Back And Forth

~five~

"Bhai." Vidisha asked softly, as she half sprinted, half walked to keep pace with Vedant.

"Hmm?"

"Don't get mad at me for this."

He turned towards her with his brows raised, as he noticed how she walked with a slight bounce to her movements. She was quite happy today.

Whatever could be the reason?

"Okay?" he replied doubtfully, Vedant's focus shifting to the little boy running towards them in the park on his skates.

Urgh kids. He grumbled in his head, already annoyed with his antics.

"I know all about her."

"All about who?" Vedant questioned, the annoying kid in the park where they strolled suddenly forgotten.

"Meera." Vidisha smiled, and for once, it wasn't a devilish one.

Vedant sighed, "Archit told you?"

She shook her head softly.

"God! Can we stop for a bit now? My legs feel numb!" she whined dramatically, her arms in the air in surrender.

"We've just been walking for about thirty minutes Vi."

Her features instantly contorted to the puppy dog face of hers, and within the next ten seconds Vedant found himself sitting on a bench next to her grinning face.

"Will you stop smiling liking that? It's creepy."

"I like her." She replied instead.

Vedant chortled.

"I myself am not sure about my feelings but you are?"

"You're not sure because you don't want things to go wrong. That's how much you like her."

His brows raised in question, as he unconsciously noticed the way Vidisha's face had flushed from all the brisk walking. Her nose had become slightly sharper over the years and her new hairstyle framed her face well. With every passing day, she seemed to be becoming more and more of a copy of their Mother.

"You didn't tell me though."

"What?"

"Did Archit tell you about Meera?"

Vidisha generally sounded much older than her age, but times like these; when she was caught red handed he was reminded that this was his baby sister.

She scratched the back of her head nervously; looking remarkably sixteen as she offered,

"You know me nah? I couldn't stop myself. I uh...I opened her diary."

And suddenly, all his affections for her dissipated.

"You what?" he thundered.

Her eyes widened with fear, and this was generally all it took for Vedant's anger to get tamed. However this time, he saw red. "You cannot just read someone's personal diary like that!"

"First of all, I didn't read her diary. Unlike you I respect people's privacy. I just saw her name. And secondly, you don't have the right to go all moral police on me when you yourself did exactly that! She's going to hate you when she finds out Bhai!"

Vedant gulped, realization and guilt filling him up.

Urgh what have I done?

I don't even deserve her.

"Now that's not true." Vidisha offered.

"What?"

"That's not true. There are very few girls you don't deserve. You're a nice guy, Bhai. Just give her some time okay?"

Shit. I said that out loud.

"How do you even know so much about my feelings?"

She smiled, her gaze full of sheer joy.

"Because I've never seen you hold onto a book like that. Because I've never seen an impatient guy like you show so much patience. Because I see you zone out during dinner and during TV when you're obviously wondering what she must be doing that instant."

"Wow." He laughed. "Sounds just like a scene from a romcom!"

She stuck her tongue out at him at that.