Rab Rakha

Chapter 31

"Tu yaha kya kar rahi hai?" Shehnaaz was startled when she heard Sidharth out of nowhere at the terrace. How could she not be? She wasn't expecting anyone at this hour.

"Sidharth!" She had her hand over her chest to calm down the erratic heartbeats as she gasped out his name.

"Dar gayi kya?" He chuckled, asking her.

"Tu pagal hai!?" She scolded him and he simply chuckled all the more. She could smell the smoke and pretty much understood what he was doing up here.

There was a moment of silence while she roamed around the terrace and felt the breeze against her skin, it was calming and soothing. He stood there, enjoying the weather as they looked at the adjacent buildings and city lights.

"How's work?" She asked him a little later.

"Fine I guess, keeps me busy enough." He shrugged.

"Yeah. I saw that restaurant. Jo ek, Italian based restaurant abhi inaugurate hua. Newspaper ke column me dekha, you guys do an amazing job." She complimented him.

He nodded, smiling at her. It always felt nice to be appreciated regarding work.

"What about you?" He asked.

"What about me? Bas chal raha hai yaar sab dheere dheere. 9 to 5." She shrugged.

"Pays well though." She added, since she needed this job for the money, she was doing it. Within a couple of months she had to payback the medical loan she had taken for Jagjit's treatments and the house rent wasn't any less so she had started saving money.

"Hm. Aunty?" He asked further.

There was a smile on her face, recalling how Madhu had hugged her and consoled her a couple of days ago. Her mother was a really strong woman and she wouldn't lie how she was worried that her breakdown might affect Madhu but it only brought them closer.

"Thik hai, pehle se better." She looked at him as she answered and he nodded in return.

"Jaldi nahi sota tu?" She asked. She did remember that he was an early morning birdie.

"Actually mai so gaya tha aj jaldi, phir neend khul gayi. I thought I could come here." He shrugged.

"Hm. Anything new then?" She asked.

"Nah." He shook his head and she  wondered what happened to his date. Well, it had been a while and if he had a girlfriend, she'd have known.

"Kisi ki life me kuch nahi ho raha? That's a little boring." She mumbled to herself. It was like everybody was going to work and coming back. There was no interesting news to talk about.

"Ab daily daily kya naya hoga?" He asked.

"Nahi. Matlab, kuch toh acha sunne ko mile, acha na sahi toh interesting hi ho. You know, like gossip?" She chuckled, asking him. He shook his head in disbelief, the ways girls knew how to keep themselves entertained!

"Sidharth, ek baat bolu?" She began, she had been keeping this inside for a while now that it felt like the right moment to talk about themselves.

"Hm." He nodded, turning to her.

"Are we good?" She meekly asked.

"Yeah, I mean what's wrong?" He asked her back and she stared at him blankly as if it wasn't for his cold responses, she wouldn't have asked this.

"Nahi. Matlab. I don't know. Feels like things have changed.. I mean.." she wasn't able to find the right words to describe how weirdly they behaved as compared to the time they were in Delhi.