The Distance Between Us

Track Seventy Two - Lae Dooba

So, maybe… Riddhima had miscalculated. Maybe, Armaan wasn't in love with her. Maybe, he was just covering all his bases with his talk about the future. Maybe, she'd read too much into his silence. Maybe, he wasn't as easy to read anymore. Because nothing else explained the sudden distance between them. 

Things had been going so well, Riddhima had been counting down the days till Armaan told her he loved her. And then, all of a sudden, he'd pulled away. After their talk in the fire escape, when Riddhima had told him she'd move to New York to be with him, Armaan had become distant. He'd been extremely grateful when she'd said the words, had expressed it too, but after that had been a different story. 

It had started out normal enough that at first Riddhima didn't even notice it. She'd try to talk to him at the nurse station after a briefing, but Armaan would excuse himself stating he needed to speak to Dr. Sonawane. Whenever she invited him for coffee in the cafeteria, he would have to collect lab reports or go on rounds. They ate lunch with the rest of the merry bunch so there was never enough privacy to ask him what was going on. And then, he had avoided meeting her outside the hospital these past few days stating that he was spending time with Myra. 

Riddhima couldn't understand why he was being so standoffish. Had her eagerness put him off? Had she come across as too desperate when she'd agreed to move in a heartbeat? Or was it something else that she'd done which had left a bad taste in his mouth? Riddhima couldn't tell. And Armaan was not telling her anything. In the past few days, they'd barely talked apart from exchanging pleasantries. She'd talked more with Armaan while she was still married to Sid, for the love of God!

She could not understand what had gone wrong. Armaan had been so talkative of late. He made it a point to tell her everything he was feeling, even if it wasn't pretty. He never kept any secrets from her, telling her every little and big thing that went on in his head. He discussed cases with her, bitched about their friends, and even spoke more freely of the past. Ever since they'd started talking again, genuinely talking, Armaan had never held back. 

Even when he was upset with her, he had been upfront about it and told her that. He had argued and been angry, but he hadn't avoided her like this. The only time he'd done that was when he'd found out she'd lied about still being married to Sid. But, this was different than that cold, cutting silence where he'd made it clear that he didn't want to speak to her. Now, he still tried to be normal. He smiled at her when they were together, bantered with her sometimes, and never left without a quick hug. Yet, the distance still prevailed. 

The connection they'd built over the past few weeks, the openness and honesty that had quickly become the foundation of their relationship was suddenly feeling shaky. Because Armaan was trying his best to portray that everything was fine, but it clearly wasn't. She had been shying away from bringing it up in front of him lest she spook him more, but enough was enough. She would have to confront him if he would not volunteer the information himself. 

Determined, Riddhima made her way over to Nikki's place, intent on speaking with Armaan. “Ridzy? Hi! It's so good to see you!!” Nikita greeted her friend, inviting her in.

“Hi, Nikki! How are you?” Riddhima asked.

“I'm good. Tu bata. How's everything going? All good?” Nikki questioned. 

“Yeah,” Riddhima replied breezily. “All good.”

“Riddhima!” Abhi exclaimed when he walked into the living room to see her & Nikki chatting. “Hi. It's so good to see you!”

“It's good to see you, too,” Riddhima smiled back. “As always.”

“You're right on time,” Abhi said. “We were just about to start dinner. Come on along.”