Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?

Big Lies and Little Half-Truths

'It's a weakness to care. When you care, you have something to lose.' 

~ Becca Fitzpatrick, Dangerous Lies.

Alia P.O.V.

I walked down the hall to the sitting room, hands clasped behind my back to stop myself from reaching out to hold Varun's hand. Even then, I fidgeted, wanting the comfort of his hand in mine. He noticed, stopping just outside the door. 'Hey, there's no need to be so nervous. It's just our parents.' he said, tugging at my arm until I unclasped my hands and let him take hold of one. 'They just want us to explain.'

'Yeah, explain something that never even happened.' I muttered.

'I know that but we just have to make it believable.' he told me, an encouraging smile on his face.

'Right, because that'll be so easy.' I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

'What's that supposed to mean?' he questioned.

'Come on yaar, we're supposed to be a couple in the middle of a divorce because I cheated on you.' I stated, waiting for him to catch on.

'Yeah, so?' he asked, oblivious as ever.

'So, we aren't supposed to act like best friends or whatever else it is people think we are.' I explained.

'Okay, so we won't.' he shrugged, like it was just that simple.

'Seriously? You want to just pretend like we're not-' I sighed, unable to finish the sentence for fear of letting something slip. 'Look, it might be easy for you but I can't just turn it on and off on demand like that.'

'Alu, I'm not asking you to. It's not as easy as you seem to think it is for me and I wouldn't ask you to do something that I can't. Just act normally and stop worrying.' he placated.

'If I act normally, there's no way in hell either of our parents will believe your stupid story for even half a second.' I argued.

'Why not?'

'Because normal for us means being affectionate, relaxed, easy with each other. Estranged couples don't behave like that.' I explained.

'They do if they've been best friends for years.' he refuted. There was no logic in his statement - or there was, a very backwards sort of logic - but I couldn't be bothered to argue with him anymore so I just shook my head, sighing in defeat.

'We'll talk about this later. If we stay out here much longer, they'll get suspicious. Just tone down the affection, okay?' He nodded his agreement and I took my hand from his, immediately missing the comforting warmth, and gestured for him to lead the way.

Silently, he pushed the door open, walking into the room with me trailing behind him. As we entered the room, the hushed conversation ceased and four pairs of eyes turned to look at us. Varun's parents smiled while mine looked confused and slightly disappointed. We took the only two seats that had been left open, both of which happened to be on the two seater love seat - I had the feeling that had been done on purpose - and looked at our parents, both of us unsure of what to say. 'So, now that we're all here, would you two like to explain?' David uncle asked, not bothering with a preamble.

I turned to look at Varun and found him already looking at me. Without so much as moving my head, I told him he could do the talking and he sighed. A slight shrug of my shoulders let him know that I wouldn't be much help, the action conveying a silent message: you got us into this mess, now you do the talking. He understood, though he didn't seem to like it, and he began to tell the elaborate tale.