Love at the time of dentistry

Chapter-17

As usual Manya was struck speechless by the sight of her ex-boyfriend. Where is my voice when I need it, Manya thought frustratingly. If it was any consolation, Siddharth was looking almost as shocked as she was, but he recovered his composure before her and said, "It's been a long time Manu." Manya relaxed a little on being referred by her nickname but tensed again on realizing that she had to reply or at least say something to him. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a strange squeaky voice; why did she say that? You don't ask such things to people you meet after so long, she mentally chided herself. But Siddharth wasn't just some people. "I am here for Anuj's wedding, I didn't know you knew him too", Siddharth replied to her question. "I am from the bride's side. You remember my friend Anya?" Manya cleared her throat this time before replying. "Oh yeah, Anya, I remember her, I didn't make the connection when Anuj told me." God! Why were they talking like strangers? They had known each other since childhood and now they have nothing to say to each other. Both of them were maintaining their distances. They stood in front of each other in silence for some time, not knowing what to say; Manya played with the sequins on her dupatta while Sid adjusted his glasses self-consciously. "You didn't tell me how you knew Anuj?" "We were roommates in Mumbai, and then we became quite good friends. I wouldn't have missed his wedding for the world." Silence again fell after that; how did you deal with such situations? Manya never had to deal with an ex before, she wasn't aware of the protocol. Maybe God decided to show them some mercy when they heard noises coming their way and Anuj entered the garden along with Anya and some of his friends. "Hey I thought you were never going to show up", exclaimed Anuj, rushing forward to hug his friend. Meanwhile Anya was sending odd signals and trying to ask Manya how she was doing with signs from behind Anuj. Manya was already feeling uncomfortable enough to reply back in sign language. She just tried to edge herself away from this place as soon as possible as no one was paying much attention to her; they were busy in reacquainting and catching up on things. She breathe a breath of relief when she entered the hallway towards her room when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Anya standing there, before she could say anything, Anya enveloped her in a hug, "Oh, you poor soul, what all you have to deal at once, I really didn't know that your Sid is the same Siddharth Anuj goes on and on about. They are best friends since college and I should have made some connection and warned you." "Hey, what are you saying? You couldn't have known about any of this. This is all just a freaky coincidence. Don't blame yourself." Manya reassured her friend and hugged her back. "How are you going to handle this?" "I don't know. I really have absolutely no idea. I would just have to play it by the ear I guess." Manya said doubtfully. "You go and have some rest now. It has been quite a day for you and there's still more to come." "You're saying this, it's your wedding today, you are the one who needs all the rest." "Arre mera toh chalta rahega. Ab chain se toh shadi ke baad hi bethungi." Both of them laughed and Manya felt herself relaxing for the first time in the day truly. She retired to her room to take a nap before she had to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding proceedings were in full swing. The air was resonant with the sounds of the mantras, uniting Anya and Anuj for the rest of their lives. They were all sitting behind Anya in the mandap and were not leaving a chance to tease her about something or the other. Manya had yet to see Siddharth; he was conspicuously absent from the wedding. For that matter, she hadn't seen any of Anuj's friends for quite some time now; they must be guarding Anuj's shoes so that they don't get a chance to steal them. Little did they know that they had already stolen the shoes before the ceremony began. They were safely hidden in a secret place which they took turns keeping watch on. When Rhea came back from her 'watch', it was Manya's turn. She went to the huge terrace on the opposite side of the mandap, where the shoes were hidden inside a huge vase. She took a drink with her; it was quite cool on the terrace and she welcomed it after the heat around the mandap. As she settled comfortable on one of the chairs, all her thoughts and events of the past day returned back. What was happening with her? Why did she feel as if she was in a mess? For so long her life had been all complication free and now all this? How will she get out of all this? As if by some weird telepathy, the object of her musings materialized on the doors of the terrace, at least one of the objects. Siddharth entered the terrace with a drink of his own and sat on a chair beside her, "So this is where you have been hiding, I've been looking for you all over the place." "I was hardly hiding and why in the world were you looking for me?" "Well for one, we have a lot to talk about and second I have a suspicion that Anuj's shoes will be wherever you are." "Come on, don't you think we are too old for this kind of stuff, we haven't stolen his shoes", Manya said trying very hard to hide the tell-tale signs on her face that she was lying. "Manu, you know you can't lie; I can see your guilty cheeks from 10 feet away and besides I know his shoes are missing, so kindly don't insult my intelligence by pretending otherwise." "Fine! We have his shoes but I would hardly tell you the place so easily and we would certainly not hide them in so open a place." This time her voice was confident even though her cheeks were glowing with guilty color. Sid didn't pursue the subject more; he just smiled and concentrated on his drink. He had not changed much in these past years. But there were still some signs of aging on his face; the little crow's feet around his eyes, the occasional gray hair. He still looked handsome and age had only added to his good looks and yet he didn't have that same effect on Manya as he had in the past. Why couldn't they have stayed in love? Why did Ronit have to come into his life? Life would have been so simple and uncomplicated. "So you are a surgeon now", Sid broke the silence. "Yes and you are an orthodontist now", Manya replied. He looked mildly surprised at his statement but said, "I guess we share a same source for our gossip- my mother", Sid said smiling a little. "I have been regularly in contact with her ever since we..." Manya stopped in the middle of the sentence. They looked at each other awkwardly; neither of them was good at confrontations and this seemed like one. Finally Sid completed her sentence, "Since we broke up." Manya expected him to react angrily but he looked quite calm. "Don't worry I won't start shouting at you like the last time we were together." "I didn't think that, I was just wondering. You seem quite comfortable after that awful incident." "Oh I am far from comfortable but it feels good to be back in your company, so I am fighting all these stupid feelings." Manya smiled a little; maybe this won't be as difficult as she was imagining in her head. Siddharth continued, "I won't lie that I wasn't mighty angry with you for a few while after our break-up but as the time went by, I started realizing that I had never given you a fair chance. I should have let you explain your side of the things. You were my best friend, I should have trusted you but I was too much blinded by my anger. After that we just lost contact and I had no chance to sort things out with you." "I didn't deserve a chance after whatever happened. I broke your trust; you had every right to be angry with me." "Yeah I had but you had the right to defend yourself and I didn't give you that. We had known each other since childhood, I could have at least let you say something." Manya pondered over whatever Sid was saying. Would her life would have been any difficult if she and Siddharth have worked things out that time? Guess she'll never know now. "Anyways, I had seen the way you looked at him. You really had feelings for him." Was she this transparent? Did everybody know what she was feeling all the time? Manya thought. She felt so buoyant suddenly, as if a large load has been lifted off her after a long time. Siddharth didn't hate her. They had no hard feelings between them. She suddenly felt a lot of affection for him. There was one thing that left to be cleared, "I am dating him now; I have been seeing Ronit for the past 2 years now." Manya said quietly and concentrated as hard as she can on her drink. "It took you that long to get together, I thought you guys would be married by now with kids. Come on, Manu." She was surprised by Siddharth's reaction. She hadn't expected him to take this news so well. Did he not have any latent or leftover feelings for her? On the mention of marriage and kids, Manya felt a wave of sadness envelope her. She couldn't say anything and just stood up and walked towards the balustrade. She tried to stop them but soon tears started flowing down her cheeks. On seeing her reaction to his teasing, Siddharth got up from his place and came and stood besides her, putting his arm around her shoulder, "Hey, I was just kidding. What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?" His kind tone just succeeded in bringing fresh tears to her eyes. "Nothing; it's just that things have not been so good lately between us and I don't know if they are going to resolve any time soon." Manya said tearfully. Siddharth took a handkerchief out from his trousers and dried her tears from her face, careful not to mess up her make-up. "Everything will turn out just fine. I know you can sort through anything if you want. I think I know what the problem here is and I can only say that he is a complete idiot if he can't see what he has. You'll be better off without him." Sid said comforting her. Manya smiled ruefully, "Is that the friend or the ex-boyfriend talking? You never seem to take his name, do you?" "Hey, I am no saint. I hate the guy. He took away one of my most precious possessions." Manya smiled up at him and turned to put her head on his shoulder, Siddharth put both her arms around, hugging her, giving her the comfort she wanted desperately now. They stood like this for some time when Siddharth took her face in his hands and said, "Feeling better now?" she just smiled and nodded; Siddharth then lowered his head and kissed her lightly on the corner of her mouth, just like he always did when she felt down in the past. Before she knew it, she was being forcefully pushed away from him by someone. "Get your hands off my girlfriend!" Ronit shouted and punched Siddharth on his face.