Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?

Zombie Mode

'A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.' 

~ Elbert Hubbard

Varun P.O.V.

When Akansha's name showed up on my phone screen, I figured I was about to get a rollicking. What I wasn't expecting was a slightly panicked girl telling me I needed to get my ass over to Alia's place. 'Woah woah woah, slow down a sec.' I interrupted the babbling girl. 'What's going on?'

'Alia and Rohan kinda had a fight and things that shouldn't have been brought up were and now she's kind of in zombie mode.' she explained.

'Do I want to know what was said?' I asked, already anticipating her answer.

'Not really. But you should probably know that the uh, the life or death situations were mentioned.' she answered, understandably hesitant. The life or death situations are how we choose to refer to the few times we almost lost the youngest Bhatt. Only the three of us - or now four if Rohan knew too - knew about them and none of us could stand to refer to them as what they actually were - suicide attempts; so, we came up with a code word. It has been a long time since we'd had to use it though and I wasn't pleased that it had made a reappearance.

'You may want to make sure Rohan stays the hell away from me when I get there.' I advised, already feeling the protective anger bubbling underneath the surface.

'I'm pretty sure Shaheen's already passed that message along but I'll make sure he gets it.' she assured.

'Alright. I'll be there in twenty.'

***

Shaheen was the one who answered the door when I got there, her expression on seeing me extremely different from what it had been when I'd last seen her barely two hours prior. She looked pretty glad to see me, allowing me in without a word, even giving me a relieved smile with her greeting. 'What happened?' I asked, dreading the answer.

'She said something about just wanting to get you back to how you used to be and Rohan told her that it's not on her-'

'Please tell me this didn't go how I think it did?' I interrupted, knowing Alia well enough to make a fairly good guess.

'If you think she basically ended up telling him she owes you her life, yes, that's exactly how it went.' she told me. I groaned, more than a little frustrated. 'I know you're beyond annoyed at this point but sort her out please?'

'Of course I will. You know it doesn't matter how annoying it gets, I'm not gonna leave her like that.'

'I know, I know. But just try to get her to understand you're not her responsibility.' she said, eyes pleading.

'Do I want to know?' I asked for the second time that evening. She shook her head and I sighed; if they wouldn't tell me, it was pretty bad. 'Okay, I'll go talk to her.' Without waiting to hear anything else, I headed for Alia's room.

She wasn't as bad as I had expected; surprisingly she was sat up instead of laying down curled in a ball. Unsurprisingly, she was staring blankly at the wall, not noticing I'd even entered the room until I spoke. 'Alu?' I called, drawing her back to the world of the living.

'Hey.' she murmured, patting the bed.

'What's going on?' I asked, sitting down opposite her.

'Nothing. Just, you know...' she trailed off with a shrug.

'Well, I've heard.'

'How much have you heard?' she asked, almost timidly.

'Enough.' The tone of my voice let her know where the conversation was headed.

'Varun-'

'No, we're having this conversation.' I cut her off, anticipating the rest of her sentence. She sighed but didn't say anything, waiting for me to continue. 'I am not your responsibility Alu. I get that you're trying to look out for me and you know I appreciate that. But it's not on you okay? And you don't owe me anything. That's not how this works. There's no give and take Alu, at least for me there's not. I don't know about you but for me, whatever I do, I do because I care for you, no ulterior motives here.'

'I'm not saying you have ulterior motives. I just... I literally owe you my life Varun.' she said.

'Alia, you don't owe me a damn thing. And if you want to insist that you do, then pay me back by taking care of yourself and living your life.' I told her, smiling softly. She looked down, apparently finding it difficult to look me in the eye after that. 'Hey, I'm always here for you yaar, but I don't want to hear any more of this owing me nonsense, okay?'

'Okay.' she agreed, still looking down.

'Now, can I get a hug?' I asked, getting her to look back up. She nodded and I opened my arms, chuckling a little as she grinned and crawled across the small expanse of mattress between us, happily settling into the embrace.

'Stay?' she asked quietly, almost like she was afraid of my answer.

I nodded before realising she couldn't see me from her position snuggled into my chest. 'Yeah.' I answered. She pulled back and laid down under the covers, allowing me to get up and shed my shirt and jeans before climbing in next to her. She curled up next to me and, before I knew it, we were both fast asleep.

***

In the morning, I was woken by Alia, or rather, her getting out of bed. 'Morning.' I murmured, voice raspy from sleep.

'Morning.' she returned, a small yawn following the word.

'You sleep okay?'

'Yep. You?'

'Like a log.' I said with a grin. 'In fact, I kinda just wanna go back to sleep.'

'Well, tough. We've got shoot in two hours.' I groaned but sat up, looking around at my surroundings before a thought occurred to me.

'I didn't bring my go bag.' I whined as I got out of bed.

'Your rappers t-shirt is in the top drawer and I think one of your hoodies might be I the coat cupboard.' Alia called from the bathroom.

'I've been looking for that shirt everywhere.' I called back as I looked in the drawer and found it.

'Evidently not everywhere.' she countered as she exited the bathroom. 'Go brush your teeth so I can shower.'

'I don't have a toothbrush.'

'There's a spare under the sink. Now hurry up, I wanna eat breakfast before we leave.' I did as told and headed for the bathroom, ignoring the voice that told me how strange it was that we could fit our morning routines together so easily.

***

Shooting was a highly interesting affair that day. The two of us arriving in the same care raised some eyebrows and ultimately led to an expiation. To keep things believable and consistent, we gave the made up version. Most of the crew bought it. The people that had known us since almost the beginning of our careers did not. They had no idea about my relationship but they had seen a great deal more of me and Alia together than either of our parents. Though they often teased us about how we behave, they'd seen enough to know we weren't ever a thing. To them, we had to tell the truth.

Nobody really said anything but we got warnings to be careful and I got the you're an idiot look from more than one person.

I'd hoped that would be that and we'd just get on with filming but it felt like we spent the entire day being scrutinised. Needless to say, I was glad when it was done with and even happier that the next day was Saturday. Until I realised that meant my best friend would be moving in with me in less than twenty-four hours.

A/N: So, time for the fun to begin 😁

Next time we'll see what happens when these two have to share a house.... And maybe more than just the same living space 😉

Hope you enjoyed and see you on Monday ✌