshi since his school days who's his wife now but initially, she didn't bother with him. Their story started when Harshi also developed feelings for him after spending a lot of time together on a school project. Now, they are happily married.

"Harshi is different. She at least didn't hate me." Ishan stated. "But seriously man, why her? Why not go for someone who doesn't hate you?"

"Why anyone else when she exists?" he answered. "I like her and that's all I know."

"You are a lost cause!" he shook his head at his hopeless friend and exclaimed.

"No, I just need to find a way to convey my feelings for her."

"You acting like you hate her wouldn't help you."

"I hate her but I don't hate her. If that makes sense." When he realised that Ishan didn't get him, he decided to elaborate. "I hate how I'm always thinking about her, it doesn't let me focus. I hate that every simple small thing reminds me of her but I can't do anything about it. The worst part? I might be pretending but she isn't. She hates me, for real, and I can't stand it."

"Well, she's literally in the other apartment. Why don't you just go and tell her?" Ishan suggested.

"So she could strangle me to death? No, thanks! I'd like to live. At least then I could see her, admire her from afar."

"See! Hopeless!" Ishan shook his head as if he was disappointed. "You sit here comfortably and someone else would come to sweep your heroine off her feet. The next thing you know; you would be sulking in her wedding. That too, if she invited you, which by the way, seems highly impossible."

This angered him. A strange surge of rage and jealousy filled him as he thought of her with someone else.

"That won't happen!"

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure she is not waiting for you to work up enough guts to tell her the truth. Either you do something or someone else will."

He knew she was home as he had shared the elevator with her and her friend when he came home from work so, Neil stood up, ready to go to her door and tell her everything. Repercussions be damned, at least he won't regret the fact that he didn't even get to tell her the truth.