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Welcome to Unfazed - the story of people who deal with life every day and still look at adversity in the eye and give it a wink and a smile. Sometimes, when no one is looking, they cry too.
Join Deeksha Bhalla - AKA Dee - a girl with si...
"Hey Sneeee", I answered when my phone rang on a random Wednesday evening. "What are you doing today?" she asked me and I thought I could imagine a smile in her voice. "Nothing – I'll be done with my reporting for today in an hour – and that's it", I lied. The truth is that I wasn't at work for this week. Initially, it had been difficult for me to lie to my family – especially Sneha; but over time, I've gotten better.
"Okay – so Dee is probably coming over to my place for supper – I'm in the mood to make pasta.. Wanna join us?" she asked.
"Sure – won't be a problem", I said.
"Perfect – get here by 6:30, okay?" she asked and the call ended with my affirmation.
Walking into Sneha's apartment, I wondered if Deeksha knew about my current arrangement with Harsh. I hadn't spoken to Deeksha since the café episode and I wasn't really sure what our equation was. According to Harsh, Dev was helping and they were trying to work out how to find the sender of the note and Deeksha was working with Dev's company at the moment. Harsh had promised that he would let me know when they needed my help.
But then Kumar doesn't think they'll have any luck I think to myself. You haven't told Sneha about Kumar yet, another voice in my head told me. I had tried to tell her in the past – and I couldn't hide anything from Sneha, even if I hid it from myself. But somehow or another, it kept getting postponed or I chickened out at the last minute.
I was surprised that Deeksha opened the door when I rang the bell, but since she gave me a big smile and welcomed me into Sneha's house, I supposed I could count myself in the safe zone for now.
The evening went surprisingly well. We ate the pasta Sneha made and watched a movie. After a long argument between Deeksha, who wanted to watch an action movie and Sneha – who wanted to watch a rom-com, we settled on one which had both.
After the movie it was around ten, so I got up to leave as did Deeksha and amidst our goodbyes to Sneha, she insisted that she drop me home – as against my original plan of opting for public transport. To my surprise, when we got to the gate of Sneha's apartment complex, Harsh was waiting in the car.
"Hey girls.. Had fun?" he asked as Deeksha climbed into the back and I had no choice but to choose shotgun.
The ride was silent for the most bit as Harsh manuvered through the dissipating traffic, but at one point, my curiosity could no longer be contained. "Dee, Harsh – I need to ask y'all something", I stated and I heard a few shuffles from behind me as Dee leaned forward in her seat while Harsh threw a peculiar glance my way.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked and realizing that it came out differently than it did in my head, I quickly added, "I mean.. I have been nothing but a menace to you – unintentionally... But both of you have been nothing but extremely sweet and courteous to me."
"Well" began Deeksha, but before she could continue, I defended myself, saying, "Don't get me wrong – I am super grateful that you guys are being so accommodative; but.. I can't help but wonder if I deserve it. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't be doing this."
"Al – you're getting ahead of yourself. You made a mistake in the past – not knowing whom you hurt. Yes, you should have confessed back then, but you did and you had no personal vendetta against me or any of the people associated with the restaurant. Now, however, we trust you to be on our side and help us get to the bottom of this. Okay? Don't worry about anything else and as for us" – said Harsh before the signal turned green – "we have nothing against Alana the person. Initially yes, but now, you're a friend."
"And all this..." Deeksha finished for him from the back, still leaning forward, "is what friends do. Besides, of course, watching movies and eating pasta together."
Even after they dropped me home, despite having spent the morning trying to end things with Kumar and failing, I had a smile on my face. And if someone had told me last week that the last thing I would think of before I fell asleep today would be Harsh Bhalla's kind smile and brilliant eyes, I wouldn't have believed them either.
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