Parineeta

What Is It?

Dhruv parked his bike outside Alya's house and checked his phone. There were already five missed calls from Alya within ten minutes and this got him even more worried. He checked the time and it was just 10:15 Alya was supposed to be in college but the last call that he had attended, Alya had asked him to come home.
He though did not wish to face Harshad just in the beginning of a fresh day but Alya wasn't one he would ever want to say no to.
Dhruv knocked on the door and waited while last night's moments flashed in front of him.
Flashback.
Manik drove the car in utter quietness with a lot of things going on in his mind while Alya sat beside  him silently digging into her phone. Not even of her messages were being read on the other end and this irritated her.
"Manik! Do you think this is right?"she suddenly started trying to distract herself while disturbing his chain of thoughts.
"no! I shouldn't have let her go alone!"Manik said a little lost and Alya looked at him.
"Manik! What are you talking about?"she asked and he looked at her blankly.
"uh-ho!nothing.."he said realising his words.
"Manik.. Hum yeh thik nhi kar rahe!"she said ignoring whatever he said.
"kya Alya?"he cringed.
"Manik... Be it fake or real the fact is that you're married to Nandini and she is your lawfully wedded wife! And hum chahe iss shaadi ko fake maane.. Par shaadi toh shaadi hai na.. Tum uske saath jud gye ho.. Aur hum maane na maane duniya hum dono ke relation ko extra marital affair hi kahegi!"she said and Manik had nothing to say.
"Manik mera ghar aa gya!"she said and he stopped his car. Alya got off and walked away without giving him a last glance while even he got busy with his thoughts when something struck him.
Manik picked up his phone and checked the time. It was already 5:45.
"abhi tak she must have reached home..."he said in a hopeful tone. He dailed my number but it went unreachable having no option he dialed the land-line.
"hello ma! Nandini ghar aayi?"he asked hastily.
"nhi bache.. Aane vaali hogi?"she said calmly and he disconnected the call.
"why do you have to do this Nandini!"he muttered as he searched for something in his phone.
Meanwhile, Alya dropped her bag on the sofa and settled herself trying to call on a number.
"what the hell Dhruv! Pick up the phone!"she muttered as the call went unanswered for another time.
"kya ho rha hai mere saath.. I love Manik! But i love to spend time with Dhruv.. Why does it feel so different with Dhruv! He understands me.. He has become a habit for me.. A bad habit! In all these days that we've been spending time together after college and at nights on calls or skype.. It feels like he's becoming an addiction!"she was talking to herself just when her phone rang.
"Alya..."
"shut up Dhruv! Where've you been! Mai tabse tumhe call kar rhi thi! Kaha ho tum!"she bombarded him with questions and queries like a little five year getting angry on her father for being late.
"vo... Mai apni girlfriend ke saath long drive pe aaya tha!"he said and she frowned.
"girlfriend! Tumhari? Ok bye!"she said abruptly.
"arey arey! Tumhe kya hua!"he asked.
"kuch nhi.. I don't wanna disturb you guys!"she said.
"arey nhi.. Bas gimme five.. Us mein petrol dalva kar aa rha hu!"he said and she frowned once again.
"petrol?tum apni girlfriend mein petrol daal rhe ho?"she said making weird faces.
"haan ab meri dhanno ko aur kya du!"he said.
"dhanno! Seriously Dhruv tumhari bike!"she chuckled.
"haan aur kya ab mujh jaise ko aur koi girlfriend thorhi milegi!"
" Itne bhi bure nhi ho! Infact bhot sweet ho.. You'll get any girl!"
"any girl?"
"haan!"
"toh tum ban jao meri girlfriend!"he said and silence followed.
"achha batao itne calls kyu kiye?"he changed the topic.
"ghar aa jao!"she said normally.
"ohky!"he answered.

Manik traced my location and was driving his car to get to me as soon as possible while i walked slowly.
Manik reached me quite soon but what surprised him was that I wasn't ready to take a cab despite the fact that there were many, driving past me.
"why do you have to be stubborn always!"he muttered as he watched and followed me for a whole five minutes but i wasn't giving up.
"fine then do what you want!"he said irritatedly and drove past me as fast as possible trying not to get visible.
Dhruv reached Alya's place and she looked relaxed to see him there. He was like a secret disry for her and she knew her secrets were safe with him.
Alya spoke her heart out to him as they watched a movie and settled for dinner. She wasn't scared of sharing her feelings with him and what she thought about all of this mess in the three of our lives while Dhruv relaxed and calmed her turmoils. They spent half the night with each other talking to each other and the rest thinking of each other.
Flashback ends.
"Dhruv finally.. Why don't you pick the calls."Alya opened the door and the same routine started.
"i was driving!"he said and she allowed him in.
"par tum batao! Mujhe tension dekar hi marogi! Itni calls in just ten.. Alya.."he said as they settled. "Dhruv! Pta nai.. I don't feel good about this! Mujhe Manik ko face karna weird lag rha hai.."she said out of nowhere.
" Manik? Did he do something!"he asked.
"no.. But i think we're doing it wrong! Everything feels so different!"she paused, "anyways breakfast?"
Dhruv nodded and they headed for the table where everything was already set.
"yeh sab? Mere liye?"he asjed and she giggled.
"no duffer! Remember i told you bhai was going out for three months today! So he made all this for me before he left!"she said and he raised his eyebrows.
"arey haan! By the way! Alya tumhara bhai tumse itna pyaar karta hai.. Toh Manik aur Fab5 ke samne aate hi usse kya hi jaata hai?"he asked.
"i don't know! It's something between Manik and bhai.. Bhai just hates Manik as much as he does.. And i know they both can do anything to destroy each other.. But no one knows the root cause!"she explained while he nodded as he gulped down the pasta made by Harshad.
"...he definitely is a great cook! Sorry buddy tere dushman ki tareef ki but seriously!"he said aloud apologizing to Manik though Manik wasn't there yet.