It's A Love Story (I Guess)

Chapter 4

The next evening, I had a really important meeting. Before leaving, I touched my grandma's feet. She blessed me and made me have "Dahi Shakkar" which is a way of wishing good luck. I was well prepared. The meeting lasted longer than it was supposed to, but everything was worth it. I had set a good impression in front of my boss and his clients.

After the meeting, I picked up my phone, and saw a message from Shriya:
'Dadi is wid me. V r at my home."
It was a little weird. She was being too nice. Was all this actually weird or was I just over thinking?
I drove to Shriya's house using the directions she had sent me. It was a quite decent house.
Shriya's mom welcomed me in. I touched her feet. She told me that Dadi was upstairs with Shriya.
I went upstairs. Outside her room, I could smell a nice fragrance. I knocked the door. I heard, "Come in." I let myself in. It was a really beautiful room. A-typical-teenage-girl's-room kinda room. Coldplay posters on the wall. A pile of novels, a TV, a guitar on the wall. I liked her room. She knew how to spend her salary. Well I did too. But I wasn't much into posters or books. I was a movie and comic book guy.
Shriya and Dadi were sitting on the bed, playing uno. Dadi knew how to play Uno. I never showed interest in it. So I had no idea what Uno was. All I knew was 'It's a card game.'
"Hey Piyush! How was the meeting?" Shriya asked, with a smile on her face.
"Amazing." I said. I didn't say anything as I saw that they were busy playing uno.
I just took a seat, and got busy on my phone. A few moments later, grandma said, "Piyush, shall we leave?"
"Yeah Sure." I said and got up.
Shriya suggested me to have dinner. I told them that I wasn't hungry, as I had eaten 2 burgers after the meeting. grandma had fast, so we just wished everyone a good night and left.
Shriya had held my grandma's hand and assisted her down the stairs. We were about to reach the main door, but someone opened it from the outside. A guy walked in.
"Hi Sarthak!" Shriya said, like she was doing a formality by saying hi.
The face was familiar. It was Sarthak, and behind him was Purvi.
"Piyush, this is my brother, Sarthak,
And that's his wife, Purvi." Shriya told me, as if I did not know.
"... And Sarthak, this is my friend Piyush."
Sarthak and Purvi looked at me.
I didn't say anything. My grandma knew the situation, so she just held me hand, wished Shriya a goodnight and started moving.

My past was once again flashing right in front of my eyes. I again felt like a loser. And in a moment, I felt like I lost Shriya too. I felt like she too chose someone else over me.
But I didn't cry. Grandma sat in the shotgun seat. I sat on the driver seat, and just stared the steering wheel in from of me for a while.

Grandma put her hand on my shoulder and asked me if I was okay. I saw Shriya coming out of her house, I just ignited the car engine and drove away from her house, still holding those tears in my eyes.

I and grandma came home. Without saying a word, she went inside her room. I went inside my room. I took out my phone from my pocket and saw a few messages from Shriya. I didn't bother to read them. I just jumped in my bed, and let the tears out of my eyes, without making any noise.
And I nodded off.