Kya Pyaar Karoge Mujhse....

Chapter 9- A Best Friend

Chapter 9

Siddharth Jaisingh hugged his best friend tightly as she laughed softly in his ears, making excited noises like eeep and yayy! He laughed as she broke the hug, grinning from ear to ear.

"Wassup baby, missed me?!" He asked as she smiled, her arms on his shoulders, her palms meeting behind his neck.

Nodding her head vigorously, Annika looked at her best friend of three and a half years.

She still remembered the first time she met him. He was her first neighbour when she had moved with Sahil to London.

It was their eleventh day in London and Annika and Sahil had just moved from the hotel to their place. Her Boss had insisted that Annika stay at the hotel for a few weeks but Annika wanted to move in an apartment as soon as possible, for Sahil's convenience and to save the extra expenses. She had found a nice apartment, a two bedroom-hall, equipped well enough for Sahil's special needs, near to her office and they had moved as soon as possible.

It was eight thirty in the morning and she was just leaving for her official first day as the Manager, until before she was being trained to be a Manager and hadn't even met the people who would be working under her, alongside with settling in the new city, when the door of the apartment in front of hers opened loudly. A blonde girl in a bra and a sparkly black skirt came out, screaming profanities at someone, with a top in hand. Annika stopped at her door to let her leave in peace, not knowing what to do. She stood there as the girl kept shouting, hurling colourful words one after another as she wore her top. Just then a man came in view, a bored expression on his face, with two heels in his hands. The first thing she noticed was his greyish blue eyes and her heart had stopped for a millisecond before she realized what she was thinking. As the girl snatched her heels from his hands and left, Annika sighed in relief, shaking her head.

"Sorry for that." He said and she looked at him. It was then when she noticed he was Indian as well and heaved a sigh of relief. Indian neighbour thank you God!

He was quite handsome and sturdy. Wearing a grey vest which matched his eyes, he smiled at her. There was a large tattoo was on his left arm and Annika realized she was almost staring at him.

"Oh it's fine." She said and started closing the door.

"So you are the new neighbour?" He asked, leaning on his door.

Annika nodded, murmuring a yes.

"I am Siddharth Jaisingh." He said and Annika tried to see if he was flirting with her. He wasn't.

"Annika. Just Annika." She said, hoping he wouldn't ask any questions. He didn't.

"Well, as you are new, let me offer any help, if you need." He said genuinely and she pursed her lips. Sahil was alone at home; his school was starting in fifteen days. She was worried to leave him alone and she did need someone to look after him while she was at work. But she couldn't really ask a stranger to babysit her brother, and this man did not look like the babysit kinds. But he did look sincere. She could at least ask?

"Umm, actually, my...it's nothing, thank you." She hesitated when he stood straight.

"Hey, you can tell me. I swear by my brother, whom I love the most in this world, that I am no serial killer or anything sinister like it. Promise!". He said and she laughed.

She contemplated for a minute. This was a good, respected neighbourhood and she had done some enquiry about this apartment building. Sighing, she looked at Siddharth, who was waiting for her to speak.