Friendship can be Love

Taking a stand

College days passed with a lot of fun, frolic, and romance. Amidst this, all failed to notice that Preeti was frequently lost in her dream world.

One evening:
"Preeti...Preeti..." Naina came inside the room after finishing her usual late-night call with Sameer. Preeti was lost somewhere and finally Naina had to shake her to bring her out of her reverie.

"Ho gayi teri baat Jijaji se?" Preeti asked as if nothing had changed.

"Aaj kal kahan khoyi rehti hai tu? Kab se aawaz de rahi hoon, sun hi nahi rahi hai?" Naina wasn't letting her off the hook so easily.

"Arre kahi nahi, wo toh buss aise hi!" Preeti tried to shrug it off.

"Nahi, kuch toh chal raha hai tere dimaag mein....bahut din se dekh rahi hoon....actually, college shuru hua tab se dekh rahi hoon... kuch toh sochti rehti hai....bata naa....kya hua hai?"
Naina knew her sister and this was not her usual self.

"Bata doon"...Preeti blushed.

"Baap re...itna sharma rahi hai ki laal ho gayi hai"...Naina crinkled her brows and continued "kahi tujhe koi pasand toh nahi aa gaya?"

Preeti turned a dark shade of crimson, shocking Naina to the core.

"Kaun hai wo?" She smiled, teased, and prodded her sister into revealing the secret.

"Kartik" Preeti replied shyly.

The teasing smile faded and Naina was disgusted. "Chiiiiiiii.....tujhe aur koi nahi mila, wo Kartik....chiiiiiiiii"

Now, it was Preeti's turn to be annoyed. "Kya chi? Kitna handsome hai aur ameer bhi". She replied in his defense.

"Handsome aur ameer hone se koi achcha nahi ho jaata. Aur mujhe wo pasand nahi hai." Chided Naina.

"Tujhe pasand karna bhi nahi hai behen...tere paas toh pehle si Salman jaise Jijaji hai... ab main soch rahi hoon ki Kartik Sharukh Khan jaisa dikhta hai yaa Akshay Kumar jaisa". Preeti again doned the dreamy look.

"Soch Naina...teri tarah mere paas bhi rich and handsome boyfriend hoga.... Soch mere Jijaji Sameer, tere Jijaji ameer."

Naina imitated her "Mere Jijaji Sameer, tere Jijaji ameer" (Sorry guys, couldn't stop myself from lifting this off the show... it was so cute that it had to be reused).

"Chiiiiiii...Kartik toh mujhe bilkul handsome nahi lagta...aur waise bhi wo achcha ladka nahi hai... tu bhool gayi, usne college ke pehle din kaise bina baat ke ladayee ki thi, aur upar se use apni ameeri pe kitna ghamand hai." Naina tried to drill some sense into her sister.

"Wah Naina, yeh achcha hai...tere paas Jijaji jaisa boyfriend hai toh aur koi achcha hai hi nahi...uss din toh aise hi takrar ho gayi thi, usme kya hai? Uske baad toh kuch nahi hua na?" Preeti tried to defend her choice.

"Haan, nahi hua. Par iska matlab yeh nahi hai ki hoga bhi nahi. Hum sab usse durr rehte hain isiliye kuch nahi hua, par mujhe lagta hai wo koi mauka milega toh zaroor ladayee karega. Aur upar se wo toh shayad Sunaina ko pasand karta hai". Naina tried to reason with her.

"Par Sunaina toh Jijaji ko dekhti rehti hai... toh main Kartik ko dekh sakti hoon, aur tujhe itni kyon jalan ho rahi hai, tere paas tera hai nai... ab mujhe apna pakka karne de". Preeti was irritated with her sister and flopped down on the bed and went to sleep facing away from her.

Naina was exasperated but let her sleep, she reminded herself to be on a look-out for her and make sure to keep her away from the wrong guy.

Next day in college:

The girls and boys were sitting on adjacent benches. Kartik sat two benches ahead of them and diagonally opposite to Preeti. She kept on staring at his side profile with her usual dreamy look and Naina continued to distract her every now and then, warning her with eyes to look away from him and focus on the lecture.