Shrishti Reborn

Chapter 71. The Party - II

The cake was cut and Shrishti noted that Raghav managed to save his kurta from getting dirty by convincing his friends to not put cake on his face. His friends were understandably disappointed but they agreed. But that did not mean Megha would let her Bhaiyya go. She gleefully ordered him to bend down.

'I want to put cake on your face!', Megha demanded. Raghav tried to argue with her but everyone, who knew Raghav, knew that his sister was his weakness. He gave in pretty soon after she remained stubborn.

'But don't you dare ruin my kurta!', he warned her with narrowed eyes. She nodded solemnly.

Shrishti ignored the nudge from Divya at Raghav's words.

Raghav bent down and Megha happily applied the frosting on his face in a manner one would put holi colours on someone's cheeks on holi. Everyone chuckled when Arpit sneaked in a swipe too, managing to put the frosting on Raghav's nose. Shrishti was quick to whip out her phone and take a photo before Raghav wiped the frosting from his nose. He sent her a glare at her action and she simply giggled.

After the cake playing, remaining cake was cut to serve after which the dinner began officially. Shrishti enjoyed the finger foods the most and spent more time gorging on manchurian balls, spring rolls and french fries than the chole and dal fry and other main dishes served for the night. The dinner ended with fresh fruits as dessert after which most guests left with only few lingering behind. The ones left behind were Raghav's few close friends from college days. But Shrishti noted that two of his current classmates were there too.

Daljeet and Divya had already left and Shrishti wondered whether she should leave too. But she did not want to! She did not want the night to end this soon. Who knew when Raghav would wear her gift again! She wanted to keep looking at him till he would head to change! So Shrishti loitered around Megha, confused on whether to stay or leave. She was a guest too. She should leave. But was she really a guest? Wasn't she a neighbour? She looked at Raghav for some indication on what he wanted from her but the man seemed to be enjoying his conversations with his friends. Few of them were sitting on the sofa while other two had grabbed the plastic chairs that Arpit had borrowed from their society office for the party.

What should she do? Stay or go? Shrishti fretted. Just then Arpit arrived from upstairs, sighing.

'We will have to clean a lot.', he commented. Megha was next to him. Both had changed to casual clothes.

'What is the plan?', Shrishti asked as she noticed their outfit change.

'We should start cleaning. Once the fatigue sets in, we won't be able to.', Arpit explained. Shrishti nodded. At her house, she had servants to do the cleaning. When there was a party, Pappa simply hired extra staff. But of course, things were different at Raghav's house. They did the cleaning themselves. Should she send some of her staff to do the cleaning? But that felt high handed of her. She shook her head. The best thing she could do was get out of their way while they cleaned, she decided and excused herself.

Arpit was relieved to see her go, Shrishti noticed. She asked him about it and Arpit explained that may be her leaving would make Raghav's friends leave too. Then they could finish cleaning faster and hit the bed earlier. She chuckled and left after saying goodbyes to all three siblings and Raghav's friends.

But at her home, Shrishti felt off. It felt as if she did something wrong. No, it did not feel wrong. But it felt as if she was supposed to do something else and she did something totally opposite of what she was supposed to. She washed her face and did her night time skin care. She tied her hair behind for the bed. She was about to change into her night wear but before she could grab her night gown, her hand stopped. She hesitated for few seconds before grabbing a casual short kurti and jeans. She changed into them and marched out of the house decisively.