His Destiny Her Love (BOOK #1) ✔

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

I took an another drink of my favourite spiced buttermilk and stood in a corner, watching Siddharth's cheerful mood from a considerable distance. He was being surrounded by his long lost family and his college friends, including the punk headed Kiran. They were gossiping and exchanging joyous words together and I was giving him the freedom he needed at the moment. 

It was after such a long time that we were seeing such a jolly Siddharth, who was so engrossed in acknowledging the caress of the closest people in his life. He had met me only a few days ago and there couldn't be any stronger reason for me to feel that I was the closest to him. He had his own priorities and I wanted to give him that, I couldn't demand all his proximity only for me.

I didn't even mind that Kiran was now standing so closer to him, her hands skimming the surface of his right arm. All it took me was to have faith in him and respect the genuine happiness reflecting from his delighted face. It was only when I realized Siddharth hadn't forgotten me in the crowd, he was timely glancing at me over their shoulders and exchanging little smiles full of gratitude.

"Pratik, did you have your dinner?" I asked the birthday boy when I saw him grabbing a glass of iced coffee from the tray on the corner table next to where I stood.

"Hey! I wonder they didn't announce the dinner yet. I'll have it when they actually do." He answered before taking his first sip off the cup.

"My bad! I thought that the announcement has been made." I apologized formally and I heard him giggle.

He turned to go to join his gang but paused before facing towards me again. "Why are you standing all alone by the way? Aren't you enjoying my birthday party? Why don't you join us, especially your husband?"

"I think I shouldn't because he has his own privacy when he is among his best friends and family. Being a spouse doesn't mean I should get involved in everything he does," I answered, my mouth chirping in a diligent manner.

"You may be right but doesn't it seem so lame sometimes when your husband is being threatened to be snatched away from you?" He asked me, a question which was so authentic and unavoidable.

"What do you mean..mean?" I stammered, thinking that he was talking about the mystery of Siddharth getting targeted by some attacker.

"Don't you see Kiran's closeness with him?" Pratik's sudden enquiry was something I hadn't expected to be, yet he was saying something which was running inside my aching heart for such a long time. He was reading my heart in such a way as if he had excelled in it.

"But why are you instigating me against your closest friends? Kiran is also your close friend." I was sceptical with Pratik's interrogation.

"But Siddharth is closer to me, more than Kiran," Pratik declared, his eyes clouding with worries. "He has married you with his own consent so he should have been more responsible towards you. He shouldn't allow any other girl to get closer to him now. I won't prefer to see problems in his married life. It will also be an injustice to you."

I glanced over at Siddharth, who was now seated on a counter stool and Kiran was just standing adjacent to him, leaning over his body at somewhat sixty degrees. I could sense Siddharth's discomfort with her closeness, his palms clamped tightly to his chest and his knees shaking from the embarrassing situation.